The sad and still-unfolding story of Fr. Marcial Maciel, the founder of the Legion of Christ, has touched a nerve in Fr. Raymond de Souza, longtime contributor to one of the LC’s most prominent and popular ministries, the weekly National Catholic Register.

He writes in First Things:

I have always been proud to be associated with the National Catholic Register. I still remain proud of my association, grateful for the opportunity it gave me to grow as a Catholic journalist. I hope that our long association will continue. In twelve years I have seen editors and writers come and go. In the high-turnover world of newspapers, I have been there longer than most.

And it is for that reason, out of concern for the newspaper’s integrity and future, I feel obliged to say that this is a time of reckoning. I have waited for others to speak first. But two issues of the newspaper have been published since the news broke, and it has yet to address forthrightly the difficulties it now faces.

The news about Fr. Maciel affects the National Catholic Register in a particular way. It is a Catholic newspaper, and so is obligated both by profession and by faith to tell the truth. It is also a Legion of Christ apostolate, and Catholics will be looking toward it as an indication of how they might respond to this whole matter.

The twelve years I have been associated with the National Catholic Register correspond exactly to the time since the public allegations against Fr. Maciel were published for the first time in February 1997 in the Hartford Courant. Over that time, the approach of the editors has been not to cover the story save when absolutely necessary, and then to give it minimal coverage at best.

That is not surprising. After all, Fr. Maciel was the ultimate proprietor until 2005. To be fair, as a general rule the National Catholic Register has not given wide attention to scandals in the Church, preferring to focus on areas of Catholic vitality. Even taking that into account, however, those who write and edit for the newspaper must confess now that our coverage of Fr. Maciel’s case has been inadequate. Even the decision to cover this breaking news with wire stories continued that practice.

You can read more of this frank assessment at the FT link.