Legionaries of Christ Elect New General Council

On February 7th and 8th, The General Chapter of the Legionaries of Christ held elections for the general councilors and the general administrator, whose terms will coincide with the term of the new general director, Fr. John Connor, LC, for the next six years.

Elected were:

Father John Connor, LC, general director
Father Hernán Jiménez, LC, vicar general
Father Jesús Villagrasa, LC, second general councilor
Father Rafael Ducci, LC, third general councilor
Father Pedro Barrajón, LC, fourth general councilor
Father Gerardo Flores, LC, fifth general councilor
Father Michael Brisson, LC, sixth general councilor
Father José Cárdenas, LC, general administrator

General Director: Father John Connor, LC

Biography:

Father John Lane Connor, LC, was born on February 15, 1968, in Severna Park, Maryland, USA. In 1990, he graduated with a degree in finance from Loyal University Maryland. He entered the Novitiate of the Legionaries of Christ on September 15, 1991, in Roetgen, Germany. In 1994 he worked at the Everest School Montecarlo de Madrid, Spain. He made his perpetual profession on May 1, 2000, and was ordained to the priesthood on January 2, 2001, in Rome. From his ordination until 2004 he worked in the Legion’s fundraising office on the East Coast of the United States. From 2004 to 2010 he was the local coordinator of apostolate in the New York City metro area, and he helped found and direct the Lumen Institute. From 2009 to 2010 he was the superior of the Legionary apostolate community in New York. From 2010 to 2011 he was the territorial director of the Atlanta Territory. From 2011 to 2014, he served as assistant to the territorial director for apostolate for the North American Territory. Since 2014 he was the territorial director of the Legionaries of Christ and Regnum Christi and since 2019 member of the Territorial Directive College of Regnum Christi in North America. On February 6, 2020, the General Chapter elected him to the office of general director of the Congregation of the Legionaries of Christ.

Job description:

It is the responsibility of the general director to govern the Congregation in such a way that it safeguards its spiritual patrimony and carries out its mission in the Church according to God’s will.

Priorities:

Attentively foster the members’ prayer life, fervor, good religious spirit, integral formation, fraternal life in common and perseverance
Further the consolidation, projection and development of the apostolate
Promote the pastoral work for vocations of the Legion and the other branches of Regnum Christi
Implement the directives and guidelines issued by the General Chapter
Ensure that everyone—especially the territorial directors, the rectors and superiors, and the formators—carry out their duties in accordance with proper law
Promote the consolidation, development and institutional unity of Regnum Christi, and work closely with the appropriate governing bodies of the Movement in regard to preserving its spirit and to planning, apostolate and economy
Strengthen the Congregation’s stable patrimony, supervise the administration of goods and promote a healthy economy
Promote the desirable institutional communication

Vicar General and Councilor: Father Hernán Jiménez, LC

Biography:

Father Hernán Jiménez, LC, was born on January 6, 1959, in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico. He entered the Legion of Christ in 1976 and did his novitiate and humanities studies in Salamanca, Spain. In 1978 he moved to Rome to begin studies in philosophy. In 1982 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy from the Pontifical Gregorian University. In 1990 he completed a bachelor’s degree in theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) and was ordained to the priesthood on January 3, 1991. He has worked in youth ministry in Spain, and vocations ministry in Italy and Mexico. From 2011 to 2016 he was the rector of the community of seminarians studying theology at the International College of the Legionaries of Christ in Rome. In 2016 he moved to Mexico City to serve in vocations ministry, as rector of the Centro Estudiantil, and as territorial councilor. On February 7, 2020, the General Chapter elected him as vicar general and first councilor of the Legionaries of Christ.

Job Description:

The vicar general possesses the faculties that the general director delegates to him for a specified time or ad casum.

Duties:

When the general director is impeded or the office is vacant, the vicar general assumes all the obligations and rights of the office of general director. He is prohibited while in office from any innovation in the governance of the Congregation.

General Councilor: Father Jesús Villagrasa, LC

Biography:

Father Jesús Villagrasa, LC, was born in 1963 in Zaragoza, Spain. He entered the novitiate of the Legionaries of Christ in Salamanca on September 15, 1981, and made his perpetual profession on October 8, 1989. He was ordained to the priesthood on November 25, 1994.

He holds a doctorate in philosophy, a licentiate in theology, and a licentiate in bioethics.

Since 1999 he was a full professor of metaphysics on the faculty of philosophy of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. From 2009 to 2013 he directed the Office of Quality and Center of Evaluation for the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. On January 31, 2011, Cardinal Velasio De Paolis named him as general councilor of the Legionaries of Christ. The 2014 General Chapter elected him to continue as general councilor. As councilor, he was responsible for overseeing Regnum Christi’s network of schools and universities. He also served as rector of the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum from 2013 to 2019. On February 7, 2020, he was reelected by the General Chapter as general councilor of the Legionaries of Christ.

Job Description

The general council collaborates with the general director in the governance of the Congregation. It collaborates above all by giving its consent or opinion in accordance with the prescriptions of universal and proper law. The general council comprises six members, elected by the general chapter for a six-year term. The council ceases when the general director’s term is over. The councilors can be reelected for additional terms. The general director can delegate faculties to the general councilors for a specified time or ad casum to help him in his governance of the Congregation.

Duties:

The general director must obtain the consent or listen to the opinion of his council in all the matters established by universal or proper law. In accordance with universal law, the consent of the general council is required for the general director to do the following:

Establish, transfer or suppress a novitiate;
Grant a novice permission to do his novitiate in another house of the Congregation;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows permission to transfer to another religious institute;
Grant a religious in temporary vows an indult of departure;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows an indult of exclaustration, but not for more than three years;
Petition the Holy See to impose exclaustration on a member of the Congregation;
Readmit a novice or religious who legitimately left the Congregation.

General Councilor: Father Rafael Ducci, LC

Biography:

Father Rafael Ducci, LC, was born in Santiago, Chile, on September 12, 1970. He entered the Legionaries of Christ on March 25, 1989, after finishing high school. He made his perpetual profession in June 1997 and was ordained to the priesthood on December 24, 2002. He holds a licentiate in philosophy and a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. For ten years he worked in the offices of the general secretariat. He also served as director of the Regnum Christi men’s and women’s sections in Santiago, Chile. He served as territorial vicar and director of the apostolate team for the Territory of Chile, prior to his election as general councilor of the Legionaries of Christ by the 2020 Ordinary General Chapter.

Job Description

Duties:

Establish, transfer or suppress a novitiate;
Grant a novice permission to do his novitiate in another house of the Congregation;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows permission to transfer to another religious institute;
Grant a religious in temporary vows an indult of departure;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows an indult of exclaustration, but not for more than three years;
Petition the Holy See to impose exclaustration on a member of the Congregation;
Readmit a novice or religious who legitimately left the Congregation.

General Councilor: Father Pedro Barrajón, LC

Biography:

Father Pedro Barrajón, LC, was born on December 4, 1957, in Valdepeñas, Ciudad Real, Spain. He entered the Legionaries of Christ on October 4, 1974. He made his perpetual profession on April 7, 1985. During his apostolic internship, he served as ECYD assistant and Regnum Christi young adult section assistant in Monterrey, Mexico, from 1979 to 1983. From 1985 to 1986 he served as prefect of studies for the Lay Consecrated Men of Regnum Christi in Mexico. From 1987 to 2000 he worked as an assistant to the general secretary. He received his bachelor’s degree in theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome and holds a licentiate in philosophy and a doctorate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University, also in Rome. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 24, 1988. After his ordination he began his career in academia: serving from 1991 to 1992 in the International College of the Legionaries of Christ (then affiliated with the Pontifical Gregorian University), and then from 1993 to 2013 in the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, of which he was rector from 2007 to 2013. From 2004 to 2014 he served as Regnum Christi adult section director in Brussels, Belgium. Afterward, he was director of the Sacerdos Institute from 2014 to 2016. Currently, he is the rector of the European University of Rome. On February 7, 2020, he was elected by the General Chapter of the Congregation as general councilor.

Job Description

Duties:

Establish, transfer or suppress a novitiate;
Grant a novice permission to do his novitiate in another house of the Congregation;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows permission to transfer to another religious institute;
Grant a religious in temporary vows an indult of departure;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows an indult of exclaustration, but not for more than three years;
Petition the Holy See to impose exclaustration on a member of the Congregation;
Readmit a novice or religious who legitimately left the Congregation.

General Councilor: Father Gerardo Flores, LC

Biography:

Father Gerardo Flores de la Fuente, LC, was born on February 21, 1972, in Puebla, Mexico. In 1990 he entered the novitiate of the Legionaries of Christ in Cheshire, CT, USA, where he also studied humanities from 1992 to 1993. He completed his ecclesial studies at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum in Rome, Italy, where he also completed a licentiate in philosophy. From 1995 to 1999 he worked with the formation of minor seminarians in Monterrey, Mexico. He made his perpetual profession on August 15, 1998, and was ordained to the priesthood on December 24, 2003. After his priestly ordination, he returned to Mexico where he continued to work with the formation of minor seminarians in the minor seminaries of La Joya in Mexico City, León, Monterrey, and Guadalajara. Since 2015 he has overseen the renewal of the minor seminaries of the Legionaries of Christ, and since 2017 he has served as the safe environment coordinator for minors and vulnerable adults. On February 7, 2020, the General Chapter elected him as general councilor.

Job Description

Duties:

Establish, transfer or suppress a novitiate;
Grant a novice permission to do his novitiate in another house of the Congregation;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows permission to transfer to another religious institute;
Grant a religious in temporary vows an indult of departure;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows an indult of exclaustration, but not for more than three years;
Petition the Holy See to impose exclaustration on a member of the Congregation;
Readmit a novice or religious who legitimately left the Congregation.

General Councilor: Father Michael Brisson, LC

Biography:

Father Michael James Brisson, LC, was born on February 22, 1977, in Hartford, Connecticut, USA. He entered the Legionaries of Christ in 1995. He did his novitiate in Monterrey, México, and his humanities studies in Cheshire, Connecticut. He did four years of apostolic internship on the East Coast of the United States promoting Regnum Christi and raising funds for the formation of priests. He received his licentiate in philosophy from the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum, where he also did a year of theological studies from 2006 to 2007. In 2007 he was named territorial secretary for the New York Territory and vice rector of the territorial directorate community, while he completed his theology studies. He was ordained a priest on December 12, 2009, in the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls. As his first assignment, he was named superior of the territorial directorate community in New York and director of the Regnum Christi men’s and women’s sections. From 2010 to 2013 he was local coordinator of apostolate for New York and superior of the Legionary community in Thornwood, New York. From 2013 until the present he has served as territorial secretary for the North American Territory, superior of the Legionary community in Cumming, Georgia, and chaplain for the Consecrated Women of Regnum Christi in Atlanta.

Job Description

Duties:

Establish, transfer or suppress a novitiate;
Grant a novice permission to do his novitiate in another house of the Congregation;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows permission to transfer to another religious institute;
Grant a religious in temporary vows an indult of departure;
Grant a religious in perpetual vows an indult of exclaustration, but not for more than three years;
Petition the Holy See to impose exclaustration on a member of the Congregation;
Readmit a novice or religious who legitimately left the Congregation.

General Administrator: Father José Cárdenas, LC

Biography:

Father José Gerardo Cárdenas Jiménez, LC, was born on July 1, 1957, in Monterrey, Mexico. He entered the novitiate on September 15, 1974, in Orange, Connecticut, USA. He made his perpetual profession on December 22, 1982, and was ordained to the priesthood on December 24, 1985 in Rome. In 1986 he took part in the foundation of the Legionaries of Christ in Brazil. From 1987 to 1990 he served as instructor of novices in the Novitiate of Brazil. From 1991 to 2001 he served as assistant to the territorial director of the South America territory. From 2002 to 2012 he was territorial director of Chile and Argentina. He also served as territorial administrator of Brazil. The 2014 General Chapter of the Legionaries of Christ elected him as general administrator. The 2020 General Chapter reelected him to this office.

Job Description:

The general administrator has the mission of helping to oversee the patrimony, audits, finances, and legal matters related to the Legion’s works, as well as the development and oversight of budgets.

Duties

Develop the necessary systems for performing his proper duties, especially systems for accounting, auditing, budgeting, financial consolidation, and human resources; also developing norms and policies for the legal, financial, budgeting, human resources, construction, information technology and auditing processes.
Coordinate the development of financial projections and budgets of all institutions and territories.
Supervise the implementation of approved budgets, policy compliance in the territories, and account auditing.
Direct the operation of general information technology accounting systems, budgets, centralized administration of personnel and information, and fundraising.
Safeguard the economic resources, real estate of the Legion, the information about personnel in the different branches, accounting, and financial information, and IT assets.
Provide formation and training to territorial administrators.