Group Think
In the early 1970s, The Apostolic Formation Center for Christian Renew moved from Pennsylvania to Somers, CT, to await the second coming of Christ.
They took over All Saints Parish.
My mother's family heard of the group, then moved from Hartford to Somers and began following this particular offshoot of Catholicism to the letter. At the time, the Apostolics were sanctioned by the Church.
My father joined this religion because he was a young artist searching for his soul and running from his home in New Britain.
What I'm trying to say is, my parents met in a cult.
The Apostolics say they came to Somers because the leader had had a vision that Jesus would show up there. In reality, the group was expelled from St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in West Warren, PA in 1973 "when the parish's pastor, Father Gerald Durocher, became concerned that founder J. Roy Legere had 'deluded' members with personal revelations he said he received from God and the Blessed Virgin."
Legere and all other leaders claimed to have visions of Mary where she spoke directly to them. And the people believed these men.
The leaders gathered a group of men together. Those in the elite inner circle of 24 were called "Emissiaries." They secretly practiced a homosexual ritual called the "Divine Intimacy of the Holy Seed." Men invited who did not wish to participate were told to pray.
This divine intimacy was based on the belief that Legere was the "twin" of Christ and was spreading God's seed.
My father was at J. Roy Legere's bedside when he died. The leader told him at that time that he was God.
In case this hasn't been crazy enough for you, they also had a bilocating nun who played adviser to Legere and his son. She claimed to be a mystic. Members believed the Virgin Mary "borrowed" the sister's body on this earthly plane.
Once you were a member, you had to obtain permission from the leaders to make any change in your life.
And that's where my particular story begins.
After a year of courtship within the church, my father eventually proposed to my mother. She accepted.
She held a shower and the date was coming near. Then one of the church leaders decided that the two weren't right for each other. He told them it was not God's will for them to be married.
My mother returned her shower presents in tears and stopped speaking to my father altogether.
Months went by. One night, my mother's sister heard a tapping at the window. "Leona!" she whispered, "Angelo is outside throwing rocks at our window!" And when my mom peered out, she saw my father on the ground with a ladder that he quickly mounted against the house. He climbed up and insisted she follow him down.
She did. They drove away, across town and spent the next few nights in my father's apartment while planning what to do. They had a wedding, but I can't remember if my grandparents attended. If they did attend, it was with great reservation and unhappiness that their daughter would go against the church.
Ten years later, in 1985, the Catholic Church took away the Sacrament of Communion from the Apostolics and ousted them from the mother religion. With the death of their leader and the bilocating nun, and no backing from the Catholic Church, the sect eventually disappeared, though there is talk that the group started up again in Massachusetts and exists there to this day. Still awaiting the second coming of Christ.
...
Up for some supplemental reading? These are microfiched articles from our local paper that document the investigation into this sect.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/afc/afc2.pdf
http://www.rickross.com/reference/afc/afc3.pdf
http://www.rickross.com/reference/afc/afc4.pdf
They took over All Saints Parish.
My mother's family heard of the group, then moved from Hartford to Somers and began following this particular offshoot of Catholicism to the letter. At the time, the Apostolics were sanctioned by the Church.
My father joined this religion because he was a young artist searching for his soul and running from his home in New Britain.
What I'm trying to say is, my parents met in a cult.
The Apostolics say they came to Somers because the leader had had a vision that Jesus would show up there. In reality, the group was expelled from St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in West Warren, PA in 1973 "when the parish's pastor, Father Gerald Durocher, became concerned that founder J. Roy Legere had 'deluded' members with personal revelations he said he received from God and the Blessed Virgin."
Legere and all other leaders claimed to have visions of Mary where she spoke directly to them. And the people believed these men.
The leaders gathered a group of men together. Those in the elite inner circle of 24 were called "Emissiaries." They secretly practiced a homosexual ritual called the "Divine Intimacy of the Holy Seed." Men invited who did not wish to participate were told to pray.
This divine intimacy was based on the belief that Legere was the "twin" of Christ and was spreading God's seed.
My father was at J. Roy Legere's bedside when he died. The leader told him at that time that he was God.
In case this hasn't been crazy enough for you, they also had a bilocating nun who played adviser to Legere and his son. She claimed to be a mystic. Members believed the Virgin Mary "borrowed" the sister's body on this earthly plane.
Once you were a member, you had to obtain permission from the leaders to make any change in your life.
And that's where my particular story begins.
After a year of courtship within the church, my father eventually proposed to my mother. She accepted.
She held a shower and the date was coming near. Then one of the church leaders decided that the two weren't right for each other. He told them it was not God's will for them to be married.
My mother returned her shower presents in tears and stopped speaking to my father altogether.
Months went by. One night, my mother's sister heard a tapping at the window. "Leona!" she whispered, "Angelo is outside throwing rocks at our window!" And when my mom peered out, she saw my father on the ground with a ladder that he quickly mounted against the house. He climbed up and insisted she follow him down.
She did. They drove away, across town and spent the next few nights in my father's apartment while planning what to do. They had a wedding, but I can't remember if my grandparents attended. If they did attend, it was with great reservation and unhappiness that their daughter would go against the church.
Ten years later, in 1985, the Catholic Church took away the Sacrament of Communion from the Apostolics and ousted them from the mother religion. With the death of their leader and the bilocating nun, and no backing from the Catholic Church, the sect eventually disappeared, though there is talk that the group started up again in Massachusetts and exists there to this day. Still awaiting the second coming of Christ.
...
Up for some supplemental reading? These are microfiched articles from our local paper that document the investigation into this sect.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/afc/afc2.pdf
http://www.rickross.com/reference/afc/afc3.pdf
http://www.rickross.com/reference/afc/afc4.pdf