A man who rarely went to Mass was coming out of church one Sunday, and the priest was standing at the door, as always, to shake hands. He took the man by the hand, pulled him aside, and said, “Son, you need to join the Army of the Lord!” The man responded, “Father, I’m already in the Army of the Lord.” The priest replied, “How come I don’t see you except at Christmas and Easter?” The man whispered back, “Because I’m in His ‘secret service’!”
The fourth standing instruction obliges a degree of secrecy as part of Legion service, demanding “absolute respect for the confidential nature of many matters discussed at the meeting or learned in connection with the legionary work” (H, 109). The “what” entailed with this precept is well explained by Fr. Fran Peffley in his book Inside the Legion of Mary [ILM]. There, he specifies the practicalities linked to this fourth standing instruction in the following terms: “knowledge gained on assignments or discussed at meetings (names, state of life, state of mind, state of soul, circumstances of those visited or situations discussed at meetings) [is] ‘classified information,’ limited to Legion ears only, and usually for those legionaries closely involved” (ILM, 32).
The “what” involved in this matter could not be clearer. Yet we should also be informed about the “why” behind it. Why is such secrecy necessary? Among the many reasons, the first intimated in the Handbook is this: because the information gained on assignment and at a meeting is not really our property: it belongs to the Legion. We must remember, for example, that a home visitation was not done in our name as a friend or neighbor. Instead, the person visited spoke to us as representatives of the Legion of Mary. Therefore to repeat such information outside the Legion when the Legion has asked that this not be done would actually equate to a betrayal to the Legion. It would involve, in a sense, “stealing” information that does not belong to us personally and giving it away to others.
In addition, breaches of confidentiality create an atmosphere of mistrust inimical to the Legion’s ability to function in a given area. If word spreads that legionaries are the types to carelessly and publicly disclose the spiritual struggles and other sensitive details about persons served – oblivious to the embarrassment caused them or the damage done them, who will want to talk to legionaries about anything? Who will want to be transparent about their struggles with sin, their doubts about the Catholic Faith, their difficulties with Mass attendance, and the realities of their irregular marriage situation? Breaches of confidentiality undermine the trusted atmosphere essential for the Legion’s ability to gain the spiritual data needed to perform its spiritual works.
Finally, breaking Legion secrecy violates the spirit of Mary which every member is asked to embrace. How? It certainly opposes her spirit of “perfect obedience” by not staying true to Legion standards. It definitely violates her “universal mortification” by failure to exercise self-control. And it even could be untrue to her “profound humility,” especially in those instances when legionaries disclose information for selfish reasons, such as wanting to boast about accomplishments or impress another with “juicy” news items which they know – and someone else does not.
So, let a word to the wise suffice. Those Legion lips of ours: let them be for smiles reflecting our pride in the work we do for Jesus and Mary. At the same time, let those lips also be sealed as to the details of that work. In other words, let us keep the “secret” in our “service” as the least we can do to uphold the dignity of those served and the reputation of the Legion of Mary.
June 17, 2018/Allocutio to the Philadelphia Senatus/Rev. Frank Giuffre Reading: Handbook: Chapter 33, Number 4 (“Inviolable Confidence Must Be Preserved”): pp. 194