The novitiate in Cheshire, Connecticut.

In 1971, the little novitiate was moved to Orange, Connecticut. In those first years, a few Legionary priests—mainly Mexicans and Irishmen—began forming the first Americans who embraced the missionary charism of the Legion of Christ.

Soon the Legionaries began establishing centers of apostolate in and around the main cities: in 1973, near New York City and Washington DC; in 1974, in the archdiocese of Detroit; and in 1984, Los Angeles. The work of the Legionaries of Christ now reached from coast to coast.

As it happens with every religious congregation in the foundation stage, the first years were focused mainly on searching for vocations and on forming the new Legionaries. God blessed these efforts, and in 1982 the Legion opened the Immaculate Conception Apostolic School, a minor seminary with 12 teenagers who wanted to discern their priestly vocation. Currently, the school in Center Harbor, New Hampshire has space for more than 120 students.

Also in 1982, the novitiate had to be moved from the small house in Orange to the campus of a former minor seminary in Cheshire, Connecticut. When the Legionaries acquired this property in Cheshire, they thought they had “all the seminary space that they would need for the next 50 years”.

But as their numbers continued to rise, they had to expand it by adding on a new building in 1992 and then by acquiring two new properties in New York to be used in part as formation centers: Our Lady of Mount Kisco in 1994 and Our Lady of Thornwood in 1996.

As the Legionaries’ presence grew in the country, the quantity of their apostolates also grew. In 1986, they founded their first school in Dallas, Texas, the Highlands School. In 1993 the first family center was founded in the suburbs of Washington, Our Lady of Bethesda. The formation center for consecrated women was founded in Rhode Island at the beginning of the 1990s. The Legionary priests, working with the lay people, launched the first national apostolates of Regnum Christi: Familia in 1993 and Youth for the Third Millennium (now called Mission Youth) in 1995. The number of missions in the States and abroad has also continued to grow, with Holy Week missions in 8 major North American cities and medical missions gathering hundreds of doctors and nurses for trips to Central America each year.

Many other apostolates have sprung up since then, including 12 Legionary schools and dozens of NCE-affiliated schools. (NCE stands for National Consultants for Education.) In the field of higher education, the Institute for Psychological Sciences, founded in 1998, has already become a known reference point for Catholic psychologists.

Under the umbrella of Mission Network, there is now a whole range of youth apostolates for all ages, from the NET (or K4J) apostolate for kids ages 5 to 10 to the Challenge and ConQuest clubs and camps all over the country for girls and boys ages 11 to 16, Compass to strengthen college students in their faith and missionary outreach, Pure Fashion to teach high school girls modesty and values through fashion shows, SportsLeader to foster values in sports teams from kindergarten to college age, Christian Life for high school and college small group studies, Leadership Training Seminars to form middle and high school youth in faith and leadership skills.
There are also services for the clergy, with the ePriest web site and newsletter and the Sacerdos Institute, which has its own newsletter, retreats, and courses for priests.

There are retreat centers and family centers in dozens of major cities, vocational discernment courses, and programs for adult faith formation. In addition to Familia, with its programs f for men and women, another family program called Pilgrim Queen of the Family has also enjoyed marked success.

The growth of Legionary houses of formation has continued with the foundation of two new minor seminaries: one in Colfax, California and another in Rolling Prairie, Indiana. There are currently hundreds of young men in various stages of formation and preparation for the priesthood, from the minor seminarians in the apostolic schools to the priests and brothers pursuing advanced degrees in Thornwood.

The growth that has happened in the past few decades has been exponential, nothing short of miraculous. From a small handful of Legionaries and Regnum Christi members in 1971, the Movement has expanded to over 10,000 members served by over 100 Legionary priests. The number of people who benefit from its apostolic outreach numbers in the hundreds of thousands, with even greater growth anticipated on the horizon.

The Legion of Christ in the United States can be contacted at:
Legionaries of Christ
475 Oak Ave
Cheshire, CT 06410
U.S.A.

info@legionaries.org

Presence on the Internet:
www.vocation.com
www.nceducation.org
www.cywn.net
www.catholicworldmission.org
www.ourladyofbethesda.org 
www.hhmm.org
www.ipsciences.edu
www.ytm.org
www.familiausa.net
www.catholickidsnet.org
www.sacerdos.org
www.ncregister.com
www.faithandfamilymag.com
www.challengeclubs.net
www.purefashion.com
www.hombrenuevo.net
www.guadaluperadio.com
www.catholic.net
www.oaklawnusa.org
www.everestacademy.org
www.conquestclubs.net
www.circlemedia.com