Fr. Leonard Giardina
and Christ the King Abbey
By Bro. Michael Dimond, O.S.B.
A number of people have
asked us if we are affiliated with Fr. Leonard Giardina
and Christ the King Abbey in
To further corroborate this
fact, On Dec. 15, 2003, Bro. Peter Dimond telephoned Fr. Giardina. He asked him whether he holds the dogma that
all who die as non-Catholics will not be saved, defined by the Catholic Church
at the Council of Florence. Fr. Giardina responded that he didn’t know. Thus, Fr. Giardina
is not sure if a defined dogma of the faith (outside the Church no salvation) is true. Fr. Giardina told
Bro. Peter that he believes that there are non-Catholics who live pretty
“perfect” lives.
Bro. Peter then asked him
whether he thinks it’s possible that a Rabbi who rejects Christ can be
saved. Fr. Giardina
said he didn’t know and that he leaves it up to God. Bro. Peter pointed out to Fr. Giardina that it is a divinely revealed truth (a defined
dogma) that only those who die as Catholics can be saved (which is why we must
earnestly endeavor to bring non-Catholics into the one haven of salvation), and
then Bro. Peter said: “so you are saying that it’s possible that a Rabbi who
rejects Jesus Christ can be saved.” Fr. Giardina
admitted that he didn’t know if a Rabbi who rejects Christ can be saved and
admitted that he believes that it’s possible. Fr. Giardina
therefore holds that members of non-Catholic religions, including Jews who
reject Christ, can possibly be saved without being Catholic. This is totally heretical.
Pope Eugene IV, Council of
Florence, Cantate Domino,1441, ex cathedra: “The Holy
Roman Church firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go
into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless
they are joined to the Church before the end of their lives...”
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate Domino, 1441, ex cathedra:
“The Holy Roman Church firmly believes,
professes and teaches that the matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament,
of the Mosaic Law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites,
sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were established to signify something
in the future, although they were suited to divine worship at that time, after
our Lord’s coming had been signified by them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever, even after the passion,
placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted himself to them as
necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save without them, sinned mortally. Yet it does not deny that after the passion
of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could have been observed
until they were believed to be in no way necessary for salvation; but after the
promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that
they cannot be observed without the loss of eternal salvation. All,
therefore, who after that time (the promulgation of the Gospel) observe
circumcision and the Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, it
declares alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate
in eternal salvation, unless someday they recover from these errors.”
Fr. Giardina
is a heretic who completely rejects these dogmatic pronouncements. He is deceiving Traditional Catholics by
soliciting funds for his Monastery. He
is not a Christian, as he rejects one of the most central truths of the Gospel
and a defined Catholic dogma: that Jews (and other non-Catholics) must believe
in Christ and the Catholic Faith to be saved.
By rejecting the teaching of Christ given to His Church, Fr. Giardina rejects Christ Himself.
Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (#
9), June 29, 1896:
“… can it be lawful
for anyone to reject any one of those truths without by the very fact falling into
heresy? – without separating himself from the Church? – without repudiating in
one sweeping act the whole of Christian teaching? For such is the nature of faith that nothing
can be more absurd than to accept some things and reject others… But he who dissents
even in one point from divinely revealed truth absolutely rejects all faith,
since he thereby refuses to honor God as the supreme truth and the formal motive of faith.”
Catholics must be made aware
of this and must not donate a penny to Fr. Giardina
or his Monastery.
Fr. Giardina
also promotes the sinful birth control method of Natural Family Planning. In his Weekly Bulletin #767, he writes:
“In
our vestibule can be found copies of a very important article on a serious
topic: ‘On the Question of Natural Family Planning.’ We should all be grateful
to Bishop Mark Pivarunas, C.M.R.I., for such a clear
and accurate presentation of this much needed explanation. We can be sure of a rebuttal from some
sectors; however, we must not prefer private opinions to the clear and official
teachings of the true Catholic Church.”
See our article “Natural
Family Planning is evil” for the documented evidence of how Natural Family
Planning subordinates the primary purpose of marriage and the marriage act to
secondary ends and is therefore immoral birth control.