The St.
Benedict Center’s heretical and schismatic positions are very hostile to the
Faith
By Bro. Peter Dimond, O.S.B.
Some
of our readers are familiar with the St. Benedict Center in New Hampshire. Since the St. Benedict Center is holding
their annual conference next week, we felt it opportune to quickly remind
readers why their positions are hostile to the Faith, adding a few important
insights along the way.
THE ST. BENEDICT CENTER IS
IN COMMUNION WITH MANIFEST HERETICS
The
St. Benedict Center accepts as Catholics the manifest heretic Benedict XVI and
his apostate “bishops,” who hold that non-Catholics should not be converted,
that Jews can be saved, that non-Catholics can receive the sacraments, etc., etc. They have seen the heresies of Benedict XVI
and the facts proving that heretics cannot be popes, but their leadership obstinately rejects these truths and has
rejected them for years – even as the
Vatican II sect deteriorates further and further into such a notoriously bad
joke of apostasy that it makes the Protestant sects look conservative.
Since
the St. Benedict Center is obstinate in this regard, they are heretics for professing communion with manifest
heretics. Even at this late stage in
which the facts in favor of the sedevacantist
position are so well known, formidable and overwhelming, they show their
profound bad will by banning from their conferences those who would even discuss the obvious fact that the Vatican II sect cannot
be the Catholic Church. (I will not
repeat all of the proof that Benedict XVI and his “bishops” are manifest
heretics here; see the rest of our website and our videos for the undeniable
facts.)
CONSIDERING THEIR DEMAND
THAT ALL ACCEPT THE HERETIC BENEDICT XVI, THE ST. BENEDICT CENTER’S INDEPENDENT
POSITION IS DEFINITELY SCHISMATIC
In
addition to being heretical, the St. Benedict Center is also schismatic; for
while they profess communion with Benedict XVI (and condemn those who do not so
profess), they actually remain independent of his “hierarchy” for no reason
whatsoever (as we will see). The St.
Benedict Center admits on their website that they are not in regular communion
with the hierarchy of Benedict XVI. On
their website they even feature a letter from a Novus Ordo
diocese which states that their
“community has no official recognition within the Church.” Wait a second. If they declare that Benedict XVI is the
pope, and that his “bishops” constitute the hierarchy, why are they not under
their authority and working in full communion with them? If they recognize Benedict XVI as the pope
they are bound under pain of schism to operate within his “hierarchy.”
St. Ignatius of Antioch,
Letter to the Trallians,
(A.D. 110): “He that is within the sanctuary is pure;
but he that is outside the sanctuary is not pure. In other words, anyone who acts without the bishop and the presbytery and the deacons
does not have a clean conscience.” (Jurgens, Faith of the
Early Fathers, Vol. 1:50)
St. Jerome, Commentaries on the Epistle to Titus,
(A.D. 386): “Between heresy and schism there is a distinction made, that heresy
involves perverse doctrine, while schism
separates one from the Church on account of disagreement with the Bishop. (Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers, Vol. 2:1371a)
But they remain permanently independent (and thus
outside) of communion with the hierarchy they profess to accept.
THIS
GETS EVEN WORSE WHEN CONSIDERING THEIR POSITION ON VATICAN II AND THE NEW MASS
But
it gets even worse… much worse. I
recently noticed that on their website the St. Benedict Center has some
questions and answers about their positions on Vatican II, the New Mass,
etc. Look at these answers:
St. Benedict Center, NH: “Q. Does this mean you think the New Mass is
invalid or sinful to attend? A. No, it
does not. The necessary form for the consecration of the sacred Body and
Blood of our Lord are present in the Missa of Paul
VI. Therefore we cannot deny its inherent validity as a sacramental rite. Neither do we have the authority to
"forbid" any lay person from attending it, nor to determine that a
rite approved by the Church is sinful to attend.”
The
statement that the New Mass has the sufficient form of consecration is a lie,
but that’s not what I want to focus on here.
Notice that they hold that one
cannot be forbidden to attend the New Mass.
Keep this in mind as we further consider their independent community,
which “has no official recognition within the Church.”
St. Benedict Center, NH: “Q. What
about Vatican II and the conciliar popes? Are they
real popes? Was that council a genuine ecumenical council?...
John Paul II is the presently reigning Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church.
His predecessors (Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, and John Paul I) were also
validly elected popes who retained their pontifical offices….The Second Vatican Council was a true
ecumenical council since it took place under the lawful authority of the
Roman Pontiff.” (See Question 7 for more on Vatican II.)
Notice
that they hold that Vatican II was a legitimate council of the Catholic
Church. Keep this in mind as we consider
their independent status.
St. Benedict Center, NH: “Q. Back to Vatican II: Didn't it teach
heresy? We do not have the authority to judge the decrees of an ecumenical
council. Ultimately, it is left to the authority of the Church — that
is, the pope — to separate the wheat from the chaff in the confusing, long,
often tortuous (and torturous) documents of that Council.”
Notice
that they claim to have no right to say
that Vatican II taught heresy! Now,
let’s think about this for a
minute. If Vatican II is a true council,
as they say; if they cannot even say that it taught heresy; if they say that
the New Mass may be attended, and that no one is forbidden to attend a rite
approved “by the Church,” THEN WHY ON EARTH IS THIS HERETICAL GROUP INDEPENDENT
OF ANTIPOPE BENEDICT XVI AND HIS “BISHOPS”?!
They are independent solely because they are a renegade group which personally prefers – even though they
accept Vatican II, agree with the Novus Ordo
“bishops” that it’s not heretical, and agree with them that the New
Mass can be attended, and hold the Novus Ordo
“bishops” to be Catholic – to be on its own.
Even
though they recognize the Novus Ordo “bishops” as
Catholic, they remain independent because they
don’t feel like putting themselves under the hierarchy they claim to
recognize. They want to do their own
thing, to be subject to no one, like Protestants. They enjoy being able to have their
conferences, schools, chapels, etc. without any scrutiny of a hierarchy,
including the one they claim is the Catholic hierarchy. This is an incredible outrage, totally
hypocritical and utterly schismatic. The fact that people actually buy this
outrageous and schismatic position, after years and years, is about as
outrageous as their position itself.
People really need to wake up and start to be honest.
CONTRARY TO WHAT SOME
THINK, THE ST. BENEDICT CENTER DOESN’T EVEN BELIEVE THAT OUTSIDE THE CHURCH THERE IS NO SALVATION IS A DOGMA WHICH MUST BE
ACCEPTED BY ALL WHO ARE PART OF THE CHURCH
While
the St. Benedict Center claims to
adhere staunchly to the dogma Outside the Church There is Absolutely No
Salvation, the fact of the matter is they
don’t. The fact is that the current
St. Benedict Center doesn’t even believe that Outside the Church There is No
Salvation is a dogma which must be accepted by all to be part of the Catholic
Church. This is proven by the
fact that they accept Benedict XVI and his “bishops” as part of the Catholic
Church, and it is well known
that Benedict XVI and his “bishops” so thoroughly reject this dogma that they
state that Protestants and schismatics don’t even
have to accept Vatican I!
“Cardinal” Ratzinger, Principles of Catholic Theology (Ignatius
Press, San Francisco, 1982),
pp. 197-198: “On the part of the West, the
maximum demand would be that the East recognize the primacy of the bishop of
Rome in the full scope of the definition of 1870 [Vatican I] and in so
doing submit in practice, to a primacy such as has been accepted by the Uniate churches… As regards Protestantism, the maximum
demand of the Catholic Church would be that the Protestant ecclesiological
ministers be regarded as totally invalid and that Protestants be converted to
Catholicism… none of the
maximum solutions offers any real hope of unity.”
Thus,
it is a fact that the St. Benedict Center doesn’t believe that Outside the
Church There is No Salvation is a dogma
which must be accepted by all to be part of the Church. They accept as part of the Church – and
demand that others similarly accept – people who undeniably and obstinately
reject this dogma! So let no man say
that the St. Benedict Center staunchly defends the dogma Outside the Church
There is No Salvation. They don’t. In fact, at the St. Benedict Center’s
conferences they frequently invite
speakers who are heretical on the
dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation. This year, for example, their conference will
be featuring “Fr.” Nicholas Gruner. “Fr.” Gruner
publicly and vigorously endorses the book The
Devil’s Final Batttle, which teaches heresy on
the salvation dogma:
The
Devil’s Final Battle, compiled and edited by “Fr.” Paul Kramer,
publicly endorsed and promoted by Gruner, p. 69: “This teaching must not be understood to
preclude the possibility of salvation for those who do not become formal
members of the Church if, through no fault of their own, they do not know
of their objective obligation
to do so… only God knows whom He will
save (in some extraordinary manner) from among the great mass of humanity
which has not exteriorly professed the Catholic religion.”
This is completely heretical. It is particularly pernicious, in fact,
because this book pretends to uphold the dogma Outside the Catholic Church
There is No Salvation and it will be read in “traditional circles” – all the
while rejecting the dogma. The above
statement is a denial of Papal Infallibility and a repudiation of the divinely
revealed truth that God will only save Catholics and those who become
Catholics. The heretical statement above
literally means that we just don’t know if
what God has revealed is true or not.
And it shows again how prevalent and virulent the Objective-Subjective
heresy is, finagling its way into all kinds of places. The truth remains, however, that the Catholic
Church teaches that Church membership is necessary for salvation. It nowhere teaches what the modern heretics
love to say: that Church membership is objectively
necessary for salvation.
Since Gruner is well
known and popular in certain “traditionalist” circles, this is more important
to the St. Benedict Center than the fact that he is heretical on the salvation
dogma and/or doesn’t agree with them.
Thus, they compromise the dogma in order to have him speak. They don’t stand for the dogma or Our Lord;
they are sell-outs and heretics.
In
fact, on their website the St. Benedict Center features another letter from a
diocesan official in the Novus Ordo Church. Apparently the St. Benedict Center is proud
of this letter, which states that “proponents of a strict interpretation of the
doctrine should be given the same latitude for teaching and discussion as those
who would hold more liberal views.” In
other words, some years ago some diocesan official wrote a letter which stated
that if one wants to hold the dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation as
it has been defined, that’s okay; but it’s also okay to hold the other “liberal
version” which utterly rejects its truth.
Since the St. Benedict Center holds that Outside the Church There is No
Salvation is merely just a nice opinion
to have – not a dogma which all must
accept under pain of expulsion from the Church – they are proud to promote
this letter which merely enunciates one’s “right” to hold the dogma, even
though the very same letter denies that it is a truth which must be held by
all.