The Heretical CMRI
By Bro. Peter
Dimond, O.S.B.
Many traditional Catholics are familiar with the
priests of the CMRI. For those who are
not, the CMRI is a society of priests which professes to be Roman Catholic, ordains
men validly according to the traditional Roman Rite, rejects the New Mass,
Vatican II and the Vatican II antipopes.
The CMRI has done many good things in favor of tradition and against the
Vatican II Counter Church, and for those things it deserves credit.
However, we have pointed out in our newsletters
and magazines the unfortunate yet undeniable fact that the priests of the CMRI
hold to heresy (as will be shown below).
The priests of the CMRI hold to heresy first and foremost for their
obstinate denial of the solemnly defined dogma that the Catholic Faith
is necessary for salvation. The CMRI
holds that non-Catholics can be saved without the Catholic Faith. Such a position is heresy. I ask those supporters of the CMRI who are
unfamiliar with the CMRI’s belief in this regard not to dismiss this as
something you simply cannot accept (because it is true). Please consider the points below. Since the CMRI priests reject a Catholic
dogma, no one aware of this fact (which will be proven below) can support them
under pain of mortal sin. Those who
continue to do so obstinately will partake in their mortal sins against the
faith and will follow them to damnation.
1.
The CMRI twice published in their Quarterly Magazine an article
entitled, “The Salvation of Those Outside the Church.” It was published in the Winter 1992 issue of The Reign of Mary, The CMRI’s
publication (Vol. XXIV, No. 70, p. 10.).
The article indicates that those who die as
non-Catholics can be saved, which is a blatant rejection of Catholic
teaching. In fact, the title of the
article “The Salvation of Those Outside the Church” is a word for word denial
of the Catholic dogma “Outside the Church there is no salvation.” It is equivalent to publishing an article
entitled: “The Original Sin Mary Had.”
This heresy was so blatant that I called the
headquarters of the CMRI in Washington and spoke to one of the priests about
the article. He told me that he had “no
problem with it.” They hold to this
heresy because they adhere to Protocol 122/49, the heretical letter also called
Suprema haec sacra which was
published in 1949 against Fr. Leonard Feeney.
This hertical, non-infallible letter teaches salvation by “implicit” baptism of
desire, including for those in “invincible ignorance,” and for those who are
not “members” of the Church, and for those “who do not belong to the body of
the Catholic Church.” In other words, it
teaches that there is salvation for some people who don’t have the Catholic Faith
or believe in Jesus Christ. This is
blatantly heretical. Its teachings are
utterly refuted by Catholic dogma, as proven in the section on this letter in
my book: Outside
the Catholic Church There is Absolutely No Salvation [pdf file].
The CMRI recently published a pamphlet defending “baptism of desire” which implements arguments
which have all been thoroughly refuted in the aforementioned book. They use a combination of fallible texts
(which don’t prove the point), misunderstood texts (which don’t state what they
claim) and mistranslated texts to inculcate their false position. In fact, they outrageously still use the
“except through” mistranslation of Sess. 6, Chap. 4 of Trent that has been
discussed in the book. They also don’t
tell you in their easily refuted and dishonest pamphlet that they hold that
it’s possible for Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, etc. to be united to the Church and
saved.
2. In the Winter of 1996, The Reign of Mary (publication of the
CMRI) Vol. XXVI, No. 83, pp. 4-5,
featured another heretical article called “The Boston Snare,” by Bishop Robert
McKenna. Like the CMRI, Bishop Mckenna
believes that members of all kinds of non-Catholic religions can be saved. He says that the dogma Outside the Church
There is No Salvation only applies to those “knowingly” outside the Church,
which is a heretical idea.
Bishop Robert McKenna,
“The Boston Snare,” printed in the CMRI’s Magazine The Reign of Mary, Vol. XXVI, No. 83: “The doctrine, then, of no salvation outside the Church is to be
understood in the sense of knowingly
outside the Church… But, they may object, if such be the sense of the dogma
in question, why is the word ‘knowingly’ not part of the formula, ‘Outside the
Church no salvation’? For the simple reason that the addition is
unnecessary. How could anyone know
of the dogma and not be knowingly outside the Church? The
‘dogma’ is not so much a doctrine intended for the instruction of Catholics, since
it is but a logical consequence of the Church’s claim to be the true Church, but rather a solemn and material
warning or declaration for the benefit of those outside the one ark of
salvation.”
Frankly, this has to be one of the more heretical
statements made by a person purporting to be a traditional Catholic
bishop. As can be seen clearly from
these words, Bishop McKenna (like almost every modern priest) rejects the true
meaning of this dogma and holds that non-Catholics can be saved without the
Catholic Faith. In a desperate attempt
to defend his heretical version of Outside
the Church there is no salvation, McKenna admittedly must change the
understanding of the dogmatic formula proclaimed by the popes. He tells us that the “true” meaning of the
dogma is that only those who are “knowingly”
outside the Church cannot be saved. Oh
really? Where was that qualification
ever mentioned in the dogmatic definitions on this topic? Nowhere!
Recognizing that such an understanding runs contrary
to the clear words of the dogmatic definitions on the topic – none of which
ever mentioned “knowingly” and all of which eliminated all exceptions –
Bishop McKenna attempts to explain away the problem.
Bishop Robert Mckenna,
“The Boston Snare,” printed in the CMRI’s Magazine The Reign of Mary, Vol. XXVI, No. 83: “The ‘dogma’ is not
so much a doctrine intended for the instruction of Catholics… but rather a solemn and material warning
or declaration for the benefit of those outside the one ark of salvation.”
The dogma Outside
the Church there is no salvation, according to Mckenna and the heretical
CMRI which printed this article in their magazine (Vol. XXIV, No. 83)
because they believe the same thing, is not a truth from Heaven, but a warning
or admonition written for non-Catholics!
This is grotesque theological nonsense and flat out heresy.
Pope Pius X, Lamentabile,
The Errors of the Modernists, July 3, 1907, #22: “The dogmas which the
Church professes as revealed are not truths fallen from Heaven, but they are a kind of interpretation
of religious facts, which the human mind by a laborious effort prepared for
itself.”- Condemned
As we have already seen, dogmas are truths fallen from Heaven which cannot possibly contain
error. They are not merely human
statements written to warn non-Catholics, which are subject to correction and
qualification. Dogmas are infallible
definitions of the truth which can never be changed or corrected, and have no
need to be changed or corrected since they cannot possibly contain error. Dogmas are defined so that Catholics must
know what they must believe as true from divine revelation without any
possibility of error, which is exactly the opposite of what McKenna and the
CMRI assert.
McKenna and the CMRI are compelled to deny that
dogmas are truths from Heaven and to belittle dogmas to fallible “warnings for
non-Catholics” which can be corrected, because they desire to justify their
heretical belief in salvation outside the Church – i.e., those “unknowingly”
outside the Catholic Church – which belief, as they unwittingly admit by
employing such argumentation, is directly contrary to the clear words of the
dogmatic definitions.
This is perhaps what is most important about the
heresy of Bishop Mckenna and the CMRI: the dogma deniers – that is, those who
believe in the heresy that “baptism of desire” and “invincible ignorance” can
save those who die as non-Catholics (such as Bishop McKenna and the CMRI and
almost every modern priest whether he is “traditional” or Novus Ordo) – are
revealing by such ridiculous argumentation that their “version” of this dogma is incompatible with the words of the
dogmatic definitions; for if their version were compatible with the dogmatic
definitions they would never be forced into heretical statements such as
those above.
The CMRI has
printed other heretical articles on this issue, but it is a demonstrable fact,
easily ascertained by just asking any of their priests, that they adhere to
the heretical Protocol 122/49 and believe that invincible ignorance can save
members of false non-Catholic religions and persons who don’t believe in Christ. This heresy is held by almost all priests
today.
This has been the response of every priest of the
CMRI that I have questioned about this issue.
While they admit that they believe that non-Catholics can be saved
without the Catholic faith, and while they admit that they have no problem with
articles which deny Outside the Church there
is no salvation word for word, the priests of the CMRI will also claim that
they do hold the dogma Outside the Church
there is no salvation! Therefore,
the priests of the CMRI are heretical liars: they claim to hold Outside the Church there is no salvation
while they print articles denying it word for word and while they tell anyone
who asks them the appropriate questions that non-Catholics can be saved without
the Catholic Faith!
Pope Pius IV, Council of Trent, Iniunctum nobis, Nov.
13, 1565, ex cathedra: “This true Catholic faith, outside
of which no one can be saved… I now profess and truly hold…”
Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Session 8, Nov.
22, 1439, “The Athanasian Creed”, ex cathedra: “Whoever wishes
to be saved, before all things it is necessary that he holds the Catholic
faith. Unless a person keeps this
faith whole and undefiled, without a doubt he shall perish eternally.”
The CMRI is in heresy, therefore, against the above
infallible teaching of the Catholic Church, in addition to many other
statements from the Magisterium. For
those who find it hard to believe that the priests of the CMRI could be this
heretical and dishonest, do not be surprised at all. Basically every single heretic who denies the
dogma Outside the Church there is no
salvation will tell you that he is not denying it. The heretics who believe in salvation outside
the Catholic Church know that the Catholic Church teaches that there is no
salvation outside the Church, so they cannot always come right out and blatantly
deny it (although the CMRI even did that in the article they printed). The heretics who deny this dogma don’t
primarily reject it in name but in its meaning.
Pope Pius IX, First Vatican Council, Sess. 3, Chap. 2
on Revelation, 1870, ex cathedra: “Hence, also, that understanding of
its sacred dogmas must be perpetually retained, which Holy Mother Church has
once declared; and there must never be a recession from that meaning under
the specious name of a deeper understanding.”
The only meaning of the dogma Outside the Church there is no salvation is that which holy Mother
Church “has once declared” in Her definitions. That meaning is that all who die without the Catholic Faith or
outside the Church or in a non-Catholic religion cannot be saved.
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; that the unity of this ecclesiastical
body is of such importance that only those who abide in it do the Church’s
sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of
piety and practices of the Christian militia productive of eternal rewards; and
that nobody can be saved, no matter how
much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of
Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.”
The CMRI totally rejects this meaning, as does
almost every modern day priest. Their
meaning or “version” of this dogma is not what the Church says it is; in fact,
it is the opposite. Their “version” of Outside the Church there is no salvation
is that members of non-Catholic religions can be saved without the Catholic
faith in their false religions!
The person who heard this heresy subsequently went
to the CMRI priest in charge of the chapel in Santa Clarita, Fr. Dominic
Radecki. The person asked Fr. Radecki
what he had to say about this horrible heresy that had been uttered at his
chapel, that Jews can be saved without being Catholic. Fr. Radecki not only did not rebuke the
layman who had stated that Jews can be saved without the Catholic faith, but
he defended the layman’s heresy (that Jews can be saved without the
Catholic faith) – thus proving what we at Most Holy Family Monastery have been
saying all along: that the CMRI priests reject the dogma Outside the Church there is no salvation
and are not Catholics.
5. The CMRI’s heretical denial of the dogma Outside the Church there is no salvation
is no more effectively illustrated than in the book Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma by Dr. Ludwig Ott. The
CMRI advertises for and sells the book Fundamentals
of Catholic Dogma by Dr. Ludwig Ott (at least as of today, 9/24/03); and the position of Dr. Ott on the dogma Outside the Church there is no salvation
corresponds exactly to that of the priests and nuns of the CMRI.
Dr. Ludwig Ott, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, p. 311: “It
is the unanimous conviction of the Fathers that salvation cannot be achieved
outside the Church.”
Here on page 311 Dr. Ott correctly tells us that it
is the unanimous teaching of the Fathers (not to mention the solemn teaching of
the Magisterium) that salvation cannot be achieved outside the Church. But watch this. On the page immediately before this (page
310!), Ott tells us word for word the opposite!
Fundamentals
of Catholic Dogma, by Ludwig Ott, Imprimatur 1954, p.
310: “The necessity for belonging to the Church is not merely a necessity of
precept, but also of means, as the comparison with the Ark, the means of
salvation from the biblical flood, plainly shows… In special circumstances,
namely, in the case of invincible ignorance or of incapability, actual
membership of the Church can be replaced by the desire for the same… In
this manner also those who are in point of fact outside the Catholic Church can
achieve salvation.”
“But let your speech be yea, yea: no, no:
and that which is over and above these, is of evil” (Mt. 5:37).
From
one page to the next, Ludwig Ott contradicts himself on whether those who are
outside the Catholic Church can achieve salvation! He even uses the exact same verb – “achieve”
– in both sentences, but with the opposite meaning from one to the next: 1) “salvation
cannot be achieved outside the Church”; 2) those “outside the
Church can achieve salvation.”
Is this not straight from the mouth of the devil or what? He uses the exact same verb to mean the exact
opposite thing from what he stated on the page just before! His speech is not of God, but of the
devil. Black is white and white is black;
good is evil and evil is good; truth is error and error is truth; salvation
cannot be achieved outside the Church and salvation can be achieved outside the
Church. And this is exactly the
heretical position of the CMRI, which is why they sell the book.
But
for the pre-Vatican II heretics who condemned the staunch priest Father Leonard
Feeney, despised the dogma Outside the
Catholic Church there is no salvation and sowed the seeds for the Great
Apostasy that is now upon us, it is no problem believing that there is
salvation outside the Catholic Church, while simultaneously pretending to
believe that there is no salvation outside the Catholic Church. It is no problem for these people because
they are of evil (Mt. 5:37).
Pope Gregory XVI, Summo Iugiter
Studio, May 27, 1832, on no salvation outside the Church: “Finally some
of these misguided people attempt to persuade themselves and others that men
are not saved only in the Catholic religion, but that even heretics
may attain eternal life… You
know how zealously Our predecessors taught that article of faith which these
dare to deny, namely the necessity of the Catholic faith and of unity for
salvation… Omitting other appropriate passages which are almost numberless
in the writings of the Fathers, We shall praise St. Gregory the Great who
expressly testifies that THIS IS INDEED THE TEACHING OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. He says: ‘The holy universal Church
teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in her and asserts
that all who are outside of her will not be saved.’ Official acts of the Church proclaim the
same dogma. Thus, in the decree
on faith which Innocent III published with the synod of Lateran IV, these
things are written: ‘There is one universal Church of all the faithful
outside of which no one is saved.’
Finally the same dogma is also expressly mentioned in the profession of
faith proposed by the Apostolic See, not only that which all Latin churches
use, but also that which the Greek Orthodox Church uses and that which other
Eastern Catholics use. We did not
mention these selected testimonies because We thought you were ignorant of
that article of faith and in need of Our instruction. Far be it from Us to have such an absurd and
insulting suspicion about you. But We
are so concerned about this serious and well known dogma, which has been
attacked with such remarkable audacity, that We could not restrain Our pen from
reinforcing this truth with many testimonies.”
The
priests of the CMRI (and those who knowing this information persist in
supporting them), as well as those who obstinately support or agree with the
heresy advanced by Ludwig Ott in Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, should
rightly fear, as Pope Gregory XVI says, because they will without a doubt
inherit a place in Hell for obstinately denying a Catholic dogma if they do not
repent and convert.
Pope Gregory XVI, Mirari Vos (# 13), Aug. 15,
1832: “They should consider the
testimony of Christ Himself that ‘those who are not with Christ are against
Him,’ (Lk. 11:23) and that they
disperse unhappily who do not gather with Him. Therefore, ‘without a doubt, they will perish
forever, unless they hold the Catholic faith whole and inviolate (Athanasian
Creed).”
6. The CMRI and its heretical
leader, Bishop Mark Pivarunas, are also adamant defenders of birth control by
means of Natural Family Planning.
The CMRI priests instruct people that Natural
Family Planning is an acceptable form of birth control. Bishop Pivarunas also publicly defended this
sinful birth control practice at one of their conferences. Most recently, in the Winter of 2003, the CMRI carried an article entitled “On
the Question of Natural Family Planning,” again promoting that couples can
limit the size of their family by means of the Natural Family Planning birth
control method. Natural Family
Planning is a sinful method of birth control which subordinates the primary
purpose of marriage (the procreation and education of children) to secondary
ends, by a deliberate attempt to phase new life out of existence by means of
the rhythm method. For a full discussion
of why Natural Family Planning is evil, consult the article on our website.
7. The CMRI has been
sedevacantist (that is, they correctly hold that the Chair of Peter is vacant
and that Benedict XVI is not the pope) for a long time; yet, they still
administer Holy Communion to persons who reject the sedevacantist position. And according to various persons who have
attended their Masses for years, the CMRI priests say little to nothing about
the issue that Benedict XVI is not the pope from the pulpit.
Therefore, while the CMRI’s publication states that
their priests do not hold that Benedict XVI is the pope, this belief is not
enforced at their chapels. Hence, as far
as many people who are unaware of these issues and attending their chapels are
concerned, the CMRI does hold that Benedict XVI is the pope, since they
say little to nothing about it and do not require adherence to the dogmatic
truths surrounding this issue (namely, that a person who says we shouldn’t
convert non-Catholics is outside the Church).
They also allow non-sedevacantist nuns to join their society and receive
sacraments from them as their sisters in Christ.
Hence, while they claim in their publications to be
free from the errors and heresies which necessarily arise from obstinate adherence to the Vatican II
Counter Church, if they don’t preach about this publicly at their chapels, they
are – in reality – a group which accepts Benedict XVI; for they tolerate that
heretical position at their chapel and give Holy Communion to persons who have
rejected the information demonstrating that Benedict XVI is not the pope.
For these reasons, no one aware of this information can support the
CMRI in any way under pain of grave sin and denying the Catholic Faith.
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