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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