Fr. Cyprian’s Benedictine Monastery:
heretical and cult-like
What are your thoughts on the
Benedictine monastery of Fr. Cyprian in NM?
MHFM: Thank you for
your question. The monastery is
basically a SSPX monastery. Many of the
brothers study at the SSPX’s seminary in Winona, MN. They accept Benedict XVI as the pope, and
they hold that Bishop Lefebvre (who believed that souls could be saved in any
religion) was a pillar of orthodoxy.
Bishop
Marcel Lefebvre, Against the Heresies,
p. 216: “Evidently, certain distinctions must be made. Souls can be saved in a religion other than
the Catholic religion (Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism, etc.), but not by
this religion.”
Their
positions are unfortunately not of the true faith, and the founder of their
monastery, Fr. Cyprian, is a heretic.
Here is what he wrote in his Autumn, 2005
newsletter:
Fr. Cyprian, newsletter, Autumn,
2005: “We celebrate the 100th
anniversary of the birth of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre on November 29th
and thank God for giving us this great saint as our infallible guide,
especially in the firm establishment of this monastery.”
Fr. Cyprian
says that Bishop Lefebvre (a completely independent bishop) was his “infallible guide”! This is cult-like. Not even a pope is infallible in all he does,
but only when he invokes his Magisterial authority. But Fr. Cyprian says that Bishop Lefebvre was
an “infallible” guide! This is purely heretical
and arguably idolatrous.
Do they have
many externals at their monastery? Absolutely. Do they
give the appearance of
tremendous devotion to God and the monastic vocation? Yes.
Since so many “traditionalists” care only about externals, and don’t
really value the faith, as soon as
they get a brochure from a group such as this – replete with pictures of the
monks engaged in holy activities – most of them are swept away. They immediately conclude that they must be
of God. Who cares what positions they
hold on such “unimportant things” as whether Benedict XVI is the pope or
whether non-Catholics can be saved? Who
cares: “look at that neat monastic setup,
that orderly schedule, and those fine Benedictine
habits!” Bad-willed people, who
don’t really care about the faith of Jesus Christ, are swept away by
externals. That’s one reason why the
SSPX has amassed such a following. It’s
how the homosexual cult, the Society of St. John, was able to gain so much
support in such a short period of time: they appeared quite dedicated in their
nice-looking cassocks and beautiful-sounding Latin chanting, yet underneath it
all was a pack of unspeakable perverts.
Now, of course we’re not asserting that all who externally appear
dedicated and traditional are spiritually false. Rather, we’re asserting that if an individual
appears externally dedicated to the true faith but continues obstinately in
positions not in line with it then he or she is definitely bad-willed and
insincere, now matter how dedicated he or she may
appear.
As we’ve
tried to point out repeatedly, and as is exemplified so clearly in the case of
the Society of St. John, appearances/externals are one thing and can be
deceiving – sincerity, true interior devotion and having the true faith
internally inhering in one’s soul is another.
St. Alphonsus (+ c.
1760): “In the estimation of men, the
value of an act increases in proportion to the time spent in its performance;
but before God the value of an act
increases in proportion to the purity of intention with which it is performed. For, as the scripture says, men look only to
the external acts, while God regards the heart…” (The True Spouse of Jesus Christ, p. 597)
A while back
we posted a link about a convent of Novus Ordo nuns
who pray that Jews remain Jews. (http://www.beliefnet.com/story/16/story_1675_1.html)
Since they don’t want Jews to believe in Christ and the Catholic faith –
but rather to remain Jews – those nuns are obviously apostates. They are on the road to damnation and they
don’t have any faith in Christ. However,
they spend much of their day in silence
and their convent is unheated. They
surely consider themselves dedicated Catholics and perhaps extraordinary ascetics, while the reality is that they are complete
rejecters of God and headed for hell.
This demonstrates that without the true faith, it is impossible to
please God (Heb. 11:6) – no matter how many other acts of religion, devotion
and supererogation one thinks one performs.
Some of the
most pernicious heretics in Church history deceived their victims by their
externals and apparent ascetism. Arius, for instance, was able to convince
many in this way. This is a key
point. One can busy himself with many
activities, including religious ones; but if the intention is not pure (i.e.
for God and the salvation of souls), and the whole Catholic faith is not
present, it’s worth nothing. One can
even spend many hours a day in prayer and religious work; but if, for instance,
the person thinks that John Paul II was a Catholic after seeing John Paul II’s
apostasy, then that person’s devotion is in vain. That’s because he doesn’t truly believe in
God. In his case, his works are
phony. They serve to make him feel elite
and superior, but he doesn’t believe they are necessary.
No matter how
much time and effort a man puts out, if he doesn’t hate evil, his effort
is worth nothing. If he cannot tell
people the full truth, no matter how much time he spends publishing, speaking,
traveling or working for matters Catholic, it’s all worth nothing. If he refuses to believe what God has
revealed because he just cannot accept it – for instance, that all who die as
non-Catholics are not saved – his effort is worth nothing. That’s precisely what we are taught in the
story of God’s rejection of Saul.
1 Kings 15:22-23: “And Samuel said: Doth the Lord desire holocausts and
victims [i.e. sacrifices], and not rather that the voice of the Lord
should be obeyed? For obedience is better than sacrifices:
and to hearken rather than to offer the fat of rams. Because
it is like the sin of witchcraft to rebel: and like the crime of idolatry, to
refuse to obey. Forasmuch as thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, the Lord hath
also rejected thee from being king.”
This passage
of scripture does not concern obedience to a reputed authority in the Church;
it concerns obedience to the Word of God: faith in His revealed word. And the chilling admonition above in 1 Kings
15 was made by the prophet Samuel to King Saul, who had offered sacrifice in
direct violation of God’s word. Saul had attempted to please God with his
sacrifice, while he was simultaneously contravening God’s spoken word. As a result, King Saul’s sacrifice was
completely rejected by God; and Saul himself was cast off by the Lord.
What about
the other monks under Fr. Cyprian? Are
they heretics, too? It really depends
upon whether or not they have the same sentiments as Fr. Cyprian. If they believe that Bishop Lefebvre, a
completely independent bishop, is an “infallible” guide… if they believe that
Lefebvre was right to teach that souls can be saved in other religions after
this is pointed out to them… if they agree that it’s okay to reject the
“canonizations” of the man they deem to be pope, as the SSPX does… if they
believe that John Paul II was a Catholic after
they have been informed of his apostasy… then they are heretics just like
Fr. Cyprian. I fear that many of them
would obstinately defend these things, especially
Lefebvre’s heretical teaching on salvation, even after it (and its clear contradiction
of Catholic dogma) would be pointed out to them.
A horrible
sign was the fact that when the snake-worshipping, Voodoo-blessing,
Koran-kissing apostate John Paul II died, the “monks” of NM under Fr. Cyprian
celebrated a requiem Mass for him. They
celebrated a requiem for a man who rejected as meaningless Jesus Christ and the
entire monastic life. By such an action,
they are indicating that one can reject as meaningless the entire monastic life
and Jesus Christ Himself, as John Paul II did, and still make it to
Heaven. If they had any devotion to
Christ, they would have a major problem celebrating a requiem Mass for the
apostate John Paul II. Those who were
aware of John Paul II’s activities, and still didn’t have a problem with the
requiem Mass, are phonies.
Even those
who may not agree with Fr. Cyprian’s positions, which is probably few, are in
the grave peril of imbibing the schismatic and heretical positions of the SSPX
as long as they are surrounded by heretics in the monastery. This is obviously why no Catholic could
support or enter this monastery, which doesn’t espouse positions in line with
the true Catholic faith. Unfortunately,
it espouses those which are heretical (souls can be saved in other religions),
schismatic (one can reject the hierarchy one recognizes as the Catholic
hierarchy) and hostile to true faith in God (the independent Bishop Lefebvre
was “infallible”).
www.mostholyfamilymonastery.com