by
Thomas A. Droleskey
Although great efforts were made early last month to treat the tragic story of the departure of a various Sisters from the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen at Mount Saint Michael's Church in Spokane, Washington, by cataloguing the various apostasies of conciliarism and contrasting them with the perennial teaching of the Catholic Church, the time has come for "the rest of the story" to be told. This is very regrettable. However, as will be seen in this article, the Sisters who have now left the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen were not acting in good faith in their final year at Mount Saint Michael's Church and Academy and are continuing to try to undermine even the integrity of the families who have not followed them into the counterfeit church of conciliarism.
Rather than to be content with placing themselves under the authority of a false "bishop" who took his diocese into bankruptcy to avoid disclosure of how he presided over a systematic cover-up of the protection of perverted priests, to say nothing of associating with the evil that is the Protestant and Masonic Novus Ordo service and the entire ethos of conciliarism, some of the departed Sisters have taken to trying contact their former students at Mount Saint Michael's Academy to "explain" their position. This is curious as some of these Sisters spent a good deal of time in the final few weeks of the 2006-2007 scholastic year to use the classrooms of Mount Saint Michael's Academy to openly contradict the Congregation's stated theological positions and to breed contempt in the minds of students for its Superior General, the Most Reverend Mark A. Pivarunas. The Sisters had a good deal of time, therefore, to argue openly in behalf of the "legitimacy" of the "pontificate" Father Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI and to try to square conciliarism with Catholicism.
Apparently, however, it was not enough for the Sisters to seek to undermine the very reason for which the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen and Mount Saint Michael's exists while they had, sub secreto, contacted the Diocese of Spokane to explore the possibilities of a "home" for them should their underground rebellion against Bishop Pivarunas and the Very Reverend Casimir Puskorius, the pastor of Mount Saint Michael's Church, become cause for their expulsion from the Congregation. This was done without any thought about informing His Excellency and Father Casimir that they had made contacts with the conciliar officials so as to give their superiors the option of dismissing them then and there. It is apparent now that the refusal to extend the simple courtesy of informing Bishop Pivarunas and Father Casimir about their contact with the Diocese of Spokane was part of an effort to sow, however subtly at times before things came into the open after Easter, the seeds of dissent amongst the students and their parents while they retained the trust of their own superiors.
This can be seen from the article that appeared in the Inland Register, the official newspaper of the conciliar Diocese of Spokane:
They visited with Father Connall at Bishop White; with Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer, the president of Gonzaga University; with Father Barnett; with Bishop Skylstad. “What they began to see is that the Church is alive, and it is Catholic,” said Father Connall.
Some of the Sisters would attend conferences given to the Missionaries of Charity on Thursday evenings by Benedictine Abbot Adrian Parcher, now pastor of the parishes in Colfax and LaCrosse. At the Mount, the Sisters had been told “there were no more women Religious in the world, but they saw the Missionaries of Charity, in full habit, living a form of Religious life more radical even than theirs,” said Father Connall.
The meetings with Father Connall provided a catalyst, said Sister Francis Marie.
As the Sisters learned more, and asked more questions, they encountered nothing but patience, compassion, and understanding, said Mother de Lourdes.
As they dealt with Bishop Skylstad, “I thanked him,” said Mother de Lourdes. “He could have written us off, or made some public statement,” ordering Catholics to stay away, “but he didn’t. He didn’t condemn us. He patiently waited, understanding of our plight; supportive, prayerful – in a Christ-like spirit of love.”
Part of the reconciliation flows directly from Vatican II, and true ecumenism, said Father Connall.
“We didn’t compromise our principles as Catholics,” he said. “We made certain demands of them in light of our Faith. They fulfilled those requirements. We approached our separated brethren through honey, rather than vinegar. We aren’t changing our teaching; we’re changing our approach.”
As the Sisters’ grew in their knowledge of the Faith, it became clear that they could no longer remain within the community at the Mount. Many of them were teachers in the school there. “We wanted to finish the school year, so as not to cause difficulty to the community,” said Mother de Lourdes. Nevertheless, school was concluded three days early.
June 22 was the day of the “big move,” said Mother de Lourdes, from the Mount to IHRC. June 23 was the first day they were all together.
Fourteen of the Sisters now live on the second floor and basement level of Rosage Hall, one wing of IHRC. A 15th Sister also left the Mount, but has remained with her family for the time being, discerning her future direction.
Of the 14, one is a novice; one is in her second year of formation, and has taken temporary vows. The others have made final profession.
At present, Bishop Skylstad has approved their statutes, erecting The Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church as a private association of the faithful, a carefully
defined term under Church law. The Association is recognized by the diocese for three years. http://www.dioceseofspokane.org/Communications/IR_2007/ir070507/sisters.htm
The claim that the Sisters did not want to "cause difficulty to the community" is disingenuous. It is, frankly, not true. There was open proselytizing in behalf of the "legitimacy" of the "pontificate" of Father Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI in the classroom in the final weeks of the school year. The community was very much disrupted by the sub rosa contacts that the dissenting Sisters had developed with the the conciliar Diocese of Spokane and with the Missionaries of Charity. None of these meetings were reported to their superiors, who were providing them with room and board while they were permitting themselves to be "re-educated" by enemies of the Catholic Faith in the Diocese of Spokane who have done so much to undermine the innocence and purity of children by means of explicit classroom instruction in matters pertaining to the Sixth and Ninth Commandments (see
Una Cum Apostasy and Corruption, an article that must not be read by children or adolescents or those easily scandalized).
It is pure self-serving revisionism to claim that the dissenting Sisters did not want to disrupt the community. Their efforts in the final few weeks of the school year to contradict the Congregation's stated positions and their efforts at present to contact former students and other parishioners at Mount Saint Michael's demonstrate that they did indeed desire to convince more and more people to leave the Congregation of Mary Immaclate Queen. Dissension was indeed sown by some of the departed Sisters. Bishop Pivarunas explained to me in a telephone conversation on Friday, July 20, 2007, that the information contained in the Inland Register article reveals very clearly that the actions of the departed Sisters were direct betrayals of the trust that had been placed in them.
Not content with having sown so much dissension and contempt for the superiors of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen, and perhaps reeling from Bishop Pivarunas's superb treatment of the issues raised by their dissension (Jun 03, 2007 The Novus Ordo And CMRI Sisters (50 Minutes), some of the Sisters, as noted above, took recently to trying to telephone their former students to invite them to their conciliar compound to listen to them to explain their position. This is a breach of the integrity of the family. Parents are the principal educators of their children. No outsider, including a teacher, whether current of former, has the right at any time to contact directly a minor child at home so as to undermine the authority of his parents and to get the minor child to adopt positions contrary to those held by the parents.
The integrity of the family is a matter covered by the Fourth Commandment and admits of exceptions only in very rare instances, such as those involving documented physical abuse. The Sisters needed to contact the parents to ask permission to speak to their children, explaining the reason for their phone calls. Were the Sisters afraid that the parents would not give this permission? Or did they believe themselves to be exempted from the requirements of the Fourth Commandment as do public school officials, who do so much to violate the integrity of the family on a regular basis?
Then again, why should those who did not have the decency to inform their superiors about their contacts with the conciliar officials in the Diocese of Spokane--and who bred contempt for those superiors among many of their students in the final few weeks of the school year--have any concern for the binding precepts of the Fourth Commandment concerning the integrity of the family? It's all about them, you understand, and their desire to seek the approval of others. Who cares about little things such as personal integrity, obedience to one's superiors and respect for the precepts of the Fourth Commandment? Indeed, Bishop Pivarunas told me that one of the dissenting Sisters approached him on a stairway after his marvelous sermon at Mount Saint Michael's Church on June 3, 2007, and got "right into his face" to remonstrate with him, although she did, His Excellency reports, come back to apologize to him. Plain and simple, folks, the dissenting Sisters were imbued with the spirit of Eve, the proto-feminist, as they sought to do the bidding of their newfound conciliar friends while heaping scorn upon the superiors to whom they had pledged obedience.
What were the dissenting Sisters supposed to do? Leave, that's what. Leave. One cannot continue an association with an organization that takes a position you doubt or have come to reject. This is just a matter of simple personal integrity that applies in all situations, no less in a religious community where members are under a vow of obedience to their superiors.
For example, it was incumbent upon me last year to inform the editors of non-sedevacantist traditional journals that I was about to use my website to raise questions about the legitimacy of the conciliar "pontiffs," knowing full well that the mere raising of these questions even prior to any public embrace of sedevacantism would end my association with these journals, which it did. It was important to let the editors know of my leanings so that they would not be embarrassed by continuing to publish the articles of one who disagreed with their own stated positions. This was not heroic on my part. Not at all. It was what simple justice required me to do. Nothing more, nothing less. The editors did what they had to do in severing their ties with me. Fine. I pray for them and their families daily. No harm done. No offense taken. No one has the right to have his articles published in journals run by others. And no member of a religious community has the right to undermine publicly its positions. Indeed, the obligations of simple justice is increased exponentially in the context of the religious life.
Bishop Pivarunas explained this in his letter of May 17, 2007, to the Sisters of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen:
Dear Sister --, CMRI,
During the last twelve years of my Superior Generalship, it has been well-known to all the members of our Congregation — CMRI priests, brothers, and sisters — that I have not micro-managed the activities or affairs of any religious. If anything be said, it is that my involvement was limited to those matters to which I was strictly obliged.
Now it is no secret to both religious and laity that there has arisen a division in the Sisters' Congregation, due to a change in some of the Sisters' theological position (these Sisters now recognize Benedict XVI as a true pope, and accept the validity of the Novus Ordo and the legitimacy of the Second Vatican Council). Such an opinion is contrary to the position the Congregation has always held.
Rev. Mother Marie De Lourdes has sought to maintain unity among the Sisters and has found consolation in a quote from Pope Benedict XV (Nov. 1, 1914):
"As regards matters in which without harm to faith and discipline — in the absence of any authoritative intervention of the Apostolic See — there is room for divergent opinions, it is clearly the right of anyone to express and defend their own opinion."
I believe that Rev. Mother, with all the best of intentions, has not considered fully the words "WITHOUT HARM TO FAITH AND DISCIPLINE."
Is there "harm to faith and discipline" within the Sisters' Congregation with this issue of the papacy and where the magisterium of the Church is today?
The CMRI priests and I as well as the majority of Religious consider there is harm, because the issue of the papacy and the magisterium is essential to the Catholic Faith. Since Vatican II the errors of false ecumenism, religious indifferentism and religious liberty (errors explicitly condemned by the Catholic Church) have permeated the Modern Church. In the Apostles' Creed, when we recite, "I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Holy Catholic Church," we are reminded that the Holy Ghost abides with the Catholic Church and protects her from error. The Holy Ghost has not failed the Church; the Modern Church is simply not the Catholic Church.
Consider the following:
- Our Congregation's very existence is based on the vacancy of the Apostolic See.
- The CMRI Sisters will be divided on which laws of the Church to follow; will they follow the 1917 Code of Canon Law (pre- Vatican II) promulgated by Pope Benedict XV or the 1983 Code of Canon Law (post Vatican II) promulgated by John Paul II?
- Some of the Sisters who recognize Benedict XVI and the Novus Ordo have spoken against the theological position of the Congregation to the laity.
- One of the CMRI Sisters (who does support the Congregation's theological position) aptly responded to the Sisters' questionnaire: "In addition, and importantly to me as a final professed member of the Congregation, I feel that my vow of obedience is compromised if the governing members of the Congregation do not hold the sedevacantist position.
1) Because if Benedict XVI or a future 'pope' were to make some mandate that a superior felt was lawful, I would be bound by vow to obey her... yet she obeys a man I don't consider to be the pope...
2) Even if such were not the case, I feel that those who recognize the V2 popes as valid, yet do not obey them, have a different understanding of obedience than I have. It would be difficult for me to respect and obey someone who could call a man the pope and not obey him. I would not fully trust their understanding of obedience, and for this reason again, feel my vows are compromised."
Over the past few weeks, all the CMRI priests and the majority of CMRI Religious have petitioned me for some type of peaceful resolve to this situation.
After much prayer, with the unanimous agreement of the CMRI priests, and with the agreement of the majority of CMRI Religious, as the Superior General of CMRI and as the Bishop of the same Congregation, I settle this matter in the following manner:
- Any CMRI Sisters who do not agree — in writing — with the theological position of CMRI will be no longer allowed to teach in any CMRI schools, nor to teach catechism, nor to be in any position of authority in the Congregation (effective June 27, 2007).
- Any CMRI Sisters who will continue to speak or act against the theological position of CMRI, whether in public or private, will be required to leave the Congregation (effective June 27, 2007).
- Any CMRI Sisters who do not hold to the CMRI position and yet will not speak or act against it will be allowed to stay.
There is no greater contradiction today than for any member of CMRI to attempt "to serve two masters" — to recognize Benedict XVI and to remain in a Congregation separated from him. The issue of the papacy is the crux of the matter and the CMRI Sisters need to decide whether they will belong to CMRI or not.
Please be assured of my prayers for each and every one of you. You are more than welcome to call me if you have any questions. I will be in Spokane at the end of May and early June and welcome any questions or concerns you may have.
With my prayers,
Sincerely in Christ, Most Rev. Mark A. Pivarunas, CMRI Letter from Bishop Pivarunas to the CMRI Sisters
Curiously, Bishop Pivarunas's letter found its way to the internet after he had sent it to the Sisters, perhaps so as to breed sympathy for the dissenting Sisters, who believed they were being "persecuted" by His Excellency. There's a little problem with something called logic and rationality in the assertion that the Sisters were being "persected." They maintained contacts with conciliar officials that were so confidential that the other Sisters at Mount Saint Michael's were not aware of them whatsoever. They desired to teach under the auspices of and to receive the Sacraments administered by the priests of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen while maintaining a "right" to dissent publicly from the Congregation's position and to maintain their contacts with the counterfeit church of conciliarism.
This is more than a little audacious. Indeed, Bishop Pivarunas told me that it was clear to him when he arrived at Mount Saint Michael's in late-May that he was the "bad guy" in the eyes of many of the students. This did not just happen. This was the result of some of the departed Sisters wanting to cultivate sympathy for themselves after a year of maintaining secret contacts with conciliar officials and without having the decency to inform His Excellency about what they were doing. It was only after one of the Sisters who believed that she had the "right" to do these things posted His Excellency's letter on the internet that he authorized its posting on the website of the Congreagation of Mary Immaculate Queen. It appears that some of the departed Sisters wanted to maintain their positions at Mount Saint Michael's and to do and say what they wanted in its facilities while furthering their ties with the counterfeit church of conciliarism.
There is, sadly, another element at work in the departure of the Sisters from the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen who maintained secret contacts with the conciliar officials in Spokane while using their classrooms to propagate positions contrary to the Congregations. This other element at work in the departure of the Sisters is the immersion of some of them, at least at one point in the past, in the false "spirituality" of the New Age movement. Obviously, this is par for the course in the conciliar structures. New Age "spirituality," which is very much tied into feminism and propagation in behalf of perversion and pantheism (in the form of environmentalism) and other forms of naturalism, permeates many conciliar parishes and colleges and universities and seminaries and religious communities of men and women. There was a "zen meditation room" in the Jesuit retreat house, Inisfada, in Searingtown, New York, when last I visited there in late-2000 with a prominent Jesuit priest and an equally prominent lay couple (the husband planted some Miraculous Medals in the "zen meditation room").
Indeed, Saint Dominic's Church in Oyster Bay, New York, featured a veritable potpourri of New Age speakers for a "day of recollection" in October of 1994. Among the speakers was the then pastor, Monsignor Charles H. "Bud" Ribaudo, who listed among his credentials training in "dream therapy," "est" (for Werner Erhard's Erhard Seminars Training) and Silva Mind Control, prompting me to write an article entitled "This Bud's Not for You" that was reworked into an overall expose of the Diocese of Rockville Centre that was published in The Wanderer in March of 1998. Monsignor Ribaudo had composed his own New Age version of the creed in the place of the Nicene Creed when he was the chaplain at Holy Trinity Diocesan High School some years before. He was shameless in his promotion of the New Age Movement, which meant not a blessed thing to the longtime apostate "bishop" of Rockville Centre, the late and most nefarious John Raymond McGann.
Just to provide a brief example of what is considered to be acceptable in many conciliar dioceses, here are some brief descriptions, taken from Wikipedia (whose material must be examined carefully before being cited), on just one of Monsignor Bud's New Age "methods," Silva Mind Control:
According to its proponents, the Silva Method (Silva Mind Control, Remote viewing) is a self-empowerment system to shape beliefs, augment personal success and view distant objects or locations and connect with a higher intelligence for guidance. José Silva developed pseudoscientific explanations of brain function and its relationship with a higher consciousness in the 1960s.
According to its proponents, the technique aims to reach and sustain a higher state of mental functioning, called alpha state, where brainwave frequency is eight to thirteen Hz. The method also uses visualizations and affirmations. Advocates attest to healing, better attainment of goals, ESP and cure from addictions.
José Silva, founder of the Silva Method, claimed to have developed a program that trained people to enter certain brain states of enhanced awareness. He also claimed to have developed several systematic mental processes to use while in these states allowing a person to mentally project with a specific intent. According to Silva, once the mind is projected, a person can allegedly view distant objects or locations and connect with higher intelligence for guidance. The information received by the projected mind is then said to be perceived as thoughts, images, feelings, smells, taste and sound by the mind. The information obtained in this manner can be acted upon to solve problems.
J. B. Rhine, long-time parapsychology researcher at Duke University, coined the term, Extra-sensory perception (ESP). He thought that the psychic senses were an extra sense that only a few very special people had. Silva modified the phrase "Extra-sensory Perception" to "Effective Sensory Projection". Silva kept the same initials, ESP, but the revised meaning suggests that it is a more dynamic activity.
In 1953, Silva believed he had trained his daughter to be psychic, and he introduced his training methods to Rhine with his daughter as proof. Rhine's response was that Silva's daughter was a natural psychic and he just hadn't noticed it before. Subsequently, Silva began working with another subject. This time, he tested his subject first to be sure he was not functioning as a psychic. Over the next ten years, Silva claimed to have trained thirty-nine more subjects to be psychics.
Another discovery claimed as successful is remote viewing. Rather than passively waiting for impressions to be perceived, a person projects him- or herself mentally and remotely views what is going on in a process similar to lucid dreaming.
Alleged successes with his methods convinced Silva that everyone has such abilities and can be taught to develop them, and that it is not an extra sense at all, but an unneeded—therefore undeveloped—sense. Everything happens first in the mind, he reasoned, then happens in the body. A person mentally decides to pick up a glass of water and drink it, then does it physically. Your life is the manipulation of the set rules of this universe, the trick is learning how to manipulate the rules right.
The Silva Method is now a multi-million dollar business with thousands of Silva Method instructors teaching the system over several days to groups of students in numerous countries worldwide.
All forms of the New Age movement and mind control, whose adherents may not consider it necessarily part of the New Age movement (which it is), involve trying to arrogate unto human beings divine powers. A Catholic understands that the First Commandment requires him to avoid anything that places "faith" in any naturalist method of alleged "self-improvement." We do not need to "divine" the future or to "manipulate" objects. We need to obey God as He has revealed Himself through His true Church and to cooperate with the graces He won for us by the shedding of every single drop of His Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross and that flow into our hearts and souls through the loving hands of Our Lady, the Mediatrix of All Graces. We accept everything that happens to us from the hand of God Himself, recognizing that there is no cross that we are called to bear that is the equal of what one of our least venial sins caused Him to suffer in His Sacred Humanity during His Passion and Death and that His graces are fully sufficient to offer up each cross to His Most Sacred Heart through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary.
A Catholic meditates upon and tries to imitate the example of the saints, who did not need false "Eastern" "spiritualities" to do the will of God but who simply and readily sought to deny themselves by prayer, fasting, penance and mortification so that they could more perfectly conform their own hearts to His own Most Sacred Heart. A Catholic does dwell on "self-fulfillment" according to the dictates of various naturalist ideas and movements. A Catholic dwells on becoming more Christ-like, which excludes a militant assertion of self-will that scoffs at the superiors to whom one has pledged obedience while it works behind the scenes with those opposed to one's superiors without for a moment having the decency or the integrity to be honest about what one is doing. Oh, yes, one immersed in the New Age movement can very well justify deception and subterfuge in the name of "self-fulfillment and "self-actualization" and actually believe that they have not been the source of any dissension or controversy (which has to originate in the minds of those who dare to oppose their "insights" and who dare to stifle their "right" to self-expression).
His Excellency Bishop Pivarunas confirmed to me in a telephone conversation on Friday, July 20, 2007, as he was recovering from ear surgery just the ay before, that some of the Sisters who have left the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen and who are now in the conciliar structures of the corrupt, financially and spiritually bankrupt Diocese of Spokane dabbled at some point in a New Age "spirituality" called Reiki, about which I knew absolutely nothing until a reader from Montana informed me about this a few days ago. This was a credible report as we had received a letter from a woman last year who informed us of the involvement of some of the Sisters in some sort of New Age "spirituality" and the use of the enneagram. Others informed us of this during our visits to Mount Saint Michael's in the Fall of 2006 and in May of 2007. Nevertheless, this part of the story would have been omitted unless it had been confirmed by Bishop Pivarunas himself.
It stands to reason, therefore, that an immersion in any form of New Age "spirituality" would help to predispose one formerly committed to the cause of Tradition to bolt and join the counterfeit church of conciliarism, which has such a de facto openness to the New Age movement in its schools and colleges and universities and houses of "religious formation."
What is Reiki. Here is a description as found on the Wikipedia site:
A Japanese Tendai Buddhist named Mikao Usui is understood to have discovered Reiki in 1922 after a twenty-one day retreat on Mount Kurama, involving meditation, fasting, and prayer. Usui claimed that by mystical revelation he had gained the knowledge and spiritual power to apply and attune others to what is called Reiki. Many years earlier, as a young monk, Usui had studied kiko (the Japanese equivalent of Qigong), and practised a healing method based on that discipline. Usui said that the awakening of Reiki and the development of his techniques was something entirely different.
In April of 1922, Usui moved to Tokyo and founded the Usui Reiki Ryoho Gakkai (Usui Reiki Healing Society), an organization which exists to this day.
Usui was an admirer of the literary works of Emperor Meiji, and, in the process of developing his Reiki system, summarised some of the Meiji Emperor's works into a set of ethical principles, which later became, and to this day are known as, the Reiki Principles. Most Reiki teachers and practitioners aim to abide by these five principles, one translation of which is:
"The secret method of inviting good fortune. The marvelous medicine for all sickness:
Just for today:
Do not be angry
Do not be worried
Be grateful
Work hard (on yourself)
Be kind to others.
Every morning and every night, sit in the Gassho (hands held palm-to-palm [literal translation]) position and speak these words out loud in your heart. For the evolution of body and soul, Usui Reiki Ryoho" - Mikao Usui, the founder.
Usui taught over 2000 students to use Reiki. 16 of his students continued their training to reach the Shinpiden level, equivalent to the Western third degree, or master level. Usui died in 1926.
Evolution of body and soul? Evolution? Any Catholic who engages in New Age "spirituality" methods is inviting the devil to take possession of his or her soul. A Catholic does not engage in any form of syncretism to "heal" the body or to "soothe" the soul. A Catholic does not "chant" anything other than in the method prescribed by Saint Gregory the Great for the singing of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and of the Divine Office, certainly not to "chant" naturalist slogans that invite the devil and all of his minions in for a protracted stay in one's soul. For the price of whatever alleged "healing" takes place in the body as a result of the "channeling of energy" by such a forbidden syncretist method is a direct visitation by the demons, who will most happily participate in the alleged healing of the body in order to deter one from accepting physical crosses and to offer them up to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Sorrowful and Imaculate Heart of Mary as her consecrated slaves.
Our Lord speaks quite directly about those who think that they have swept out the house of souls by proper methods, no less those who use the demon's methods to appear to have done so:
And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man he walketh through dry places seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished. Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation. (Mt. 12: 43-45)
Any "dabbling" in the New Age movement, no matter the various masks under which its pernicious practices hide, is forbidden by the First Commandment. A Catholic does not seeking the "healing" of the body by means of false "spiritualities" but is concerned about remaining steadfast in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament and to the Mother of God, being prepared at all times to lift high the Cross of the Divine Redeemer and to prefer every single bodily torment imaginable in order to make some small degree of reparation for one's own sins and those of the whole world. Saint Bernadette Soubirous and Saint Therese Lisieux, for example, endured great physical sufferings that were hidden from sight for a long time until just before their deaths. They would have rejected all notion of syncretist "spiritualities" completely out of hand.
Those among the former Sisters of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen who may have engaged in these demonic practicess, no matter how briefly, will blend rather well into the conciliar structures in the Diocese of Spokane. One wonders if they--and the others who have left the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen--will show the same zeal for the conversion of Protestants as some of their number have in seeking to "rescue" their former students from Mount Saint Michael's Church. They seem to have accepted conciliarism's absolute and total prohibition on the proselytizing of Jews and Protestants and the Orthodox as perfectly compatible with the mission that Our Blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, gave the Apostles before He Ascended to the Father's right hand on Ascension Thursday while believing it imperative to "convert" those who remain at Mount Saint Michael's Church and Academy.
Indeed, a courageous champion of the Catholic Faith and the pro-life movement informed the group to which I spoke at Sacred Heart Church in Lawrence, Massachusetts, on Saturday, June 23, 2007, that her Legion of Mary of group in an unidentified New England community forbids its members from seeking the the conversion of the people they visit, stating that it would be "against the spirit" of the times. This is, of course, in keeping the "spirit" of the Missionaries of Charity that helped to "re-educate" the Sisters who left the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen. The Missionaries of Charity were told by the late Mother Teresa herself that they should simply tell people to be faithful to their own "denomination" without seeking to convert them, something that was the subject of correspondence between the late Dr. Rama Coomeraswamy and Mother Teresa.
The only people in need of conversion, it appears, are those who refuse to make any compromises with the false ethos of conciliarism and who reject the wolves in shepherds' clothing that were warned about rather directly by Our Lord Himself in the Gospel reading for the Mass of the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost:
At that time Jesus said to His disciples: "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in the clothing of sheep, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, and the evil tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,neither can an evil tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth; good fruit, shall be cut down, and shall be cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits you shall know them. Not every one that saith of Me: Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven but he that doeth the will of My Father Who is in Heaven, he shall enter into the kingdom of Heaven. (Mt. 7: 15-21)
We must wrap ourselves ever more in the mantle of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, whose feast we celebrated five days ago.
Our Lady is so, so merciful and kind to us erring sinners as she gives us every single protection imaginable to help us save our sins and to avoid the fires of Hell and to scale the heights of the sanctity. Our Lady bestowed the Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel to Saint Simon Stock on this day in the year 1251, telling him that:
Whosoever dies clothed in this shall never suffer eternal fire.
Our Lady emphasized the importance of the mantle of her Brown Scapular of Mount Carmel by appearing to Lucia dos Santos on October 13, 1917, as she had appeared to Saint Simon Stock over six and one-half centuries before. Sister Lucia said the following in 1950 while speaking to a Father Howard Rafferty:
The messenger of Heaven also explained it to Father Howard Rafferty when the priest questioned her in the name of the Father General of the Carmelites, on October 15, 1950: "Our Lady, Lucy told him, held the Scapular in Her hands because She wants us all to wear it." (Sister Lucy and the Brown Scapular)
Dom Prosper Gueranger reminded us in The Liturgical Year of the great mercy shown us by Our Lady to help us, the children she gave birth to spiritually in great pain as she stood so valiantly at the foot of her Divine Son's Most Holy Cross, to get home to Heaven:
But not against hell fire alone was the all-powerful intercession of the Blessed Mother to be felt by those who should wear the scapular. In 1316, when every holy soul was imploring heaven to put a period to that long and diastrous widowhood of the Church, which followed in the death of Clement V, the world was soon to hail as John XXII; she foretold to him his approaching elevation to the Sovereign Pontificate, and at the same time recommended him to publish the privilege she had obtained from her Divine Son for her children of Carmel--viz., a speedily deliverance from purgatory. 'I, their Mother, will graciously go down to them on the Saturday after their death, and all whom I find in purgatory I will deliver and will bring to the mountain of life eternal.' These are the words of our Lord herself, quoted by John XII in the Bull which he published for the purpose of making known the privilege and which was called the Sabbatine Bull on account of the day chosen by the glorious benefactress for the exercise of her mercy.
We must, therefore, remain faithful to the conditions attached to our enrollment in the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, especially in these times of apostasy and betrayal when so many wonderful people are deceived even by such things as the New Age movement and thus fall from the Faith, drawing strength from this prayer of Dom Prosper Gueranger in The Liturgical Year:
Queen of Carmel, hear the voice of the Church as she sings to thee on this day. When the world was languishing in ceaseless expectation, thou wert already its hope. Unable as yet to understand thy greatness, it nevertheless, during the reign of types, loved to clothe thee with the noblest symbols. In admiration and in gratitude for benefits foreseen, it surrounded thee with all the notions of beauty, strength, and grace suggested by the loveliest landscapes, the flowery plains, the wooded heights, the fertile valleys, especially of Carmel, whose very name signifies 'the plantation of the Lord.' On its summit our fathers, knowing that Wisdom had set her throne in the cloud, hastened by their burning desires the coming of the saving sign: at length there was given to their prayers what the Scripture calls perfect knowledge, and the knowledge of the great paths of the clouds. [Job 37:16] And when He who maketh His chariot and His dwelling in the obscurity of a cloud had herein shown Himself, in a nearer approach, to the practiced eye of the father of prophets, then did a chosen band of holy persons gather in the solitudes of the blessed mountain, as heretofore Israel in the desert, to watch the least movements of the mysterious cloud, to receive from it their guidance in the paths of life, and their light in the long night of expectation.
O Mary, who from that hour didst preside over the watches of God's army, without ever failing for a single day: now that the Lord has truly come down through thee, it is no longer the land of Judea alone, but the whole earth that thou coverest as a cloud, shedding down blessings and abundance. Thine ancient clients, the sons of the prophets, experienced this truth when, the land of promise becoming unfaithful, they were forced to transplant into other climes their customs and traditions; they found that even into our far West the cloud of Carmel had poured its fertilizing dew, and that nowhere would its protection be wanting to them. This feast, O Mother of our God, is the authentic attestation of their gratitude, increased by the fresh benefits wherewith thy bounty accompanied the new exodus of the remnant of Israel. And we, the sons of ancient Europe, we too have a right to echo the expression of their loving joy; for since their tents have been pitched around the hills where the new Sion is built upon Peter, the cloud has shed all around showers of blessing more precious than ever, driving back into the abyss the flames of hell and extinguishing the fire of Purgatory.
Whilst, then, we join with them in thanksgiving to thee, deign thyself, O Mother of Divine grace, to pay Our debt of gratitude to them. Protect them ever. Guard them in these unhappy times, when the hypocrisy of modern persecutors has more fatal results than the rage of the Saracens. Preserve the life in the deep roots of the old stock, and rejoice it by the accession of new branches, bearing, like the old ones, flowers and fruits that shall be pleasing to thee, O Mary. Keep up in the hearts of the sons that spirit of retirement and contemplation which animated their fathers under the shadow of the cloud; may their sisters, too, wheresoever the Holy Spirit has established them, be ever faithful to the traditions of the glorious past, so that their holy lives may avert the tempest and draw down blessings from the mysterious cloud. May the perfume of penance that breathes from the holy mountain purify the now corrupted atmosphere around; and may Carmel ever present to the Spouse the type of the beauties He loves to behold in His Bride!
Our Lady will crush all of the heresies of the moment. She will indeed manifest the glorious victory of her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart after the period of the mystical Passion, Death and Burial of her Divine Son, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, that Holy Mother Church is enduring at present has been eclipsed in a way and at a time known only to God Himself. It might be very wise to renew our consecration to the Brown Scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on this very day in order to help to make some small reparation for our own sins and spiritual lukewarmness in this time of apostasy and betrayal:
O Mary, Queen and Mother of Carmel, I come today to consecrate myself to thee, for my whole life is but a small return for the many graces and blessings that have come from God to me through thy hands. Since thou lookest with special kindness on those who wearest thy Scapular, I implore the to strengthen my weakness with thy power, to enlighten the darkness of my mind with thy wisdom, and to increase in me Faith, Hope and Charity that I may repay each day my debt of humble homage to thee.
May thy Scapular bring me thy special protection in my daily struggle to be faithful to thy Divine Son and to thee. May it separate me from all that is sinful in life and remind me constantly of my duty to imitate thy virtues. From now on, I shall strive to live in God's Presence, and offer all to Jesus through thee. Dearest Mother, support me by thy never-failing love and lead me to paradise through the merits of Christ and thy own intercession. Amen.
While we pray for those who believe that it is their mission to win souls over to the counterfeit church of conciliarism and bear no one any malice whatsoever, we must defend the truths of the Faith and to defend our true shepherds who truly give their lives on a daily basis for us, their lowly sheep.
Let us pray a Rosary right now for the intentions of our true shepherds in the Catholic catacombs so that more and more people will respond to the grace to follow them as they give us true doctrine and true sacraments without pretending that wolves are sheep and that error is truth. Let us pray also for the consecrated Religious who serve these shepherds, remembering especially the faithful Sisters of the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen who have weathered such a trial in the past few months, standing by the foot of the Cross of Our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as they keep their Immaculate Queen company so valiantly and so courageously.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Saint John the Baptist, pray for us.
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Raphael the Archangel, pray for us.
Saint Simon Stock, pray for us.
Saint John of the Cross, pray for us.
Saint Teresa of Avila, pray for us.
Saint Therese Lisieux, pray for us.
Saint Bonaventure, pray for us.
Saint Athanasius, pray for us.
Saint Irenaeus, pray for us.
Saints Monica, pray for us.
Saint Jude, pray for us.
Saint John the Beloved, pray for us.
Saint Francis Solano, pray for us.
Saint John Bosco, pray for us.
Saint Dominic Savio, pray for us.
Saint Scholastica, pray for us.
Saint Benedict, pray for us.
Saint Joan of Arc, pray for us.
Saint Antony of the Desert, pray for us.
Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.
Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.
Saint Bonaventure, pray for us.
Saint Augustine, pray for us.
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, pray for us.
Saint Francis Xavier, pray for us.
Saint Peter Damian, pray for us.
Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini, pray for us.
Saint Lucy, pray for us.
Saint Monica, pray for us.
Saint Agatha, pray for us.
Saint Anthony of Padua, pray for us.
Saint Basil the Great, pray for us.
Saint Philomena, pray for us.
Saint Cecilia, pray for us.
Saint John Mary Vianney, pray for us.
Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Saint Athanasius, pray for us.
Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque, pray for us.
Saint Isaac Jogues, pray for us.
Saint Rene Goupil, pray for us.
Saint John Lalonde, pray for us.
Saint Gabriel Lalemont, pray for us.
Saint Noel Chabanel, pray for us.
Saint Charles Garnier, pray for us.
Saint Anthony Daniel, pray for us.
Saint John DeBrebeuf, pray for us.
Saint Alphonsus de Liguori, pray for us.
Saint Dominic, pray for us.
Saint Hyacinth, pray for us.
Saint Basil, pray for us.
Saint Vincent Ferrer, pray for us.
Saint Sebastian, pray for us.
Saint Tarcisius, pray for us.
Saint Bridget of Sweden, pray for us.
Saint Gerard Majella, pray for us.
Saint Bernadette Soubirous, pray for us.
Saint Genevieve, pray for us.
Saint Vincent de Paul, pray for us.
Pope Saint Pius X, pray for us
Pope Saint Pius V, pray for us.
Saint Rita of Cascia, pray for us.
Saint Louis de Montfort, pray for us.
Venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich, pray for us.
Venerable Pauline Jaricot, pray for us.
Father Miguel Augustin Pro, pray for us.
Francisco Marto, pray for us.
Jacinta Marto, pray for us.
Juan Diego, pray for us.
Sister Teresa Benedicta, pray for us.
The Longer Version of the Saint Michael the Archangel Prayer, composed by Pope Leo XIII, 1888
O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered. Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.
Verse: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.
Response: The Lion of the Tribe of Juda has conquered the root of David.
Verse: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.
Response: As we have hoped in Thee.
Verse: O Lord hear my prayer.
Response: And let my cry come unto Thee.
Verse: Let us pray. O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls.
Response: Amen.
