No Pope = No Monastery:
A Conundrum for the MHFM
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.... Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!" - Isaiah 5:20-21
Astonishingly, as well as sadly unfortunate, an ever increasing number of Christ’s scattered-flock are losing their faith, falling prey to, embracing, and financially supporting the sedevacantist cyber-ministry of the Dimond Brothers’ Most Holy Family Monastery (MHFM); a fallacious and fictitious “religious order” erroneously masquerading and professing itself, by supposed “divine vocation”, as the last “true” Order of St Benedict in the world.
It is inconceivable that any legitimacy whatsoever could be attributed to an Order of St Benedict with the audacity to proclaim itself as being sedevacantist. Such a declaration would place that OSB outside of and in schism with the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church bringing with it an immediate / automatic condemnation of “ipso facto” excommunication.
Referring to the 1917 Code of Canon Law:
Canon 51: “Heresy is the obstinate denial or obstinate doubt after Baptism of a truth which must be believed by divine and Catholic faith. Apostasy is the total repudiation of the Christian faith. Schism is the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him.”
And the penalty for such scandalous action is found in Canon 1364:
“An apostate from the faith, a heretic, or a schismatic incurs a latae sentenciae excommunication …”
As Sedevacantists vehemently declare to the world that the “Chair of Peter” is vacant and obstinately refuse to submit to, obey, and/or recognize the legitimacy of any Pope since Pope Pius XII; these persons are, by canon law, guilty of schism.
And furthermore, these pretentious sowers of willful deceit (the Dimond Brothers) promulgate scandal and heresy through their cyber-ministry's website, videos, books, pamphlets, etc., condemning themselves, before God and Church, as “suspected” heretics that the “Christian Faithful” must avoid.
On May 9th 2015 then Abbot Primate Notker Wolf, OSB, of the Benedictine Confederation of Congregations in Rome, confirmed the MHFM’s status within the Church:
"The so-called Most Holy Family Monastery in Fillmore is clearly not an officially recognized Benedictine monastery, but a heretical sect."
The Dimond Brothers have deceived their followers into erroneously believing that the “Chair of Peter” can be vacant and yet during that period (an interregnum) new religious orders (like that of the MHFM) can be legitimately established; which is a preposterously outrageous lie.
When will these followers of the MHFM wake up as see the truth for what it is?
The Dimond Brothers are charlatans guilty of defying the dogma declared by Pope Pius IX at Vatican I, in 1870, by running a Monastery without the approbation and outside the governance of the Holy See.
First Vatican Council (1870), Session 4, Chapter 3:
2) "Wherefore we teach and declare that, by divine ordinance, the Roman Church possesses a pre-eminence of ordinary power over every other Church, and that this jurisdictional power of the Roman Pontiff is both episcopal and immediate. Both clergy and faithful, of whatever rite and dignity, both singly and collectively, are bound to submit to this power by the duty of hierarchical subordination and true obedience, and this not only in matters concerning faith and morals, but also in those which regard the discipline and government of the Church throughout the world."
Simply put ... Pope Pius IX, at Vatican I, unequivocally declared: “No Pope = No Monastery”
John Heywood in 1546 sums up the problem when he wrote: "There are none so blind as those who will not see." That is to say, understanding cannot be forced on those who choose to remain ignorant.
And why, you might ask, is the approbation of a Pope so critically important in establishing a religious order?
As Catholic religious orders relate to the whole Church, and not to any one diocese or nation in particular, it is required by the Church that before a “religious order” can validly come into existence it must first have the approbation of the head of the Church, the Pope.
The reason being ... no other bishop has “ordinary authority” or “jurisdiction” over all the Church, except the Pope. Therefore, as tradition / Church history attests, when a Saint established his religious order, he first petitioned for and received the approval of the Holy See.
This procedure can be observed in the actions of all the founders of the Church’s religious orders. These Saints first received their desire / impulse from the Holy Spirit, and then through the Holy See they established their religious order by Christ's supreme authority on earth; that being the Pope. And as a bishop is the ruler, the head, and caretaker, of his local diocese (under the command of the Pope), it is therefore required that before any religious order / community can legitimately come into his diocese the members of that religious order must first receive his permission to do so.
As the Church universal profits directly from the labors of these religious orders, they “belong” to Her, and are overseen by the Pope himself, who alone in this world has “universal” spiritual jurisdiction.
The members of religious orders become apostles in the sense that they belong to the whole Church, and every diocese into which they come receives the benefit of their labors.
Often in the history of the Church these religious orders have been assigned charge of parishes, asylums, schools, colleges, reformatories, and in fact ... every work ... for the bettering of human life. It is a scared and holy function requiring ecclesiastic governance be assigned to guide and watch over them for the sake and welfare of the Church itself.
Ask yourself … was there a “divinely” legitimate and urgent need for Joseph Natale, the “non-sedevacantist” founder of the MHFM, or Frederick “Michael” Dimond, his “sedevacantist” successor, to justify establishing a new Benedictine religious community (residing within the jurisdiction of the Benedictine American-Cassinese Congregation) without first receiving permission to do so? The answer is ... Absolutely not!
For the record, Joseph Natale did petition for but was denied the required “canonical provision” and the “charter” required to establish a Benedictine religious order / community. Never-the-less, as a result of that refusal, in an act of defiance and disobedience, he “illegitimately” declared the MHFM as being Benedictine; which was then and still is now an outrageous act of demonic fraud.
And the Dimond Brothers have perpetuated that fraud, that lie, by shamelessly promoting it on their website:
The Founder of our Benedictine community:
Brother Joseph Natale O.S.B.
"Brother Joseph Natale was trained at St. Vincent’s Benedictine Archabbey in Latrobe, PA. St. Vincent’s Arch-abbey was the largest Benedictine monastery in the United States. In the 1960’s, Bro. Joseph left with the permission of the then Archabbot Dennis Strittmatter to start his own Benedictine community."
St Vincent Archabbey (Latrobe, PA) is on record, emphatically stating, that then Archabbot Dennis Strittmatter did NOT give permission to Joseph Natale to start his own Benedictine community.
Who are we to believe ... the word of a validly ordained and elected Benedictine Archabbot (a bishop of the Church), or Frederick “Michael” Dimond; an un-professed, un-ordained, layman, fraudulently claiming to be the Superior of the last "true" Order of St Benedict on earth?
"Let those who have eyes to see, see and ears to hear, hear..."
The Dimond Brothers have for the last 20+ years been successful in masterfully orchestrating their pious fraud and leading tens of thousands of the scattered-flock astray. It is high time to put an end to this deceitful and lucrative ruse.
No Pope = No Monastery
- Pax Tecum