New? Beautiful Benedictine Order Of Nuns In Al

[zunshynn]

[quote name='Laudem Gloriae' date='23 October 2009 - 07:18 AM' timestamp='1256303895' post='1990209']
Perhaps the moderators should be sure before they delete links and scold - especially when the poster did NOT know at the time BUT I have since found out, after emailing the bishop's office in the Diocese that these Benedictine nuns in Cullman, AL are in that the nuns are NOT schismatic and separated from the churc. Maybe the monks are, as I didn't ask about them I don't know their status.

Here is the email to me from a priest at the bishop's office:

"Dear Ms. XXXX:

The Benedictine's of St. Joseph's Monastery at Cullman is Catholic and is in NOT schismatic. I am not sure who told you that it was but it is not true.

Thank you for your inquiry. I pray your discernment goes well.

Fr. VXXX"
[/quote]

Did you contact the Diocese of Birmingham? That is the diocese to which they would belong.

If so, they might have been confused about who you were asking about. There are active Benedictines in Cullman who are in the diocese. If they were clear about who you were talking about, I'm pretty sure they would have mentioned that they WERE schismatic at one point, but are now in full communion, if that was the case.

[url="http://www.ewtn.com/library/BISHOPS/Christ-the-King.HTM"]This[/url] is a copy of Bishop Foley's statement about them. Granted it's a few years old, but there doesn't appear to be anything more recent. If they have recently come into communion with the Catholic Church, they would not be linked to the monks. And Ora is correct... they cannot absolve from sin and could not celebrate the sacraments for them.

[quote]Christ the King Abbey
Bishop David E. Foley
The following statement was issued on September 1, 1999, by Bishop David E. Foley, Bishop of Birmingham in Alabama, regarding Christ the King Abbey, Cullman County, Alabama.

N.B. Christ the King Abbey (and its dependant monastery St. Joseph's) is to be distinguished from St. Bernard's Abbey, Cullman, Alabama, which is a Benedictine Abbey founded in 1891 and in communion with the Catholic Church.

PDF version of original document

STATEMENT

When I became a bishop, I promised to maintain the deposit of faith, entire and incorrupt within the College of bishops under the authority of the Holy Father, successor of the Apostle Peter. I also promised to guide and sustain the people of God in the way of salvation.

Therefore, with this commitment in mind, to avoid any confusion, I need to clarify for the Catholic faithful of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama, the status of Father Leonard Giardina and the community of Christ the King Monastery formed by him in Simcoe, Cullman County, Alabama.

Father Leonard Giardina had been an active Catholic monk at Saint Bernard's Abbey, Cullman, Alabama. He left the Abbey many years ago. My predecessor, Bishop Vath, withdrew the diocesan faculties and suspended him on May 21, 1981. Several years later on April 23, 1994, the Congregation for Religious in Rome confirmed the decree of dismissal of Father Leonard Giardina from the Benedictine Order.

When I arrived in Birmingham in May 1994, I visited Father Leonard. On my first visit, as well as on subsequent visits, I asked Father Leonard to be in union with me and with our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. He refused to be in communion with us or under our authority.

Father Leonard Giardina has separated himself and his community from my jurisdiction regarding the celebration of Mass and the pastoral care of the Catholic people in our diocese. He continues to function outside the Catholic Church.

Therefore, with sadness, I must inform the Catholic Faithful under my care of the following declarations:

* The Masses celebrated by Father Leonard Giardina or other members of his community either at Christ the King Monastery, Simcoe, Alabama or other locations within or outside the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama are illicit. The Catholic Faithful do not fulfill their Sunday Obligation by attending them. Therefore, I advise the faithful that they should not attend these Masses.
* Neither Father Leonard Giardina nor other members of his community have the faculties of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama. Because they do not possess faculties, they cannot validly administer the Sacrament of Penance (hear Confessions), nor validly perform Roman Catholic marriages (Sacrament of Matrimony).

This situation of the invalidity of the reception of Sacraments is deeply disturbing to me because of the spiritual endangerment of our Catholic people.

I ask your prayers for Father Leonard Giardina and the Christ the King Community. I also ask prayers for myself. May Our Lord Jesus Christ in this final year of preparation for the Jubilee, a year for a return to the Father, bring about reconciliation and unity between us.

Date: September 1, 1999

(signed)
Most Reverend David E. Foley, D.D.
Bishop of the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama[/quote]

They are also not listed on the list of women religious in the diocese.

Edited October 23, 2009 by zunshynn

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='Laudem Gloriae' date='24 October 2009 - 12:18 AM' timestamp='1256303895' post='1990209']
Perhaps the moderators should be sure before they delete links and scold - especially when the poster did NOT know at the time BUT I have since found out, after emailing the bishop's office in the Diocese that these Benedictine nuns in Cullman, AL are in that the nuns are NOT schismatic and separated from the churc. Maybe the monks are, as I didn't ask about them I don't know their status.

Here is the email to me from a priest at the bishop's office:

"Dear Ms. XXXX:

The Benedictine's of St. Joseph's Monastery at Cullman is Catholic and is in NOT schismatic. I am not sure who told you that it was but it is not true.

Thank you for your inquiry. I pray your discernment goes well.

Fr. VXXX"
[/quote]

Laudem - trust the mods - they know what they are talking about. These monks condemn themselves on their own website - they state that they will only use the rites and rituals of pre-Vat 2, and their history is pretty explicit, hence they are not in communion with Rome. Whether the nuns want to be in communion with Rome or not, if they are using the Abbey as their priests and confessors, then they are not receiving the sacraments. This is not an option for discerners.