Fr. Leonard Giardina and Christ the King Abbey

By Bro. Michael Dimond, O.S.B.

A number of people have asked us if we are affiliated with Fr. Leonard Giardina and Christ the King Abbey in Alabama.  The answer to this question is No.  Having met and spoken with Fr. Giardina, I can say that it is very unfortunate to report that Fr. Giardina purports to be a Traditional Roman Catholic Benedictine Monk, but he is not.  Fr. Giardina is not a Roman Catholic Benedictine Monk because he totally rejects the dogma Outside the Catholic Church There is No Salvation.   He is, in fact, a complete heretic. To further corroborate this fact, On Dec. 15, 2003, Bro. Peter Dimond telephoned Fr. Giardina.  He asked him whether he holds the dogma that all who die as non-Catholics will not be saved, defined by the Catholic Church at the Council of Florence.  Fr. Giardina responded that he didn’t know.  Thus, Fr. Giardina is not sure if a defined dogma of the faith (outside the Church no salvation) is true.  Fr. Giardina told Bro. Peter that he believes that there are non-Catholics who live pretty “perfect” lives. Bro. Peter then asked him whether he thinks it’s possible that a Rabbi who rejects Christ can be saved.  Fr. Giardina said he didn’t know and that he leaves it up to God.  Bro. Peter pointed out to Fr. Giardina that it is a divinely revealed truth (a defined dogma) that only those who die as Catholics can be saved (which is why we must earnestly endeavor to bring non-Catholics into the one haven of salvation), and then Bro. Peter said: “so you are saying that it’s possible that a Rabbi who rejects Jesus Christ can be saved.”  Fr. Giardina admitted that he didn’t know if a Rabbi who rejects Christ can be saved and admitted that he believes that it’s possible.  Fr. Giardina therefore holds that members of non-Catholic religions, including Jews who reject Christ, can possibly be saved without being Catholic.  This is totally heretical.

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...” Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Cantate Domino, 1441, ex cathedra: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes and teaches that the matter pertaining to the law of the Old Testament, of the Mosaic Law, which are divided into ceremonies, sacred rites, sacrifices, and sacraments, because they were established to signify something in the future, although they were suited to divine worship at that time, after our Lord’s coming had been signified by them, ceased, and the sacraments of the New Testament began; and that whoever, even after the passion, placed hope in these matters of the law and submitted himself to them as necessary for salvation, as if faith in Christ could not save without them, sinned mortally.  Yet it does not deny that after the passion of Christ up to the promulgation of the Gospel they could have been observed until they were believed to be in no way necessary for salvation; but after the promulgation of the Gospel it asserts that they cannot be observed without the loss of eternal salvation.  All, therefore, who after that time (the promulgation of the Gospel) observe circumcision and the Sabbath and the other requirements of the law, it declares alien to the Christian faith and not in the least fit to participate in eternal salvation, unless someday they recover from these errors.”

Fr. Giardina is a heretic who completely rejects these dogmatic pronouncements.  He is deceiving Traditional Catholics by soliciting funds for his Monastery.  He is not a Christian, as he rejects one of the most central truths of the Gospel and a defined Catholic dogma: that Jews (and other non-Catholics) must believe in Christ and the Catholic Faith to be saved.  By rejecting the teaching of Christ given to His Church, Fr. Giardina rejects Christ Himself.

Pope Leo XIII, Satis Cognitum (# 9), June 29, 1896: “… can it be lawful for anyone to reject any one of those truths without by the very fact falling into heresy? – without separating himself from the Church? – without repudiating in one sweeping act the whole of Christian teaching?  For such is the nature of faith that nothing can be more absurd than to accept some things and reject others… But he who dissents even in one point from divinely revealed truth absolutely rejects all faith, since he thereby refuses to honor God as the supreme truth and the formal motive of faith.”

Catholics must be made aware of this and must not donate a penny to Fr. Giardina or his Monastery.

Fr. Giardina also promotes the sinful birth control method of Natural Family Planning.  In his Weekly Bulletin #767, he writes: “In our vestibule can be found copies of a very important article on a serious topic: ‘On the Question of Natural Family Planning.’ We should all be grateful to Bishop Mark Pivarunas, C.M.R.I., for such a clear and accurate presentation of this much needed explanation.  We can be sure of a rebuttal from some sectors; however, we must not prefer private opinions to the clear and official teachings of the true Catholic Church.”

See our article “Natural Family Planning is evil” for the documented evidence of how Natural Family Planning subordinates the primary purpose of marriage and the marriage act to secondary ends and is therefore immoral birth control.