Reader takes issue with our criticism of the heresy of the CMRI

Julia, it is simply a fact that the CMRI believes that Jews can be saved.  Their priests may not state that publicly a lot, but that is what they believe.  (That is why two priests and a nun I spoke with all told me such.)  The CMRI believes that those who are “invincibly ignorant” of Christ can be saved.  This means that people who are in false, non-Catholic religions “through no fault of their own” can be saved, according to them.  This is heresy.  The CMRI holds that Outside the Church There is No Salvation only applies to those “knowingly” outside the Church (which is not what the Church defined), so that, according to them, certain Jews or Buddhists or Muslims can be united to the Church even though they don’t believe in Jesus Christ and the Trinity or even desire water baptism.  This is a heresy which denies the defined dogma that the Catholic Faith is necessary for salvation. Here is a quotation directly from their publication, written by the heretic Bishop McKenna.

Bishop Robert McKenna, “The Boston Snare,” printed in the CMRI’s Magazine The Reign of Mary, Vol. XXVI, No. 83: “The doctrine, then, of no salvation outside the Church is to be understood in the sense of knowingly outside the Church… But, they may object, if such be the sense of the dogma in question, why is the word ‘knowingly’ not part of the formula, ‘Outside the Church no salvation’?  For the simple reason that the addition is unnecessary.  How could anyone know of the dogma and not be knowingly outside the Church?  The ‘dogma’ is not so much a doctrine intended for the instruction of Catholics, since it is but a logical consequence of the Church’s claim to be the true Church, but rather a solemn and material warning or declaration for the benefit of those outside the one ark of salvation.”

The heretic Bishop McKenna goes so far with his heretical idea that not only does he believe that Jews, Buddhists, etc. can be saved who’ve never heard of Christ, but he even believes that Jews who reject Jesus Christ can be saved!  Here is what he wrote to me when I asked him if he agreed with Fr. Fahey’s teaching that Jews who reject Our Lord can be saved.

Bishop Robert McKenna, to Bro. Peter Dimond, Nov. 25, 2004: “2. I answer your ‘one simple question’ regarding Fr. Denis Fahey’s saying, ‘The Jews, as a nation, are objectively aiming at giving society a direction which is in complete opposition to the order God wants.  It is possible that a member of the Jewish Nation, who rejects Our Lord, may have the supernatural life which God wishes to see in every soul, and so be good with the goodness God wants, but objectively, the direction he is seeking to give to the world is opposed to God and to that life, and therefore is not good. If a Jew who rejects our Lord is good in the way God demands, it is in spite of the movement in which he and his nation are engaged.’ “Fr. Fahey in these words is in fact recognizing Baptism of Desire.  I repeat them, emphasizing what you ignorantly overlook, with (in parentheses) his implications: “The Jews, as a nation, are objectively aiming at giving society a direction which is in complete opposition to the order God wants.  It is possible that (subjectively) a member of the Jewish Nation, who (objectively) rejects Our Lord, may (subjectively) have the supernatural life which God wishes to see in every soul (Sanctifying Grace), and so be good with the goodness God wants, but objectively, the direction he is seeking to give to the world is opposed to God and to that life, and therefore is not good. If a Jew who rejects our Lord is (subjectively) good in the way God demands (and therefore, by Baptism of Desire, in the State of Grace), it is in spite of the movement in which he and his nation are engaged.’ I could not agree more with what Fr. Fahey says…”

Here we see that Bishop McKenna, a good friend of the CMRI who writes for their publication, admits that he believes that Jews who reject Christ can be saved by “baptism of desire.”  He “could not agree more” with the blasphemous heresy of Fr. Denis Fahey.  The CMRI believes the same thing.  That is why they twice printed an article entitled “The Salvation of Those Outside the Church.”  To finally prove it to you, I ask you to go to the CMRI priest and ask him yourself if the statement by Bishop McKenna and Fr. Fahey (quoted above), that Jews who reject Christ can be in the state of grace (and therefore be saved), is a heretical denial of the dogma Outside the Church There is No Salvation.  You will see that the CMRI priest won’t call Bishop McKenna’s statement heretical because the CMRI believes the same thing.  That is why I received no response to the letter I sent to Fr. Puskorius many months ago asking him if he rejects Bishop McKenna’s statement as heretical.

Pope Gregory XVI, Summo Iugiter Studio (# 2), May 27, 1832: “Finally some of these misguided people attempt to persuade themselves and others that men are not saved only in the Catholic religion, but that even heretics may attain eternal life.” 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; that the unity of this ecclesiastical body is of such importance that only those who abide in it do the Church’s sacraments contribute to salvation and do fasts, almsgiving and other works of piety and practices of the Christian militia productive of eternal rewards; and that nobody can be saved, no matter how much he has given away in alms and even if he has shed blood in the name of Christ, unless he has persevered in the bosom and unity of the Catholic Church.” Pope Eugene IV, Council of Florence, Sess. 8, Nov. 22, 1439, ex cathedra: “Whoever wishes to be saved, needs above all to hold the Catholic faith; unless each one preserves this whole and inviolate, he will without a doubt perish in eternity.– But the Catholic faith is this, that we worship one God in the Trinity, and the Trinity in unity... Therefore let him who wishes to be saved, think thus concerning the Trinity.      “But it is necessary for eternal salvation that he faithfully believe also in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ...the Son of God is God and man...– This is the Catholic faith; unless each one believes this faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.” 1 John 5:11-12: “And this is the testimony, that God hath given to us eternal life.  And this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son, hath life.  He that hath not the Son, hath not life.”

Related: Bishop Robert McKenna Dies