Please keep them in your prayers. With God’s grace, they could have a conversion of heart.

So Protestants know: These people were excommunicated for doing what Protestants slander all Catholics with: worshipping Mary.

Is there any empirical evidence to show that these nuns believe something false? Or something true, for that matter?

Is there any empirical evidence to show that these nuns believe something false? Or something true, for that matter?

The Vatican has declared all members of the Army of Mary excommunicated. Such a decision is not taken lightly and only following exhaustive attempts to have the members correct their ways.

OFFICIAL WEB SITE - Community of the Lady of All Nations

Check this out:

http://www.rickross.com/reference/armyofmary/armyofmary4.html

This guy Rick Ross (mouse around at his website a bit) seems to have the fuller story.

I get the impression, though, that the sisters ahave not been quite forthcoming with their novel and erroneous doctrines, and thus they didn't incur excommunication until they had already formally committed schism (the unauthorized ordination of priests by another priest) which is an objective transgressive act and not just an ambiguous erroneous opinion.

THis is why the Episcopal Church is doomed. THey don’t excommunicate anyone for anything.

“So Protestants know: These people were excommunicated for doing what Protestants slander all Catholics with: worshipping Mary.”

LOL!!

"The Army of Mary is a special interest group, considered by its followers to be a part of the Roman Catholic faith. It was founded in Quebec, Canada, on 1971-AUG-28. As the name implies, the group's purpose is to bring "together souls of good will resolved to live, with Mary, the Christian life to its perfection in all the demands of the duties of their state. They suggest that "The Army of Mary is the Catholic religion lived intensely." According to the Army's web site, "the goal of the Army of Mary is the sanctification of souls through devotion to the Triple White – the Eucharist, Mary and the Pope ..." By emphasizing the Christian message of peace and love, they believe that Jesus' second coming will be hastened."

Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance

-----------------------------------------------

I have never heard
the phrase 'Triple White' before.
I suppose they mean

'Jesus' when they say
'Eucharist' but they could use
the Guy's name itself...

Thank you for posting the link!

Army of Mary cast out

Vatican excommunicates members of a Quebec Catholic movement

National Post/September 12, 2007

By Joseph Brean

Calling it a "very grave situation," the Vatican has excommunicated members of a controversial Quebec Catholic movement, the Army of Mary, for their heretical beliefs that derive from the writings of Marie-Paule Giguère, an 86-year-old mystic who claims to be a reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.

In a judgment delivered to the group on Monday, and announced yesterday, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith ruled that the ordinations of six priests in the Army of Mary this past June were illegitimate, because they were performed by a priest rather than a bishop. As a result, at least one recent marriage, performed by one of these new priests, is now regarded by the Vatican as null.

Further, the ruling says that anyone who participates in the Army of Mary, which has centres in Quebec City and Lac-Etchemin, Que., is in schism with the Catholic Church, and therefore automatically excommunicated.

The group has been in conflict with the Vatican for at least 20 years - its members claim to be fully Catholic, but with extra beliefs - and so it received the ruling with equanimity, calling it the "will of God."

"In 1958, our foundress received from above, heard from above that she would be crucified by priests and bishops. It's only the realization today of such a message," said Father Eric Roy, Superior General of the Sons of Mary and a leading figure in the group. "We cannot go against our conscience."

Founded as a prayer group in 1971, and recognized by the Archbishop of Quebec four years later, the Army of Mary has been a headache for Canadian Catholic bishops ever since.

In her writings, Mme. Giguère described visions and messages she received from God, explaining that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is fully divine, and also that, as her modern incarnation, so is Mme. Giguère. Rather than the traditional Catholic Trinity - in which God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are each fully divine and part of a three-part deity - the Army of Mary now speaks of a "quinternity," including Mary and Mme. Giguère.

This reverence of the charismatic Mme. Giguère, and the inevitable comparisons to Joan of Arc and Teresa of Avila, helped it to spread beyond Quebec, with missions across Canada and in France, the United States, Austria, Jamaica and Italy. At one time it claimed 20,000 members, but that number is now far lower, although Fr. Roy would not estimate.

"There was always this suspicion that was around them, that they were doing something on the side, you know, teaching other things. It was always hard to tie them down, and I just tried to get them to come out and admit things," said Terrence Prendergast, Archbishop of Ottawa, who was appointed in 2003 by Pope John Paul II to be a mediator in the dispute.

"They would say that they would not subscribe to some of the limitations that we would put on the creed.

"They would say we hold everything that the Roman Catholic Church teaches, and then some things that the Church is not yet ready for," he said.

Yesterday, he criticized the belief that God has somehow willed their excommunication, which he called "victim theology."

"It's one of those ironies that they have been waiting for this and hoping for it. And probably their foundress has predicted it [but] I would have to find out after the fact, because that's usually when we find out that she's predicted something," he said. After 9/11, for example, she claimed to have envisioned the falling towers several years previously.

"The Church has been very patient with them. I've been very patient with them," Archbishop Prendergast said. "It's a kind of cult. I think they are very much under the sway of the foundress. Whatever she says counts for more important than what the Pope says."

Archbishop Prendergast's predecessor, Bishop Gilles Cazabon, had tried for five years to resolve the schism and made little progress.

In fact, until this week, things stood pretty much as they were 20 years ago, when in 1987 the late Cardinal Louis-Albert Vachon revoked the Army of Mary's status as a Catholic organization, which was meant as a warning of future excommunication. In 1999, Bishop Cazabon was appointed as Pontifical Commissioner, a sort of Papal envoy, but things remained stalled until 2001, when the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a doctrinal note in 2001 stating that the Army of Mary is not a "Catholic association."

Since then, Archbishop Prendergast said, the group's status has fallen among mainstream Catholics, and so the trend among Army of Mary devotees outside of Quebec has been to either recant their heretical beliefs and become fully Catholic, or to return to Quebec.

Things came to a crisis this June, however, when a leading Army of Mary priest called Father Jean-Pierre Mastropietro ordained six new priests, including a father and son. Under canon law, only a bishop can ordain priests.

"He simply accepted Marie-Paule Giguère's idea that you are now appointed to be Father John of the Church of John," Archbishop Prendergast said. "He calls the Church of Rome the 'Church of Peter' [Peter was the first pope and one of Jesus' 12 apostles]. And the Church of Peter, which is the Church of Authority I guess, is being 'transmutated' - that's the term they use - into the Church of John, the Church of Love. And that's where, of course, the Catholic Church can't agree."

He said he regrets the failure of the efforts at reconciliation, because most of the Army of Mary's priests - there are 39 at the Lac-Etchemin centre, for example, in addition to brothers and sisters of the order - are legitimately ordained, one even by the late Pope John Paul II.

But now that Fr. Mastropietro is wearing a Byzantine crown and "acting like a pope" himself, the final line has been crossed.

"I did my very best with these men," Archbishop Prendergast said.

"I like them. I would like them to be Catholic priests. We need Catholic priests, but we have to have Catholic priests who obey what the bishops say ... [But] once you decide Heaven can tell you what to do, it can tell you all kinds of things that go beyond the boundaries."

Exactly so.

I never heard "Triple White" either, and it sounds freaky (one of many other things that sound freaky in this group.)

There was/is a similar group in Poland called the Mariavites in the 1920's-30's, IIRC.

It seems a very sad story: they started out as a genuine renewal in the best sense: re-kindling voluntary poverty (simple living) and prayer life among the otherwise slack and somewhat materialistic clergy, fervent re-evangelization of Catholics who were ignorant and only nominal believers, whole-hearted service to the poor, many educational ventures (schools, libraries) offering extended learning in subjects both spiritual and secular, etc.

They didn't at all see themselves as starting a "new denomination," they saw themselves as re-rooting themselves in earlier, more authentic Catholic tradition.

Then they got off the track somehow, developed strange beliefs inspired by their founder's private interpretations of Scripture, were excommunicated, started ordaining women priests, doing marriages between priests and nuns, OK'ing divorce and remarriage, split after split among themselves, proliferation of mutually-contradictory "truly Biblical" doctrines, etc. Oddly parallel with what happened with the general religious dissent movement in western Europe three or four centuries before.

Msgr. Hebert said he hopes all Catholics in the diocese will continue to pray for the Monastery of Our Lady of Charity and Refuge and that some day the six women will reconcile with the Catholic Church. "Christ never turns his back on anyone and neither do we," he said.

Bingo!

Excommunication is a word which is thrown around a lot but it is not a "take that and don't come back" kick in the butt, type of deal. It's purpose is to rebuke the offender when all else has failed and to bring home to him or her the gravity of his or her situation with the hope that this will inspire repentance and reconciliation.

It is an extreme measure but the salvation of souls is its ultimate end. It is not a case of the Church turning its back on the excommunicandi (that right?) but a reminder to the excommunicandi that they have turned their backs on the Church.

Those "Catholics" who hold public office and are in the vanguard of the abortion rights movement are prime candidates for this measure. If they have already incurred it latae sententiae, they need to be informed of this and their situation needs to be clearly explained to them. Not to do so, is to lack charity.

excommunicandi (that right?)

It should be excommunicati, perfect participle: those who have been excommunicated.

Excommunicandi is the gerundive (future passive participle): those who are to be excommunicated.

Thanks a lot......had a feeling it wasn’t quite right.....

>These people were excommunicated for doing what Protestants slander all Catholics with: worshipping Mary

Yeah, but I betcha
if you ask them they'll deny
they worship Mary!

go ahead and ask!
It appears the vatican already has.

You can "betcha" anything you like ... but if you "betcha" that they deny worshipping Mary ...

In her writings, Mme. Giguère described visions and messages she received from God, explaining that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is fully divine, and also that, as her modern incarnation, so is Mme. Giguère. Rather than the traditional Catholic Trinity - in which God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are each fully divine and part of a three-part deity - the Army of Mary now speaks of a "quinternity," including Mary and Mme. Giguère.

You LOSE!!!!!

On their own, the six sisters decided to join the association between 20 and 30 years ago and adopt the teachings of its founder, Marie-Paul Giguere, who believes she is the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary.

Then excommunicating them was the right thing to do.

It's worse than just that ... see above.

"Quinternity"?????

Eeeeek!