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(LifeSiteNews) — Father Maximilian Mary Dean, the former Franciscan Friar of the Immaculate who now is the chaplain to the traditional Carmelite nuns in Fairfield, Pennsylvania, has once more spoken up.
After his initial interview with LifeSite’s Jim Hale published last week, there were many comments on what he said about the general intention of Rome – namely to destroy the traditional contemplative monasteries in the world – and about specific claims he made, especially his warning that the Apostolic Visitation to the Fairfield nuns was aimed at destroying their original charism. But Father Maximilian now reaffirms his statements.
“I was 100% correct in my assessment,” he writes.
Specifically, the hermit priest had mentioned in the initial interview with Hale the suppression or dismantling of several good orders, such as the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, as well as the Discalced Carmelite nuns in Philadelphia, all of which, according to his own experience and exposure, were in one way or another affected by the “bias against tradition” reigning in Rome these days.
He notes that “whenever the community is more traditional there is a bias, a prejudice against them. Cardinal (Joao) Braz de Aviz and Archbishop (Jose Rodriguez) Carballo (who have been in charge of the Congregation for many years), as well as Pope Francis have all been very open about their mission to modernize traditional religious communities (they want “new wine in new wineskins” — that was the whole theme of the Year of Consecrated Life) and they despise the Tridentine Mass.”
Father Maximilian, in his initial interview with LifeSite, had shown concerns that the recent Apostolic Visitation of the Fairfield nuns and their mother house in Valparaiso, Nebraska, is actually aimed at destroying them. In his new comments, the priest sees himself confirmed after what he heard about the recent September 25-29 visitation in Fairfield.
“The co-visitators actually sent spies,” he wrote today. “They discussed the need to stop me from bringing the sacraments and to switch the nuns over to the Novus Ordo Mass; they discussed strategies for turning the benefactors away from these traditional communities. I am not permitted to write here what they actually did during the visitation itself, but let’s just say that I was 100% correct in my assessment and that the nuns pulling from Philadelphia was used as a pretext by the Congregation to go after these traditional monasteries.”
The Carmelite nuns of Philadelphia are undergoing a crisis and Rome is attempting to close them down. That was the initial reason for the visitation of Fairfield and Valparaiso because the two monasteries had sent some young nuns to Philadelphia in order to help the elderly nuns. However, that attempt was discouraged by church authorities.
Please see Father Maximilian Dean’s expanded comments in LifeSite’s October 4 interview with him on YouTube:
A final comment on this interview:
First, what I say in this interview on August 31st is not spoken on behalf of anyone I mention. No one has asked me to share these things: that includes Familia Christi (now suppressed), the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Immaculate, the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration (Hanceville, Phoenix, San Antonio), the Discalced Carmelite Nuns in Philadelphia (now closed), Fairfield, Valparaiso.
Second, I do not judge the motives of anyone I mention. Many people with good intentions can be misled or mistaken.
Finally, every community is made up of men and women with fallen human nature — so “Heaven on earth” does not exist, and there are always going to be difficulties that need to be worked through in communities and Apostolic Visitations and Apostolic Commissioners can be effective in helping communities work through bigger problems. These types of interventions are never fun, but they can be fruitful if done in the right way. The problem, however, that I am speaking of in this interview is that whenever the community is more traditional there is a bias, a prejudice against them.
Cardinal Braz de Aviz and Abp. Carballo (who have been in charge of the Congregation for many years), as well as Pope Francis, have all been very open about their mission to modernize traditional religious communities (they want “new wine in new wineskins” — that was the whole theme of the Year of Consecrated Life) and they despise the Tridentine Mass. This was obvious in their treatment of the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration, the Franciscans of the Immaculate and Familia Christi of whom I spoke in the video.
In the case of the Carmelite Nuns who left Philadelphia, there was obviously a serious problem between two parties: the community of Nuns coming from Valparaiso, NE, and Fairfield, PA, to rejuvenate the Philadelphia Carmel on the one hand, and the Archdiocese, Father General, and the Association of St. Joseph on the other hand. If the Congregation was unbiased they would investigate BOTH sides of the problem — but instead the Congregation has already decided that the traditional Nuns are in the wrong and this is obvious because instead of using a third party to investigate both sides of the story the Congregation chose people on one side of the problem to investigate those on the other side of the problem (the Visitator is one of Father General’s right hand men — a Definitor on Father General’s Counsel, and the Co-Visitators are the current and former President of the Association).
The Co-Visitators actually sent spies; they discussed the need to stop me from bringing the Sacraments and to switch the Nuns over to the Novus Ordo Mass; they discussed strategies for turning the benefactors away from these traditional communities. I am not permitted to write here what they actually did during the Visitation itself, but let’s just say that I was 100% correct in my assessment and that the Nuns pulling from Philadelphia was used as a pretext by the Congregation to go after these traditional Monasteries.
Thank you for your prayers and be assured of mine. God bless you and Mother Mary keep you …
