Denis Chicoine

Denis Chicoine (died August 10, 1995) was a Traditionalist Catholic priest who co-founded, with Francis Schuckardt, the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen and served as Superior General of the Congregation from 1984 to 1989.

Fatima Crusade

Upon hearing a Blue Army lecture given by Schuckardt in the mid-1960's, Chicoine, a former U.S. Marine, followed Schuckardt into the Blue Army to promote the message of Our Lady of Fatima.

In the wake of the Second Vatican Council and the New Rites of the church, Schuckardt began to speak out against the various liturgical reforms and other changes in the modern Catholic Church during his Blue Army lectures. Chicoine, along with Schuckardt, came to the conclusion that Pope Paul VI was a false pope. Chicoine and Schuckardt left the Blue Army in 1967 and Schuckardt founded a lay organization known as the Fatima Crusade in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. That same year, Schuckardt established order of sisters, brothers, and priests known as the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen of the Universe (in Latin: Congregatio Mariae Reginae Immaculatae, abbreviated as CMRI) which Chicoine was a member as a religious lay brother.

Schuckardt and Chicoine began a national lecture circuit advocating a return to traditional Catholicism. Due to their outspoken rejection of the Second Vatican Council and embrace of Sedevacantism, they were denounced by the modern Catholic Church. Schuckardt, feeling the need to perpetuate valid sacraments, accepted episcopal consecration by Daniel Quilter Brown, a married man with two children who had received episcopal consecration as an Old Roman Catholic bishop in the line of Arnold Harris Mathew. Brown had been born and raised a Roman Catholic, but became disenchanted with the reforms of Vatican II. Brown had therefore chosen to become an Old Roman Catholic bishop in order to perpetuate valid episcopal orders, believing that the Old Roman Catholics still retained valid Orders. Despite the fact that Bishop Brown obtained his consecration in the Old Roman Catholic Church, he and his followers called themselves Roman Catholics and refused to use the title of "Old Roman Catholic." Shortly after his consecration, he broke all ties and communications with the Old Roman Catholics. Brown consecrated Schuckardt a bishop in 1971 and soon thereafter broke ties with Brown. In 1974 Schuckardt ordained Chicoine a priest and created him vicar general.

By 1977 the group had grown so large that they were able to purchase a former Jesuit seminary, Mount Saint Michael, just north of Spokane, Washington. The 735 acre facility with over 200 rooms, complete with a gymnasium and swimming pool, was used as a church, seminary, boys school, retreat center, print shop, and bookstore, as well as the international headquarters for the movement. The movement continued to grow, eventually sending priests to various parts of the world including Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and the Holy Land. By 1984 the group numbered about 120 Sisters, 6 active priests, 61 Clerics and Brothers, K - 12th grade boys and girls school, the Knights of the Eucharist, the Knights of the Altar, the Knights of St. Karl the Great, the Altar & Rosary Society, Cana Cell for couples interested in courtship and marriage, the Holy Name Ushers, several Third Orders, numerous Fatima Cells, St. Anne's Home for the elderly and infirm, the Little Daughters of the Immaculate Conception Convent for the mentally impaired, the Singing Nuns, the Kevelaer School for the neurologically impaired, the St. Joseph's Workers Guild, the Mater Dolorosa Guild to aid the terminally ill, etc.

Accusations

The TLRCC labelled the Pope Paul VI the "arch-heretic of Rome" and referred to the post-Vatican II Catholic Church as "the Church of the Beast" ^[1]. They considered foolish anyone who would call the prelates of the post-Vatican II Catholic Church bishops or who believed the post-Vatican II Catholic bishops had any legitimate authority ^[2]. The TLRCC does not recognize the authority of the post-Vatican II Catholic Church. Additionally, the TLRCC also questions the orthodoxy and Catholicity of other Traditionalist bishops such as Archbishops Marcel Lefebvre or Ngo Dinh Thuc, and had nothing to do with them. This left only Francis Schuckardt and Daniel Q. Brown as their only recognized bishops. By 1973, Daniel Q. Brown separated himself from the TLRCC claiming that "Your group has become a personal cult of Francis Schuckardt and cannot call itself Catholic." ^[3]. Some charge that instead of only providing the Mass and sacraments to the faithful and preserving the traditions of the Church up to the death of Pope Pius XII, Schuckardt strove to return the TLRCC to a purer form of Catholicism as he saw it. From this point on, Schuckardt had no peers to answer to and some of his followers considered him "the last true Roman Catholic bishop left on the face of the earth". Many believed he was God's chosen insturment to save the church from the destruction that resulted from Vatican II.

Some former members have called the TLRCC a destructive cult. They assert that TLRCC members were systematically cut off from the rest of society and have been programmed to obey the commands of church leaders or risk losing their souls. They assert that the TRLCC regarded the outside world as inherently evil and that members were required to sever ties with family members who did not belong to the Church, even if breaking up a marriage was necessary. They claim that books, both religious and secular, were confiscated from members and only books approved by Schuckhardt were allowed. In addition, subscriptions to secular newspapers and magazines as well as owning a television were banned. They claim that books sold in the church bookstore were also modified; whole pages were removed, or lines of text were pasted over with strips of paper when found objectionable by Schuckhardt and other Church leaders. Further, publishers' names and addresses were removed or covered over to prevent members from ordering books directly.

Some former members also claim that everyone was required to send their children to the TLRCC schools. They claim that there were instances of criminal prosecutions against school staff for excessive disciplining. On October 26, 1976, for example, a religious teacher in the school, Paul Welsh, was sentenced to serve five days in jail in Kootenai County, Idaho for excessive spanking of a 10-year old student. They claim that verbal abuse was also commonly used in addition to physical abuse.

During this time Schuckhardt's constant ill health would cause the infrequent episcopal functions to be delayed to odd hours of the night. He was also using large quantities of prescription medications to enable him to function even in a limited capacity.

It was about this time that the local media started to attack Schuckardt and the TLRCC. It had been alleged that Schuckhardt had been sexually seducing several of his male religious and seminarians. Many of the clergy and laity alike were becoming more and more dissatisfied and eventually Schuckhardt's leadership began taking its toll on the community.

During the only public Mass on Sunday, May 27, 1984, Chicoine took to the podium during that Mass and launched into what was to become one of many denunciations against Schuckardt over the course of time. The charges were: That Schuckardt had imposed arbitrary and rulesfanatical. That the dress code for women was unusually strict, even by traditionalist's Catholic standards, with women required to have their heads covered not only in Church, but at all times.^[4]. That smoking was a "gravely sinful vice" ^[5]. That everyone was required to wear a rosary around their neck, over their clothes where everyone could see it. That information and books from the outside world were carefully censored, to the point that nuns would cut and paste over sections of Dick and Jane books that were considered taboo. That men and women were obliged to sit on opposite sides of the aisle at church. That members were expected to walk backwards out of church when no Catholic parish or religious order before or since has ever imposed such a rule. That he discouraged his followers from allowing their children to attend college. That he prohibited his flock from watching television, although he watched TV news, pop culture and politics. That his ordained followers were ordered in many cases to become flagellants or other cases of mortification of the flesh. That Schuckardt began sexually seducing his seminarians and religious men. Finally, that Schuckardt was preparing to declare himself Pope Hadrian VII and had began certain practices of popes, such as wearing a white cassock on occasion and demanding that his close associates accord him papal honors.

Aftermath & Recovery

With the departure of Schuckardt, the Mount Saint Michael group was without a bishop. Chicoine, along with his associate priests, Benedict Hughes and James McGIlloway and other clergy, began searching for other Traditionalist Catholic bishops. They initiated contact with Bishop George Musey of Galveston, Texas. Musey was a priest who broke from the mainstream church over the reforms of the Second Vatican Council and was consecrated bishop by Moises Carmona of Acapulco, Mexico. Carmona had been consecrated by the Vietnamese Roman Catholic prelate Archbishop Ngo Dinh Thuc.

In 1985, Chicoine, Hughes and McGilloway were conditionally ordained as priests by the Traditionalist Catholic Bishop George Musey. Musey himself stated his belief that these three priests had been validly ordained by Schuckardt, but was conditionally ordaining them to appease the doubts of some about the validity of Schuckardt's Old Catholic orders.^[6]

Chicoine led the Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen as Superior General and oversaw the Congregation's drafting of a rule. The rule was approved by Bishop Robert McKenna, O.P.. In 1989, Chicoine retired as Superior General and moved to New Zealand to work as a parish priest in the CMRI's mission there. He was succeeded by Father Mark Pivarunas.

In 1994 Chicoine was diagnosed with cancer and lived the remaining days of his life back in Spokane at Mount Saint Michael. He died on August 10, 1995.

External links

• Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen - Official website
• Mt. St. Michael & CMRI: Brief Overview by Rev. Anthony Cekada

Endnotes

1. ^ The Reign of Mary. Issue 16. Page 4. "Why are supposedly uncompromising traditionalists willing to wink their eyes at the compromises of such apostate bishops as Marcel Lefevre (whose much tauted "traditional" seminaries are being operated under the watchful eye of Pittsburg's apostate Cardinal Wright WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE VATICAN!; whose much-tauted "traditional" priests will serve apostate bishops in apostate dioceses - NOT the true Catholic remnant faithful in the catacombs (you don't build million-dollar seminaries in the catacombs!); and the venerable, but sadly mistaken, Cardinal Slipyi who addresses the arch-heretic of Rome as "his holiness" and pledges his fidelity to the apostate hierarch of the Church of the Beast - the Mystical Body of Satan?"
2. ^ The Reign of Mary. Issue 18. Page 3. "Who would be so bold or so foolish as to call these bishops Catholic or to pretend that they possess any legitimate authority? Including the arch-heretic in Rome?
3. ^ Kelleher, S. (2002). The Seattle Times. "The sect behind the shroud".
4. ^ Years Beneath Her Mantle. Published by Students of Maria Regina Academy. June 9, 1972.
5. ^ Our Lady of Fatima Crusader Bulletin. Issue number 71. Page 8. "In other words, smoking or any other form of delayed-action suicide is a sin against the fifth commandment. Further, if a person is addicted to smoking to the point where he cannot readily stop doing so, he no longer has complete control over his free will and smoking has become for him (or her) a gravely sinful vice."
6. ^ "But you especially, ... as Bishops to rule the Church of God, must ... promote by all your power, everything which has to do with the protection of modesty ... to admonish and exhort, in whatever way seems most apt, people of all stations, but particularly youth, to avoid the danger of this kind of vice (immodest dress), which is so opposed, and potentially so hazardous to Christian and civic virtue ..." Pope Pius XI.
7. ^sinofflesh Ven. Jacinta: "Our Lady said that more souls to go Hell because of sins of the flesh, than for any other reason," and that "certain fashions will be introduced which will offend Our Divine Lord."
8. ^ "But every women praying or prophesying with her head not covered disgraceth her head..." (St. Paul) - 1 Cor. 11:5.
9. ^ "If the Church is shut, and you are all inside, yet let there be a separation, men with men, and women with women: lest the pretext of salvation become an occasion of destruction." St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Father of the Church, Catechetical Lecture, Catholic Encyclopedia.
10. ^ "They, then, are but abandoned and ungrateful wretches, in deep and fast bondage to that malign spirit, who complain and murmur that men are rescued by the name of Christ ... Only such men could murmur that the masses flock to the churches and their chaste acts of worship, where a seemly separation of the sexes is observed; where they learn how they may so spend this earthly life, as to merit a blessed eternity hereafter…" St. Augustine, Father of the Church, City of God, Bk. 2, Ch. 28.
11. ^ Canons 335, 362, 1572
12. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia: "Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary" (1912)
13. ^ Bouscaren & Ellis: "Canon Law - A Text and Commentary" (1957) Canon 1395.
14. ^ Canon 1384: "Literature is morally bad if it endangers faith or morals, and no one has a 'right' to publish such literature any more than one has a right to poison wells or sell tainted food." Bouscaren & Ellis ibid.
15. ^ "[Y]ou are the powerful barrier against the overflowing tide of useless literature. Such reading matter threatens to drag the great dignity of human nature into the mud of error and perversion... In such matters, of the gravest danger to souls, the intervention of some higher authority is justified and necessary." Address to Ecclesiastics Employed as Book Critics - Pope Pius XII (2/13/56).
16. ^ Encyclical on Christ the King - "Quas Primas" by Pope Pius XI (12/11/1925).
17. ^ Encyclical: "On Christian Education" by Pope Pius XI )12/31/29).
18. ^ Canon 1374. Bouscaren & Ellis ibid.
19. ^ "Everyone knows well that children can often avoid an epidemic so long as the disease is outside their own home, but cannot escape it when it lurks within the the home itself. It is an evil thing to bring the sanctity of the home into danger. The Church, therefore, as her right and duty demand, has always striven with all her resources to prevent these sacred portals suffering violence, under any pretext, from evil televisions shows." Encyclical Letter of Pope Pius XII - "Miranda Prorsus (9/8/57).
20. ^ Canon 1129.
21. ^ Canon 1131.
22. ^ O'Neil v. Schuckardt, Idaho Case #80086.
23. ^ 733 P2d 693, 698.
24. ^ "I say unto you: but unless you shall do penance, you shall all likewise perish." Luke 13:3.
25. ^ "I chastise my body..." (St. Paul) 1 Cor. 9:27.
26. ^ "The Virtue of Penance" - The Catholic Encyclopedia (1912).
27. ^ Encyclical of Pope Pius XII "On the Mystical Body of Christ" on June 29, 1943.
28. ^ "[I]f anyone says it is not by the institution of Christ... that blessed Peter should have perpetual successors in the primacy over the whole church;... let him be anathema." - Vatican Council 1, Session 4, Ch. 2 (1870).
29. ^ The time between the death or resignation of one pope until his successor in office replaces him.
30. ^ Clerical Dress & Insignia of the Roman Catholic Church, Rev. McCloud, 1948.
31. ^ “The crime of one who voluntarily separates himself from the Catholic Church through refusal to submit to the authority of the Church…” The Concise Catholic Encyclopedia (1957)
32. ^ Canons 183-195.
33. ^ “[W]e believe that Bishop Francis Konrad Maria… represents the lone bastion of true, traditional Catholicism in the midst of universal apostasy so evident in the United States and throughout the world.” Letter of Rev. Chicoine (2/11/76).
34. ^ “A pope can only be deposed for heresy, expressed or implied, and then only by a general council. It is not strictly deposition, but a declaration of fact, since by his heresy he has already ceased to be head of the Church. This has never occurred …” Catholic Dictionary (1997).
35. ^ “I and the members of the Tridentine Latin Rite Catholic Church no longer accept or recognize any of the above named defendants [Bishop Schuckardt et al] as members of or as religious officials of the Tridentine Latin Rite Catholic Church…” Affidavit of Rev. Chicoine (6/6/84) - Case 84-2-01445-2.
36. ^ “Detraction, usually associated with calumny, both being unjust injuries to the good name of another. Detraction is committed by revealing the true faults of our neighbor; calumny is by imputing false defects. Both include sinful judging and censuring of one’s neighbor and arise in resentment and envy. A detractor assumes that which belongs to God alone as judge (Jas. 4:11-12). Detraction and calumny are seriously sinful, being sins against justice… The sins of detraction and calumny demand restitution or repair to the neighbor’s reputation…” The Catholic Concise Encyclopedia (1956).
37. ^ Washington Case 84-2-014450-2.
38. ^ "[M]indful that the validity of these orders will always be doubtful in the minds of some... Personally, I have found no reason to doubt that these men had valid orders..." Open letter of Rev. Musey (4/23/95)