Editors Introduction: This is the transcription of a talk that Brother André gave at a small conference in Sacramento, California.

The general purpose of this talk is to answer the question, "Of all the Catholic movements out there, why should I become part of this one?"

While some of you in this room are convinced already of the importance of St. Benedict Center's Crusade, you may still profit from some of the thoughts here presented. Some of you, perhaps, may be motivated to do more. Others who have kept more of a distance over the years may be convinced to join our ranks, either as Religious or as Tertiaries.

My plan is to present certain of our principles and goals and show how they are of capital importance today for the extension of the reign of Jesus and Mary. I will enumerate points on which St. Benedict Center has the proper priorities, convictions, answers, approaches, or emphasis. The topics will include:

1. Our emphasis on the dogma, extra ecclesiam nulla salus and why we are "monomaniacs" about it.
2. Our mission to convert America.
3. Our devotional life — based on Marian Consecration and the Immaculate Heart — as a response to Heaven's revelations at Fatima.
4. Our dedication to the study of good philosophy.
5. Our attitude to an errant and dysfunctional hierarchy, the pope and the bishops.
6. Finally, that our movement, with its first, second, and third orders, has a place for everyone, no matter what their state of life.

If I execute my task properly, and if there is a concord between what I say and what you think, this talk should get more of you involved in the work of the Center precisely because of our common convictions. Now I will proceed to address each of these points one by one.

Our Emphasis on the Dogma

The first is our emphasis on the dogma, "no salvation outside the Church." People say that we are "monomaniacs" about it. By strict definition, this is a false accusation. Monomania is "excessive concentration on a single object or idea." Our concentration on the dogma is intense and energetic, but not excessive. However, it is fair to ask the question: Why are we so insistent on this issue, and why is it the primary area of our focus, when there is so much in the realm of theology, piety, apostolate, and religious life that can occupy our energies? Well, besides the fact that we do strive to place our doctrinal Crusade in a broader Catholic context including all those things, we still have to assert its fundamental importance. Why? Here are three reasons:

First, it is the fundamental heresy of our day. There must be a timeliness to the way the Church asserts truth and condemns error. She addresses current problems, not ancient ones (unless they also happen to be current). The Church dealt with Arianism by condemning it, not by asserting the necessity of Grace. St. Augustine refuted the Pelagians on the issue of Grace, he didn't debate Christology with them. At the time of the Monophysite heresy, the Church didn't re-condemn Arianism; nor did she issue canons against Sebalianism when the Protestant Revolt reared its ugly head. (There are exceptions to this proper mode of dealing with heresy, but Church history shows us that henever the pope and the bishops were slow to deal with a heresy directly, as happened especially in the case of the Monothelite crisis in the seventh century, the Church suffered as a result.) The heresy du jour is that men can be saved in any religion of their choice. This must be condemned.

Some may object that since there are so many heresies today, how could we possibly pick this one as the heresy of our day? To such an objection, I will respond with two points. First, this heresy — indifferentism — lies at the very root of most of the others. Secondly, those modern errors which don't logically flow from it would be closer to being corrected should the Church energetically reassert the dogma. This is because all heresy presumes the liberty to part from the Church's teaching authority. Those who believe the dogma well know that there is no such liberty. If the faithful were constantly reminded that orthodoxy isn't just important, but a prerequisite for entrance into heaven, then the value placed on truth would be higher than it is now.

Think of the most offensive aspects of the new theology. They all assume that there is salvation outside the Church. Let's review some features of the new religion: it is naturalistic, and Pelagian. That is, it denies the necessity of living the supernatural life. This is perhaps the most emphatic expression of salvation outside the Church: if grace is not necessary for salvation, then neither is the Church, which is the means instituted by God for bestowing His grace on man. The liberals, like Pelagius of old, deny the necessity of Grace and have a perverse optimism concerning man's natural capacity. They generally do not believe in original sin at all, even if they pay it lip service. This logically leads to a denial of the necessity of the redemption, of Jesus' sacrifice on the Cross. Therefore, if Jesus didn't come here to save us from sin, and its consequence, eternal damnation, then the Our Lord has been robed of his identity as Savior. His mission becomes something else. Therefore, you will hear modernists, high up in our hierarchy, making Our Lord's role that of "revealing man to man," or some other such thing. They end up, like Protestants, believing in the "wrong Jesus." This could very well explain the heretical Christology of most modernists.

Now, if they have this fundamental problem concerning Jesus' priestly immolation on the Cross, how can they get the Mass right? For them, the Mass becomes something other than the unbloody re-presentation of Our Lord's atoning Sacrifice. The Mass becomes, not a sacrifice for contrite sinners to adore God, thank Him for his benefits, make reparation for their sins and petition Him for the graces they need, but a communal love-feast which promotes the cult of man. Therefore, we now have the novelty of a "new Mass," stripped of its sacrificial character and crafted to fit in with the new theology.

Another aspect of the new religion flowing from Pelagianism is its unrelenting emphasis of the dignity of man prescinding from supernatural grace. Man as man has an intrinsic dignity which, according to the new theologians, prevents his being impaired in the exercise of a false religion. This is the argument for religious liberty of Vatican II's Dignitatis Humanae. It is one of the primary things that undermined sound Catholic social principles: a victory for Americanism and the death-knell of the Catholic state.

Here is one last aspect of the new theology, one of the scariest. There are so-called "conservative" and "orthodox" theologians, like Father Richard John Neuhaus, who actually promote universal salvation. He was once taken to task for it in the pages of the New Oxford Review, by that journal's editor, Peter Vree. But why not profess such heresy? Hans Urs von Balthazar taught a subtle form of the same thing and was made a Cardinal by the present Holy Father. The ancient heresy of Originism, condemned in 553 at the Second Council of Constantinople, is alive and well.

What do all these modern heresies have in common? They all deny the supernatural requirements for salvation. Divine and Catholic Faith, sacramental Baptism, and submission to the pope are all optional for salvation according to the new systems of theology. The various heretical extensions of their fundamental error are examples of the well-known philosophical phenomenon of beginning with a big error and being more-or-less consistent with it. All you end up with is a whole system of erroneous conclusions. This is typical of modern philosophy.

The modernists would have it that Jews, heretics, schismatics, and pagans can be saved as "anonymous Christians," to use the expression of Karl Rahner. Fundamental to their religion is the notion that there is salvation Outside the Catholic Church.

Now, if you want to destroy your enemy, undermining his foundation is the quickest way. They undermined the foundation of orthodoxy this way. It was Father Feeney's grace to see it happening back in the 1940s. If, with the help of God, we wish to reverse the process, we will have to begin by destroying their fundamental heresy. To do that, we must assert no salvation outside the Church.

We know that there are many heresies and disciplinary abuses besieging the Church today, and that they should all be addressed, but once you perceive the one that acts as a cause of the rest — or at least as their necessary support — your strategy should center on its undoing. The wise man does not waste his time with effects when he can deal with causes. Pope Gregory VII, for instance saw that, of all the evils the Church had to deal with in the tenth century, lay investiture was related to the rest as cause to effect. It is to his credit as a prudent and wise philosopher that he saw this. And it is to his eternal credit as a saint that he paid the heavy price of combating it. (He suffered a great deal and eventually died in exile due to the machinations of a perverse Christian Monarch, Henry IV.)

My second reason for the urgency of the dogma is that it is a bold affirmation of the supernatural order, something much needed today. Sometimes it happens that the reality of a thing is more manifested when considered from its negative aspect than from its positive aspect. I'll illustrate this with an example: Jesus gave the Apostles the power both to forgive sins and to retain forgiveness of sins. The priest's power to retain forgiveness puts his sacramental power to forgive in greater relief. We use this fact in apologetics all the time when defending the Sacrament of Penance. Protestants may claim that, in some manner, they can forgive men's sins, but none of them claim a God-given power to retain God's forgiveness. Therefore, they must admit that the power Jesus gave to the Apostles does not exist in their religions.

We find that the same is true of salvation and the whole supernatural economy leading to it. On the practical level, when we work as apostles trying to convert our countrymen, the reaction to "no salvation outside the Church" among so-called Catholics betrays a lack of faith in the supernatural order. If you ask them what is necessary for salvation, most of them will assert that we have a natural right to it which only very evil people forfeit, like Adolf Hitler, for instance. To face people with the challenge of God's requirements for salvation shows that the supernatural order is not only real, but relevant to each one of us, whereas the prevailing thinking has the supernatural order being a nice, but optional, addition to the natural order.

Further, this doctrine, perhaps more than any other, shows the connection there is between doctrine and the supernatural order. What we believe matters. How we live matters also, but you can't live correctly until you believe correctly. And these things matter not in a general, vague sort of way, but in a concrete, incarnational way, so much so, that if you don't believe correctly or live rightly, you will be damned. That certitude is nearly absent from most religious thinking now, and belief in the dogma is a powerful curative to bring it back.

My third reason is that the dogma touches upon the very purpose of the Church. The name of Jesus ("Savior") identifies Our Lord's purpose, or mission, as the Man-God. Saint Joseph was told "thou shalt call his name Jesus. For he shall save his people from their sins" (Mt. 1:21). Saint Peter tells us that "There is no other name under heaven given to men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). And the Creed tells us that Our Lord became man "for us men and for our salvation." So the name "Jesus" identifies the purpose of Our Lord's merciful coming. But the Church derives her purpose — indeed, she derives her very existence — from Him. Her purpose, then, completing Our Lord's mission, is to be at once the unique recipient and dispenser of His saving action. So, in the book of Acts, we are told of the Church after Pentecost: "The Lord increased daily together such as should be saved" (Acts 2:47). Jesus is the only Savior; His bride is the only "saved."

But how few people believe that.

When something is misunderstood in its purpose, it is bound to be abused. And the more noble the thing, the more abused will it be. We see it in the arena of Psychology. Men who loose their sense of purpose suffer terrible spiritual consequences. They often end up committing suicide. In the arena of the Church, we see that Catholics have lost their sense of purpose as the unique followers of Christ. Now, rather than choose suicide, the person who fails to grasp his purpose will more often replace his true purpose with some false or merely secondary one. The Church is here to lead people to God, to make saints, to populate Heaven. When her members forget this, they look for another identity, another purpose. This explains how Catholics have been allowed to see their Church in various errant ways: As one church among many all deserving of merit, as the ecumenists would have it; as a mechanism for world revolution, as Liberation Theology espouses; or as a vehicle for a naturalistic utopia, as many of our hierarchy seem to believe in.

This loss of identity has manifested itself with savage cruelty in the perversion of the priesthood. A man who is ordained to make present again on our altars the one Sacrifice acceptable to God, a man who is ordained to forgive sin and preach God's saving truth — such a man, when he does not believe in these very things, is bound to lead a life of misery, and to spread that misery to those he is called to help.

(It is a personal opinion, but I am firmly convinced that the clerical abuse scandal is directly related to this loss of the Church's identity, resulting chiefly from the rejection of no salvation outside the Church. When the Archdiocese of Boston became the epicenter of this diabolical conflagration, I was convinced that it was related to that same Archdiocese's treatment of Father Feeney in the 1940s. Recently, I was confirmed in this opinion when a friend very knowledgeable in the affairs of the Archdiocese informed me that the first instance of this scandal on record – that is, the first instance of a predatory priest being deliberately and knowingly relocated by ecclesiastical authority – was 1949. Those who know the history of Saint Benedict Center know that to be the year Cardinal Cushing had Father Feeney silenced.)

That's a compendium of three reasons for why "no salvation outside the Church" is of such paramount importance. It was so important to Father Feeney and his early disciples, that they were willing to suffer ostracism and the loss of their reputations over it. Having seen that the dogma was being obscured, Father Feeney sought to make it better known. When those who preferred that it remain obscure tried to stop him, he became louder still, to the extent that he was identified with the dogma as if he had invented it. It became "Father Feeney's doctrine." At that point, Father's enemies, unable to hide the dogma, sought to destroy it by destroying him. He was the punching bag in which the teaching of the Church was beaten upon.

Our Mission to Convert America

Beyond the issue of no salvation outside the Church, I would like to give other reasons to answer the question, "Why Saint Benedict Center?" The first one logically follows from the dogma: It is our mission to Convert America. For the individual who firmly believes and professes that there is only one way of salvation, if he has supernatural Charity, he will want to do what he can to bring as many as possible to that salvation. That is, he will be apostolic. Therefore, the Congregation which lies at the very heart of St. Benedict Center's Crusade, the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is missionary. Our particular charism is to start with our neighbors, our fellow-countrymen.

Consider for a moment how few people actually even talk about the conversion of America. When have you even heard the phrase, "the conversion of America" — as in, to the Roman Catholic Faith — uttered in Catholic circles? If you are one of the few people who can answer that question in the affirmative then you've either heard the phrase from us, from those who have been directly or indirectly influenced by us, or from one of the handful of others out there who speak this language; and while those others do exist, they are very few. The sad fact is, that since conversion is "not necessary" in the minds of most who call themselves Catholic, then the effort to bring someone from his own "faith tradition" into another, is considered useless and even offensive. And if working for one individual to convert is considered so, then the conversion of an entire nation is utter folly. Being convinced of the merits of pluralism, these same folks would consider such religious uniformity to be detrimental to American culture.

I've just acknowledged that there are others who believe that working for the conversion of America is a good cause. Thank God! However, precious few of them believe in the absolute necessity of an individual's conversion. These Catholics are deficient, not only in their personal Faith, but in their apostolic approach. For example: Karl Keating's organization, Catholic Answers, published a tract on evangelizing Moslems. In that tract, we read that Catholics should tell those they are evangelizing that it's alright for them to become Protestants. This is a sin not only against Faith, but against Divine Charity. God does not bless this sort of evangelism.

Very much related to our missionary charism to convert America is the educational aim of our Congregation. The true importance of education can only be seen in light of eternity. In his encyclical letter on education, Acerbo Nimis, Pope Saint Pius X said, "It is a common complaint, unfortunately too well founded, that there are large numbers of Christians in our own time who are entirely ignorant of those truths necessary for salvation." In order to show the gravity of this situation, Saint Pius quotes Pope Benedict XIV: "We declare that a great number of those who are condemned to eternal punishment suffer that everlasting calamity because of ignorance of those mysteries of faith which must be known and believed in order to be numbered among the elect." So, ignorance of the faith, far from being the eighth sacrament, as the liberals would have it, is a cause of damnation according to these great popes. And if the breadth of this ignorance was so lamentable when this encyclical was written in August of 1905, it's even worse now.

Saint Benedict Center's educational apostolate dates back to its founding as a gathering place for Catholic students attending Cambridge area colleges and universities. It was a place where students could frequent night lectures on various subjects, attend adult convert classes, find answers to anti-Catholic objections, and socialize with their fellow Catholics. The catch phrase was, "if you want the Catholic answer, go to Saint Benedict Center." Prior to the period of the most intense controversy surrounding Father Feeney and the Center, in about five years, the Center's efforts produced over two hundred conversions and over one hundred vocations to the priesthood and religious life. These were the fruits of what was essentially an educational apostolate run by a zealous priest and a zealous lay woman, with a handful of enthusiastic collaborators.

In Richmond, the educational apostolate continues by way of our first- to twelfth-grade school and by means of our night classes, which meet three times a week. In these evening lectures, we study Holy Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, and Philosophy, much the way it was done under Father Feeney in the 40s. Through the St. Augustine Institute, our program of studies, the Center has study circles here in the US and abroad. Some of our Tertiaries have expanded our educational work via the St. Louis the King Catholic Education Center, in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey, where they have a store-front apostolate much like the original Center in Cambridge. We would like to see similar Centers start in other places, all over the nation. God willing, when our Congregation has grown sufficiently, we may eventually establish catechetical centers in different regions, where Religious and associated Tertiaries will re-catechize ignorant Catholics and work to convert non-Catholics, so that they can all know what St. Pius X referred to as, "those truths necessary for salvation."

When the atmosphere in the Church changes, and the hierarchy begins to profess the Faith as they should, the battle will only have begun. The whole Church will have to be re-catechized. We would like to be a part of that work, an educational work, which is also missionary.

I shouldn't neglect to mention the work of publishing, which is educational and missionary as well. As I was preparing this talk, I happened upon this quote from St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe: He said, "The earth needs to be flooded by a mighty deluge of Catholic and Marian literature in order to drown out the voices of error." Father Feeney and we agree. And we thank God that we can say that our Congregation has made some contribution to that deluge. Our quarterly, From the Housetops, was begun in the 1940s as part of the Center's challenge to American academia. When it was revived in the 1970s, it had a more popular flavor, aiming at a broader audience. While our subscribers are sadly very few, the publication circulates to many people via the apostolate of bookselling, something our religious have done since the 50s.

When we go bookselling, we take our publications to businesses and try to interest people in reading them. For years, this work was the only way the Center was able to support itself. It was also a great way to meet a large number of people and present them with literature and a few words which could help them save their souls. The pieces of literature circulated in this manner could well number in the millions. In our history, we have been to every major city in the 48 states, and many small towns as well. When the time comes that God blesses us with greater numbers of religious, this work is sure to increase.

Our Marian Consecration

My third answer to the question Why Saint Benedict Center is that our spirituality, that of Marian Consecration, is the most excellent, the safest, and the quickest way of growing in sanctity. The name of our congregation, the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, is no accident, and no mere devotional veneer slapped on to make for a pious appearance to our movement. It is absolutely central to our identity and our mission. Make no mistake about it: The missionary conquest of America and the world will be the work of the Queen of Apostles. And so will the restoration of orthodoxy. We are in the Age of Mary, and we firmly believe that the promised triumph of Her Immaculate Heart will include both the conversion of America and the dogmatic counter-reformation we pray for.

The writings of St. Louis de Montfort — especially Secret of Mary and True Devotion to Mary — spell out our Marian devotion, which was wonderfully augmented and extended by St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe. These saints, who lived the Marian Consecration, along with others, like St. Pius X and St. Katharine Drexel, show us that it is a recipe that works. Not only that, but Our Lord Himself has shown that consecration to the Blessed Virgin is pleasing to Him. Do not the Fatima Revelations, with their emphasis on the Consecration of Russia, vividly teach us the truth of the spiritual doctrine of St. Louis Marie and St. Maximilian Maria? If Russia, this instrument of punishment upon a sinful mankind, is promised the grace of conversion if she is consecrated, what benefits will come to the soul of one already in God's grace if he lives a life of consecration to the Immaculate?

This naturally leads us to a consideration of our devotion to the Immaculate Heart. It is based on the Blessed Virgin's apparitions at Fatima, where She said to the children: "My Immaculate Heart will be your refuge, and the way that will lead you to God." This beautiful utterance is the Blessed Virgin's own paraphrase of St. Louis de Montfort's motto: "to Jesus through Mary."

These two things — Fatima's Immaculate Heart revelation and the Marian Consecration — are related in fact and are united in our Congregation's name. It was providential that when our Order was being founded, everyone at the Center was reading two books: Our Lady of Fatima, by William Thomas Walsh, and True Devotion to Mary, by St. Louis de Montfort. When the idea presented itself that Father Feeney's disciples would form a religious Congregation, the name followed as if naturally.

The devotion to the Immaculate Heart which Our Lady said Jesus wants placed alongside devotion to His own Sacred Heart, is something Our Congregation fosters by promoting the First Saturday devotion, among other means.

Our Commitment to Sound Philosophy

My fourth reason why Saint Benedict Center is our recognition of the importance of sound philosophy and our correct approach to it. To some, this may seem like quite a tangent, especially given the fact that everything I've spoken about so far is entirely in the supernatural order. But good philosophy keeps people from being superficial in their thinking, especially their religious thinking. And the superficiality of her children is one of the worst enemies of the Church. Philosophy is the ancilla theologiae, the handmaid of theology. When we try to explain our Faith with bad philosophy, we get heresy. We get Karl Rahner, Hans Urs von Balthazar, Yves Congar, and all of the other leading lights of progressivism. Sound philosophy, of the kind promoted by Pope St. Pius X, is a guardian of good thinking in the natural order as well as the supernatural order.

Brother Francis has been teaching philosophy for over 60 years now. He still does so, sitting in on the Monday night meeting of the Philosopher's Club, a small group of men who want to learn from him. Through the medium of audiotape, Brother's lectures on Philosophia Perennis have gotten an audience of hundreds all over the world, including students and faculty members of colleges, universities, and seminaries, even seminaries in Rome. If you would like some idea how sound philosophy can be put at the service of the Faith, read either of Brother Francis' two books, An Introduction to Philosophy as Wisdom, and Cosmology. These are two of a projected nine-volume series on perennial philosophy.

Our Loyal Catholic Resistance

My fifth reason why Saint Benedict Center is our attitude regarding an errant hierarchy, the pope and the bishops. It is no secret to us that our most dangerous enemies are those who should be our protectors, benefactors, and teachers. The enigmas that are our modern popes are, to my mind, only explicable in light of a great divine chastisement upon the Church. We can't deny it: Our Holy Father and most of the bishops say and do things which are opposed to the unchangeable Catholic Faith. The sad fact is all-too-well documented. In the face of this, what is a Catholic to do? The principle of holding fast to tradition, even in the face of opposition from above, has guided this movement since its beginning. A few issues ago, we published an article in the Housetops called "Loyal Catholic Resistance." This is our name for the posture the faithful should take with the liberal hierarchy. It's not one of rebellion, because we are fighting rebellion. In the practical sphere, Loyal Resistance manifests itself by actively opposing the errors of the hierarchy even though you will be ostracized for it.

We have the examples of saints and the teachings of Scripture, popes, doctors, and theologians showing that Catholics can and must resist erroneous hierarchs.

At the same time Loyal Catholic Resistance is manifested by its loyalty to traditional doctrine and liturgy, and its willingness to oppose the hierarchy when they undermine them, it also maintains a respect for their offices and the hope that the grace of God can make them change — even instantly. Unlike certain traditionalists — sedevacantists and those who are close to being sedevacantists — we do not act as if the Church is a corpse awaiting a miraculous resurrection (no pope, no priests, no sacraments, etc.). We know that the vital sap is still there in the Church, even amid the blasphemy, apostasy, and scandals. Holiness is still something Catholics can achieve through the institutional Church the way it stands.

We detest, and Father Feeney detested, the bitterness and gloom that's so much present in traditionalist circles. It's not at all holy.

When I first visited the Center, one of the big surprises was the happiness and positive atmosphere of the place. People were actually excited to speak about the Faith, and not just to engage in ecclesiastical gossip and moaning about all the things going wrong in the Church. I knew I wasn't among mindless optimists, but, while the message was strong and the polemics could be stiff, there was a positive ambiance that I found attractive. Anyone who knew Father Feeney would probably say that this is his manner being reflected in his community. He was militant and could denounce with great energy, but he was also positive, humorous, and joyful.

We have a Place for Everyone

Now I've come to my last point, and I'll make it briefly. Saint Benedict Center has a place for everyone. With our First, Second, and Third Orders, anyone in any state of life can have a part to play. While we maintain the proper Catholic value for the consecrated life of religion in a time when it is under assault, we do so without disdaining the married state and family life. In fact, we wish to foster sanctity in the family, which is one of the reasons for the little Catholic community we have in Richmond. This means that everyone here in this room, and everyone who may hear a tape of this talk, can join us in some way.

If I've made any sense at all, if I've made a good case for the Center, then I appeal to you all to help us in our work. Help us by your prayers, your subscriptions to our magazine, and, yes, by your donations. Give our literature to your friends and family. If you're not a Tertiary, consider joining the Third Order. If you are a young lady or gentleman undecided on your state in life, then prayerfully consider a vocation to our First or Second Order.

Some of the points I've made here can be said of other movements, apostolates, and Congregations. There are a few that promote good philosophy, there are a few who promote Marian Consecration — quite well, I might add; there are lots who promote Fatima and the Immaculate Heart devotion; and others who promote a return to the foundational dogma no salvation outside the Church. Some others even speak of the conversion of America. God bless them all and may we all work together to extend the kingdom of Jesus and Mary. For my part, I believe that the Center's combination of all these things gives our movement a greater urgency.