Cardinal, three others ban mission from using Catholic facilities

Published: 2005-09-30

CHICAGO (CNS) -- When Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki was pastor of St. Constance Parish in Chicago, he knew the Love Holy Trinity Blessed Mission was using parish facilities for prayer meetings and other events. Now the mission has been banned from using Catholic facilities and portraying itself as Catholic by Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago; Archbishop Jerome G. Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa; Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wis.; and Bishop Thomas G. Doran of Rockford. The moves, all announced in September, come amid complaints by relatives of mission members that the group had isolated their family members and convinced them that they will be condemned by God if they leave. "Over the past several years, I have heard many stories of a deepening of the spiritual life from Catholics who have been part of this group," Cardinal George wrote in a Sept. 22 statement. "I have also heard stories from those who claim it is coercive of its members and theologically inadequate or even false."

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