A bishop has asked a traditionalist order to leave his diocese in New Zealand following a Vatican investigation.
Bishop Michael Gielen announced July 13 that priests of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer — also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists — would no longer be allowed to minister in his Diocese of Christchurch.
He said he had also asked all professed community members to leave the diocese, located on New Zealand’s South Island.
Gielen, who was appointed Bishop of Christchurch in May 2022, explained that he took the step following an apostolic visitation — a Vatican-ordered inquiry — of the community, led by the retired Australian canon law expert Bishop Robert McGuckin.
After McGuckin submitted a report to Rome, the Vatican department responsible for religious orders sent Gielen a list of recommendations, which he accepted.
“I am removing the faculties of the priests of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer to exercise sacred ministry in the Christchurch Diocese, effective from 11.59 p.m. on Sunday, 14th July,” Gielen wrote.
“Any ministry its priests carry out after that time will be unauthorized and liturgical celebrations will be illicit — that is, outside the rules of the Church.”
“All professed members of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer have been asked to leave the Christchurch diocese.”
The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, based on the Scottish island of Papa Stronsay, did not immediately respond to an email request for comment.
The bishop’s announcement gave no reason for the order’s expulsion.
But in July 2023, the New Zealand news service Newshub aired a report, based on testimony from 17 people, accusing the order of spiritual and psychological abuse, and performing exorcisms without permission from the Christchurch diocese.
The order denied the allegations.
The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer are one of several traditionalist communities to have faced scrutiny from Rome in recent years, against the backdrop of a broad crackdown on celebrations of the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, also known as the Traditional Latin Mass.
An apostolic visitation is currently underway at the traditionalist Abbey of St. Mary of Lagrasse, in southern France, following tensions within the community of Canons Regular of the Mother of God.
Meanwhile, the superior of the traditionalist Missionaries of Divine Mercy, in the Diocese of Fréjus-Toulon, accused Rome last month of blocking the group’s ordinations, despite lifting a general moratorium on ordinations in the French diocese.
The Transalpine Redemptorists were founded in 1987 with the blessing of Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, the founder of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).
The fledgling community was dedicated to celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass and inspired by the spirituality of St. Alphonsus Liguori, the 18th-century founder of the Redemptorist order.
After stints in England and France, the Transalpine Redemptorists bought the 183-acre Papa Stronsay, in Scotland’s remote Orkney Islands, where they founded the Golgotha Monastery.
Following Pope Benedict XVI’s decision to liberalize the celebration of the Extraordinary Form in his 2007 apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, the order successfully petitioned the Vatican for its priestly suspensions to be lifted and was reconciled with Rome.
In 2012, Bishop Hugh Gilbert of Aberdeen, Scotland, granted the community canonical recognition as a clerical religious institute of diocesan right.
The order, which is relatively small, first arrived in New Zealand’s Christchurch diocese in 2007. The then Bishop Barry Jones asked its members to oversee the Latin Mass chaplaincy in 2012.
Alongside its base in St. Albans, a suburb in the city of Christchurch, the community also established itself at the remote Mt. Saint Joseph’s, Kakahu.
The community’s austere daily life was featured in a 2021 report by the television network TVNZ.
In addition to Scotland and New Zealand, the order also has a home in the Diocese of Great Falls-Billings, in the U.S. state of Montana.
Members of the order signed a statement in December 2023 describing Fiducia supplicans, the Vatican declaration on same-sex blessings, as “deeply offensive to Our Lord.”
In his July 13 announcement, Bishop Gielen wrote: “Acutely aware of my responsibility to support the liturgical and sacramental life of all the faithful, I am making a new provision for the pastoral care and celebration of the Eucharist and other sacraments for the Traditional Latin Mass community.”
“Starting 21st July 2024, the Traditional Latin Mass will be celebrated weekly at Kaiapoi. Sacraments will be coordinated through the Bishop’s Office.”
Gielen concluded: “This has been a very difficult time for many people, and I ask you to pray for all involved. I also ask for the support of the wider Catholic community for these measures, which have been taken for the good of the Church and the faithful in this diocese.”
