I know there are a couple documents and things Church Militant used to try to support their claims. Let’s take a look at them. First, there is the sheriff’s report and courthouse proceedings about Br. Joseph. It is true that he got cited for non-injurious physical contact. However, if you think about it, after a month of being at the monastery, this is the only thing Augustine could come up with to submit to the authorities. Plus, as I said in a previous video, I witnessed the incident that was reported, and I know for a fact that Br. Joseph intended no harm. One minor police report is all the evidence Augustine has to support the idea that violence is a big problem in the monastery. Of course, he tries to use other stories too, but those are very limited. Consider them in light of our experience of great fraternal charity and humility. Augustine’s “evidence” is not very convincing.
Next, let’s look at the bishop’s letters. One of the points Church Militant made is that the bishop said that the monks are not religious. That is true, of course, but becoming a public association of the Christian faithful is a normal stepping stone to becoming an institute of diocesan right. Just because the monks are not technically religious does not mean that their vows are invalid. The vows they make are still efficacious. Another thing the bishop said in his letters was that he was sending an investigator. He stated in a later letter that the monks were told to address several concerns that arose during the investigation. I was there for the whole thing. These concerns were things along the lines of adding a second curtain on the shower stalls, kind of like they have at the YMCA if you’ve ever been there, and adding more monks to help with formation. If you have seen the monks’ videos, you may have noticed that Fr. Joseph Marie is now involved with formation. The investigation did not find anything incriminating against the monks whatsoever.
I’ll deal with a couple minor points now. Augustine got a guy who was at the monastery for 2 weeks to support some of his claims. I don’t know why you would believe his 2 week experience over the 5 of us, though. Also, the monks were accused of enlisting forced labor from Triangle Cross Ranch. That is a lie from a bunch of troubled teenagers. While I cannot speak on the situation at Triangle Cross, I never saw a single one of the youth from the ranch the entire time I was in Carmel.
That is all the “evidence” Church Militant has to offer. All of it. As I have just shown, it is weak and inconclusive, and they had to take a good deal of it out of context to make it seem believable.
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