Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen

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File:Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Sulphur Springs.jpg

Our Mother of Perpetual Help Church: CMRI church in Sulphur Springs, Ohio, United States

The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (Template:Langx; CMRI) is a sedevacantist Traditionalist Catholic religious congregation.<ref name="CathWRep">Template:Cite news</ref> The CMRI is dedicated to promoting the message of Our Lady of Fátima and the devotion of the practice of Total Consecration to the Virgin Mary as taught by Saint Louis Marie de Montfort.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The CMRI holds that the Chair of Saint Peter has been unoccupied since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. The CMRI is not in communion with the Holy See or any territorial church diocese.

The congregation lists over 90 traditional Catholic churches and chapels both in the United States and abroad, as well as at least 13 schools staffed by religious.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Primary source inline

NamesEdit

The group had used and was designated by various names:

Fatima Crusade<ref name="cuneo" />
Tridentine Latin Rite Church<ref name="cuneo">Template:Cite book</ref>
Oblates of Mary Immaculate<ref name="cuneo3">Template:Cite book</ref>
Fatima Crusaders<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen<ref name="cuneo2">Template:Cite book</ref>

LeadershipEdit

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Superiors GeneralsEdit

Francis Schuckardt (1967–1984)
Denis Chicoine (1984–1989)
Mark Pivarunas (1989–1991)
Casimir M. Puskorius (1991–1995)
Mark Pivarunas (1995–present)

ActivitiesEdit

The Sisters at Mount Saint Michael record CDs and perform an annual Christmas concert.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The CMRI hold the Fatima Conference at Mount Saint Michael in Spokane, Washington every October. The Conference includes five days of lectures, daily Mass, devotions, and meals.<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

The CMRI has been involved with mass media since their founding as a method of recruitment and information. Throughout their history, the CMRI has produced books, pamphlets, and audio recordings. The CMRI runs a bookstore, Mary Immaculate Queen Center,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and produces various periodicals: The Reign of Mary (quarterly magazine), Adsum (Mater Dei seminary monthly newsletter), and Anima Mariae, the CMRI sisters' newsletter. The CMRI also produces CDs of the annual Fatima Conference talks, as well as a livestream of Daily Mass and devotions from the City of Mary in Rathdrum, Idaho.<ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

HistoryEdit

Speaking tours and Coeur d'Alene beginnings (1967 to 1971)Edit

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Francis Konrad Maria Schuckardt (a Catholic layman from Seattle, Washington) and Robert Denis Chicoine (a former Marine, bricklayer, and newspaper pressman from New Bedford, Massachusetts) attracted their initial followers through international speaking tours as part of the Blue Army of Our Lady of Fatima. Chicoine first heard Schuckardt in a 1965 talk in San Diego about the message of Fatima. After listening to Schuckardt for three nights in a row, he became his disciple.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Beginning in the late 1960s, Schuckardt was able to attract numerous vagabond priests.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Schuckardt was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by Daniel Quitler Brown from 28 October to 1 November 1971 at a motel in Chicago in front of 40 witnesses.<ref name="CathWRep" /> Brown had been consecrated a bishop in 1969 by Hubert A. Rogers, a bishop of the North American Old Roman Catholic Church, but had left it and become independent in 1971.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The same year, Schuckardt changed the name of the group to Traditional Latin Rite Catholic Church.<ref name="cuneo" />

PropertiesEdit

The CMRI owned and operated numerous schools, camps, and properties,<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> including a convent and girls high school in Colbert, Washington about Template:Convert north of Spokane,<ref name=":15">Template:Cite news</ref> and a mansion at 2314 E South Altamont Boulevard in Spokane, Washington, which operated as the priory and Schuckardt's main residence.<ref name=":15" />

Chicoine era (1984 to 1989)Edit

On June 3, 1984, Schuckardt and a small group of his followers were expelled from the CMRI and left the Spokane area, taking the name Tridentine Latin Rite Church (TLRC). In addition to Alphonsus, Schuckardt was followed by 4 religious sisters and 10 religious clerics and brothers.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> A larger group of the priests, religious, and laity remained with Chicoine at Mount Saint Michael, retaining the CMRI name and the bulk of the church property. Chicoine accused Schuckardt of abuse and drug addiction.<ref name="CathWRep" /> Local media in 1984 reported that there were 5,000 followers of the group in the United States, 800 of whom live in the Spokane area.<ref name=":15"/> By 1986, local media reported about half the members of the church's religious orders left.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Following the expulsion of Schuckardt, sedevacantist Bishop George Musey (of the Thục apostolic line) conditionally re-administered the sacraments imparted by Schuckardt, whose validity was now considered dubious, and conditionally re-ordained the remaining priests.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1986, the Congregation held its first General Chapter, which established its rule and constitutions, that were later approved by sedevacantist Bishop Robert McKenna Template:Postnominals.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Pivarunas era (since 1989)Edit

In August 1989, Father Tarcisius Pivarunas (Mark Pivarunas) was elected Superior General of the congregation.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

On 1 February 1991, sedevacantist Bishop Moisés Carmona expressed his desire to consecrate as bishop whomever the congregation chooses. On 3 April 1991, Pivarunas was elected to be consecrated a bishop. In accordance with Catholic practice, Pivarunas dropped his religious name, "Tarcisius", and in accordance with CMRI Constitutions, resigned as Superior General. He was succeeded by Father Casimir M. Puskorius. On 24 September 1991, in Mount Saint Michael, Pivarunas was consecrated a bishop by Bishop Carmona.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In June 2007, 15 sisters (including Rev. Mother Ludmilla) living at Mount Saint Michael in Spokane were expelled for disputing the CMRI stance of sedevacantism. They later reunited with the Catholic Church, and formed the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Church (SMMC) under the authority of William Skylstad, Bishop of Spokane.<ref name="CathWRep" />

In 2016, Pivarunas administered the sacrament of confirmation to 20 people in Paese, during a Mass presided by Father Florian Abrahamowicz. The Diocese of Treviso declared the confirmations to be "valid but illicit".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>