Description:
Text transcribed from caption: C-46639 IDAHO ‘DISSIDENT’ CATHOLICS APPEAL
COURT RULING COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho -- A group of dissident Catholics, who
reject Pope Paul and the teachings of Vatican II and who now live an austere,
devotional life in Northern Idaho, has appealed a court ruling in Ohio
awarding $96,000 in judgements to two men who claimed the movement alienated
their wives. The appeal was filed by lawyers for Our Lady of Fatima Crusade,
which is based at the farm-centered City of Mary near Rathdrum, Idaho, about
20 miles northwest of Coeur d’Alene. It asked that the judgements against
the Crusade and its leader, the non-accredited Bishop Francis Schuckardt
(right photo), be set aside. Two brothers, Joseph and Henry Radecki of
Toledo, Ohio, won the judgements after claiming in a suit in Lucas County
(Ohio) court that the Crusade and Bishop Schuckardt alienated the affections
of their wives by inducing them to leave their husbands and join the Idaho
Crusade. The Crusade is often mistakenly linked with the Blue Army of Our
Lady of Fatima, based in Washington, N.J. According to the local Coeur
d’Alene newspaper, Bishop Schuckardt was once international secretary of
the Blue Army, but broke away and founded the Fatima Crusade in 1967. A
spokesman for the Blue Army said that Bishop Schuckardt’s claim of having
been international secretary of the Blue Army is “false,” and that he
worked for the Blue Army briefly as a developer of Blue Army “cells”
around the country, but was eventually “fired.” He said that Bishop
Schuckardt was a layman and not a priest, and had no idea how the Crusade
leader received the title of bishop. Bishop Sylvester Treinen of Boise, whose
diocese encompasses all of Idaho, has declared that because the Fatima
Crusaders reject Pope Paul they can no longer be considered members of the
Roman Catholic Church. At left, women members of the Crusade, dressed in long
peasant-type costumes, stand and kneel outside the church in the City of
Mary. Crusade members reportedly show special devotion to the Virgin Mary and
follow literally the contents of the “Fatima message,” and strenuously
object to the use of the vernacular in the Mass. They are strongly
anti-Communist, reject public schools, discourage recreational activities,
stress spiritual development, operate their own “Catholic” schools, and
encourage members to become “sisters” and “brothers.” Credit Must
Read: RELIGIOUS NEWS SERVICE PHOTO (RVJ-IDA-1C-75-DS)
Subject names:
Religious News Service--Archives., Vatican Council (2nd : 1962-1965 : Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano), Schuckardt, Francis Konrad., Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen.
Topics:
Catholic traditionalist movement--United States., Dissenters, Religious--Idaho--Kootenai County., Conservatism--Religious aspects--Catholic Church., Appellate procedure., Alienation of affections., Marriage law--Ohio--Lucas County., Independent Catholic churches--Idaho--Kootenai County., Collective settlements--Idaho--Kootenai County.