The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer - investigated by the Vatican for alleged abuse and unauthorised exorcisms - have had their appeal “rejected in its entirety”.
This means Christchurch Catholic Bishop Michael Gielen’s request for the group’s professed members - understood to include several priests and brothers - to leave the diocese stands.
The members of the Daughters of the Most Holy Redeemer - an unapproved association where members appeared to operate as unsanctioned nuns - are also expected to disband.
Gielen first banned the Sons’ priests from performing mass in the diocese and asked them to leave 13 months ago, on the Vatican’s recommendation.
The group appealed, but on Sunday Gielen announced that appeal was fully rejected.
While his July 2024 decrees kept any findings of the investigation secret, the fact there was an investigation at all - called an apostolic visitation - was rare, and the consequence was serious.
They were given 90 days (until early October 2024) to leave.
A spokesperson for the diocese said on Monday it was not yet clear by what date the Sons would now leave.
During the appeal, the group was allowed to stay in the diocese - which covers Canterbury and the West Coast - but remained forbidden from performing ministry.
Despite this, mass continued, and the diocese reported a new priest arrived without permission to exercise ministry for the Sons.
Gielen acknowledged this in his Sunday address to local Catholics, saying he was disappointed by the Sons’ “challenges to unity and obedience within our Church”.
Despite the pending request to leave the diocese, the order expanded into North Canterbury, buying an old Anglican church through a third party.
The Sons, who also go by the Transalpine Redemptorists, declined to comment on Monday.
While the Vatican investigation was spurred by allegations of abuse against members of the community, a spokesperson for the Sons has previously insisted that without any charges, the accusations were untrue, embellished or hearsay.
Gielen has said he stands with survivors, previously saying, “I believed what they shared with me. I took the strongest possible action, asking the Vatican to investigate the allegations raised. I adopted the Vatican’s recommendations and issued appropriate decrees. We continue to work for those decrees to be implemented in full.”
Several weeks after being asked to leave, the group expanded into North Canterbury, buying the former St Albans Anglican Church in Ōhoka for $500,000.
An expert has said that traditionalist Catholics were known for their commitment to Church leaders, and significant donations could suggest the group might intend to stay.
Anglican Bishop Peter Carrell said the diocese had no idea the Sons were the ones buying the property at the time, and had they known, they would have blocked the deal.
This was why the Sons used a third party to broker the deal, a spokesperson for the order told The Press at the time.
One question put to the Sons on Monday included whether their priests intended to leave the diocese as requested.
In the last decade the small but dedicated group (charity documents refer to an average of 75 attendees per mass, with more than one mass a day, though former members told The Press this includes many children) has raised over $3 million in donations.
As of late last year, their property portfolio had a rateable value of $5m, including a property in St Albans, Christchurch, a monastery in South Canterbury and a hermitage north of Rangiora, plus the Ōhoka site.
Emeritus professor and religion historian Peter Lineham previously said the amount in donations received suggested significant support by the Sons’ faithful.
This aligned with his understanding of traditonalist Catholics being committed to their leaders.
Prior to 2008, the group (under a previous name) operated outside of the Catholic Church, back when the traditional Latin mass was all but banned.
Lineham believed a schism (or breakaway from the church) was not out of the question.