The Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP), a group of disaffected and heretical priests from around the country, is attempting to bring their organization into mainline Catholic publications. In the April 2020 issue of The Priest, a publication of 108 year old Catholic publishing house Our Sunday Visitor (OSV), The Priest published a full page ad on page 45 of the 54 page magazine that encouraged readers to register for the AUSCP’s annual assembly.
At the heart of this issue is the fact that the AUSCP is deeply involved in the promotion of modernist ideologies within the Catholic Church. The Lepanto Institute has produced several reports on the actions and positions taken by the AUSCP, and links to some of these reports are as follows:
- AUSCP Officially Called for Women’s Ordination to the Priesthood
- AUSCP Gives Venue to Condemned LGBT Organizations
- AUSCP’s Plan for Ordained Women and Priestless parishes
- AUSCP’s Idea for Priestly Formation and Info on Conference speakers
- AUSCP’s Desire to Obtain Funding from Unsuspecting, Pew-sitting Catholics
- AUSCP’s Membership in an International Network of Heretical Organizations
- AUSCP’s Alliance with Heretical, Pro-Sodomy Organizations
- AUSCP’s Keynote Address from Notorious Priest, Fr. Richard Rohr
- AUSCP’s Vision of the Church in Relation to the Vision of Bl. Anne Catherine Emmerich
- AUSCP’s Bridge Dialogues Attempt to Change the Entire Structure of the Catholic Church
Writer’s guidelines for both OSV and The Priest spell out that writers should not “stray from the Magisterium of the Church,” so it stands to reason that ads should likewise also not include organizations that “stray from the Magisterium of the Church” as well. But there appears to have been a shift in the ideological direction of OSV in recent years, at least as far as advertising is concerned. In 2017, OSV denied advertising space to Church Militant, a faithful Catholic organization, giving a stark contrast to OSV’s decision to provide advertising space to the AUSCP.
Michael Voris, senior executive producer for Church Militant, reacted to this double standard stating, “Despite OSV FORMERLY being reliably orthodox, it’s clear the outfit has chosen to separate from its past and go the way of fully embracing the heresy of Modernism. Their obvious double standard in deciding who to accept as advertisers, is just ONE indication that the publication can no longer be considered Catholic – and likely poses a danger to a person’s faith.”
The advertisement run by AUSCP in The Priest is for AUSCP’s 2020 Assembly, originally scheduled to be held in Baltimore in June, but now moved to an online teleconference venue due to the coronavirus pandemic. The theme of this year’s AUSCP assembly is “Our Catholic Faith in the Political World,” giving additional concern to OSV’s decision to run the ad.
Featured speakers include the usual suspects of dissident and/or compromising leftist “social justice” warriors such as:
- John Carr – Former long-time head of the Justice, Peace and Human Development at the USCCB. We wrote a report documenting his history of compromise and capitulation that you can read here.
- Carol Keehan – Former director of the Catholic Health Association. She was instrumental in the passage of Obamacare – despite the protests of many bishops over its pro-abortion language.
- Simone Campbell – Perennial leftist political activist and leader of the “Nuns on the Bus.” She shockingly stated “I don’t think it’s a good policy to outlaw abortion,” while pushing leftist economic policies to “reduce” the number of abortions.
Since it is allowing the promotion of a political assembly run by heretics and hard leftists in its professional journal for priests, should we then conclude that OSV is in support of priests becoming involved in progressive leftist political activism?
We sent an inquiry to OSV on March 30 to give them an opportunity to address the AUSCP ad with us privately.
Here is what we sent:
My name is Michael Hichborn, I am the president of the Lepanto Institute. It has recently come to my attention that your most recent issue of The Priest contained an advertisement on page 45 for the Association of United States Catholic Priests (AUSCP).
In case you were not aware, the AUSCP, among other things, has
In light of The Priest’s inclusion of an ad for an objectively heretical organization, I have since learned that OSV refused to run an advertisement for Church Militant.
I am working on a possible article on this matter, depending upon your answers or silence regarding the following questions. My deadline is Tuesday, March 31, at 3:00 EDT.
1) Was OSV/The Priest aware of the grave concerns regarding AUSCP indicated in the links I provided?
2) If OSV/The Priest was unaware of these grave concerns, will OSV/The Priest refuse to run any future ads for the AUSCP now that it is aware?
Thank you for your swift attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.
Sincerely in the Heart of Mary,
Michael Hichborn
We have not received a response after sending this email 3 weeks ago.
If you have a subscription to OSV or The Priest, contact them and ask them why they rejected Church Militant, but published an ad for the clearly heretical AUSCP. Ask them if they will reject future ads from dissident organizations and demand a retraction. If OSV and The Priest refuses, it may be time to cancel your subscription.
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Called the (800) 348-2440 , got directed to and automated system, left a comment with the Advertising dept. Shame on them for this evil. Now to prayer, JMJ+
The AUSCP ad is the kind of heretical thing one would expect from National Catholic Reporter. Is OSV about to sink to that level?
I have never been a fan or a reader of OSV…and now I absolutely will never be!
This is heresy…and shame on them for promoting it.
Cancelled my subscription years ago after reading an editorial by an new, young editor in support of Obama. The writing on the wall years ago. Cancel now if you haven’t
Very likely, OSV was not aware as it is difficult in vetting advertisers until it is pointed out. Lack of a response is due to OSV is working with a skeleton crew right now. Regarding Church Militant, due to the attitude of the founder and spreading of conspiracy theories, the Bishop of the Diocese that OSV falls under (yes, the Bishops have jurisdiction to national publications. Although the National “catholic” Reporter ignores the one they fall under) has stated many years ago not to publish anything from Church Militant. Please note, I used to follow Church Militant until they started disrespecting the current Pontiff, publishing conspiracy theories, and the rudeness and language on the webpage. There is good stuff there, but not enough for me to follow on a regular basis.
‘Very likely, OSV was not aware as it is difficult in vetting advertisers until it is pointed out.’ Then they don’t pay very much attention. I think most people who are actually concerned about the state of the Church are very much aware of the anti-Catholic positions held by the AUSCP.
And, you say, ‘the Bishop of the Diocese that OSV falls under has stated many years ago not to publish anything from Church Militant,’ but he’s OK with publishing ads in support of the heretics at AUSCP?
I am no fan of Church Militant, but if a Bishop bans their ads and allows a paper under his control to accept ads from the AUSCP, I have no choice but to question HIS commitment to the Faith.
So OSV doesn’t vet its advertisers until it’s pointed out? They had no difficulty in vetting out Church Militant.
It’s clear that OSV is in agreement with the heretics at AUSCP which is why they happily printed their ad. Not responding to Lepanto Institute inquiry comfirms OSV’s stance. Cancel your OSV subscription immediately and inform others to do the same.