Temu Catholicism

Extra Ecclesiam Nulla Salus

In the modern lexicon, calling something “Temu” or the “Temu version” is calling it cheap, knock-off garbage, in honor of the Chinese e-commerce site temu.com. There, you can find some decent stuff for extremely cheap, at the cost of probably giving your data to the Chinese government, but a lot of what is for sale there is paltry junk. Sadly, there are quite a few types of what I call “Temu Catholicism” as well - worthless knock-offs of the true Catholic faith. These span the gamut from modernist to schismatic. Here is an overview of some of the most popular types of Temu Catholicism, and please remember to like and share this article with others so they can avoid being deceived by them:

Palmarian Church

The Palmarian Church was founded in 1978 by Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, who claimed to have visions of the Virgin Mary. The Palmarians are headquartered in Spain, and only have about 1000-1500 members. They are a sedevacantist sect that rejects the authority of the Vatican, has its own liturgical calendar, and has a modified version of the Traditional Latin Mass as far as liturgy itself goes. They now have their own false college of cardinals, and a false pope. Ultimately, this is a cult sect that imposes strict control on its members and does not let them interact with the outside world.

The Palmarians are known for their (admittedly on fleek) clerical swag. Their clergy tend to over-dress.

Its current anti-pope is a Swiss guy who calls himself “Pope Peter III,” and he is the subject of many memes among true Catholics on X, Telegram and other spaces.

As far as sedevacantists go, at least they have an artificial apostolic succession and some path forward to function. In the end, this is of course a completely false sect, and a dangerous cult deceiving some ignorant people away from the true faith.

Cafeteria Catholics

Cafeteria Catholics are professing Catholics who usually only attend Mass on Christmas and Easter, and any funerals or baptisms in between. They tend to hold views completely contrary to the Catholic faith on matters such as contraception, homosexual behavior and abortion, but cling to Catholicism for cultural purposes. They try to turn Catholicism into a trinket they can adorn their identity with, instead of conforming themselves to Christ. They practice grave sin by skipping Mass and refusing to ascent to all dogmas of the Church, and they damage the Church’s reputation by claiming to be Catholic, while promoting unchristian ideas. Some Cafeteria Catholics are more conservative than others, but what unites them is nominalism and a refusal to formally leave the Church while also refusing to actually practice Catholicism in any meaningful way or form.

These types call to mind Revelation 3:15-16 - “I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth.”

Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI)

CMRI are one of the oldest Sedevacantist organizations, and are predominantly active in the United States, as they are headquartered in Nebraska. They are in no way affiliated with the Holy See, and are very active online. The CMRI has at least 13 schools and over 90 parishes, in addition to conducting home masses in certain areas. Since they lack supplied jurisdiction, while their Holy Orders might be valid, their confessions and marriages are invalid. Their Eucharist is also illicit. Attending a CMRI service does not fulfill one’s Sunday obligation.

CMRI members cannot rightly be considered Catholic, as they do not submit to the Pope and reject communion with those subject to the Pope. That said, there’s possibly a path for the CMRI to come into communion with the Catholic Church in the future given the status of their Holy Orders, although their beliefs regarding Vatican II and Papal validity make it unlikely. Some of their members tend to be very “rigorist” and Jansenistic, but I have heard decent homilies from some of their priests online. Nevertheless, this is a schismatic sect all Catholics should avoid, and traditionalist Catholic parents should be wary of their teenaged children viewing their content as they are outside Holy Mother Church, despite having some of its trappings. Their falsehoods about the Papacy and Church are indeed evil, even if many of their members have good intent.

As with all sedevacantists, they deny the doctrine of the indefectibility of the Church, or define it as the Protestants do, rejecting centuries of Catholic teaching, to allow for their “remnant” sect.

Catholic “Womanpriests”

There are a group of women out there that claim to be Catholic and think they can consecrate themselves as Catholic priests. They have fake female priests pretending in over 36 US states. Their website states, “the mission of Roman Catholic Women Priests is to prepare, ordain in Apostolic Succession, and support primarily women who are called by the Holy Spirit and their communities to a renewed priestly ministry rooted in justice and faithfulness to the Gospel.”

Of course, it is impossible for a woman to obtain Holy Orders. They are not valid matter to be ordained a priest, as buffalo chicken wings would not be valid matter to convect the Eucharist. Only a man is valid matter as far as Holy Orders go. The Catholic Church teaches women are equal to men in inherent value, and husbands must put the good of their wives before themselves, but it is an infallible dogma of the Catholic faith that only men can be ordained Priests or deacons with Holy Orders. There are many great roles for women in the Church, and there are roles such as nun that only women can hold, but women cannot have valid Holy Orders, and there is no way this rule can ever change in the future.

Old Catholics

The Old Catholics, or “Old Roman Rite” Catholics are a mixed-bag theologically. They originate from a schismatic Bishop from the Netherlands who rejected Vatican I in the late 1800’s. None of them are in full communion with the Holy See, although some are actually in communion with the Anglicans and Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden, oddly enough. The Old Catholics, like many other Protestant sects, have had their own internal schisms and have now fractured into several opposing groups.

Some groups now accept Vatican I, but reject Vatican II. Many of the aforementioned “womenpriests” come from a rogue group of Old Catholics. Some allow contraception and other grave evils. You never really know what you are going to get with Old Catholics, except some form of non-Catholicism. The more conservative Old Catholic groups are similar to CMRI, in that they have valid Holy Orders, but an illicit Eucharist and invalid marriages and confessions, due to a lack of supplied jurisdiction.

Some more prominent Priests from the Old Catholic’s include Fr. Calvin Robinson, who was ordained as an Old Catholic, and Fr. Martin Navarro, who gained popularity after appearing frequently on the Restoring the Faith Media podcast/YouTube show. Both have large followings on X. The Old Catholics take umbridge with Papal infallibility. While they often have a commendable desire to completely unite Christianity, they don’t understand that it can only happen under a Supreme Pontiff operating with the charism of infallibility. In a Jewish terms, one bestowed with the power of “halakhic judgement” is necessary for unity.

Stay-at-Home Sedevacantists

Many sedevacantists, who believe there is no Pope while professing to be Roman Catholic, following a gnostic path of salvation via knowledge, or gnosis. They may claim is not true, but they do not participate in the sacraments, or at least not all of them, and do not attend Mass. They simply stay home and pray on Sundays. This can be appealing to prideful individuals who are attracted to the history and trappings of the Catholic Church, but are not willing to actually submit to authority or join in communion with those they deem their inferiors.

Many stay-at-home Sedes follow the Dimond Brothers and “Most Holy Family Monastery” (MHFM). They are known for the website “vaticancatholic.com,” which has nothing to do with the actual Vatican. While some of their content is actually good, such as that regarding the Church Fathers, they employ sophistry and foolish arguments to attack and slander the True Church. Jeff Cassman of the SSPX and Peter Dimond of MHFM had a debate on Pints with Aquinas once, and Peter Dimond appeared to be the winner based on a majority of debate viewers. Trent Horn had a great break down of why Peter Dimond’s arguments fail which can be seen here.

Marks of the True Church

Please like and share this article with friends and family, and on social media, to help make people aware of false Catholic groups, so that they can be on the lookout for them and avoid being deceived. Some, such as the Palmarians, are hardly fooling anyone, but others, such as the other sedevacantist groups mentioned, are leading many astray. In the end, the most pernicious group might actually be cafeteria Catholics, because they claim to be part of the actual Catholic Church under the Pope, while defaming Her by acting worldly and promoting anti-Catholic morality, such as the use of contraception. Cafeteria Catholics set a bad example of what Catholicism is throughout the world, and give many a false impression of Catholic piety.

The biggest mark of the True Church is St. Peter. Where St. Peter is, there goes the Church. The True Church must be one, holy, Catholic and apostolic. Read Fr. Most’s article on the topic, and steel yourself and your loved one’s against “Temu Catholicism,” and remain in the real thing. There are other Temu Catholic groups out there, and I may update this article again in the future to include others. Some have asked me why I do not include the FSSPX/SSPX. They are an edge-case and I would want to treat them properly, so I do not include them here, although their claims of ordinary jurisdiction are dubious unless supplied by a Bishop in full communion with the Pope. If you are ever unsure if a group is valid or invalid, or if their masses fulfill the Sunday obligation, all you need to do is contact your Bishop. Bishops supply jurisdiction and determine who can and cannot operate licitly within a given diocese.