Is buying from a schismatic a sin? (The invalid "Pope Michael")

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Hello! I’m looking to buy something authored by anti-Pope Micheal in Kansas and apparently one of his “brothers” in one of his “orders”.

Would this be a sin? The material itself is just the compiled Lessons/Homilies from the pre-1955 breviary. Should be completely orthodox content-wise:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MR378H4?ref=aw_sitb_digital-text

https://www.amazon.com/Lives-Saints...From+the+Roman+Breviary&qid=1574790943&sr=8-1

But beyond content, would the possibility that I would be funding them cause it to be sinful?

My first reaction is “yes”. But yet, I find that, strangely enough, I wouldn’t have such an immediate reaction to buying say, a King James Bible with the Apocrypha. Something like this would be put out by Protestants, who are both schismatics and heretics. Also, I once bought a Protestant devotional that (upon lengthy research), I concluded contained no errors contrary to the Faith.

In contrast, Pope Michael is (as far as I can tell) only a schismatic. And of course, the material inside the book doesn’t contain any heresy.

Feel free to debate!
 
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There isn’t much of a debate. By purchasing that you’re funding an organization that is directly opposed to the Church. Don’t buy from him.

-Fr ACEGC
 
And see, I’d agree. But then, what if I wanted to buy a King James Bible for devotional or research purposes? Would that also be a sin?
 
I’ve seen the documentary about him (I won’t link to it here, but you can Google it), and just to give the man his due, he’s not all that strange. I know we all snort at the idea of a bachelor in rural Kansas being elected Pope by his own family, but putting all of that aside, he comes across as fairly average, normal and intelligent. Reminds me a bit of an older Pete Buttigieg with different hair, different wardrobe, and, one certainly hopes, different orientation. I had a friend who served Mass with him as a young man, and he’d probably echo my assessment. (They were both acolytes, I don’t mean my friend served Mass for “Pope Michael”.)

I’m not about to “up stakes” spiritually and go off and become one of his disciples, but he could be a lot worse than he is. And if he has been validly (though illicitly) ordained, by a schismatic bishop, as I’ve heard he was, he is indeed a priest of God.

And as far as these materials are concerned, if you have no other way of getting them at an economical price, and if you truly need them, I can’t see a problem with buying them. You’re not endorsing what he does, you’re just buying a book. If he were selling vegetables out of his garden by the side of the road, would you refuse to buy them? He’s not making any consequential sum of money off this, not even enough to help buy the turkey you see his mother baking in the documentary.

Don’t anyone say I have endorsed “Pope Michael”, because I’ve done no such thing.
 
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jesusalright4me said:
what if I wanted to buy a King James Bible for devotional or research purposes? Would that also be a sin?
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Only my opinion, but I would say that it depends on who you bought it from. For example, if it was from the successor to Jack Chick, who was selling them to raise money to keep publishing, I would say run away. On the other hand, if it from a generic book dealer who is in the business of buying and selling books for profit and only used that profit to support themselves and pay their employees, I would say no problem.
 
If you really want this material, try to find it from somewhere else instead of funding “Pope” Michael. He doesn’t need anyone’s money.
 
I will say this, his many of his YouTube videos explain the Faith better than many a homily, book, or article I’ve heard in today’s day and age lol. Honestly, I pray for his conversion from time to time. He’d make a great canonically regular priest.

Which is why I say that, as far as I can tell, he’s only a schismatic, and not a heretic. Of course, he is also in deep sin, whether or not he knows it. Claiming to be the Pope. Boy!

But I digress.
 
To play devil’s advocate more, would buying anything at all from Jack Chick be sinful? What if he was a close friend of mine, and I were to buy his old car?

I think the reasoning is buying things from certain people is wrong if these people are affiliated with a certain evil group because they may put said money towards the cause of said group.

But in order to use this reasoning, wouldn’t one need to be morally certain that the funds would be going to said cause?

I think we can assume they are with “Pope” Micheal’s case, but I just thought I’d play devil’s advocate more.
 
jesusalright4me said:
I will say this, his many of his YouTube videos explain the Faith better than many a homily, book, or article I’ve heard in today’s day and age lol. Honestly, I pray for his conversion from time to time. He’d make a great canonically regular priest.
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Based on what little I’ve read of his, I tend to agree with you. IIRC he was once a seminarian.

I would say the “in deep sin” business is between him, his conscience, and his God. As we have seen in these forums where more pedestrian matters are involved, people can commit gravely sinful acts, yet have reduced or entirely absent culpability. I don’t think he’s taken on the perceived mantle of being Pope as some of kind of George Plimpton-esque “wonder what would happen if…” stunt. Nobody in their right mind would do that.
 
By “in deep sin”, I was meaning to convey that he is sinning in a grave matter, while simultaneously conveying that we don’t know if he is in mortal or venial sin.
 
jesusalright4me said:
By “in deep sin”, I was meaning to convey that he is sinning in a grave matter, while simultaneously conveying that we don’t know if he is in mortal or venial sin.
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Agreed. I got “read the Riot Act” in these forums not long ago for suggesting that people who use contraception might be in mortal sin.

I just think Mr Bawden deserves the same justice we would give to anyone else.
 
jesusalright4me said:
would buying anything at all from Jack Chick be sinful
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Given that he is deceased, I would not exactly use the word “sinful” to describe buying something from him. 😱😱

If you do not know ahead of time what the money is used for (which my scenario did specify the purpose of) then I think you have to look at probability and history. I don’t think there can be any absolute one size fits all rule for this, just prudential judgement based on the best information we can get at the time.
 
I am loath to disagree with one of our few resident priests (whom I go out of my way to read his posts they are often so good), so let’s just call this post a “on the other hand”.
OTOH, why would someone want to buy something which is clearly intended as s piritual assistance from someone who is off point on such a basic level as to believe he is the pope?
 
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Yes, my thought exactly. I too saw a video documentary of him once on YouTube. I can away feeling incredibly sorry for him, but thinking he was an absolute crackpot.
 
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