Sneak Preview of: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 2

26 Mar

Written By Brendan Triffett

Click here to read Part 1 in this series.

More Dark Secrets

Unfortunately, there are more dark secrets to bring into the light. It will be necessary to face these too.

Don’t punish me for digging them up. I’m not the one who did the deeds, and I’m not the one who buried them.

In a recent post I wrote:

Since 2004 if not earlier, Fr Iannuzzi has been presenting “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity, Inc.” to the public as a legitimate incorporated entity and has been receiving payments under the name of this (supposedly) incorporated entity.

However,

By all appearances, no such entity exists. None of the … official searches return[s] an entity called “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”. No even an inactive entity by that name turns up.

Nobody has registered “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” (or MHT) as a “trading as” name or what is known as a “fictitious” business name. In the United States (and not just there) it is illegal to receive payments and donations under a business name that is not registered. It does not matter if the (unregistered) organisation is a nonprofit. On the contrary, receiving money—including especially donations—under the name of a nonprofit comes with its own legal and ethical responsibilities.

Fr Iannuzzi has located his unregistered nonprofit in the United States in a few ways. First, the mailing address of MHT is in Onaway, Michigan (it’s there on his website, clear as day, and it has been that way for well over a decade). Second, Fr Iannuzzi is the president of a nonprofit called “Association of Priests, Inc.” which was incorporated in 2000—and this nonprofit has had a registered branch in Michigan since 2011. In the application to do business in Michigan, under the question “The specific business or affairs which the corporation is to transact or conduct in Michigan”, the following is written in handwriting:

Retreats regarding the Divine
Writings
Pay for office products and supplies required

In the 2012 annual report of the Michigan branch, under the question “Describe the purpose and activities of the corporation during the year covered by this report”, the following is written in handwriting:

Divine Will Newsletter, Retreats, Pilgrimage, Prayer Groups, Thesis work

This statement applies from 2012 to 2017, inclusive. In the 2018 annual report the answer to (more or less) the same question is:

Saying Mass, giving talks, writing and printing religious books.

This statement applies from 2018 to the present (early 2025). These purposes/activities clearly match up with the purposes/activities of the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity (see ltdw.org).

Third, the Association of Priests, Inc., now owns a property in Paradise, Michigan. More precisely, and if I’m not mistaken, the Association is paying Fr Iannuzzi for the property in regular installments (possibly with interest) in accordance with a memorandum of land contract made in September 2012. The same property on Superior Drive was previously bought by Joseph Iannuzzi and Leo J. Iannuzzi (Joseph’s father, I believe) as “joint tenants with full rights of survivorship” on September 22, 2006 for $197,450. The address of this property is the address given for the main business or headquarters office for the Michigan branch of the Association of Priests.

Some more facts:

The treasurer who signs the annuals reports of the Michigan branch of Association of Priests, Inc. (all of them so far, 2012-2024) is Sally Anne Schaar from Onaway (she also signs the reports of the parent organisation, which is registered in Florida). Sally Schaar is also the person to send payments to for Missionaries of the Holy Trinity. The mailing address associated with her name—and with paying for Fr Iannuzzi’s books and/or MHT newsletter—is present on the Divine Will Era YouTube channel, on the Divine Will Era Facebook page, and on Fr Iannuzzi’s personal website. This address is PO Box 223 Onaway, MI and it has been the same ever since MHT was a thing (a thing in the mind of Fr Iannuzzi, for MHT does not exist legally or ecclesiastically, and never has).
The founding members of the Association of Priests, Inc, are prominent persons in the Divine Will movement in America.
Nonprofits in the U.S. are required to explain how their business serves the public good, and to file their application for nonprofit and tax-exempt status under a suitable category. Honesty and transparency in this area are absolutely essential to the legal and ethical functioning of a nonprofit. Ever since Association of Priests has been incorporated, this is what has been written on their official documents (their application and their Form 990s) as their “primary exempt purpose”:

To provide accomodations [sic] for priests and laity on the property owned by the Association (parsonages, hall, library, and refectory) that will facilitate worship services and assist with the world mission purposes of the Association, especially in working with the poor.

A nonprofit is legally required to demonstrate to the IRS, every year, that is has broad public support (monetary and other donations) for its primary exempt purpose. In the case of the Association of Priests, there are four glaring problems with this.

First, while this Association exists legally and on paper, it has no presence whatsoever apart from (i) the reports filed with the IRS and (ii) the knowledge that the board members have of the Association. You will not find any non-IRS related reference to the Association of Priests on the internet (there are a couple of similarly named associations in the U.S. Catholic Church, and they are not incorporated). None of the Form 990s gives a web address or a phone number for the Association. So how on earth is this nonprofit receiving broad public support (note that payments for sales does not count [for the most part], and large donations from a handful of supporters is insufficient)? Who even knows that it exists, except a small inner circle (the board, possibly a handful of others)? And how could anyone go about making a donation to the Association even if they did know of its existence?

Second, none of the donations and payments made out to MHT legally counts when it comes to demonstrating that the Association of Priests has sufficient public support to warrant its nonprofit and tax-exempt status being renewed each year. For MHT is neither a registered nonprofit nor a registered trading-as/fictitious business name. Legally speaking, it does not exist.

Third, if most of the money that the Association receives is for the sale of books and other publications, then by definition it does not have broad public support.

Fourth, the expenses of the Association do not appear to match up with the primary exempt purpose of the Association. For the years in which the Form 990s are publically available (2001-2005), the greatest expense (in the total column, and in the program services column) by far over the years was for publications, followed by travel and conferences. Does this align with the stated “exempt purpose” of the Association, which is to “provide accomodations [sic] for priests and laity on the property owned by the Association (parsonages, hall, library, and refectory) that will facilitate worship services and assist with the world mission purposes of the Association, especially in working with the poor”? It certainly doesn’t look like it.

On one hand, we have a community or organisation—or something—called the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity, which does not exist legally—yet it has a public presence and receives donations and payments. On the other hand, we have a registered nonprofit that does exist legally, called the Association of Priests, Inc. Yet it has no public presence, and as far as I can tell, nobody (or virtually nobody) pays money to Association of Priests under that name. It appear that these two incomplete things fit together perfectly—though in this case illegally—like pieces of a puzzle.

Speaking of pieces of a puzzle, consider these facts (apologies for a couple of repetitions):

The president of the Association from its incorporation in 2000 until now, is none other than Fr Joseph Iannuzzi.
The Missionaries of the Holy Trinity is the creation/invention of the same Fr Iannuzzi, and payments to the MHT are for his books and newsletters, and are said to support his ministry.
The treasurer of one is the treasurer of the other.
The stated purpose and activity of the Michigan branch of the Association of Priests lines up with the purpose and activity of MHT.
The founders of the Association are champions of the Divine Will movement.
The main expenses of the Association match up with the “ministerial” activities that Fr Iannuzzi mentions (or alludes to) on his website—publications, travel and conferences.
The property owned by the Association—which is also the main office of the Michigan branch of the Association—exists in Paradise, Michigan—the very same town in which Fr Iannuzzi, in 2005 and 2006, located his as-yet-nameless (and imaginary) “missionary religious community”.

I have provided enough information here for the reader to do his own research and fact-check all of this. In my next post I will be more forthcoming. And I will use a certain family-friendly, five-letter word beginning with F.

I’m not sure when I will be able to put the next installment out—and it will be an important one—so you might like to subscribe (see below) to receive the update as soon as it comes out.

I will leave you with a word from the Bishop of Marquette (from his email to me, dated March 14, 2025).

Fr. Ianuzzi is not a priest of the Diocese of Marquette. He does own a house within the diocese, and I hear that he comes to the diocese and stays in that house periodically. Fr. Ianuzzi is not exercising any ministry within the Diocese of Marquette, nor have I granted him faculties.

Dr Brendan Triffett