Sneak Preview of: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 2

Click here to read Part 1 in this series.

[updated April 4, 2025]

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”.

*

UPDATE April 4, 2025.

A red flag which I forgot to mention is that Fr Iannuzzi officially categorised his nonprofit as a Protestant organisation for the IRS, despite there being clear references to Catholic spirituality and Catholic priests in the application, founding document and annual Form 990s—see the NTEE code in the previous link (this bizarre fact was written about already in 2018). This means that the “primary charitable activities” of the Association have been classified falsely since 2000 (or 2001)—this on top of the fact that the main expenses of the Association (publications, travel and conferences) don’t match up with the “primary exempt purpose” of the Association written on their Form 990s (the purpose of this form is described on the IRS page here). This is yet another example of non-transparency in Fr Iannuzzi’s modus operandi. Since there is no evidence that the Association is involved in actitivities that could be called “ecumenical” or “Protestant”, it looks as if Fr Iannuzzi’s intention is to hide his organisation from Catholic authorities in the U.S.—perhaps even from the eyes of the Catholic public. Either that, or he knows that he has no ecclesiastical right to be claiming his organisation as a Catholic one.

[end of update]

*

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

Quick links to other posts:

• Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

• Supplement to: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

• Sneak Preview of: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 2

• Fr Joseph Iannuzzi, we need answers NOW. The two incorporated entities you refer to DO NOT EXIST*

  • Namely: “Missionaries of Divine Will, Inc.” and “The Divine Fiat, Inc.”

• On Father Joseph Iannuzzi’s Alleged Violations of Academic Integrity

  • This is the post that got a lot of attention and elicited a slanderous response from Team Iannuzzi

• A summary of what I’ve uncovered so far about Fr Iannuzzi and Dr Michael James

• My response to Dr Michael James’ false accusations and ad hominem attacks

• A brutally honest response to Dr Michael James Farrow—Part 1

  • In which I demonstrate that Dr Michael James is Michael James Farrow

• In response to Michael James Farrow’s latest video on the Divine Will Era channel

• Did Fr Iannuzzi just indicate his belief in hollow Earth theory?

• Fr Iannuzzi’s curious statement about Admiral Byrd

  • Following on from the hollow Earth theory post

• Fr Joseph Iannuzzi on the possibility of ETI: A critical analysis

  • This is where it all began

• Fr Iannuzzi’s Flights of Fancy: Transcripts of Video 1

• On Fr Iannuzzi’s bizarre claim that there are fallen aliens

Supplement to: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

From Fr Joseph Iannuzzi (2005), The Antichrist and the End Times, St Andrew’s Productions.

The OSJ Problem

It’s bizarre that Fr Iannuzzi didn’t mention his membership in the Oblates of St Joseph anywhere on this page, under the title “About the Author”? (The same point holds for the 2006 book too). Why would an OSJ priest spend a whole paragraph announcing his membership in some other nameless community on the other side of the world from where he is (presumably) incardinated (“presumably”, because it is virtually impossible to find these things out), and not mention—not even once—the religious community under which he made his solemn vows? The community of fellow religious with whom he currently lives in Rome? This is beyond bizarre. One wonders what narrative Fr Iannuzzi was attempting to create here, and for what purpose.

It’s worse than that, actually:

• None of the following search terms turns up even once in the 2005 book or in the 2006 book: “OSJ”, “O.S.J.”, “Oblate”, “Oblates”.

• There is no reference to Father Iannuzzi’s being an OSJ in his 2004 book, The Splendor of Creation either—even though note 328 on p.285 mentions the founder of the Oblates of St Joseph.

• There is no reference to Father Iannuzzi’s being an OSJ in the published version (2013) of his doctoral thesis of 2012.

And yet a Google search for “Iannuzzi O.S.J.” will return plenty of recent hits (the first three pages are from 2017 to 2022) so we can only assume he is still a member of the Oblates of St Joseph.

On the other hand, who knows? There appears to be no reference to the Oblates of St Joseph on Fr Iannuzzi’s personal website. Try doing a Google search by pasting one of following strings into the search bar. You won’t find any of the four search terms at ltdw.org.

• site: https://www.ltdw.org/ "oblate"

• site: https://www.ltdw.org/ "oblates"

• site: https://www.ltdw.org/ "OSJ"

• site: https://www.ltdw.org/ "O.S.J."

What are we to make of this? Fr Iannuzzi seems to be keeping his commitment to his religious order in one compartment (assuming he is still an OSJ—it is difficult to know for sure), and his commitment to the Divine Will movement in another compartment.

But coming full circle, why did Fr Iannuzzi not present himself as an OSJ in his 2005 and 2006 books, presenting himself there as a member of some nameless other religious community instead? What is going on here? Remember that the Official Catholic Directory does list Rev Joseph Iannuzzi as an O.S.J. in 2006 (as well as in 1998 and 2007-2009).

*

One plausible explanation for why he hasn’t been presenting himself as an OSJ is that his Superiors in the Oblates of St Joseph have allowed him to promote the writings of Luisa Piccarreta and the Divine Will movement but only on condition that this is not in any way associated with his being an OSJ.

(Other ideas come to mind also: Fr Iannuzzi has left the order, he has been expelled from the order, he is taking a break from the order to discern God’s Will for his life, he is not on good terms with the order, he is steering the audience away from certain details in his life. But these are only hypotheses. And to be fair, it is entirely possible for someone in a religious order to believe that the direction that God is leading him in life is in tension with the current expectations of his order. To be sure, this could be a sign of some vice, a problem of character.)

Other Strange Omissions

The following biographical statement (complete) is from Fr Iannuzzi’s 2004 book, The Splendor of Creation: The Triumph of the Divine Will on Earth and the Era of Peace in the Writings of the Church Fathers, Doctors and Mystics:

Rev. Joseph L. Iannuzzi is a theologian and doctoral alumnus of the Gregorian Pontifical University. He was an associate exorcist to Fr. Gabriel Amorth (the exorcist of Rome), has written several books on revelation and prophecy, appeared on EWTN and was host of several television and national radio programs. Fr. Joseph is presently assigned in Rome, Italy.

In 1983 Fr. Joseph received honors in both orchestra and wrestling. In the 1983 NYSMA (New York State Music Association) the first prize was awarded to the Brentwood High School Orchestra, with Joseph Iannuzzi as one of the performing first violinists. In that same year Joseph was awarded the first place in the New York State Freestyle Wrestling Championships.

Joseph spent the next two years working as a carpenter for a national computer corporation. It was during this period that he began to hear God’s promptings. In 1986 Joseph received a wrestling scholarship to Wilkes University, PA where he pursued his studies in medicine, and worked as the column artist of the university newspaper. His wrestling career took a turn in June of 1988 when he traveled to Medjugorje, Yugoslavia where three locutions from Mary inspired him to enter the seminary.

In August of 1988 Joseph entered the seminary located next to the university in PA. In 1991 Joseph obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Kings University, PA, with high honors and was awarded the Kilburn Award given each scholastic year to the top graduate student of philosophy.

Joseph was sent to Asti, Italy for his novitiate year, during which period he studied Italian, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, made his profession of vows and resumed theological studies in Italian. In 1993, after obtaining a Bachelors of Arts in theology with honors from the Pontifical University for the Catholic Missions, he returned to the USA where he was ordained a priest on the Feast Day of the Holy Trinity.

In years to follow, Joseph assisted in the Scranton and Hartford Dioceses. In 1998 he was called anew to Rome, Italy and assigned as assistant pastor at the San Lorenzo in Fonte Church where he pursued his licentiate and doctorate in Sacred Theology at the Gregorian Pontifical University. The subject of his theses were respectively, “The Eschatology of the Early Church Fathers,” and “The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta’s Theology of the Operation of the Divine and Human Will within the Deposit of Faith.” In the same academic year of his licentiate, Fr. Joseph was one of four selected students to receive a grant from the Pontifical Biblicum University of Rome to study theology in Israel.

Fr. Iannuzzi has translated six theological works from Italian to English, is the author of four books on mystical and dogmatic theology, and the initiator of international communities devoted to the advancement of the Church’s mystical tradition and to the proper theological presentation of the mystical gift of Living in God’s Divine Will.

Again, no mention of the Oblates of St Joseph. Even more curious (also amusing) is the way in which he skirts about the identity of his seminary. “In August of 1988 Joseph entered the seminary located next to the university in PA. In 1991 Joseph obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from Kings University, PA.” King’s College is in Wilkes-Barre, PA, which indeed is only about 7.8 miles from Pittston, PA, where there is an OSJ seminary. Recall the following information from the 1998 edition of the OCD:

On p. 1152: Rev Joseph L. Iannuzzi, O.S.J. is located in Eastern Providence of the Oblates of St. Joseph, Rte. 315, R.D. 4, 18640 in Pittston, Pennsylvania in the Diocese of Scranton. The listed provincial (in the OCD, 1998, p. 1152) is Very Rev. Joseph D. Sibilano, O.S.J.; Rev. Gregory Finn, O.S.J. is 1st Councilor; Rev. Paul A. McDonnell, O.S.J. is 2nd Councilor. [This property is listed as an Oblates of St Joseph seminary here. Rev. Sibilano is currently listed as Priest in Residence, Rev. McDonnell as Rector.]

https://osjseminary.com/about-us-1

Note too that Fr Iannuzzi speaks about his “profession of vows” without mentioning which order he made his vows to.

Finally, there is something fishy about the section that I have underlined.

In 1993, after obtaining a Bachelors of Arts in theology with honors from the Pontifical University for the Catholic Missions, he returned to the USA where he was ordained a priest on the Feast Day of the Holy Trinity.

In years to follow, Joseph assisted in the Scranton and Hartford Dioceses. In 1998 he was called anew to Rome …

We know from the OCD that Joseph Iannuzzi was ordained in 1997. But in this passage, Iannuzzi not only withholds the year in which he was ordained (strangely, he refers only to a certain feast day) but arranges his phrases in such a way that the reader is led to think that he was ordained in 1993. One is given the impression that between his ordination and his being called back to Rome, there are 5 years, when in fact he was called back to Rome after 12 months of priestly service (possible less). “In years to follow”—following what? His return to the USA or his ordination in the USA? The ordering of the phrases naturally suggests the latter. If the latter, then he served multiple years as a priest in the Scranton and Harford Diocese before returning to Rome. But we know this is not true, because the OCD consistently states that he was ordained in 1997.

The following biographical statement is from early 2016; it is from Fr Iannuzzi’s Parish Mission at Mary, Queen of All Saints (St. Cecilia’s Church, Pennsauken, NJ):

In August of 1988 Joseph entered the Oblates of St. Joseph Seminary, and in 1991 he obtained a B.A. in Philosophy with high honors from Kings University …

Joseph completed his novitiate year in Asti, Italy … He made his profession of vows and began theological studies in Italian. In 1993, after obtaining a B.A. in theology with honors at the Pontifical Urbaniana University, he returned to the USA where he was ordained a priest on the Feast Day of the Holy Trinity. In years to follow, Fr. Joseph assisted his community in the Scranton and Hartford Dioceses. In 1998 his religious Community called him anew to Rome where he served as Assistant Pastor at the San Lorenzo in Fonte Church where he pursued his licentiate with summa cum laude and doctorate with magum cum laude in Sacred Theology at the Gregorian Pontifical University. The subject of his theses were respectively, “The Eschatology of the Early Church Fathers” (Licentiate), and “The Gift of Living in the Divine Will in the Writings of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta – An Inquiry into the Early Ecumenical Councils, and into Patristic and Scholastic Theology”. … From 2006-2009 Fr. Joseph was asked to assist a Parochial Vicar of St. Paul and St. Monica Parishes in the Gaylord Diocese. With permission from his religious superiors Fr. Iannuzzi is currently offering pastoral assistance to the ecclesiastically approved Fiat Totus Tuus Religious Community Petoranello di Molise, Italy.

In response to this, my questions are as follows:

• Again, why did Fr Iannuzzi not mention that he was ordained in 1997 (as per the Official Catholic Directory)? Why did he skirt about this fact by referring only to the year in which he returned to the USA, and the feast day on which he was ordained (not the year)?

• Why did Fr Iannuzzi not mention his one year in the Diocese of Marquette? According to the OCD, and contrary to the biographical statement above, Fr Iannuzzi was not in the Gaylord Diocese in 2006. [The 2006 edition, p. 727: Joseph L. Iannuzzi O.S.J. is listed as Temp. Parochial Admin of Holy Redeemer Parish, Menominee, Michigan, in the Diocese of Marquette; and as Temp. Parochial Admin of Holy Spirit Catholic Church, also in Menominee.]

• Recall that the source I spoke to who is connected with the Companions of Christ the Lamb, said this in passing about Fr Iannuzzi: “In the Marquette Diocese, there were some struggles with parishioners.” Is this why Fr Iannuzzi preferred to leave his one year in Marquette (at Holy Redeemer and at Holy Spirit, both in Menominee) out of his biographical statement?

In any case, one wonders why Fr Iannuzzi is so careful to skirt about certain historical details in his life, and why he felt the need to “massage” the narrative in certain ways.

More Red Flags

The passage quoted from the “About the Author” section in the 2005 and 2006 books already raises a number of red flags, even on a first reading. This is further confirmation that something is not right (to say the least).

First, why the ambiguous, non-informative reference to a “missionary religious community”? (“Fr. Joseph is member of the missionary religious community located in the Diocese of Marquette, MI that enjoys the ecclesiastical approval of his local bishop and the added endorsements of two bishops of the Detroit Diocese.”) If this religious community exists, and is in such good standing, having the “ecclesiastical approval” of no less than three bishops as Fr Iannuzzi claims, then why not give the actual name of the religious community? Bona fide members of genuine religious communities in the Catholic Chuch would not act like this—why would they? They do not hide such basic information from their audience as the name of their own community while they are proudly announcing their membership in that same community! This is extremely odd behaviour. Truly bizarre.

In the next sentence, Fr Iannuzzi does the same thing again. He refers to an “international association” and to “the missionary community” in very generic terms.

As an international association that promotes the Church’s mystical tradition, the missionary community provides solo-wilderness retreats at the CCL (Companions of Christ the Lamb) spiritual center that spans well over 1,000 acres of verdure in the village of Paradise, MI.

Iannuzzi wants his audience to associate him with a certain religious community—but at the same time, he is unwilling to provide further information about it. Indeed, he is not even willing to provide a means (a name, an email address, a website) by which people can enquire further and fact-check. Not even in a footnote. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Fr Iannuzzi wants the audience to think of him as part of some wonderful religious community that is doing God’s work, but does not want the audience to enquire further. How many red flags do you need?

I assume that the name of this religious community is not so holy that it is forbidden to mention it!

If this missionary religious community exists, then surely, it would welcome enquiries from people who would like to know more about it. The community, or someone who represents it, would be more than willing to provide information about the community to interested people, especially those discerning whether they might join. And yet, Fr Iannuzzi doesn’t provide any contact information. Indeed, the reader isn’t given the name of the community!

Notice again how Fr Iannuzzi is very careful to give out some bits of information, and not others. He is willing to speak about the Companions of Christ the Lamb, mentioning them here by name, and also giving their location—but he is careful not to mention the name of his own community. His disclosure of information is very selective, and it is selective in a way that is very odd, to say the least. Indeed, it looks suspicious.

Here is another example of a vague, non-descriptive reference: Fr Iannuzzi claims that his nameless religious community has the “added endorsements of two bishops of the Detroit Diocese.” Wonderful! So which two bishops do you mean, Father? There are a number of them. Is it too much to provide names, so we can check whether your claims are true? If you’re worried about the word count, or space on the page, just use a footnote! As things stand, it would be necessary to work out who the bishops of the Archdiocese of Detroit are (or were at that time) and then ask each of them, one by one, whether Fr Iannuzzi’s claim is true. It certainly seems that this was Fr Iannuzzi’s intention: to make it difficult to fact-check his claims. Giving enough information (“information”) to make a positive impression, but not enough information to enable the audience to fact-check his claims with relative ease.

In 2005, the year in which this book was published, the local bishop in Marquette was Bishop James Garland (bishop of Marquette from 1992-2005). There is no valid reason for not mentioning Garland by name—not if Gardland had indeed given Iannuzzi’s non-descript community his “ecclesiastical approval.” Think about it. If you wanted to reassure your audience that the religious community you were part of had the approval of your local bishop, and the endorsement of two other bishops in Detroit, then you would be eager to mention the names of the three bishops who had given their approval—assuming, of course, that they had. At the very least, you would provide this information in a footnote. And again, you certainly wouldn’t be withholding the name of your religious community!

I looked up all bishops in the Archdiocese of Detroit, Michigan in the year 2004 and/or 2005 (Fr Iannuzzi’s book on the Antichrist was published in 2005; I am being generous by including the previous year).

• His Eminence Adam Joseph Maida (born 1930) was made Cardinal in 1994. He served as Archbishop of Detroit from 1990-2009. He retired in 2009.

• + Thomas Gumbleton (born 1930, deceased 2024) served as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit from 1968-2006. He resigned in 2006 (it is said that the Vatican forced him to resign).

• + Earl Boyea (born 1951) served as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit from 2002-2008. He is now Bishop of Lansing.

• + John Quinn (born 1945) served as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit from 2003-2008. He retired in 2022.

• + Francis Reiss (born 1940) served as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit from 2003-2015. He retired in 2015.

No less than four men were serving as a bishop in Detroit in 2005—five if we include the Archbishop/Cardinal. This makes it more difficult to fact-check Iannuzzi’s claim that his international “missionary religious community” enjoyed the “added endorsements of two [unnamed] bishops of the Detroit Diocese” at that time. At least, it presents an obstacle or deterrent to fact-checking from the perspective of someone reading Iannuzzi’s book.

Finally, I question the appropriateness of a priest inviting people to “solo-wilderness retreats”. At the very least, the choice of words is worrying. It is bad optics in this day and age. There are actually two alarm bells in this case. The first alarm is obvious—it looks like an opportunity for sexual abuse. The second is less obvious, and concerns the possibility of creating a cult-like following. A common strategy of cult leaders is to separate people from others in order to initiate them into a “new” spirituality. The followers submit themselves receptively to guidance of one guru—the spiritual master or theological “expert”—who specialises in the new spirituality.

Dr Brendan Triffett

Quick links to other posts:

• Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

• Supplement to: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

• Sneak Preview of: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 2

• Fr Joseph Iannuzzi, we need answers NOW. The two incorporated entities you refer to DO NOT EXIST*

  • Namely: “Missionaries of Divine Will, Inc.” and “The Divine Fiat, Inc.”

• On Father Joseph Iannuzzi’s Alleged Violations of Academic Integrity

  • This is the post that got a lot of attention and elicited a slanderous response from Team Iannuzzi

• A summary of what I’ve uncovered so far about Fr Iannuzzi and Dr Michael James

• My response to Dr Michael James’ false accusations and ad hominem attacks

• A brutally honest response to Dr Michael James Farrow—Part 1

  • In which I demonstrate that Dr Michael James is Michael James Farrow

• In response to Michael James Farrow’s latest video on the Divine Will Era channel

• Did Fr Iannuzzi just indicate his belief in hollow Earth theory?

• Fr Iannuzzi’s curious statement about Admiral Byrd

  • Following on from the hollow Earth theory post

• Fr Joseph Iannuzzi on the possibility of ETI: A critical analysis

  • This is where it all began

• Fr Iannuzzi’s Flights of Fancy: Transcripts of Video 1

• On Fr Iannuzzi’s bizarre claim that there are fallen aliens

Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1: What you need to know about the elusive “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”.

An email from the Bishop of Marquette confirms my suspicions.

In 2005 Fr Joseph Iannuzzi, OSJ published a book through St Andrew’s Productions called Antichrist and the Endtimes.

Inside the book, under “About the Author”, Fr Joseph Iannuzzi describes himself as follows (my emphasis in bold):

Fr. Joseph is member of the missionary religious community located in the Diocese of Marquette, MI that enjoys the ecclesiastical approval of his local bishop and the added endorsements of two bishops of the Detroit Diocese. As an international association that promotes the Church’s mystical tradition, the missionary community provides solo-wilderness retreats at the CCL (Companions of Christ the Lamb) spiritual center that spans well over 1,000 acres of verdure in the village of Paradise, MI. Those interested in making solo-wilderness retreats to deepen their union with God’s Divine Will may contact Fr. Joseph at soulofjesus@juno.com.

This photo of a page from a hard copy of the book is sufficient proof. But to confirm it for yourself online click here. Then put the first of the following search phrases into the search bar and press enter. Repeat for the 3 other search terms. You’ll see the whole of the paragraph in question, in four overlapping samples.

• “Joseph is member”

• “local bishop”

• “CCL (Companions of Christ”

• “village of Paradise”

The same paragraph appears again in “About the Author” in Fr Iannuzzi’s 2006 book, Proper Catholic Perspectives: On the Teachings of Luisa Piccarreta (also St Andrew’s Productions):

All three paragraphs are the same as in the 2005 book, except now there is a mailing address rather than an email address: P.O. Box 12, Paradise, MI 49768. I will return to this point.

The font style for the address is different for some reason. There is no online preview of the book that includes this section, so the reader will have to confirm the accuracy of the screenshot for him/herself by consulting the book (the Kindle version is very cheap). I’ve provided an extra screenshot below.

The quoted passage raises a number of red flags, and many things don’t add up. I will go into those details later (toward the end). Suffice it to say that I was sufficiently motivated to reach out to the Diocese of Marquette. I contacted the Director of Vocations on March 12. I asked him about Fr Iannuzzi and his “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” (notes in square brackets were not in my original email):

Dear Rev. Ben Hasse

My name is Dr Brendan Triffett and I'm doing some research on different Catholic religious communities in the Diocese of Marquette.

I am getting conflicting information about a community called "Missionaries of the Holy Trinity". In a few places online I noticed that Fr Joseph Iannuzzi says he is the initiator of this community and that it exists in the diocese of Marquette.

https://stthomasaquinassociety.org/speakers/iannuzzi-joseph-l-father/

https://deaconjohn1987.livejournal.com/4102916.html

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8147445-fr-joseph-is-member-of-the-missionary-religious-community-located-in-the-diocese-of

There is also a reference to the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity on Fr Iannuzzi's webpage [see here], about a third of the way down. He accepts payments under the name of this community.

Also here

https://www.ltdw.org/newsletter-subscription---publication-orders.html

In his 2005 book on the Antichrist he writes this about himself

(you can find it written out here https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8147445-fr-joseph-is-member-of-the-missionary-religious-community-located-in-the-diocese-of )

[Here I cite the quoted passage (the blue text above)]

It seems to me that this community doesn't exist, however. I contacted [redacted] … said there is no such community [redacted] and that Fr Iannuzzi just owns a house somewhere down the road in Paradise, Michigan.

The fact about the house checks out

https://nuwber.com/person/563a9409a219445d525f5333

https://www.michiganresidentdatabase.com/person/104151419/joseph-iannuzzi

https://www.governmentregistry.org/find/joseph-iannuzzi

[Redacted] said some things about Father Iannuzzi that worried me. The person I contacted [redacted] did not want [his/her] name revealed for fear of retaliation from Fr Iannuzzi! They also said that Fr Iannuzzi has been active in the ArchD. of Detroit [my mistake: I should have said the Diocese of Gaylord] and in the Diocese of Marquette and that he [Fr Iannuzzi] had some difficulties with parishioners but [my source] didn't say anything else.

So now I'm curious whether Fr Iannuzzi's "Missionaries of the Holy Trinity" ever had the "approval" of the bishop of Marquette, or any bishops of Detroit. I am very dubious, given all of the above.

Thank you for your time

Dr Brendan Triffett

I was honoured with a prompt response from the Bishop of Marquette, Most Reverend John F. Doerfler:

Dear Dr. Triffett:

Greetings in Jesus Christ.

No such community called the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” has ever been approved by the Diocese of Marquette, and to the best of my knowledge there is no such community by that name acting without diocesan approval within the Diocese of Marquette.

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.

I hope that this addresses your question.

For information regarding any religious communities that have been approved by the Church, I would recommend that you consult the Official Catholic Directory: https://officialcatholicdirectory.com/OCD/home

Sincerely in Christ,

+John F. Doerfler

Most Reverend John F. Doerfler, STD, JCL

Bishop of Marquette

1004 Harbor Hills Drive

Marquette, MI 49855

906-227-9115

jdoerfler@dioceseofmarquette.org

In seven points, then, Bishop Doerfler kindly clarified the situation for me. In his words,

1. No such community called the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” has ever been approved by the Diocese of Marquette,

2. and to the best of my knowledge there is no such community by that name acting without diocesan approval within the Diocese of Marquette.

3. Fr. Iannuzzi is not a priest of the Diocese of Marquette.

4. He does own a house within the diocese,

5. and I hear that he comes to the diocese and stays in that house periodically.

6. Fr. Iannuzzi is not exercising any ministry within the Diocese of Marquette,

7. nor have I granted him faculties.

Let’s return to that crucial statement that Fr Iannuzzi made about himself in two of his books in 2005 and 2006:

Fr. Joseph is member of the missionary religious community located in the Diocese of Marquette, MI that enjoys the ecclesiastical approval of his local bishop and the added endorsements of two bishops of the Detroit Diocese.

If this statement was true in 2005, then in 2005 Fr Iannuzzi must have been a member of some “missionary religious community” that

1. was located in the Diocese of Marquette, Michigan,

2. enjoyed the ecclesiastical approval of the Bishop of Marquette,

3. enjoyed the added endorsements of two bishops of the Archdiocese of Detroit [I’m not sure why Iannuzzi spoke of the “Diocese” rather than the “Archdiocese” of Detroit], and

4. was not called, and is not called, “the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”.

The first three conditions are taken from Fr Iannuzzi’s own statement. The fourth condition is there because we now know that the Diocese of Marquette has never approved a community called the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”.

In 2005, the year in which Iannuzzi’s book on the Antichrist was published, the local bishop in Marquette was Bishop James Garland (installed November 11, 1992; retired December 13, 2005). Alexander Sample was bishop of Marquette from 2005 to 2013; he was succeeded in 2014 by the current bishop of Marquette, + Doerfler. But there is no need to contact Garland or Sample to ask if either of them gave the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” their ecclesiastical approval. If either of them had, Bishop Doerfler would certainly have it on record. Hence Bishop Doerfler wrote “No such community called the ‘Missionaries of the Holy Trinity’ has ever been approved by the Diocese of Marquette”.

https://dioceseofmarquette.org/ourbishops

*

Let’s take a step back. Which “missionary religious community” was Fr Iannuzzi talking about when 2005 (and again in 2006) he claimed to be a member? There are three possibilities:

• (i) He was talking about the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity—in which case he was lying, or extremely deluded.

• (ii) He was talking about some other religious community—in which case he was lying, or extremely deluded.

• (iii) He didn’t have in mind any religious community—in which case he was lying, or extremely deluded.

I explore each of these three possibilities below [Options (i), (ii) and (iii)]. The outcome of my analysis is that there is no way to avoid the following conclusion: When Fr Iannuzzi made this statement about himself in 2005 and again in 2006, he was either lying or extremely deluded. It is hard to see how the reputation of Fr Iannuzzi could recover from this.

Option (i): Fr Iannuzzi was talking about the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”

If Fr Iannuzzi was talking about MHT (the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”) then either he was lying when he made this statement in his 2005 book, or he was extremely deluded when he made this statement in his 2005 book. It is worse than that, because this statement was published 20 years ago, and Fr Iannuzzi has never retracted it. (Indeed, he repeated it again in his 2006 book). So either Fr Iannuzzi has stood by this lie for 20 years, or he has been extremely deluded for 20 years about the ecclesiastical validity/approval of MHT.

In an attempt to defend Fr Iannuzzi, one might claim (a) that Bishop Doerfler is mistaken about Fr Iannuzzi and MHT, (b) that Doerfler is lying about Fr Iannuzzi and MHT or (c) that Doerfler never sent that email to me. But nobody in the right mind is going to believe (a) or (b). As for (c), the reader is free to check with + Doerfler by contacting the Diocese of Marquette. It is hardly in my interest to post a fake email from + Doerfler, given how easy it would be to expose such an email as a fake.

*

Note that I am not the first to uncover this alarming discrepancy between the truth and Fr Iannuzzi’s false claims about “MHT”. The same discovery was made a year ago in March 2024, by Emmett O’Regan, a doctoral student in theology at Trinity College, Dublin. From his biographical statement:

I am currently a Ph.D candidate studying Catholic theology at the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin. I graduated at Queen's University Belfast with a First Class honours degree in Divinity in 2006, where I won the theology prize scholarship offered by the Institute of Theology. I also won the Sean O'Riordan scholarship at the Loyola Institute, Trinity College Dublin in 2019, and graduated with a distinction in a MPhil in Christian Theology in 2022. I also won the Loyola Trust Ph.D scholarship in 2020, and an Irish Research Council postgraduate scholarship in 2022.

O’Regan has two peer-reviewed articles published in Theological Studies (2003, 2004) and a third one in Nova et Vetera (2005).

I paste below an email exchange between O’Regan and Bishop Doerfler. Emmett’s name had been redacted by the time the information reached me, but since receiving it I have confirmed with Emmett that he is the author/recipient and that he’s happy for me to publicize the exchange. The emphases (bold, italic, underlined) are from the original email.

Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2024 12:24 PM
To: Bishop Doerfler <jdoerfler@dioceseofmarquette.org>
Subject: To the Most Reverend John Doerfler, Bishop of Marquette

March 16, 2024

·  Office of the Bishop

·  Most Rev. John F. Doerfler

·  Bishop of the Diocese of Marquette

Dear Bishop Doerfler,

I have been listening to Rev. Joseph Iannuzzi, STB, M. Div., STL and STD, Ph.D, as he is a speaker that can be found in many places on the internet, and has various books available. However, his own websites and that of his community lead me to some confusion. 

The first website shows a retreat center in your Diocese with the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity in Paradise, MI:

      "The Missionaries of the Holy Trinity is an ecclesiastically approved community whose goal is service to Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament and to his most Holy Will. Our Mother House is located in Paradise, MI nestled in 1,000 acres of land, and overlooking the great Lake Superior. We offer public spiritual retreats and seminars on the gift of Living in the Divine Will. Our instructors are theologians that are authorized by the proper ecclesiastical authorities to properly instruct the faithful on the teachings of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta. The spiritual center comprises a large and beautifully hand-crafted wooden chapel with the Blessed Sacrament that is dedicated to the Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, a spacious two-level dining hall, over 10 retreat houses and over 1,000 acres of peaceful verdure that is perfect for meditating the gift of Living in the Divine Will. All retreatants can explore the endless trails and hermitages in an ambience of quiet and solitude for the advancement of union with God's Will. As a Public Association, our community has received authorization from the local bishop to have the Blessed Sacrament in the chapel and at the housing sites, where there is morning and evening prayer, daily holy hours and Eucharistic Adoration. Mass is celebrated daily and confessions are always available. Our priests and vowed members offer healing services, bible study programs, catechetical instructions, spiritual retreats and advanced courses in Catholic spirituality, mysticism and ecology." (link below)

While it was easy to find where to donate, or to order books, it was impossible to find the retreat center or any information about the community of Priests and lay persons. Nor could information be found on your diocesan website, or the Michigan Catholic Conference website. 

Additionally, Rev. Joseph Iannuzzi could not be found on either official website. Is Rev. Iannuzzi a Priest of your diocese, as well as the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity? Can you or your office lead me to the retreat center mentioned? Below are a few links for your review.

https://www.ltdw.org/uploads/2/5/1/5/25153387/newsletter_46.january-may_2014.pdf

(newsletter yearly US $20 or $30 international)

MISSIONARIES OF THE HOLY TRINITY

P.O. BOX 8484

CRANSTON, RI 02920

Website: http://sojmj.com/Trinity/Start.htm

“The Missionaries of the Holy Trinity is a community dedicated to the kingdom of God on earth through Eucharistic adoration, spiritual works and intercessory prayer for priests. The Missionary community is comprised of over 60 priests and hundreds of laypersons…”

Donate page: Donate to

Missionaries Of The Holy Trinity

Living In The Divine Will

LTDW2016

https://www.paypal.com/donate?token=aUzFshOLoftymhPSZ8OJ0HwiTz8cOXDg9zqRzRofbBdU8K0S0ezBW554K6XkfTkK2ZWcELG14Myzi-lc

Fr. Iannuzzi's main website: https://www.ltdw.org

Thank you, your Excellency. 

You remain in my prayers.

 -----------------------------

The response from Bishop Doerfler:

From: Bishop Doerfler <jdoerfler@dioceseofmarquette.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 16, 2024 2:44 PM
 To the Most Reverend John Doerfler, Bishop of Marquette

Dear:

Greetings in Jesus Christ.

Thank you for writing with your questions.

The information on the website is false, which makes me seriously question the legitimacy of “The Missionaries of the Holy Trinty.” There is no such association in the Diocese of Marquette that either I or my predecessors have approved. Fr. Joseph Ianuzzi is a religious order priest, not a priest of the Diocese of Marquette, and many years ago he served in one of our parishes for a time. Since he is not priest of the Diocese of Marquette, I cannot speak to his current whereabouts or status. 

There is a retreat center in the Diocese of Marquette with about 1000 acres near Paradise, Michigan, and it is similar to what is described on the website. However, it is owned and operated by a different association, the Companions of Christ the Lamb. The Companions of Christ the Lamb have received diocesan approval. 

I hope that this addresses your questions.

May you have a blessed Holy Week and Easter.

Sincerely in Christ,

+John Doerfler

Most Reverend John F. Doerfler

Bishop of Marquette

1004 Harbor Hills Drive

Marquette, MI 49855

906-227-9115

jdoerfler@dioceseofmarquette.org

The behaviour uncovered in this email exchange, and confirmed by my own email exchange with the same Bishop Doerfler, is sickening. It involves Fr Iannuzzi finding a thriving Catholic community and retreat centre (The Companions of Christ the Lamb) in Paradise, Michigan, and falsely advertising it as his own retreat centre (“our Mother House”), all in the name of seeking “God’s Divine Will.” It looks more like he’s imposing his own will onto an unsuspecting group of Catholic priests, brothers and volunteers, whose prayers and obedience—and no doubt their blood, sweat and tears—had built up this community and retreat centre from scratch physically and spiritually over the years. Who does that? What level of entitlement must someone have to even think of doing such a thing? To re-imagine an innocent pre-existing community, re-conceiving it in one’s own image, appropriating it as part of one’s own (imaginary) spiritual empire, and advertising this false image in an online scam, all for the sake of “God’s Divine Will”—never mind what the members of Companions of Christ the Lamb might think about this.

Remember that Bishop Doerfler himself was witness to the false statements linked to in the email exchange. “The information on the website is false … There is a retreat center in the Diocese of Marquette with about 1000 acres near Paradise, Michigan, and it is similar to what is described on the website. However, it is owned and operated by a different association, the Companions of Christ the Lamb. The Companions of Christ the Lamb have received diocesan approval.”

My reaction (nausea) and my discoveries have been confirmed by an email exchange I had with someone connected with the CCL retreat center (he/she shall remain anonymous) [my emphasis in bold]:

There is an awful lot about Fr. Joseph Iannuzzi that is not exactly as he would appear to make it in things he posts and representations he makes. He did serve for a period of time in the Gaylord diocese in Michigan and also in the Marquette Diocese. In the Marquette Diocese, there were some struggles with parishioners. Father Iannuzzi has a house in Paradise, Michigan very close to where the Companions of Christ the Lamb have their Rectory and Formation Center. The CCL retreat center is about 16 miles by road to the west from that area. In some of the posts Father Iannuzzi has put online, he seems to imply that he in some way has a relationship with the companions of Christ the Lamb and its retreat facility. That is not the case.

With regard to your personal situation with Father Iannuzzi, several of us have had several experiences here [....] He is very aggressive in defending his reputation when people question his status in the church and that of his organization you mentioned [i.e., the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”].

I pray especially for him every day because, although he is quite a learned person, he is extremely insecure. Even as a mature adult having to reference his musical skills, wrestling skills, etc. Any mature adult should be well beyond needing to do that kind of thing.

This person told me that he/she does not want any further confrontation with Fr Iannuzzi—”Only, just to pray for him and wish him well.”

*

Here are some images from the Companions of Christ the Lamb Facebook page (open to the public):

“Companions of Christ the Lamb” appears in the Official Catholic Directory under “Associations of the Faithful” in the Diocese of Marquette from 2008 onwards (in 2007 it was listed under “Miscellaneous”, which is a bit unfair). From 1996 onwards there are a few priests listed as having a formal connection to CCL. The Companions of Christ the Lamb have received Diocesan approval.

*

Back to the bad news. There is more damning evidence to look at. Remember the P.O. Box advertised in the “About the Author” section in Fr Iannuzzi’s 2006 book? As it turns out, that does not belong to a Joseph Iannuzzi, and it never has. In truth, “P.O. Box 12, Paradise, MI 49768” is the private mailing address of Companions of Christ the Lamb, Inc. This is the private PO Box where the officers of this registered nonprofit (CCL, Inc) receive their business mail. Here are twelve (12) publically available official documents, plus two reliable official websites, to prove this beyond all doubt:

https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_mi/800820022

After performing the search here, click on either of the two names (for the same entity) for more information. The Registered Office Mailing Address, and the address given for the 6 officers/directors of the corporation, is PO BOX 12 PARADISE, MI 49768 USA.

https://opencorporates.com/filings/593026621 or click here for the original link to the file at LARA - Corporations Division.

https://opencorporates.com/filings/593026623 or click here.

https://opencorporates.com/filings/593026625 or click here.

Retrieved from the IRS Tax Exempt Organisation Search.

Retrieved from the IRS Tax Exempt Organisation Search.

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/383197935/2010_08_EO%2F38-3197935_990_200912

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/383197935/2007_09_EO%2F38-3197935_990_200612

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/383197935/2006_09_EO%2F38-3197935_990_200512

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/383197935/2005_07_EO%2F38-3197935_990_200412

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/383197935/2004_08_EO%2F38-3197935_990_200312

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/383197935/2003_08_EO%2F38-3197935_990_200212

https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/display_990/383197935/2002_11_EO%2F38-3197935_990_200112

Is it possible that Fr Iannuzzi happened to also have access to the same post office box? Surely not. Why would the Companions of Christ the Lamb, Inc, give access to their business PO Box to an outsider? And Fr Iannuzzi is an outsider, as far as this nonprofit is concerned. It is easy to prove this. First go here. Look through the “Key Employees and Officers” immediately displayed at the end of the 2023 section. Do the same for all the years down to 2010. No mention of an “Iannuzzi” in those records. Scroll down further to consult the years 2001-2009, inclusive. For these years you’ll have to open the Form 990s. Look in the sections that mention (i) current officers, directors, trustees and key employees, (ii) former officers, directors, trustees and key employees that received compensation or other benefits and (iii) employees and independent contractors. You will not find a single mention of “Iannuzzi”. Recall also what I found in an earlier post (about 3/4 of the way down the article):

I searched opencorporates.com for “Joseph Iannuzzi” under “officers”. Thirteen items were found, two in Canada, the rest in the US … The only entity associated with Fr Joseph L. Iannuzzi is ASSOCIATION OF PRIESTS, INC. …

I was also able to search for other addresses associated with Joseph Iannuzzi in Michigan (Paradise in particular), based on his known (and publically available) address history. Fr Iannuzzi has been president of Association of Priests, Inc., since its incorporation in 2000. The addresses that he has put down on the Form 990s over the years are as follows:

• 2000-2005: St Matthews Church, 1773 Blanding Bvd, Jacksonville FL 32210

  • There is no “Joseph Iannuzzi” in the Official Catholic Directory in these years (see below)

• 2006: 1016 10th Avenue Menominee MI, 49858 [Holy Spirit Church, Menominee]

  • This agrees with the data in the Official Catholic Directory (see below)

• 2007-2014: 20811 Washington Avenue, Onaway MI 49765 [St Paul Church, Onaway]

  • The OCD lists Rev. Iannuzzi as residing here from 2007-2009, inclusive (see below). In the years 2010 to 2014, Fr Iannuzzi would have been mostly in Rome.

• 2015-2025: [address redacted], a house in Paradise, MI.

Based on this data, we can find PO Boxes associated with the same Joseph Iannuzzi in Paradise, Michigan (and indeed anywhere in the U.S.). There is a strong association with PO Box 92, Paradise. (To confirm this, search for “PO Box 92 Iannuzzi Paradise”.) But there is no association with PO Box 12, Paradise. (Search for “PO Box 12 Iannuzzi Paradise”.) Unsurprisingly, there is a strong association between PO Box 12 Paradise and the Companions of Christ the Lamb. (Search for “PO Box 12 Companions of Christ the Lamb”. Alternatively, try “Diocese Marquette PO Box 12”). For good measure, consult this page at the Catholic Diocese of Marquette.

Clearly, “PO Box 12, Paradise, MI 49768” has “Companions of Christ the Lamb” written all over it—and the connection goes back to 2001, if not further. In stark contrast, this address has no connection with Joseph Iannuzzi whatsoever, apart from the (obviously false) statement he made in his 2006 book.

By the way, a Google search using the following string ["Companions of Christ the Lamb" "Iannuzzi"] does not return any results apart from

• a quote from Fr Iannuzzi’s 2005 book

• critical comments on Fr Iannuzzi by Emmett O’Regan

• a real estate site that incidentally has the CCL property and Fr Iannuzzi’s property on the same page.

Objection. Could it be that the reference to PO BOX 12, Paradise in the 2006 book is an honest mistake—a misprint?

Response. We know that it is not, for these reasons:

1. It is highly unlikely that an honest mistake would connect Fr Iannuzzi with the Companions of Christ the Lamb retreat centre so conveniently—that a misprint would just happen to fit in with and confirm Iannuzzi’s intended narrative.

2. Fr Iannuzzi was not connected with PO BOX 92 until 2009 at the earliest (see the whitepages.com).

3. Fr Iannuzzi does not publicise PO BOX 92. He has never given PO BOX 92 Paradise as an address to send order forms and/or cheques to. The address consistently associated with his “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” fund/fraud is PO BOX 223 Onaway (also in Michigan).

4. It would be easy to fix a misprint in the electronic version of the book.

5. It’s unlikely that a misprint like this would go unnoticed. Keep in mind that the addition of the PO BOX in place of an email address is the only difference between the 2005 and 2006 versions of the “About the Author” section in the two books.

6. There are other addresses that Fr Iannuzzi could have used legitimately in 2005 and 2006.

Objection. Perhaps the Companions of Christ the Lamb allowed Fr Iannuzzi to write down the CCL PO BOX as his own mailing address. Perhaps they were happy to receive mail on his behalf. Perhaps they gave him permission to write their PO BOX down as if it were his own. Perhaps they even gave him permission to do this in his 2006 book.

Response: Some of that might be credible if Fr Iannuzzi had some sort of relationship with the CCL. But the situation is quite the opposite. For Fr Iannuzzi was either lying about his relationship with the CCL, or he was extremely deluded about it—this much has already been established, but more evidence and arguments will be provided below (and keep in mind that the CCL do not want to have anything to do with Fr Iannuzzi.)

There is no way to avoid the shocking conclusion: Fr Iannuzzi had the audacity to write down the private PO BOX of the Companions of Christ the Lamb and present this mailing address as his own, in order to give his readers the impression that he had some relationship with the CCL. What sort of person behaves like this? This is not an unfortunate mistake made in the heat of the moment, but a calculated decision.

Image source: medium.com.

You have to ask yourself: Is this a priest we can trust? Is it wise to be taking theological instruction or pastoral/spiritual guidance from someone who is willing to go to these lengths to get what he wants and bring his own designs to fruition? Indeed, does anyone really want the Divine Will movement to be associated with a “champion” and “leader” who acts like this? If Fr Iannuzzi is allowed to remain in his prominent role, and people in the Divine Will movement continue on as if everything is fine in Divine Will Land (because “nobody’s perfect”, after all), what message does that send? How would this look to a rational outsider?

Let me be clear: the damning evidence that I’ve uncovered here—the two emails from Bishop Doerfler, the paragraph from the “About the Author” section in two of Fr Iannuzzi’s books, the false mailing address given in the 2006 book, Fr Iannuzzi’s deceptive “appropriation” of the CCL retreat centre to suit his own fantastic narrative about himself and his ministry—none of this is hypothetical. It makes no difference whether, in that all-important statement of his (first in his 2005 book, again in his 2006 book), Fr Iannuzzi had the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity in mind (first option), some other religious community in mind (second option) or no religious community in mind (third option). These facts are now written down in permanent ink. They remain on the page, even as our investigation moves forward.

Checking with the Official Catholic Directory

In his email response to me, Bishop Doefler kindly pointed me toward the Official Catholic Directory.

For information regarding any religious communities that have been approved by the Church, I would recommend that you consult the Official Catholic Directory: https://officialcatholicdirectory.com/OCD/home

On the “about us” page (https://officialcatholicdirectory.com/OCD/about-us) the OCD is described as follows:

The Official Catholic Directory is the most authoritative Catholic reference resource available today. Every edition provides Clergy and Non-Clergy members with the most up-to-date personnel changes, new appointments and assignments, and updated contact information for all 210 (arch) dioceses in the United States and the hundreds of (arch) dioceses around the world.

Features Include:

E-mail and website information for Catholic institutions, where available

Thoroughly updated (arch) diocesan entries, confirmed and approved by each (arch) diocese

A map detailing Catholic (arch) diocesan and province boundaries in the United States

Listings for Religious Orders of Men and Women as well as Missionary Activities* and Foreign Missions*

An Index that lists priests alphabetically for easier and faster access

…

*Available in Digital Flipbook format only

Fortunately, the OCD for previous years is open (legally, and for free) for public viewing at www.archive.org. I was especially pleased to discover that the documents have been OCR scanned, so that word searches are possible. Here are the links to 23 currently available editions, starting from 1995:

• 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 [the 1997 edition requires you to log in]

• 2000, [2001-2003 missing], 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009

• 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, [2017 missing], 2018, 2019

• 2020, 2021 [more recent editions currently not available at archive.org].

SEARCHING FOR THE MISSIONARIES OF THE HOLY TRINITY

“Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” does not appear at all in any of these 23 editions of the OCD. Each time the search found no results, I made sure the search function was working by searching for “Kennedy”; this gave over 100 accurate results every time. I also tried searching for “Missionaries” to see if any of the highlighted results is part of “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”. In the OCD (all available editions from 1995 onwards) there are only three approved communities (i.e., three communities that appear in the OCD) that begin with “Missionaries of the Holy”. These are: Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, Missionaries of the Holy Family, and Missionaries of the Holy Apostles.

These results confirms the two statements made by Bishop Doerfler:

• March 16, 2024 (to Emmett O’Regan): “The information on the website is false, which makes me seriously question the legitimacy of ‘The Missionaries of the Holy Trinty.’ There is no such association in the Diocese of Marquette that either I or my predecessors have approved.”

• March 12, 2025 (to Brendan Triffett): “No such community called the ‘Missionaries of the Holy Trinity’ has ever been approved by the Diocese of Marquette, and to the best of my knowledge there is no such community by that name acting without diocesan approval within the Diocese of Marquette.”

SEARCHING FOR FR JOSEPH IANNUZZI

“Iannuzzi” was my search term. There is a Rev Joseph Iannuzzi, O.S.J. listed in the OCD in the years 1998, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 (the years highlighted in blue).

1995-1997

The only “Iannuzzi” listed in the OCD in this period is Deacon William P. Iannuzzi, in the Diocese of Camden.

1998

The 1998 edition, p. 803: Rev Joseph L. Iannuzzi, O.S.J. is located at St Sebastian, an Italian speaking parish in Middletown, Connecticut in the Diocese of Norwich.

On p. 1152: Rev Joseph L. Iannuzzi, O.S.J. is located in Eastern Providence of the Oblates of St. Joseph, Rte. 315, R.D. 4, 18640 in Pittston, Pennsylvania in the Diocese of Scranton. The listed provincial (in the OCD, 1998, p. 1152) is Very Rev. Joseph D. Sibilano, O.S.J.; Rev. Gregory Finn, O.S.J. is 1st Councilor; Rev. Paul A. McDonnell, O.S.J. is 2nd Councilor. [This property is listed as an Oblates of St Joseph seminary here. Rev. Sibilano is currently listed as Priest in Residence, Rev. McDonnell as Rector.]

On p. 1791: Joseph L. Iannuzzi, O.S.J. appears in the list of diocesan and religious priests in the U.S. The year of his ordination is given as 1997.

(On pp. 186, 187 and 190, William P. Iannuzzi is listed as a permanent deacon in the Diocese of Camden.)

1999-2005

I was unable to access years 2001-2003. The only “Iannuzzi” in the OCD in the others years in this period is Deacon William P. Iannuzzi, in the Diocese of Camden.

2006

The 2006 edition, p. 727: Joseph L. Iannuzzi O.S.J. is listed as Temp. Parochial Admin of Holy Redeemer Parish, Menominee, Michigan, in the Diocese of Marquette; and as Temp. Parochial Admin of Holy Spirit Catholic Church, also in Menominee.

On p. 1804, Joseph L. Iannuzzi, O.S.J. appears in the list of diocesan and religious priests in the U.S. The year of his ordination is given as 1997.

(On p. 218, William P. Iannuzzi is listed as a retired permanent deacon in the Diocese of Camden.)

2007-2009

The 2007 edition, pp. 499-500: Joseph Iannuzzi, O.S.J. is listed for St Monica Catholic Church, Afton, Michigan, in the Diocese of Gaylord and as “Admin.” at St. Paul Catholic Church, in Onaway, in the same Diocese (the two locations are 14 miles / 14 min drive apart). He also appears in the list of diocesan and religious priests in the U.S. (p. 1848):

The 2008 edition, pp. 501-502: The same as above. He is included in the list of diocesan and religious priests in the U.S. (p. 1872).

The 2009 edition, pp. 507-508: The same as above. He is included in the list of diocesan and religious priests in the U.S. (p. 1876).

2010-2021

I was unable to access the 2017 edition. For the other years, the only “Iannuzzi” in the OCD is Deacon William P. Iannuzzi, in the Diocese of Camden.

*

Recall once more that Fr Iannuzzi claimed in 2005 that he is a “member of the missionary religious community located in the Diocese of Marquette, MI that enjoys the ecclesiastical approval of his local bishop and the added endorsements of two bishops of the Detroit Diocese.” (He made the same claim again in 2006, but we put that aside for a moment). We have already seen that this contradicts two statements given by the Bishop of Marquette. Another fact to consider here is that in the years 1999, 2000, 2004 and 2005 (I couldn’t access data in the years 2001-2003) Fr Iannuzzi was not recognised as a priest by any bishop or diocese in the entirety of the United States. In these years, according to the Official Catholic Directory, “Joseph Iannuzzi” does not exist as a priest with faculties anywhere in the United States, and he does not exist as a priest in good standing anywhere in the United States.

Another curious thing about this situation is the fact that in 1998 he was listed as recognised priest (in Middletown, CT) and was listed as a resident of the Eastern Providence of the Oblates of St. Joseph (in Pittson, PA). After that, there is no traceable connection between Fr Iannuzzi and the Oblates of St Joseph in the U.S.A.—not even in those years (2006-2009) in which he was serving as a priest in the U.S.A. (Michigan). He is not currently listed in the Directory of Oblates in the U.S.A., and there are no archived versions of this directory in which he is listed—and archive.org goes back as far as December 19, 2013 for this website, with 142 captures in total covering every year between then and now.

*

A statement from Fr Iannuzzi himself in September 2012 sheds light on this situation:

September 2012. Rhodes.

My name is Reverend Joseph Leo Iannuzzi, from Rome, Italy where I’ve been studying for the last twenty one years, interspersed with pastoral assignments abroad. I recently finished a doctoral dissertation at the pontifical university in Rome entitled, “The Operation of the Divine and Human Will in the Writings of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta – an Inquiry into the Early Ecumenical Councils and Patristic and Scholastic Theology”.

Taken from https://ww3.tlig.org/en/news/fr-joseph-iannuzzi-speaks-on-why-the-tlig-messages-are-so-important/.

The original interview is accessible at https://tligradio.org/library/ (click on “Other Clergy” for the talk given by Fr Iannuzzi in Rhodes 2012). The date given for this talk (toward the end of 2012) is confirmed by the fact that Fr Iannuzzi did complete his doctoral thesis in 2012.

“The last twenty one years” means: from September 1991 to September 2012, give or take a month or two. So we can safely say that Fr Iannuzzi lived in Rome in the years 1992-2012 “interspersed with pastoral assignments abroad” (in his words). From the Official Catholic Directory, we know that the only “pastoral assignments” of his that were recognised by the Church in the U.S. were the ones in 1998 (Middletown, CT), 2006 (Menominee, MI), and 2007-2009 (Onaway, MI).

So how could Fr Iannuzzi truthfully claim in 2005 (or perhaps in 2004 when writing his book on the Antichrist), that he is “member of the missionary religious community located in the Diocese of Marquette, MI that enjoys the ecclesiastical approval of his local bishop”? How could a priest living in Rome at the time be committed to a community located in Paradise, Michigan, in the year prior to his pastoral assignment in the United States, in Menominee, Michigan? Menominee, which is over 200 miles away (a 3.5 hour drive) from Paradise, Michigan? And how could he be committed to that community while also being committed to the Oblates of St Joseph in Rome (we know that, after 1998, he was never recognised as an OSJ of the United States)? And how could he be a committed member of a community in Michigan knowing that he has long-term committments in Rome—not just to the Oblates of St Joseph, but to his ongoing studies in Rome? For just after he announces his membership in this elusive “missionary religious community” in Paradise, Michigan, in the very next paragraph he states that he is “presently completing a dissertation on the writings and doctrines of the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta at the Pontifical University of Rome”—and it wouldn’t be until 2012 that this was completed!

Here is that page again, for the reader’s convenience.

THE OSJ PROBLEM

While we’re at it—and I’m not sure why I didn’t notice this earlier—isn’t it bizarre that Fr Iannuzzi didn’t mention his membership in the Oblates of St Joseph anywhere on this page, under the title “About the Author”? (The same point holds for the 2006 book too). To read more about this and other strange omissions from Fr Iannuzzi’s biographical statements, see the Supplement to this post (first two sections). One wonders why Fr Iannuzzi is so careful to skirt about certain historical details in his life, and why he felt the need to “massage” the narrative in certain ways.

https://osjseminary.com/about-us-1

*

But let’s get back to our main line of argument. Recall those three possibilities I mentioned before:

Which “missionary religious community” was Fr Iannuzzi talking about when he claimed to be a member of it in 2005 (and 2006)? There are three possibilities:

(i) He was talking about the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity.

(ii) He was talking about some other religious community.

(iii) He didn’t have in mind any religious community.

The facts uncovered in this section—the two statements made by the Bishop of Marquette, the absence of “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” from the Official Catholic Directory in the years 1995-2021, and the absence of “Joseph Iannuzzi” from the Official Catholic Directory in the years 1999-2005—all of this confirms and reinforces the statement I made earlier:

If Fr Iannuzzi was talking about “MHT” (the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”) then either he was lying when he made this statement in his 2005 book, or he was extremely deluded when he made this statement in his 2005 book. It is worse than that, because this statement was published 20 years ago, and Fr Iannuzzi has never retracted it. So either Fr Iannuzzi has stood by this lie for 20 years, or he has been insane or extremely deluded for 20 years about the ecclesiastical validity/approval of “MHT”.

Option (ii): Fr Iannuzzi was talking about some other religious community.

In 2005 (the publication year of the book in which Fr Iannuzzi made his questionable statement) and the year before that (2004), the following information is given in the Official Catholic Directory under “Institutions Located in the Diocese” [pp. 722-23 for the 2004 edition; pp. 725-26 for the 2005 edition]. The relevant subheadings are highlighted in blue; for these sections all the available information is provided below.

INSTITUTIONS LOCATED IN THE DIOCESE

[A] Elementary Interparochial Schools

[B] Endowment Funds

[C] General Hospitals

[D] Homes for the Aged

[E] Convents and Residences of Sisters

• [2004, 2005] Provinciliate of the Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres (Marquette)

• [2004, 2005] Monastery of the Holy Cross (Iron Mountain)

[F] Retreat Houses

• [2004, 2005] Marygrove Retreat Center (Garden City)

[G] Newman Clubs

[H] Miscellaneous

• [2004, 2005] St. Vincent De Paul Society (Marquette)

• [2004, 2005] Missionaries of the Liturgy (Menominee)

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES OF MEN REPRESENTED IN THE DIOCESE

• [2004, 2005] The Capuchin Friars (Detroit, MI)—O.F.M.Cap.

• [2004, 2005] Franciscan Friars (Cincinnati, OH)—O.F.M.

• [2005] Jesuit Fathers & Brothers, New England Province—S.J.

RELIGIOUS INSTITUTES OF WOMEN REPRESENTED IN THE DIOCESE

• [2004, 2005] Congregation of the Sisters of Saint Agnes—C.S.A

• [2004, 2005] Discalced Carmelite Nuns—O.C.D.

• [2004, 2005] Dominican Sisters [two groups]—O.P.

• [2004] Franciscan Clarist Congregation (India)

• [2004, 2005] Franciscan Sisters of Christian Charity—O.S.F.

• [2004, 2005] Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Sisters of Loretto)—I.B.V.M.

• [2004, 2005] School Sisters of Notre Dame—S.S.N.D.

• [2004, 2005] Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet—C.S.J.

• [2004, 2005] Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres—S.P.C.

• [2004, 2005] Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary—L.H.M.

• [2004, 2005] Sisters of the Precious Blood—C.PP.S.

• [2004, 2005] Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis (Peoria, Illinois)—O.S.F.

DIOCESAN CEMETERIES

NECROLOGY

*

Click here to consult the section called “Institutions Located in the Diocese [of Marquette]” in the 2000 edition of the OCD (p. 693). Everything is the same as in 2004, except that in 2000 (1) Missionaries of the Liturgy are not listed, (2) The Franciscan Clarist Congregation (India) is not listed, (3) Sisters of St. Joseph (Concordia, Kansas) are listed and (4) Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are listed.

*

In the years 2000, 2004 and 2005 there were only 3 religious institutes represented in the Diocese of Marquette of which a Catholic man (adult male) could possibly have been a member, namely: the Capuchin Friars (O.F.M.Cap), the Franciscan Friars (O.F.M.) and the Jesuits (S.J.). The remaining 14 religious institutes represented in the Diocese in these years were (and still are) religious institutes for women. We can safely assume that Fr Iannuzzi did not believe that he was a member of one or more of these religious institutes for women.

Did Fr Iannuzzi believe that he was simultaneously a member of the Oblates of St Joseph and a member of … the Capuchin Friars? The Franciscan Friars? The Jesuits? On top of that, did he honestly believe, for example, (1) that the religious order of the Capuchins “provides solo-wilderness retreats at the CCL (Companions of Christ the Lamb) spiritual center that spans well over 1,000 acres of verdure in the village of Paradise, MI”, (2) that he (Fr Iannuzzi) represents the Detroit Capuchins at the CCL spiritual center and (3) that he is authorised by them to give “solo-wilderness retreats” on their behalf to help people “deepen their union with God’s Divine Will”? Or did he believe, instead, that he was a representative member of the Franciscan Friars from Cincinnati, OH? Or of the Jesuits from the New England Province?

None of these hypothetical possibilities is even minimally plausible. If Fr Iannuzzi honestly believed any of this—especially the part about being an OSJ and a Jesuit / Capuchin / Franciscan simultaneously—then he must have been seriously deluded at the time. Two other facts contradict the claim that Fr Iannuzzi was a member of some other religious community (not the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”, and not the Oblates of St Joseph) in 2004 or 2005. First, Fr Iannuzzi has never mentioned the name of this “other” religious community of which he was/is supposedly a member. Second, Fr Iannuzzi has explicitly associated himself with the “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity” consistently and continually—from 2004, in fact, all the way up to the present. In an earlier post I wrote:

Keep in mind that Fr Iannuzzi has referred to the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity since 2014 (if not earlier). Fr Iannuzzi is listed as a speaker at the 17th Annual Conference of the Saint Thomas Aquinas Society in 2014 in the Diocese of Colorado Springs.

https://stthomasaquinassociety.org/speakers/iannuzzi-joseph-l-father/

https://stthomasaquinassociety.org/conferences/17th-annual-conference/

“Fr. Joseph is the initiator of the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity Community devoted to the advancement of the Church’s mystical tradition and to the proper theological presentation of the mystical gift of Living in Gods Divine Will.” See here.

From this page on Fr Iannuzzi’s website it is clear that Missionaries of the Holy Trinity receives payments for publications and donations.

We know that Fr Iannuzzi has referred to Missionaries of the Holy Trinity Inc since August 31, 2024 at the latest—and indeed, that he publically dated the document in which he refers to this entity as March 7, 2024.

…

Important update to this post …. It turns out that Fr Iannuzzi had already referred to “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity Inc.” in two of his books in 2004 (The Splendor of Creation) and 2005 (Antichrist and the End Times), respectively. So from 2004 onwards he has been receiving payment under this (apparently non-existent) incorporated entity.

There is a further update: “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity Inc.” is referred to in Fr Iannuzzi’s 2006 book (Proper Catholic Perspectives) and in his 2013 thesis publication.

Objection: What if Fr Iannuzzi had in mind the Oblates of St Joseph?

Response: Then he was either lying or deluded about the Oblates of St Joseph, which does not have a presence in Paradise, Michigan, and no such presence can be found from 1998 onwards (see the OCD, and enter https://osjusa.org/about-us/oblates/ into a search at archive.org). Moreoever, if the Oblates of St Joseph were connected with the CCL retreat center, then why didn’t Fr Iannuzzi mention the Oblates by name?

Objection: What if Fr Iannuzzi had in mind the Companions of Christ the Lamb?

Response: Then again, he was either lying or deluded. In the discussion above, there is an abundance of evidence showing that Fr Iannuzzi has never been a member of the CCL. On top of that, all U.S. priests who are connected with he CCL are listed as such in the OCD. Father Iannuzzi is not.

To conclude this section:

• There is no way that, in 2004 or 2005, Fr Iannuzzi could have been a member of some “other” religious order (not the Oblates of St Joseph, and not the “MHT”) that was both recognised by the Diocese of Marquette and represented therein.

• If in his 2005 statement, Fr Iannuzzi was referring to some “other” religious order, then either he was lying, or he was seriously deluded.

• It is far more likely that, when he made his 2005 statement, Fr Iannuzzi had in mind the (non-existent, non-endorsed, non-recognised) “Missionaries of the Holy Trinity”. Assuming, of course, that he had in mind some concrete religious community (real or imaginary) with a name (real or imaginary).

Option (iii): Fr Iannuzzi didn’t have in mind any religious community.

A religious community cannot exist in the abstract. Every religious community is a concrete community, located in time and space, with a name.

If someone says he’s a member of a religious community, but is simply unable to give an answer as to which religious community he has in mind, then it is virtually certain that he is lying. The other possibilities are (i) delusion, (ii) cognitive dysfunction (e.g., severe memory failure) and (iii) there being some valid reason for keeping the identity of the community a secret. We can imagine an historical scenario in which (iii) is relevant (e.g. persecution in China), but this does not apply in Fr Iannuzzi’s case. Nor does (ii) apply.

So if Fr Iannuzzi didn’t have in mind any religious community when he made his statement in 2005 (and again in 2006), then in this case too, he was either lying or he was deluded.

The other possibility is that he did have a religious community in mind (real or imaginary) but was reluctant (rather than unable) to give its name. This of course raises red flags. Why on earth would he be reluctant to give the name of his community, yet willing to announce his membership in that community?

More Red Flags

The passage quoted from the “About the Author” section already raises a number of red flags, even on a first reading. This is further confirmation that something is not right (to say the least). For details, read the last section of the Supplement to this post.

Conclusion

There are six main points to take away from this thorough investigation.

(1) When in 2005 (and again in 2006) Fr Joseph Iannuzzi claimed to be a member of some nameless “missionary religious community” that (i) is connected with the Companions of Christ the Lamb in Paradise, MI and (ii) “enjoys the ecclesiastical approval of his local bishop”, he was either lying or extremely deluded.

We asked which “missionary religious community” Fr Iannuzzi was talking about when he claimed in 2005 (and again in 2006) to be a member. We saw that there are three possibilities:

• (i) He was talking about the Missionaries of the Holy Trinity—in which case he was lying, or extremely deluded.

• (ii) He was talking about some other religious community—in which case he was lying, or extremely deluded.

• (iii) He didn’t have in mind any religious community—in which case he was lying, or extremely deluded.

The outcome is the same in any case. It is hard to see how the reputation of Fr Iannuzzi could recover from this.

(2) The behaviour uncovered in two email exchanges with Bishop Doerfler is sickening. It involves Fr Iannuzzi finding a thriving Catholic community and retreat centre (The Companions of Christ the Lamb), and falsely advertising it as his own retreat centre (“our Mother House”), all in the name of seeking “God’s Divine Will.” Who would do such a thing? To re-imagine an innocent pre-existing community, re-conceiving it in one’s own image, appropriating it as part of one’s own (imaginary) spiritual empire, and advertising this false image in an online scam, all for the sake of “God’s Divine Will”—never mind what the members of Companions of Christ the Lamb might think.

(3) As part of this scheme, Fr Iannuzzi even had the audacity to write down the private PO Box of the Companions of Christ the Lamb and present this mailing address as his own in his 2006 book, in order to give his readers the impression that he had some relationship with the CCL.

(4) We also uncovered some worrying discrepancies and omissions in a number of Fr Iannuzzi’s biographical statements [see the Supplement to this post]. It appears that he didn’t want the audience to know:

• the year of his ordination (1997) or the fact that he was called back to Rome just one year after that (1998)

• the fact that in 2006 he served in the Diocese of Marquette, at a parish in Menominee, Michigan

• the fact that he is a member of the Oblates of St Joseph.

(5) While he has sometimes referred to his membership in the OSJs from 2010 onwards (I found one reference, though it was indirect), there is a consistent pattern of Fr Iannuzzi not referring to himself as OSJ or as in any way connected with the OSJs [see the Supplement to this post]. One notices this pattern in his four latest books (2004, 2005, 2006, and his published thesis in 2013), on his current website, on the older version of his website, and in biographical statements connected with his presentations.

(6) Father’s Iannuzzi’s biographical statement in his 2005 and 2006 books already raises a number of red flags [See the Supplement to this post].

Final Word for Part One

These points—the first three especially—seriously call into question (a) the suitability of Father Joseph Iannuzzi as a theological and spiritual/pastoral leader in the Catholic Church and (b) the prudential judgement of those in the Divine Will movement who might choose to ignore these findings and “continue on as usual”—covering for their leader, expressing their allegiance, continuing to depend on his teaching and guidance, pretending that all is well.

Dr Brendan Triffett

Make sure to:

• subscribe (at the bottom of the page) to be notified of the next installment

• read the Sneak Preview of: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED: Part Two

Quick links to other posts:

• Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

• Supplement to: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

• Sneak Preview of: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 2

• Fr Joseph Iannuzzi, we need answers NOW. The two incorporated entities you refer to DO NOT EXIST*

  • Namely: “Missionaries of Divine Will, Inc.” and “The Divine Fiat, Inc.”

• On Father Joseph Iannuzzi’s Alleged Violations of Academic Integrity

  • This is the post that got a lot of attention and elicited a slanderous response from Team Iannuzzi

• A summary of what I’ve uncovered so far about Fr Iannuzzi and Dr Michael James

• My response to Dr Michael James’ false accusations and ad hominem attacks

• A brutally honest response to Dr Michael James Farrow—Part 1

  • In which I demonstrate that Dr Michael James is Michael James Farrow

• In response to Michael James Farrow’s latest video on the Divine Will Era channel

• Did Fr Iannuzzi just indicate his belief in hollow Earth theory?

• Fr Iannuzzi’s curious statement about Admiral Byrd

  • Following on from the hollow Earth theory post

• Fr Joseph Iannuzzi on the possibility of ETI: A critical analysis

  • This is where it all began

• Fr Iannuzzi’s Flights of Fancy: Transcripts of Video 1

• On Fr Iannuzzi’s bizarre claim that there are fallen aliens

In response to Michael James Farrow’s latest video on the Divine Will Era channel.

Based on his latest video, it looks as if Michael Farrow (Dr “Michael James” from the Divine Will Era channel) might be positioning himself for a particular narrative that he will soon tell his audience in order to explain or excuse his behaviour and make himself look like the victim.

He said (1) that in the past (many years ago, I assume) someone had sent a threatening letter to his workplace in response to his podcast. He said (2) that there are dangerous religious people out there, implying that we need to take measures to keep ourselves safe.

He talked about (3) how there might hypothetically be a website out there telling his family, friends and coworkers that he is a “loser”. He says he hasn’t achieved much in the academic world and he linked this with his being, in the minds of others, too obsessively religious or something like that.

I’ve never stood over Michael James/Farrow saying that he is a “loser”. I did say that he was a coward for attacking me under a fake name—””Michael James” rather than Michael Farrow. In response to his ad hominem attack (and Fr Iannuzzi’s ad hominem attack) on the “low academic rating” of the University of Tasmania, I applied objective international standards comparing my university with his. Let me just say that Rowan University didn’t come out of this comparison very well. I also compared his area of expertise and thesis topic with mine. I showed how my research interests and acheivements make me far more qualified to get involved in theological discussions compared to him.

In response to my objective intellectual critique of Fr Iannuzzi, he launched an attack against me, and then I defended myself with equal force. Arguably, I used less force. Because I didn’t make up lies about anyone. He is not the victim here.

From the stories people are telling me, and judging from his latest video, Michael Farrow is not used to people fighting back. He wasn’t expecting this. It appears to me that, for strategic reasons, he has “flipped” into being the vulnerable victim. I’m not saying that there was no moment of soul-searching remorse or sorrow in his video whatsoever. Things are never that simple, never that black-and-white. Humans are complex. What I am saying is that I am dubious, and that it would be naive to take his vulernable speech at face value. Actions are what count. And he has not issued an apology. He has not removed the slanderous comments about me and others from the Divine Will Era Facebook page. He continues to block my attempts to defend myself in the comments. Both on Facebook and on the YouTube page. Here is a screen shot taken around 5:09 PM Sydney time, 10th March 2025 (today).

If Farrow is genuinely becoming more “human” and “vulnerable”, I welcome that. That is—or it would be—a laudable step toward justice and reconciliation. But let’s keep in mind that narcissistic abusers are known to do exactly the same thing. They become more human and vulnerable and remorseful and tell their sob stories and make a great performance of all that in order to get their victims back on side. And then they go back to the same old patterns, the same abusive behaviour.

What am I saying? Am I saying that Farrow is a narcissist? No, I am not saying that. I said that narcissistic bullies/abusers do X. Does it follow from this that whoever does X is a narcisstic bully/abuser? No. To think in that way is to commit a logical fallacy (affirming the consequent).

But Farrow’s audience might be inclined to commit the same logical fallacy, for a different conclusion. Their argument or thought-process would go like this.

People who are genuinely sorry (or sympathetic/humane/good) sometimes do Y. Let Y stand for: express their vulnerable side with outbursts of sorrow and/or remorse and narratives about the tragic and painful elements in their lives. The argument / thought-process then proceeds as follows:

(1) People who are genuinely sorry do Y.

(2) Farrow is doing Y.

Therefore

(3) Farrow is genuinely sorry.

The argument is invalid. There is a logical error. For the argument to be valid, it’s necessary to change the first premise as follows.

(1*) Only people who are genuinely sorry do Y.

(2) Farrow is doing Y.

Therefore

(3) Farrow is genuinely sorry.

But this altered version of the first premise is false, and so the argument is unsound. (For an argument to be sound, there has to be no logical errors AND all the premises have to be true).

Returning to my point. I’m not saying that Farrow is a narcissist, or that he isn’t sorry, or that it’s all a deceptive performance. What I’m saying is that I’m not convinced that Farrow is genuinely sorry for what he has done, and that nobody else should be either. Farrow needs to convince me—and everyone else—of his sincerity with his ACTIONS. Anyone can tell stories and show emotions and make themselves vulnerable. Even the most cruel and unrepentant of abusers can do this. And they are very good at it.

Right now, all around the world, even as we speak, thousands of victims of ongoing abuse are being duped by their abusers as they (the abusers) give another highly-refined performance of vulnerability. “Things are so difficult for me. Can’t you see how tragic my life has been? I’m in so much pain, honey. “This time it will be different”. “I am so sorry for what I did. It will never happen again.”

This is a concrete illustration of a more general point. I’m not suggesting that Farrow treats his family like this. Not at all. For all I know, Farrow could be the best family man ever. He could be a better father than me. I am in no position to comment on that. Nor would I ever want to. My observations are directed only at the “Michael James” on screen. The “Michael James” who has committed slander against me. The “Michael James” who has now put out a video of himself speaking vulnerably about his sins and foibles, his struggles and his difficult situation. I’m hardly in a position to make any judgements about the whole person. God alone is able to do that.

Nor am I in a position to say how much of this is mere performance. My point is that I’m not taken in by it, and that nobody should be. Actions count the most. As I pointed out already, his slanderous post is still up there on the Divine Will Era Facebook page. He has never reached out to me in person. The two communications I have had from him were obviously the work of some bot.

Some of Farrow’s words give me the impression that in future he might attempt to construe me as doxing or harrassing or threatening his family members. For that reason, I’ll share with you here the single email I sent to Professor JeanMarie Farrow, his sister, whose email address is easy to find on the university website (she has a prominent position there). I haven’t contacted anyone else in Michael’s family. I don’t even know who they are, and I don’t want to. I am not somebody who would act recklessly or harrass or threaten people. Never. In NO WAY DO I ACCEPT OR CONDONE THAT SORT OF BEHAVIOUR. I made that very clear in a previous post on the 7th of March:

I will demonstrate now that Michael James from the Divine Will Era YouTube channel (and Facebook group) is Michael James Farrow from Rowan University, NJ.

Note first that I DO NOT ENDORSE, ENCOURAGE, SUPPORT OR CONDONE THE ACT OF HARRASSING, STALKING OR INTIMIDATING ANYONE. Quite the opposite. I would be horrified if anybody were to do such a thing. I am not “doxing” anyone because the information provided here is neither private nor sensitive. For example, no personal addresses or phone numbers are provided (I don’t even have this information, nor do I want to). Besides not revealing any sensitive information, I don’t even have any reason to think that someone might want to harm or harrass Michael Farrow. There are politically-related contexts in which extreme prudence is required, for example, when an extremist group such as Antifa might be motivated to harm or harrass a certain individual. But that doesn’t apply here. There is no reason to think that Michael Farrow, in particular, might be a potential target for an extremist group. Initially I didn’t even think of adding this paragraph because the target audience of my posts is Catholics who have some interest (positive or negative) in the Divine Will movement. It never crossed my mind that anybody in my target audience would even consider harrassing, stalking or intimidating another human being.

The email that I sent is as follows:

Dear Professor Jean-Marie Farrow

My name is Brendan Triffett. I'm concerned for your brother Michael. Please hear me out.

I live far away from you in Australia.

I'm sorry that I had to bring you into this--he won't respond to me. I couldn't think of another way.

I know that Michael runs the Divine Will Era Facebook group and YouTube channel under a different name, Dr Michael James. He works as a sort of assistant to Fr Joseph Iannuzzi. … worked out his real identity in a few different ways. Michael dedicated his thesis to you--that's how I made the link to yourself.

Michael has done something quite serious--defamation of my character through large email lists and on a public Facebook site. In a big way, saying that I went to a school of low academic level, and other things that simply aren't true. As far as I can tell, he does many of the things he does because Fr Iannuzzi pressures him to. I've been looking at the Divine Will Era group and the behaviour of this priest for some time now. I've been writing about it lately on my blog.

I've come to the conclusion that the group under Fr Iannuzzi behaves in a cult-like way.

I have a strong suspicion that Michael has come under the psychological influence of Fr Iannuzzi in a bad way [redacted reference to someone else]. Basically, Michael is doing the dirty work for Fr Iannuzzi. Michael is on the frontline, publishing lies about me (and anyone else who dares to question Fr Iannuzzi) and participating in defamation and things like that. I believe Fr Iannuzzi is behind it all. It's very unhealthy. If I'm right, then you should be concerned about Michael.

I did try to reach out to Michael. I said in an email that I'm only trying to expose the deception and bullying behaviour of Fr Iannuzzi. I said that I don't want him to get in the firing line, and that I don't want him getting involved. He didn't respond to me, and he didn't listen.

Things are escalating, Professor Farrow. It's a volatile situation. Michael could easily land himself in a lot of trouble. It could affect his reputation too. This is not my goal. But it could well be the fall out.

I'm not going to back down on Fr Iannuzzi. It looks like Michael is going to continue to act as Fr Iannuzzi's attack dog. 

I don't know what else to say. I've done all I can to warn him. I'm now appealing to you to talk him around. I don't have any other avenues. If he just walks away, and stops acting as Fr Iannuzzi's agent, he won't be in the line of fire any more. If he retracts his slander, I'll leave him alone. I won't hold a grudge or pursue that side of things any further. I have nothing to gain if Michael gets hurt.

As I said, I do really think that Michael is caught up in a cult, or something like it.

If you'd like to contact me anonymously, or from another email address, please quote [redacted]

Sincerely,

Dr Brendan Triffett
monokosmos.com

As I’ve said before, reconciliation is possible. As I’ve said before, my email inbox is always open (but I won’t have a conversation with a bot). But it’s not possible when someone refuses to own what they did, apologise and make amends. It doesn’t help when the guilty person is under pressure to keep their followers happy and not disappoint them. And under pressure to keep up the appearance that all is well in Divine Will Land.

That’s what I’m going to call it, as long as there is denial and delusion. Divine Will Land. So many people off with the fairies, floating about in a lovely religious cloud and a magical wand of wishful thinking—continuing to think the best about everyone in their own club, about everything in their peaceful inside world, continuing to defend and cover for and believe in their leaders, ignoring all the evidence that points in the other direction.

How long until they wake up and return to reality?

Dr Brendan Triffett

Quick links to other posts:

• Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

• Supplement to: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 1

• Sneak Preview of: Father Joseph Iannuzzi EXPOSED, Part 2

• Fr Joseph Iannuzzi, we need answers NOW. The two incorporated entities you refer to DO NOT EXIST*

  • Namely: “Missionaries of Divine Will, Inc.” and “The Divine Fiat, Inc.”

• On Father Joseph Iannuzzi’s Alleged Violations of Academic Integrity

  • This is the post that got a lot of attention and elicited a slanderous response from Team Iannuzzi

• A summary of what I’ve uncovered so far about Fr Iannuzzi and Dr Michael James

• My response to Dr Michael James’ false accusations and ad hominem attacks

• A brutally honest response to Dr Michael James Farrow—Part 1

  • In which I demonstrate that Dr Michael James is Michael James Farrow

• In response to Michael James Farrow’s latest video on the Divine Will Era channel

• Did Fr Iannuzzi just indicate his belief in hollow Earth theory?

• Fr Iannuzzi’s curious statement about Admiral Byrd

  • Following on from the hollow Earth theory post

• Fr Joseph Iannuzzi on the possibility of ETI: A critical analysis

  • This is where it all began

• Fr Iannuzzi’s Flights of Fancy: Transcripts of Video 1

• On Fr Iannuzzi’s bizarre claim that there are fallen aliens