Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen

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The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen (CMRI) (Latin: Congregatio Mariae Reginae Immaculatae) is a Traditionalist Catholic and sedevacantist religious community. The primary mission of CMRI is to promote its interpretation of the message of Our Lady of Fatima. It is has also gone by the names of Tridentine Latin Rite Church, Fatima Crusaders, Oblates of Mary Immaculate Queen of the Universe.

CMRI was formed in 1967 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho by Francis Schuckardt. In 1969, with the approval of Bishop Sylvester Treinen, of Roman Catholic Diocese of Boise, Shuckardt formed the group into a religious congregation of priests, nun, and brothers.

With the implementation of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, Schuckhardt and his group came to the conclusion that Paul VI was not a valid pope and therefore sought services from priests who shared his theological position. In the early 1970s Schuckhardt received ordination as a priest and as a bishop from Daniel Q. Brown, an Old Catholic bishop who apparently converted to Schuckhardt's brand of Catholicism.

In the late 1970s CMRI acquired the old Jesuit scholasticate Mount Saint Michael in Spokane, Washington, making it their congregation's center.

In 1984 a series of stories in the secular press accused Schuckardt of alleged drug abuse and gross personal immorality. In June 1984, Denis Chicoine, with the backing of the majority of the congregation's clergy and laity, ousted Schuckardt.

In autumn of 1984, the priests sought out a bishop to ordain clergy for CMRI and found Bishop George Musey of Galveston, Texas, whose episcopal lineage can be traced to Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Ðình Thục. On April 23, 1985, three of the four remaining priests "formally and publicly" took an "Abjuration of Error and Profession of Faith ad cautelam" before Bishop Musey in case, through their previous actions, they had incurred any ecclesiastical censures. Bishop Musey then conditionally re-ordained them, although he publicly stated he personally had not doubts as to their validity of their earlier ordinations.

In 1986, CMRI held its first General Chapter establishing a formal set of Rules and Constitutions. In the same year, the Rule was approved by Bishop Robert F. McKenna, OP, whose episcopal lineage can also be traced to Archbishop Thuc.

In 1989, Father Mark Pivarunas was elected Superior General of the Congregation. Father Pivarunas received episcopal consecration in 1991 by Bishop Moises Carmona, also of the Thuc lineage.

Pivarunas currently serves as Superior General and the Reverend Mother Marie de Lourdes is serving as the current Mother General of the sisters. Bishop Schuckardt and his followers dispute Pivarunas' position as Superior General inasmuch as Bishop Schuckardt, the founder of the Congregation, has never resigned as Superior General and further claims to have excommunicated Pivarunas, which would disqualify him, according to traditional Catholic Church law, from holding that position.

The Congregation of Mary Immaculate Queen serves 29 churches and chapels in the United States, Canada and New Zealand. They also operate a seminary in Omaha, Nebraska, while the Sisters' motherhouse is located in Spokane, Washington.