Hitting the fan this month: a Midwest clampdown on a strange lay group, the “Love Holy Trinity Blessed Mission”.
Cardinal George bans group over concerns of cult-like behavior (official statement)
Abp. Hanus of Dubuque does the same (Rockford and Madison too)
Series of reports from Dubuque newspaper
The web encyclopedia Wikipedia has an article on the developing story.
From the group’s web site, it seems they took over a Chicago Polish religious/cultural organization called Nowy Zycie (New Life).
Critics on an anti-cult forum [very long thread] say that the mystic lady behind it all is an ex-Buddhist who claims to read souls and sit on our Lord Jesus’ lap as He gives her spiritual direction.
Maybe there’s an inter-religious analogy: this PDF booklet from the sect is so full of slogans and recruitment appeals, it reminds me of certain Buddhist groups that seem to reduce a whole religion to a few formulas and a lot of chanting. Several pages of the booklet are composed of letters ostensibly written by children in the group’s school, and it’s creepy to think of their childhood being deformed by this weird organization.
(Exercise for the reader: find the link between this group and the fictional evangelist Leo Bebb.)
(And a hat tip to Papabile.)