Ultra-rigorous-austere-and-spiritual separatist groups like these remind me of what Don Diego (St. Dominic’s bishop, mentor, and closest companion) said about the Albigenses:
 
"The heretics attracted men by persuasive means, by preaching, and a great outward show of sanctity...  They seduce simple souls with the appearances of poverty and austerity..."

The situation up in MN is a sad one.  What was once a unified CMRI parish, consisting mostly of one large, tight-knit family, including the parents, 13 children, and over 40 grandchildren has been shattered since Fr. Crawford's arrival in 2017.  Half the children and their families continue on with the CMRI parish, and half follow Crawford.  Those that follow Crawford shun their family members that don't follow him, having declared that they are going to Hell when they chose to stay with CMRI and not follow Crawford, and continuing to make such declarations in the rare occasions they cross paths.  They won't show up when invited to family gatherings, and won't allow the children that go to CMRI, their nephews and nieces, visit or play with their own children.  They've told their other family members that continued with the CMRI that they can't associate with any of them in any unnecessary way until they change their beliefs to align with theirs.

The followers of Fr. Crawford also developed new strange beliefs, ranging from rejecting the existence of Limbo, to declaring the color pink as being evil and from the devil.  Much of their new focus is on modesty, scandal, and fraternal correction.  They hold that shorts and short-sleeve shirts are sinful and scandalous, even if worn by boys or men.  They have openly rebuked their sisters as being in mortal sin for causing them scandal simply because they could see their ankle, as they hold that dresses that don't cover a woman's or girl's ankle are sinfully scandalous.  They believe they are obliged under pain of sin to correct anyone they think is sinning at all times and all places, no matter the circumstances, even if it's a stranger in public.  One young adult man who follows Crawford told his brother he couldn't go skiing with him because there would be girls wearing ski pants, and he believed he would be sinning if he refrained from telling them they were sinning.  That same young man later told his brother he was mortally sinning for wearing shorts.  He has now moved to shunning his brother, who was his closest friend all his life, won't talk to him when he's near, and, like his other siblings that follow Crawford, shuns all his other siblings and family members that stuck with the CMRI.  

Many of these family members following Fr. Crawford claim to receive answers to all their questions and knowledge on all their beliefs, and any decisions, directly from God while praying.  They say the knowledge is infused in them during prayer by God speaking to their heart, and they can't explain it in words.  They credit this to praying a 15-decade rosary every day.  They claimed this is how they knew to follow Crawford and reject the CMRI as evil.  In conjunction with this, they disdain and distrust Catholic books, saying books have no value, as no books can be trusted to not have been corrupted, including all bibles or writings of the popes and councils.  They've said the only knowledge that can be trusted is that which God gives to them directly in prayer, speaking to their heart, and that they know it's from God, rather than from their own feelings or the devil, because, "if you're humble enough, you'll know."

I'm told Fr. Crawford is very charming.

Sounds like a combo of the Dimond Brothers and Francis Shuckardt. 

As if Feeneyism wasn't bad enough, seems like any time these people organize themselves they invariably form cults. Feeney himself, the Diamonds, and now Crawford has people relocating across the country so he can tell them how to dress and who to talk to. How shameful, to think grown adults with families get pulled into this stuff.

That is a very uncharitable assessment of people who refuse to twist the Nicene Creed and the Gospel of John into meaningless metaphors. Bishop Webster leads no cult, while +Vezelis and +Sanborn do. The rumors about Fr. Crawford have not been confirmed here. They are all meaningless allegations.

Remember the story about the poor jew who was drowning and wanted to be Baptized?

He went ahead and Baptized himself before he slipped under the waves.

When he woke up and met Our Lord, he learned that his Baptism didn’t work.

After all that effort, the poor jew wasn’t recognized by Our Lord.


The jew joined his buddies in Hell.

Remember the story about the poor jew who was drowning and wanted to be Baptized?

He went ahead and Baptized himself before he slipped under the waves.

When he woke up and met Our Lord, he learned that his Baptism didn’t work.

After all that effort, the poor jew wasn’t recognized by Our Lord.


The jew joined his buddies in Hell.

Interesting.  Do you have a source for this?

My few encounters with Crawford and his group convinced me they are a cult of some degree or another. I used to pray Rosary with them last year for a few months, while I was still attending SSPX chapel at their novitiate in Winona.  I never felt comfortable attending any of Crawford's or Anthony's masses as I was still wrestling with the Thuc consecrations (which is resolved for me now, I accept Pivarunus' and his lineage as valid). I never could accept Crawford's ordination, and still don't for reasons others have already explained here and elsewhere.   I am still in contact with a few of their group, and occasionally get a text or calI from Fr. Anthony Marie who serves under Crawford at the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel, which is now moved from outside of Chatfield, MN to near the small airport outside of Preston, MN.  I stopped praying the Rosary with them when I started to realize that since we pray during simple Exposition, and I doubt the validity of Crawford's ordination, then that's just bread masquerading as Christ on that altar and I shouldn't pray with them anymore.  I gave their ideas on BOD a listen, even had Fr. Anthony over for dinner one night to explain, but what they described was not the God that I knew and even though I was beginning to accept the SV position, and therefore understood that I had been taught a lot of errors and heresies in the Conciliarist NO, there was no way that God would reject a heart and soul that desired baptism but could not receive it under the normal Sacramental conditions.  There were other peculiarities too that struck me, not just the Feeneyism.

I once belonged to a very austere and radical (but diocesan) Capuchin reform community that has since been disbanded.  That community fell into many of the errors of the Franciscan Spirituals of the late 13th and first half of the 14th centuries.  So many of the aberrant practices and displays of austerity and asceticism, the force of a personality, the progressive nature of a fundamentalist spirituality (that every obstacle or bad outcome is due to not being austere enough, not being true to the Ideal, therefore we must double-down and go ever more radical), the peculiar and divisive ideologies used as their raison d'être, the driving of wedges in families and between parents and offspring, and the abuse and appropriation of St. Francis through a Joachimistic lens (whether knowingly or not).... my warning flags all went up like crazy, I've seen (and acted in) this movie before. It doesn't end well.  

It ends in a factionalism that ultimately scatters all the sheep. As more radical practices are adopted for the reasons stated above, eventually some members will question them, and resist. The radical party, feeling themselves to be true to the Ideal because of their practices, will then paint those that resist them as "lax" or enemies of the Ideal, and will do everything they can to shun them if they can't get them to conform. Those who were painted as not following the Ideal will either leave or be chased out. Then, the radical party will continue to get more radical, as fundamentalism of this kind is a progressive disease, and eventually the pattern will repeat itself within the remaining group, until it devours and disperses them all.

What's wrong with Crawford's ordination? 

My few encounters with Crawford and his group convinced me they are a cult of some degree or another. I used to pray Rosary with them last year for a few months, while I was still attending SSPX chapel at their novitiate in Winona.  I never felt comfortable attending any of Crawford's or Anthony's masses as I was still wrestling with the Thuc consecrations (which is resolved for me now, I accept Pivarunus' and his lineage as valid). I never could accept Crawford's ordination, and still don't for reasons others have already explained here and elsewhere.   I am still in contact with a few of their group, and occasionally get a text or calI from Fr. Anthony Marie who serves under Crawford at the Chapel of Our Lady of Good Counsel, which is now moved from outside of Chatfield, MN to near the small airport outside of Preston, MN.  I stopped praying the Rosary with them when I started to realize that since we pray during simple Exposition, and I doubt the validity of Crawford's ordination, then that's just bread masquerading as Christ on that altar and I shouldn't pray with them anymore.  I gave their ideas on BOD a listen, even had Fr. Anthony over for dinner one night to explain, but what they described was not the God that I knew and even though I was beginning to accept the SV position, and therefore understood that I had been taught a lot of errors and heresies in the Conciliarist NO, there was no way that God would reject a heart and soul that desired baptism but could not receive it under the normal Sacramental conditions.  There were other peculiarities too that struck me, not just the Feeneyism.

I once belonged to a very austere and radical (but diocesan) Capuchin reform community that has since been disbanded.  That community fell into many of the errors of the Franciscan Spirituals of the late 13th and first half of the 14th centuries.  So many of the aberrant practices and displays of austerity and asceticism, the force of a personality, the progressive nature of a fundamentalist spirituality (that every obstacle or bad outcome is due to not being austere enough, not being true to the Ideal, therefore we must double-down and go ever more radical), the peculiar and divisive ideologies used as their raison d'être, the driving of wedges in families and between parents and offspring, and the abuse and appropriation of St. Francis through a Joachimistic lens (whether knowingly or not).... my warning flags all went up like crazy, I've seen (and acted in) this movie before. It doesn't end well.  

It ends in a factionalism that ultimately scatters all the sheep. As more radical practices are adopted for the reasons stated above, eventually some members will question them, and resist. The radical party, feeling themselves to be true to the Ideal because of their practices, will then paint those that resist them as "lax" or enemies of the Ideal, and will do everything they can to shun them if they can't get them to conform. Those who were painted as not following the Ideal will either leave or be chased out. Then, the radical party will continue to get more radical, as fundamentalism of this kind is a progressive disease, and eventually the pattern will repeat itself within the remaining group, until it devours and disperses them all.

The reason you give for your BOD position is sentimental.  That's not a good approach to theological questions.  The main reason so-called Feeneyites come to the conclusion that BOD is not a true doctrine of the Church is that the infallible papal pronouncements on the subject rule it out.  Meanwhile, the BOD position has only the teachings of fallible theologians on its side.  You can go to the MHFM website and find Br Peter Dimond's book in pdf format for free.  It gives a good presentation of the evidence both for and against BOD.  Also, the answer to your objection is that in the case of a soul sincerely seeking God and desiring baptism, God will arrange to have them sacramentally baptized.  There are many anecdotes of just that kind of thing happening.  Miraculous springs bubbling up from the path to the gallows.  God doesn't command the impossible.  So if it is required that all the elect receive water baptism, then all the elect will receive water baptism.  Nothing can withstand God.  So, no, the soul you are concerned about, if he really exists, will not be denied baptism.

I know Fr Anthony but I know next to nothing about Dominic Crawford so I won't defend him or his "organization".  However, all the things you are listing are mostly hypotheticals not actual evidence.  It really amounts to what you fear might happen, not what is actually happening.  And it is possible that you are misreading the situation.  Did you know that St Alphonsus got kicked out of the order he founded?  Many other saints got falsely accused of wrong-doing.  As far as austerity and asceticism, you are giving the impression that you oppose them on principle.  As if austerity and asceticism are actual evils.  But austerity and asceticism are foundational Catholic practice.  All the great saints were frighteningly austere and ascetic.  St John Vianney's daily diet (when he wasn't fasting!) was a couple of boiled potatoes, often days old, with mold beginning to grow on them.  So I guess that would have sent you into flight.  You wouldn't be unique in that regard.  Plenty of people did avoid him.  Even good Catholics.

It's pretty easy to take potshots at people in an anonymous forum.  But God sees all.  We will be held accountable for our calumnies and detractions.  Cathinfo anonymity will not be a protection from the wrath of God.

I know Fr Anthony but I know next to nothing about Dominic Crawford so I won't defend him or his "organization".  However, all the things you are listing are mostly hypotheticals not actual evidence.  It really amounts to what you fear might happen, not what is actually happening.  And it is possible that you are misreading the situation.  Did you know that St Alphonsus got kicked out of the order he founded?  Many other saints got falsely accused of wrong-doing.  As far as austerity and asceticism, you are giving the impression that you oppose them on principle.  As if austerity and asceticism are actual evils.  But austerity and asceticism are foundational Catholic practice.  All the great saints were frighteningly austere and ascetic.  St John Vianney's daily diet (when he wasn't fasting!) was a couple of boiled potatoes, often days old, with mold beginning to grow on them.  So I guess that would have sent you into flight.  You wouldn't be unique in that regard.  Plenty of people did avoid him.  Even good Catholics.

It's pretty easy to take potshots at people in an anonymous forum.  But God sees all.  We will be held accountable for our calumnies and detractions.  Cathinfo anonymity will not be a protection from the wrath of God.

Well, take it or leave it.  I shared my experience and the warning bells that went off for me, put it in your back pocket and if it rings true for you later down the road, than I hope it saves you some trouble.  
I didn't give any impression regarding my position on austerity and ascetism, you chose to take your impression.