Head of Transalpine Redemptorists says bishop is investigating him for ‘heresy and schism’

(LifeSiteNews) — The Superior General of a Traditional Catholic group based off the coast of Scotland has provided an update on a canonical investigation being taken against him for heresy and schism.

Fr. Michael Mary is the head of the Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer. The group was founded in the 1980s and was formerly associated with the Society of St. Pius X. It came to an agreement with the Vatican under Benedict XVI but recently exited that arrangement.

Also known as the Transalpine Redemptorists, the small community of just over two dozen priests and brothers live on an isolated island north of Scotland called Papa Stronsay. The group gained notoriety last year when they wrote an open letter to bishops, priests, religious, and laity arguing that “the hierarchy has broken with the chain of command, which renders it human, and spiritually null.”

READ: ‘He is no Pope at all’ – Traditional Redemptorists reject Leo XIV and predecessors

Fr. Mary informed Catholic journalist Stephen Kokx in an interview earlier this week that Aberdeen Bishop Hugh Gilbert, OSB is continuing in his “penal” process against him.

“[Gilbert] received the letter we wrote and [he] said that it was a shame. He regretted that we had written it. And that it was as misguided as it was clear,” Mary said, referring to a statement the group released last week. “I am under penal process at this stage for the open letter that we wrote in October … for heresy and schism.”

BREAKING: Super General of the Transalpine Redemptorists @FrMichaelMary tells me he is under a ‘penal process’ for ‘heresy and schism’ and that he received a letter from Aberdeen Bishop Hugh Gilbert OSB in recent days telling him their new statement is ‘misguided.’

More at 12pm… pic.twitter.com/fzmv20Flqk

— Stephen Kokx (@StephenKokx) May 4, 2026

Gilbert announced last October that “the competent Dicasteries of the Holy See are also studying the situation” of the Redemptorists and that they will “will provide canonical and doctrinal guidance” on what to do.

In July 2024, the Redemptorists were ordered to leave the Diocese of Christchurch within 24 hours by Bishop Michael Gielen. The community denied accusations made by Gielen. Several members of the community have left over the new stance.

Fr. Mary informed Kokx that he does not consider any potential forthcoming excommunication or other punishment as valid since he does not consider the hierarchy to be Catholic. Citing Scripture, the Council of Trent, and papal documents issued by Pope Leo XIII and Gregory XVI, the group previously said that we “consider there to be a new, modern Church” and that “the old Faith is not compatible with it.”