St. Joseph's Hill of Hope—City of God, Part 2

This is a follow-up to one of the first posts on this blog, back in summer 2008, about St. Joseph's Hill of Hope—City of God, the breakway grop from the Roman Catholic Church that has operated since 1972 on a 440-acre compound just north of Carbon Canyon along the borders of the counties of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino.

Notably, the news of the death of the group's leader, Frances Marie Klug, was not even reported in the local newspaper, the Chino Hills Champion, until some five months afterward.  Klug died on 15 November 2009 at age 88 and her Orange County Register obituary is an interesting one. 

It started with "not just another ordinary person, the world has lost a real treasure of a jewel."  Moreover, the tribute offers that "Frances Marie Klug was a True Mystic chosen by God for this time in history" and that "as God's Chosen Instrument [note the caps], it is through Mother Frances that God gave the world a Great Miracle."  Noting that 28 July 1967 was the date in which Klug announced the "Miracle of St. Joseph" that gave rise to her break with the Roman Catholic Church and the creation of her own sect, the eulogy stated that "from the moment of her conception, Heaven was preparing her for this particular time" and that "for over forty-two years, God and All of His Angels and Saints in Heaven have been speaking through this small and quiet woman.  Indeed, the writer of the tribute went on to say: "God said: 'This Miracle is Communication to the whole world of mankind, through the Soul of one living human being that follows Our Directions at any given time.'"  As such, Klug was, the explanation continues a "Victim Soul," subject to communication with God at all times.

After developing her organization through her home and then a rented facility, Klug received divine instruction:  "As time passed, God asked that a Basilica be built in honor of The Holy Trinity.  Without any funds on hand, Heaven directed her to purchase 440 acres of land in Brea, California.  This accomplished, Heaven began describing many more edifices to be built on the land, and the project grew to be a 'City of God.'"  Even though, the statement continued, "God invited men to donate their time, talents and money to build this City for Him," the Roman Catholic Church forbade its congregants to donate to Klug's ministry and, "thus, the City God and [sic] has not been built."   The tribute then turned to the "media" and the fact that, "although Mother Frances was very gracious to them . . . most of the press was never kind to her, lacking honesty, truth and justice."

The obituary's author then stated that Cardinal Luigi Raimondi, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Causes of Saints, launched an investigation on Klug and her organization, sending Father Sylvio Masanti to do the work.  Accordingly, both Masanti and Raimondi, the explanation goes, were believers in Klug's authentic vision.  Additionally, the tribute stated, Klug had an audience with Pope Paul VI "and had received Holy Communion from him at a Canonization Mass on an earlier visit."

The only indication of what the St. Joseph's Hill of Hope—City of God organization might do now that Klug has died is in the statement thatr, in addition to forty-seven volumes of published "Stories from Heaven," issued by her during her lifetime, "many more are in preparation to be published" and that "Saint Jospeh's [sic] Hill of Hope will serve as a base to continue the publication and distribution of these 'Stories from Heaven."  Klug, whose husband, Robert, a longtime insurance agent, died some years ago, is survived by two sons and a daughter.  One online commentator, without specifying how her knew, claims that the daughter, Roberta, will be leading the organization.

As to the statements about Roman Catholic hierarchy support and belief in Klug's organization, there is a 1981 statement of position issued by Cardinal Timothy Manning, Archbishop of Los Angeles, and also signed by the bishops of the dioceses of Orange and San Bernardino.  In it, it is declared that "this organization, its properties, its activities and its teachings are independent of the Roman Catholic Church, its jurisdiction and its favor."  On top of this, "financial or moral support of this organization by Catholics cannot be construed as support of the Church."  Additionally, the document continued, "the President of 'St. Joseph's Hill of Hope—City of God' enjoys no commission from the Church to teach, counsel, or conduct retreats."  More specifically, "revelations and teachings identifying St. Joseph with the Blessed Trinity and obliging Roman Catholics to build the 'St. Joseph's Hill of Hope—City of God' are not acceptable to the Church and are rejected by us, the authentic teachers of the People of God, in line with our authority and responsibility."

In addition, there is a "theological assessment of the organization's materials as given out at a November 1979 retreat, signed by Monsignor Joseph Pollard of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in December 1980.  Pollard judged these materials to be "of a mostly undeveloped nature" and that while some "are of a traditional and pious nature" there were others that "are of an heretical and questionable nature."  Pointdly, Pollard offered that the documents ventured away from the direction of the Second Vatican Council.  Note that Klug broke away from the church in summer 1967, two years after the council concluded its business with widespread and significant changes to operations of the church.  Because of Klug's diversion from the Council and papal and other statements that followed, Pollard judged her materials to "reflect an imperfect and deficient theology, catechesis, and spiritual guidance."  As such, these documents did "violence to the Magisterium." 

By giving St. Joseph "the stature of a person of the Blessed Trinity" and even referring to him as God, Pollard observed that this "is erroneous in the extreme, undermining a truth crucial to the Christian revelation and necessary for salvation."  As to Klug's teaching that Catholics were obligated to build the "City of God" at the Hill of Hope site, Pollard noted that "Roman Catholics should be warned against building (i.e. propounding) such a doctrine and the edifices that will reflect it."  In his conclusion, Pollard stated that "the teachings of the organization  . . . are, in their key doctrine, heretical" and that "I find the 'revelations' to be spurious."

There is one other item of note:  a 1990 article in the Los Angeles Times titled "Self-Described Visionary's Hill of Hope Dream Ends."  The journalist, Jim Carlton, wrote that Klug "was unable to raise the $1.5 billion needed for construction" of the several components she hoped to erect at the site, including a basilica, chapels, hospital, monastery, convent and retreat house.  Of course, there was also the matter of "the necessary approval from local government agencies" to obtain permits for this massive project. 

Consequently, Carlton wrote, "the land has remained largely vacant."  More pointedly, the article noted that "her followers, once estimated at more than 1,200, have dwindled to less than 400, according to her husband."  One wonders, twenty years later, what the number is now.

Another problem was the devastating brush fires that torches thousands of acres in Carbon Canyon and nearby areas that summer "leaving piles of ash and blackened trees" on the site, though Robert Klug claimed that no buildings in the compound were damaged.

Still, the article announced that Frances Klug, then 69, was selling the site and "according to San Bernardino County planning officials," who then had authority over the development of the compound before cityhood was achieved for Chino Hills the following year, the asking price was $80 million.  Notably, Klug said in 1972 that she bought the property for $1.1 million, on a $100,000 down payment raised from donations.

As the article pointed out, "an air of mystery has surrounded the operation since it began, fueled in large part by the presence of roving security guards and barbed wire fences to keep out uninvited visitors.  The entrance, which lies on a dirt road in the city of Brea, is fortified by a huge green-and-white [now just white] gate topped by sharp points.  A shack with two guards sits behind the gate."  Robert Klug, his wife declining to speak to the Times, explained that "we have been harassed by the local vandals.  We have had the police out here dozens of times.  Several months ago, we caught half a dozen punk kids and they were arrested for trespassing."

Despite the listing, there were, of course, no takers and the organization has continued on for, to date, twenty more years.  It will be interesting to see what the future has in store for St. Joseph's Hill of Hope—City of God.