St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope

Dear Friends in Christ,

Recently two different persons asked me about “St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope” and so I will use this letter to respond so that all of you can understand the Church’s official position. In my role as pastor I am obliged to protect the flock from error; it is in this spirit that I write this letter.

First, we should be clear about public Revelation, that it ended with the death of the last Apostle. Since then any private revelations have to be approved by the Church Christ founded. Apparitions and revelations of our Lord, our Lady, and the saints over the past centuries have all been investigated. Some of these have received Church approval; some are still under investigation (Medjugorje for example) and some have been explicitly declared to be in error. Such is the case for the following.

St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope, which is located in Brea, claims to be a source of private revelation from God to the late Frances Klug. Purported divine messages began coming through Mrs. Klug back in 1967. In 1980, after an investigation into the revelations, Monsignor Joseph Pollard, theologian for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles reported that the messages were certainly heretical. Here is the conclusion of Msgr. Pollard’s report:

The teachings of the organization “St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope-City of God” are, in their key doctrine, heretical (orginal emphasis). In ancillary teachings, there is an avoidance of the mens ecclesiae (mind of the Church). On both counts I find the “revelations” to be spurious.

In 1981 the bishops of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and Orange all signed a document declaring:
This organization, its properties, its activities and its teachings are independent of the Roman Catholic Church, its jurisdiction and its favor. Financial or moral support of this organization by Catholics cannot be construed as support of the Church.

In particular, the President of “St. Joseph’s Hill of Hope – City of God” enjoys no commission from the Church to teach, counsel, or conduct retreats. You should not make donations for building projects for this organization. Nor should you accept literature from them. In spite of what may seem to be authentic teaching, they come from a very dubious source. Remember that even the devil knows how to quote Scripture.

As you know, there are excellent sources of authentic Church teaching which are readily available to all. Highly recommended are the Catechism of the Catholic Church or its shorter Compendium. A book that claims to be Catholic should have the Imprimatur or Nihil Obstat or some other official Church approval. With regard to Bibles, I have often cautioned people that many Bibles in book stores are not Catholic; they are published by non-Catholic companies and omit certain books of the Old Testament that were removed in the 1500’s by the Protestant reformers.

Catholic Bibles will usually say “Catholic edition” or will have the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur. If we remain faithful to the Church’s Magisterium (Pope and Bishops) we can be sure we will not be led astray because Christ promised to be with His Church “to the end of the world”. May the Blessed Virgin Mary, seat of Wisdom, guard us and protect us always.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Fr. Hildebrand