~Stigmata of Saint Francis of Assisi, September 17th, 2026~
“I’m posting this to hopefully save people their time, money, and more. When I first started following JMJ Hermitage, they were working on getting their chapel built with a mission to help persecuted religious, commissioned by Viganò. Based on what I’ve personally witnessed and heard from others, I believe the two running it want nothing to do with outside religious — because if they did, their true intentions would become clear. When I visited, there was no discernible structure to daily life, and everyone else I’ve spoken to agrees. But what’s most concerning is that recently, it appears that they’ve been encouraging the young women living there to cut contact with their families. They’re also quick to burn bridges with anyone who asks questions about how things are run. Please do your research before getting involved or donating”.
~Someone’s warning post from Reddit~
Introduction: Lawlessness
I take no pleasure in name dropping or writing posts like this, nor do I like gossip pieces within the Church, but when there are parties involved who are suffering, it needs to be exposed for their sake. That is what both mercy and justice look like. Nothing is hidden that will not be revealed and I believe in an equal balance of justice and mercy especially when there are true victims involved. Again, this is why I told my friend that if she asked me to write about this experience because she too suffered, she would “only say the word” and I would do it. I would know it was God’s will. I told her I don’t kiss up to anyone but Jesus and Mary anymore. I have nothing to lose.
She took some time to pray and when she messaged me, it was God’s perfect timing. A priest friend of mine several months ago was also talking about doing an exposé piece of his own about this particular hermitage in Wisconsin, because desperate times call for desperate measures. Something I have learned over the years due to constant terrible experiences in religious life and disastrous discernment visits, is that there is a very recognizable pattern afoot. One I have come to recognize almost immediately. And when I see it, my reaction is usually, “oh brother, not again.” As my Grammie recently, and quite hilariously, said when I shared another odd experience:
To which I told her it is.
It truly does not matter if someone has been a nun or a priest for 30+ years. That’s usually a bad sign actually (not always) in today’s climate for it means they are SET in their pride. Some of the worst behaviors I have seen displayed have been from those who have the most “experience”(whatever that even means anymore), advanced degrees and formation under their belt. “Trust the experts”. I have noticed a common thread in today’s religious life with both priests and nuns and it’s this:
Narcissism and feminism.
Yes, especially in the trad movement.
The remedy to narcissism and feminism is charity and humility, which is exactly the thing lacking in religious life, today. Rather than creating a house of love for Jesus and Mary, they create a house of monsters. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen men and women LOSE their charity in religious life because they are formed in this narcissism and feminism. Totally alien to Our Lord’s new commandment of love of God and neighbor.
Before I share the experience that Aflavia and I went through, I want to draw an important correlation to how priests and nuns act when they let their experience and power get to their head, to my major in college before I dropped out. I was an animal science major and the animal science department was utterly miserable. My own advisor talked about how terrible it was because he said students and even members of the department who grew up ranching or participating in 4-H had such a chip of pride on their shoulder and looked down on anyone who didn’t have their lifetime experience. I participated in a live stock show where I showed a steer and I won the “Good Sportsman” award JUST for having a good attitude, and the judges told me so.
I came into that industry with next to little experience. And I felt the disdain from other students in so many ways because I was seen as a city girl. My nickname was even “Hollywood”. My advisor so memorably told me that it was people like me who excelled in the industry because we had a better attitude, an eagerness to learn and didn’t have that pride of knowing everything. When I had an interview to work for the department’s meat lab, one of the interview questions was what my favorite job was before my interview. I was truthful and said essentially anything that didn’t have to do with the animal science department and he said, “welcome to my world.” I remember being stunned at his answer, and he was my soon to be boss. I share this because it truly reminds me of today’s religious life.
I know the current state of religious life is a type of hell on earth because even during the writing of this post, a former seminarian wrote me this:
“Quite honestly I feel very burnt out and lack motivation to keep seeking a house of formation.”
So many of us simply want to devote our whole lives of prayer and service to Jesus and Mary and see to our dismay how convents, seminaries and monasteries fail to keep Our Lord’s “judgements, commandments and ceremonies”. We leave disappointed in so many ways and not because we do not have vocations but because we do. And in order to not lose one’s soul in the very places we thought we would find it, it is essential and necessary to leave these places, or avoid them all together. There is a reason all over the Old Testament that the constant theme is Our Lord DEMANDING we follow “His judgments, commandments and ceremonies”. Notice how it says “HIS judgements”.
1.) Judgements: discernment (essentially having the Holy Ghost’s gifts and fruits to know how to navigate which path to take or avoid)
2.) Commandments: papacy and the laws
3.) Ceremonies: the Mass, Divine Office and Sacraments
Notice how we rarely see those three things observed in their totality in religious life, today?
When it comes to judgement (discernment) very few people rely on the Holy Ghost to make basic every day decisions which is a sign of spiritual maturity to use those gifts habitually. The Holy Ghost is not relied on enough. The way that I use His Seven Gifts everyday is through daily recitation of the Seven Sorrows Rosary. At the start of each Seven Sorrow, I have assigned one of the Holy Ghost’s Seven Gifts. “Seven for Seven” and it’s perfect since Mary is the Bride of the Paraclete. Do this, and you will notice a change in your interior and day to day decision making.
If we impatiently seek to find any old priest JUST to say, “I have a Director, look at me”, when this member of the clergy could be the complete wrong fit (a Spiritual Director should ALWAYS be a member of the clergy), will be more dangerous to the soul then if one did not have one at all. We are NEVER without the Holy Ghost and Our Lady, we simply don’t make it a habit to remember Their Direction, Gifts and Presence, and I cannot stress that enough. May it suffice to say this: the true Spiritual Director of our soul is the Holy Ghost and the only reason we do go to an earthly Spiritual Director is IF we can’t come “into contact” with the Paraclete without aid. See for yourself:
We see how Teresa of Jesus herself had multiple different Directors in her life because either they did not have the GRACE to understand her, or she outgrew them. That’s not a pride, but a humility. A Director is NOT the same as a confessor. We should be going to confession to confess our sins, not constant direction and hang out time (I have finally learned that truth). Joan of Arc was seen as a rebel for not taking orders directly from men, but from the visions she knew to be true and Saint Michael kept her firm. She was vindicated later. In short, keeping with God’s judgements is not throwing HIS pearls to the swine. When we don’t know what to do, it is enough to know what NOT to do.
Which is exactly why Our Lord told Teresa she would no longer converse with men, but with angels. To put it mildly, people in the Church Militant need to spiritually GROW UP. The reason why Saint Louis de Montfort said that the saints in the latter days would surpass past saints in holiness, and that is not a statement of pride but of truth, was because the reason he gave was that TRUE devotion to Mary would be practiced by these end time saints in a way the Church has never seen. So stop telling me that going to the Holy Ghost and Mary for everything is a crime. One can never rely on Them too much. Give me a break!
GO TO THE HOLY GHOST AND GO TO MARY. EVERY. DAY.
Basic commandments such as NOT LYING is something not observed in religious life which proves that this lawless culture has infiltrated monastic life. And I think we all know the compromise that has taken place with the Mass and other Sacraments. Even today’s religious orders that only celebrate the Latin Mass usually do the watered down 1962 rites and ceremonies and this also includes the Divine Office. See what I mean? Religious life has become lawless.
They would rather create their own unbiblical laws and customs rather than follow the ones already prescribed by God. THAT is pride, my friends. Which is why Marcel Lefebvre the Great said, “I have invented nothing new, I was simply carrying on.” We no longer have a reverence and love for the sacred: God’s “judgments, commandments or ceremonies”. We aren’t willing to lay our life down the way the early Church martyrs did for Christ, Our Lady and the Church. And that… is a real shame.
Hermitage from Hell run by Father Ambrose and Sister Tecla:
Who is Father Ambrose and Sister Tecla?
A little over a year ago Aflavia and I made a discernment trip visit to Wisconsin called Jesus, Mary and Joseph Hermitage where a priest named Father Ambrose essentially runs Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò’s Exsurge Domine American foundation and a Sister Tecla, who has a small community of three women named Anne, Clare and Arianna as postulants. I am writing today’s post for those three women in hopes that they will leave that “house of misery”. I want to state for the record, that this post has nothing to do with them being “invalid” or “in schism” (blah blah blah). Y’all already know my stance on being “in union with” today’s “Rome”… it’s essentially being in union with Babylon. Thanks, but no thanks!
If we know canon law’s definition of schism, we would know who is in schism and who is not. And it’s certainly not Archbishop Viganò, Father Ambrose or Sister Tecla and that fake and gay “excommunication” given to the Archbishop, which was exactly that: fake and gay. Nor am I questioning whether or not Father Ambrose is a valid priest or that his sacraments are valid. I believe his sacraments are valid and he is a valid priest, along with Sister Tecla being a valid sister (again, whatever that even means). Eye roll.
I am today exposing the bad behaviors (the patterns I spoke of) displayed by those two who need to be corrected or shut down by Archbishop Viganò who absolutely has the power to do so, and I hope he reads this, and does. That is my second appeal today. There’s no reason to be tied to Sister Tecla’s apron strings anymore (Father Ambrose), as that is exactly the feminism I am speaking of: stop letting nuns control ordained men, your excellency. That includes YOU. Women shouldn’t be in control of YOUR ministry and episcopacy. Saint Paul doesn’t approve.
Aflavia and I had been in communication with Father and Sister for about four months leading up to our meeting them in person and the whole point of our correspondence was to discern if Aflavia and I were called to be Carmelite Hermits on their property, which was the whole point of the visit. In those four months we participated in their weekly live rosaries and began a steady flow of communication to get to know one another. On the side I worked on four hours a week oftentimes putting together their sung vespers which was very time consuming and tedious work. Example of the work done for them:
In retrospect the main red flag I noticed was how Sister Tecla seemed to control Father Ambrose behind the scenes. He would show enthusiasm or make a decision and then it was later slapped down by the Sister. One minute he was leading and the next minute he was like a lost puppy. The land and property belong to her which even made my Grandmother point out to me that this alone would mean she ruled the roost (feminism). It reminded me of Ann Barnhardt’s repost of women left unchecked and uncontrolled is a catastrophe (like Eve in the garden) and especially watch out for the nuns controlling the priests. I immediately thought of Father Ambrose and Sister Tecla who seemed to operate in a weird married couple kind of fashion, where Sister Tecla wears the pants. Weird!
She even sat directly below his sermon pulpit on a little kneeling stool, where he mostly made eye contact with her during his homily. Father Ambrose, in my opinion, seemed to have the potential to be a good priest if not working directly with Sister Tecla. At first glance Sister Tecla seemed normal and sweet, but fortunately for me since I have been around the block a few times with manipulation and cult life behavior, I spotted it almost instantly on arrival that she wasn’t what she appeared. To the point where Aflavia and I entered the guest house to introduce ourselves and we could sense all the joy leaving the room. I remember Sister Tecla taking one look at us and it was as if she knew she wouldn’t be able to control or manipulate us the way she does to Anne, Clare and Arianna.
I can’t tell you how many times I have had this experience where instantly I know the Holy Ghost is telling me, “avoid them”, because it’s their true colors being exposed, and 99% percent of the time, it’s turned out to be true, even against my will. My intuition only heightened and was confirmed when the next day after Mass, we were not greeted, not told what to do, and then when we were walking back to our guest house, Sister Tecla was walking on the road and she purposely shielded her face from us to show she did not want to speak with us or be disturbed.
It was so ridiculous, that Aflavia and I looked at each other and were kind of amused despite it all, because who invites one to a “come and see” to treat their guests that way? It’s not a joke when I say she covered her face with her hand from us. The most bizarre part was we were basically told later that they had no idea we wanted to live on their property as hermits to join them… which was the whole point of our visit. Talk about feeling gaslit! I had to go back and screenshot messages to prove them wrong. What was even their end goal in all this?
We had already been there for almost a day and Father Ambrose not only didn’t greet us or set up a meeting to discuss possible plans of being called to live there, even though the whole point was to see if he wanted to work with us, which kind of means we have to talk and see if it’s a compatible fit, but oftentimes Aflavia and I were wandering around the property not knowing where anyone was, what was going on and what we were supposed to be doing.
It was Anne, Clare and Arianna who were running around like guinea pigs for Father and Sister, picking us up from the shuttle station, driving us back to the shuttle station, making us feel welcome and trying to help us navigate the weird non schedule. It was… bizarre. The postulants had to take charge, which wasn’t their role. Clare almost single handedly sang all the Mass propers which made it clear later that she is very valuable asset to the Hermitage, and not seen as daughter of God but valuable for what she has to offer them. It became very apparent to me that Father and Sister use people for their own benefit.
The first time Father Ambrose came out to greet us was when we were all dirty in the garden helping Anne, Clare and Ariana and it was clear he didn’t want to be there and again did not tell us the plan. With Father came a deacon born my year who showed more hospitality than Father Ambrose and Sister Tecla, and Catholic writer and podcaster Stephen Kokx, who I genuinely enjoyed speaking to and getting to know, to which we stayed in touch for some time after the visit. Father Ambrose and Sister Tecla were selective in who they treated with charity. That became very clear just in the short four days we were there; Aflavia felt so unwelcome at one point that she skipped daily Mass, felt ill and stayed back at the guesthouse. She told me later that she would never have skipped Mass that way and that was proof of the Hermitage’s chaos.
I finally called up my former director with Aflavia on speaker phone to share the odd occurrences and his advice was to be our happy selves and play dumb, because people like that rarely change, nor will the experience improve. Tigers don’t change their stripes. It is clear now in retrospect, Father Ambrose and Sister Tecla were stringing me along with no intention of working with us, to complete their weekly Vespers and at one point Sister Tecla even asked me to possibly help them locate Church Bells (the large ones) because… I just have those sitting around. We purchased gifts for them to which they had a strange way of showing gratitude and most times Aflavia was ignored all together.
I met a lot of very sweet and gentle parishioners who attended JMJ Hermitage Chapel and it didn’t surprise me when this later appeared on Reddit:
I’ve been following a hermitage in Wisconsin for almost three years and it’s getting more and more cult-like. Is there anything I can do?
I’ve posted about this before in other subs. I’m bringing it here because after watching this situation unfold over the last two and a half years, I’ve reached the point where I can no longer rationalize what I’m seeing as anything other than a high-control group — and possibly a full blown cult.
Background
The Hermitage of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph (JMJ Hermitage) presents itself as a traditional Catholic community centered on the Latin Mass, operating under Archbishop Viganò. The two running it — Bryan Walman (“Fr. Ambrose”) and Rebekah Siegler (“Sr. Tecla,” now “Mother Tecla”) — initially seemed sincere. At first it felt unusual, not dangerous.
Early red flags
Three women in their 20s now live there as “Sisters” after a brief formation trip to Italy. One left college after a single year to join. The discernment process looked less like formal religious formation and more like a friend group making life-altering decisions together very quickly.
Why I think this a cult
- Family separation is actively encouraged, framed as necessary “for the safety of their souls”
- Members rarely leave the property except for donor visits
- They maintain a Signal group chat with followers and donors across the US, building a network and funding base while keeping communication controlled
- Questions about leadership, finances, or authority are shut down
- Anyone who pushes back is cut off entirely
- The lifestyle is far more comfortable than a hermitage warrants — donor transparency is a real question
- Members are taught they belong to the “True Church” outside normal Catholic authority
Where things stand
I’ve watched this develop since around late 2023. The changes have been gradual but unmistakable. Communication between the young women and their families has become increasingly limited and strained. The families are concerned but don’t know what to do next.
I’m not here to attack religion. I’m posting because the warning signs were all there, and I wish someone had laid them out clearly sooner. For those who have been through something similar — is there anything that can be done at this stage, before this becomes a full blown cult? Any advice or perspective is appreciated. But also wanted to post this as a kinda PSA to stop funding these people.
A new Mass bishop in the area wrote a letter saying JMJ Hermitage is not valid because they operate without new Mass approval, to which I reject, BUT I am including the above Reddit post to show the warning signs of cult like behavior and how they operate. Narcissism and cults go hand in hand. Which is why I spotted it almost immediately. The issue is, narcissists can be very charming and Aflavia and I left there truly believing there was some hope because Father Ambrose displayed moments of real charity, which is what gets people stuck in these relationships. He would cry during his own sermons and then treat his neighbor with disdain.
People like this throw you a few bread crumbs to keep you around, and then leave you starving the next. Aflavia and I were left thinking, “this is probably the best we are going to find in today’s Church crisis, so just offer it up?” There is where Our Lord Himself intervened and reminded me that is ABSOLUTELY NOT how He operates. He deserves the best and also wants the best for His children. He is not an Abusive God nor does He take delight in our sufferings. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is walk away, and yet, those have been some of the best decisions I have ever made, because the Holy Ghost’s gift of peace is not for sale.
I have a sense that Anne, Clare and Arianna think just as we did, that this is the best place they are going to find and so even if they are silently suffering, they are making excuses to themselves that they are not in a abusive relationship. Ironically enough, Sister Tecla and I came from the same Carmel, but at different times, and though she told me she did not like the customs from our shared Carmel, she not only adopted them but took them to the next level and made my former Mother Superiors look kind of sane.
The brain does not fully develop until age 26 and the reason why young women like Anne, Clare and Arianna are easy targets of prey to those like a Father Ambrose and a Sister Tecla who operate the way narcissists do, is the youth are easier to mold and manipulate. I have compassion on these three young women because from experience I know how easy it is to fall for these types of relationships and when you’re in them, you are just trying to survive, and I guarantee you they are making excuses for Father and Sister, even to themselves, on a daily basis because that is how abusive relationships operate! Our minds naturally make excuses by rewiring itself for survival mode.
Appeal to Archbishop Vigano:
This is why I am asking +Viganò to please use your authority and intervene. Shut it down, and separate Father Ambrose from Sister Tecla. Three young women are suffering on your excellency’s watch and it’s a real shame. YEARS have passed. You once rightly accused Pope Benedict XVI of developing cognitive dissonance to those around him, and surrounded himself by wolves. You are allowing the same thing to happen to Anne, Clare and Arianna as this Hermitage foundation was established under your approval. You have the same power to intervene and shut it down as shepherd. Our Lord says He is the Good Shepherd Who comes through the front door. Will not you do the same and rescue three sheep being led by wolves (Ambrose and Tecla)? The reason women like Tecla are left unchecked and uncontrolled is because men with authority do nothing or they hand their authority over to a woman, which you have done.
Ironically enough Ann Barnhardt in a interview with the very Stephen Kokx I met while there, said that “women, unchecked and uncontrolled, ruin everything they take over. You MUST keep the womenfolk under control.” She went on to quote an essay she read on the topic and I was stunned when she said that the problem today, and what we have to be especially careful about is WOMEN in charge of ORDAINED MEN. And what hit me is how even NUNS do this to priests as Mother Superiors. This is an EVIL. The essay she quoted also talked about how LARGE GROUPS OF WOMEN are a recipe for disaster. I immediately thought of COMMUNITIES of nuns, WOMEN, and women leading other women.
This is totally disordered and perverted and I truly see clearly after the dust has settled why Our Lord has shielded me from ever again joining a house of all women. Believe me, I tried before sticking to the current path and meeting Aflavia, and those were the doors that slammed in my face. It was as if Our Lord was saying, “yeah… we’re not doing that again.” In fact, and I say this not to attack these women, but in retrospect, most Mother Superiors I have met tend to have more masculine tendencies that are totally alien to our natural femininity.
I would witness a Prioress acting more like a husband figure and a sub prioress acting more as a wife, and honestly… it reminded me of how same sex couples act. See what I mean? Again, how do we fix this feminism, in short? I truly believe a valid pope (either the one destined to consecrate Russia to Mary’s Heart or who comes immediately after him) needs to decree that the office of Mother Superiors be TOTALLY ABOLISHED ONCE AND FOR ALL. And I mean as soon as possible. That women will only be grouped in twos and threes in the religious life and that their superior be a priest. Start there. It’s that simple. In fact, that statement alone is aligned with Saint Paul’s letters.
BUT, Teresa of Jesus and Clare of Assisi were Mother Superiors, and many more. And I have an answer for that. How has that worked out for the Church? Our Lord set up a hierarchy of MEN, not women. The early Church militant did NOT have Mother Superiors, they came later, and as I proved in my post on the problems with Teresa’s Discalced Carmelite constitutions, even though I love her dearly, feminism was clearly at play even in her time; knowingly or unknowingly and her daughters suffered for it immensely (they still do).
Humbly, this is what happens when women are left “uncontrolled.” The antidote to feminism is trustful surrender to Divine Providence and that papal decree that I pray one day will be made into law. Again, and I say this as a woman, it is that simple. Do not give women any opportunities to be tempted to “grab that apple”. Women are too power hungry and need to focus on imitating the Perfect Woman, Mary. I can say from experience that the more one stops seeking power as a female, but sticks to prayer and surrender, the happier she will be. The happier men will be too.
Archbishop Viganò, you were once my hero because of your own courage, and I confess this experience has hardened my heart to your excellency, because I cannot stand when men in your position of authority do nothing, most especially when there are three young women involved. But I am also easily softened. I hope you redeem yourself and use your authority in the case of coming to the rescue of Anne, Clare and Arianna. I originally told Father Ambrose and Sister Tecla that I would not expose them, but this is just too important. It’s not about me, it’s about those still suffering in the JMJ Hermitage from hell.
My Parting Letter to Father Ambrose and Sister Tecla:
Carmelite Sister Martyrs 