Complaint Review: MAN Foundation (aka) Rosa Mystica House Of Prayer - Muttontown New York

In 1999, my husband and I made an agreement with the MAN Foundation to give them money to purchase a nearly 15 yr. old unfinished church called the Rosa Mystica for the purpose of running retreats. Because the money (from the sale of our office) was not available till the end of the year, we did not have time to divide the property as we originally intended, which was to give the Foundation only the building and the hill that it was on (about 10 acres).

Our written agreement was to give money to the Foundation to buy the property and to have the portion that we wanted (about 14 acres) returned to us (taxes would be re-filed) and for us to move to the area and to run the retreats. Noreen Von Zwehl, the President and Founder agreed to help us raise the money to repair the building.

Although MAN's Board of Directors made a resolution giving us complete control of the project, it was a constant tug of war from the outset,with MAN keeping control of all donated monies (except those directly for the use of the retreats) and deciding that they would use initial donations to purchase the statue that was originally in the building. (Much of the money donated at this time was raised by my mother and her friends.)

Since the building was in such disrepair that it was unusable, we finally started to use our own money and money donated by my uncle to fix the building to the point where we could occupy it legally. In the meantime, we ran programs in the retreat house that we built to support this endeavor and in the local parishes. We were finally able to use the building in spring of 2001.

We ran programs in the building from April 2001-October 2001 with demands from the MAN Foundation escalating. Finally in June or July, we asked about the return of our 14 acres and communications became rocky. We were told to come to a meeting in August in Long Island (5 hours away) to form a board to run the Rosa Mystica House of Prayer. We refused saying that such a request was contrary to our agreement. At that point we were told to cease holding any more programs in the building.

Our October program having already been set, they allowed us to proceed with that. However, in November, when I went over to check the building, I found it padlocked with no previous warning to us. I sent a letter of objection to the Foundation and received this reply.

After consulting with Judge Kunzeman and the Board of Directors of the MAN Foundation, the decision was unanimously reached that we are justified in our decision to maintain that the Shrine be used for the purpose it was originally intended. We reiterate that the title to the land is in the name of the MAN Foundation and thus, the land and Shrine are the property of the MAN Foundation. The Man foundation is governed by its Board of Directors.

Our accountant, Robert Palumbo, has advised that, as a charitable organization, the Man Foundation cannot accept a conditional gift.

Please note that the directive that we received from the resolution of the Man Foundation's Board of Directors was: Whereas, Arline & Shinzo Saiki have requested that the MAN Foundation form a division to be known as the Rosa Mystica Marina Center for the purpose of holding retreats, prayer meetings, lectures, and instruction for a moderate or no fee in the spirit of the Roman Catholic Church.. and,

Whereas, the MAN Foundation supports the goals of the Rosa Mystica Marian Center under the directorship of Arline and Shinzo Saiki and a spiritual director (to be named) and desires to organize a division of the MAN Foundation to operate as the Rosa Mystica Marian Center

Noreen Von Zwehl of the MAN Foundation and Fr. Bill McCarthy of My Father's House in Moodus, Connecticut have been appearing on Focus TV (a Catholic TV station)

promoting the message of an apparition called the Rosa Mystica in Italy and the House of

Prayer in Edmeston. This apparition was condemned in 1997 and again in 2001 by the local bishops.

The Man Foundation's Rosa Mystica website states that The Rosa Mystica House of Prayer is based on the apparitions of Montichiari that encourages us to achieve holiness, a full Catholic life, highly sacramental in union with Mary.

At no time did we agree to promote the apparition of the Rosa Mystica because it had not been approved. The title Rosa Mystica is the 2000 year old title of Mary as Mother of the Church, which is how we were running the center.

Our agreement was dismissed, our property was not returned to us and we were never reimbursed for most of the money that we advanced them for such things as pews, the fire escape, part of the bathroom etc.

Arline

Edmeston, New York
U.S.A.