Dear John:

The "Johnnite" Church is a gnostic group. They claim to have apostolic succession and that the Vatican has declared their orders to be valid yet illicit. I do not know; perhaps that is true. There are many groups who, unfortunately, do have valid but illicit (illegal) orders and sacraments. Gnosticism has been officially condemned as a heresy by the Catholic Church, so this so-called Johnnite "Church" is not in communion with Rome (and in my opinion not in communion with planet earth, but are space-cadets).

Gnosticism is an heresy and is a foundation for the New Age nonsense of today. You can read about the origins and history of gnosticism in the Catholic Encyclopedia. Here is one brief excerpt:

The last words of the aged St. Paul in his First Epistle to Timothy are usually taken as referring to Gnosticism, which is described as "Profane novelties of words and oppositions of knowledge falsely so called [antitheseis tes pseudonomou gnoseos -- the antitheses of so-called Gnosis] which some professing have erred concerning the faith". Most probably St. Paul's use of the terms pleroma, the æon of this world, the archon of the power of the air, in Ephesians and Colossians, was suggested by the abuse of these terms by the Gnostics. Other allusions to Gnosticism in the New Testament are possible, but cannot be proven, such as Titus 3:9; 1 Timothy 4:3; 1 John 4:1-3.

As mentioned, gnosticism was condemned by the Church. Not only is it a heresy against the faith it is really an insult to the intelligence. Gnostic ideas are just downright silly. Take note of the language from this Johnnite "Church":

We affirm that every Being contains the 'Sacred Flame,' a Spark of the Divine and that Awareness of the Sacred Flame within constitutes the highest level of Self-Knowledge and the Experience of God simultaneously. This act of Awareness, which is held to be liberating, transcendent and experiential, is called Gnosis."

Here is a quote from one of their Gnostic "gospels", the Gospel of Philip:

Light and Darkness, life and death, right and left, are brothers of one another. They are inseparable. Because of this neither are the good good, nor evil evil, nor is life life, nor death death. For this reason each one will dissolve into its earliest origin. But those who are exalted above the world are indissoluble, eternal.

This sounds like the dribble spouted by a student of Philosophy 101: "do we really exist? how do I know you exist, how do I know I exist, I may be a figment of my own imagination, there is no good good or evil evil, no life life, no death death. We all just dissolve like ice in the rain in to the cosmic plasma." Like gag me with a spoon :)

This rot claims to be in pursuit of esoteric knowledge, but they are not. They are merely full of themselves, intellectually dishonest, and spiritually cowardly.

Take heed the advice St. Paul gave to Timothy (1 Tim 4:1; 6:2b-5, 20-21):

Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by giving heed to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons...

Teach and urge these duties. If any one teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching which accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit, he knows nothing; he has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, base suspicions, and wrangling among men who are depraved in mind and bereft of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain...

O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you. Avoid the godless chatter and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have missed the mark as regards the faith.

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary