CONDITIONAL ORDINATION?

Over the past few weeks, several people have asked whether or not I would be ordained to the priesthood conditionally. Since so many have expressed interest in this aspect of my story, I thought it might be prudent to offer a brief statement regarding my understanding of the character of the orders that I received when I was ordained a priest within the Charismatic Episcopal Church.

1. After entering the Charismatic Episcopal Church, I came to recognize that - despite the good intentions of its founding bishop, Archbishop Randolph A. Adler - the validity of the apostolic credentials that the CEC had originally received could not be verified.

2. A thorough review of the CEC's apostolic credentials led me to conclude that there were at least three or four points in the CEC's apostolic succession that were either suspect or lacking in sufficient supporting documentation.

3. In the first six months of 1997, at the request of the Most Rev. Randolph W. Sly (then Archbishop of the Eastern and Central Province of the CEC), I developed two reports of my analysis. These reports were subsequently submitted to the CEC's House of Bishops.

*** The first of these reports included my analysis of the CEC's apostolic credentials. It also discouraged the CEC's bishops from receiving ordination at the hands of an American who claimed to have received episcopal orders through the Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira (ICAB). I had discouraged this action because I had become aware of the numerous dubious claims that many self-styled "independent Catholic bishops" made concerning their apostolic heritage.

*** The second report provided a similar analysis of the CEC's apostolic credentials, but recommended that the CEC's bishops make direct contact with the bishops of ICAB, share their predicament with them, and ask if they would reordain them.

4. Despite what must have been heart-wrenchingly difficult debate and discussions, the CEC's House of Bishops agreed to make contact with Dom Dom Luis Edward Fernando Castillo-Mendez, Primate of the Igreja Católica Apostólica Brasileira. After a few very important conversations, Dom Castillo-Mendez and the bishops of ICAB agreed to come to the USA and ordain the bishops of the CEC.

5. On November 7, 1997, I attended the episcopal ordination Mass in which Dom Fernando Luiz Castillo-Mendez, Primate of ICAB ordained five CEC bishops. The bishops so ordained included Archbishop Randolph A. Adler (Primate), the Most Rev. Randolph W. Sly (Eastern Province), the Most Rev. Frederick G. Fick (Great Lakes Province), the Most Rev. Richard W. Lipka (Hawaii, now Delmarva), and the Most Rev. Philip C. Zampino (Mid-Atlantic).

*** Note: The rite used for this Mass was a Portuguese translation of the same rite used by the Catholic Church prior to the new rite published in response to the Second Vatican Council. In the years since Bishop Costa had established ICAB only two small changes had been made to this rite: (1) the elimination of the Papal Mandatum, and (2) the deletion of the filioque phrase in the Nicene Creed.

6. The case of Bishop Salomão Barbosa Ferraz offers the clearest example of the Catholic Church's view of ICAB's apostolic credentials. The following is a summary of Dom Ferraz case.

(i) On the 5th of July 1945, Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa, one-time Bishop of Botucatu (Brazil), resigned from the Titular See of Maura. He had been excummnicated by the Catholic Church. It is within this context that he helped to found ICAB. Over the course of the next two decades Bishop Costa was to ordain four men to the episcopate.

(ii) On August 15, 1945 in Sao Paolo, Brazil, the now excommunicated Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa ordained Salomão Barbosa Ferraz to the episcopate. Less than thirty days prior, on July 18, 1945, Bishop Costa had ordained him to the priesthood. He was 65 years old.

(iii) In the late 1950's, Bishop Salomão Barbosa Ferraz sought to be reconciled to the Catholic Church.

(iv) In December 1959, Pope John XXIII received Salomão Barbosa Ferraz as a bishop of the Catholic Church. He did so without consecrating him in any manner - sub conditione or otherwise. At the time of his entry into the Church, Bishop Ferraz was both married and the father of seven children. Bishop Ferraz was one of the Council Fathers at the Second Vatican Council and made several interventions. On May 10, 1963, Salomão Barbosa Ferraz was named Titular Bishop of Eleutherna.

(v) In the mid-1960's, after a five or six year delay, entries for Bishop Salomão Barbosa Ferraz begin to appear in the Annuario Pontificio (the book that lists all living clerics of the Roman Catholic Church). However, the Annuario Pontificio provides no information regarding the ordaining prelate.

*** Note: Since the Catholic Church rarely offers public comment regarding the validity of the orders possessed by separated brethren, this kind of evidence is the best that can be offered in support of a claims regarding the validity of apostolic credentials.

7. Careful analysis of the way that the Catholic Church has treated Bishop Ferraz and other clerics who have received orders through Dom Costa and ICAB leads me to conclude that on November 5th, 1997, in Libertytown, Maryland, at Cathedral of the Resurrection, the CEC's bishops received valid apostolic orders from Dom Castillo-Mendez.

8. The above facts lead me to conclude that on Saturday, November 8th, 1997, when Archbishop Randolph W. Sly re-ordained me to the priesthood for the CEC, I was established as a true - even if unapproved - priest of Jesus Christ. In the language of the Code of Canon Law, I was validly, but illicitly ordained to the one priesthood of Christ (Cf. Canon 1024 and Canons 1050-1052).

With the above data in mind we can now turn our attention back to the question so many friends have asked me, "When you are ordained to the priesthood in the Catholic Church, will you be ordained unconditionally or conditionally?" And the answer is, "We'll have to wait and see."