A friend of mine is Episcopalian and thinking of joining the Catholic Church, primarily because of the ordination of Gene Robinson as a bishop. My friend also said that her pastor is considering the same. Would the pastor be allowed to be a Catholic priest? — A reader in Florence, South Carolina

Since the mid-1970s, the Episcopalian Church in the United States has faced some serious internal turmoil. In 1976, women were ordained as priests, and more recently women have been ordained as bishops. In 1979, the Episcopalian Church revised the Book of Common Prayer using contemporary language as well as adding various liturgical options. Both of these incidents have caused heated debate and even schism. Now there is growing momentum for the celebration of homosexual marriages and the ordination of practicing homosexuals, as evidenced with the ordination of Gene Robinson as a bishop. Please note that I am simply citing events; I am neither being nosey about another Church’s affairs nor relishing in their problems, especially when we Catholics have enough of our own.

These issues, and probably others as well, have prompted some Episcopalian clergy and laity to consider entering the Roman Catholic Church. Most of these individuals would have viewed themselves as "Anglo-Catholic" or "High Episcopalian," meaning that their beliefs and liturgical practices were very much "Roman" with the major contention being over the authority of the Holy Father. For example, when I was studying at St. Charles Seminary in Philadelphia, St. Clement’s Episcopal Church advertised having Masses, confessions, benediction and vespers; to attend one of their services was — I hate to say it — at least aesthetically more "Catholic" and reverential than some of the Catholic parishes I have visited.

Nevertheless, various requests about possible admission into the Catholic Church were made to Catholic Bishops in the United States, who in turn contacted the Holy Father. In response, Pope John Paul II through the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a clear although brief statement in June 1980. First, the Holy See admitted allowing a "pastoral provision," which would provide "a common identity reflecting certain elements of their own heritage." Here an entire Episcopalian congregation could enter the Catholic Church and be allowed to remain a parish and use an Anglican-style Catholic Mass with either the traditional language of the Book of Common Prayer or the modern English version.

Second, individual members of the Episcopal Church could enter into the Catholic Church on their own initiative. As in accord with the "Decree on Ecumenism" of Vatican II, this action would be seen as a "reconciliation of those individuals who wish for full Catholic communion."

Finally, Episcopalian clergy could become Catholic priests. An ordained Episcopalian minister would make a profession of faith and be received into the Catholic Church, and thereupon receive the sacrament of confirmation. He would then take appropriate courses which would enable him to minister as a Catholic priest. After proper examination by his Catholic bishop and with the permission of the Holy Father, he would then be ordained first as a Catholic transitional deacon and then as a priest.

The Episcopalian clergy would be ordained because the Catholic Church does not recognize the validity of their holy orders, at least in the Catholic understanding of holy orders. Remember that in 1534 King Henry VIII severed the church in England from the rest of the Catholic Church and established himself as its head. For this reason, to this day, Queen Elizabeth II is the official head of the Church of England, and she appoints all bishops of the realm with the consent of parliament. After Henry VIII’s death, Edward VI, his son and successor, issued a new ordinal for the rites of ordination. The Edwardian Ordinal, composed by Archbishop Cranmer, who was heavily influenced by the Lutheran theologian Martin Bucer, changed the rites of ordination of the Roman Catholic Pontifical. The subsequent ordinations of the Church of England were declared invalid from the Catholic understanding of Holy Orders by Pope Julius III in a letter to Cardinal Reginald Pole (1554) and by Pope Paul IV in two letters (1555).

Pope Leo XIII in 1896 rendered the definitive judgment in his bull "Apostolicae Curae," stating that "the ordinations performed according to the Anglican rite have been and are absolutely null and utterly void." This decision was based on both the defect of form and intention in the Anglican rite. The Anglican rite purposely omitted the belief in the sacrificial priesthood exercised in the Mass and the Holy Eucharist. Concerning the defect of form, meaning the actual prayers used for ordination, Pope Leo declared, "Let this one argument serve for all: namely, these prayers [of ordination] have been deliberately stripped of everything which in the Catholic rite clearly sets forth the dignity and functions of the priesthood. It is, then, impossible for a form to be suitable and sufficient for a sacrament if it suppresses that which it ought distinctively to signify. The case is the same with Episcopal consecration. ... It follows that since the sacrament of orders and the true priesthood of Christ has been totally expunged from the Anglican rite, and since accordingly the priesthood is in no way conferred in the Episcopal consecration of the same rite, it is equally impossible for the episcopate itself to be truly and properly conferred thereby; the more so because a chief function of the episcopate is that of ordaining ministers for the Holy Eucharist and for the sacrifice ... ."

Pope Leo concluded, "Hence not only is there in the whole ordinal no clear mention of sacrifice, of consecration, of priesthood, of the power to consecrate and offer sacrifice, but as we have already indicated, every trace of these and similar things found in the prayers of the Catholic rite which were not completely rejected, was purposely removed and obliterated."

Pope Leo also noted the defect of intention: "If the rite is changed with the manifest purpose of introducing another rite which is not accepted by the Church, and of repudiating what in fact the Church does and by Christ’s institution belongs to the nature of the sacrament, then it is evident, not only that the intention necessary for a sacrament is lacking, but even that an intention is present which is adverse to and incompatible with the sacrament." Therefore, any Episcopalian minister who desired to become a Catholic priest would have to be ordained as a deacon and a priest according to the rite of the Catholic Church.

What then about the promise of celibacy as required of Catholic priests? If the former Episcopalian minister were single at the time of his ordination as a Catholic deacon and then priest, he would indeed take the promise of celibacy. If the married former Episcopalian minister were ordained as a Catholic deacon and then priest, he would be exempt by a special favor from the Holy Father of making the promise of celibacy; however, if he later became a widower, then he would be bound to a celibate lifestyle and could not remarry. The promise of celibacy is waived as a favor to those married clergy, given their particular circumstances and their desire to unite with the Catholic Church. However, the Holy Father has repeatedly affirmed the discipline of celibacy on Roman Catholic clergy of the Latin rite. (Outside of the United States, the Eastern Rites do not require the promise of celibacy except for bishops.) Pope Paul VI in his encyclical "Sacerdotalis caelibatus" (1967) reflected that celibacy is an identification with Christ, who Himself was celibate; an act of sacrificial love, whereby a priest gives of himself totally to the service of God and His Church; and a sign of the coming Kingdom of God, where our Lord said, "In the resurrection, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in Heaven" (Mt 22:30).

While this information provides the "straight answer" to the questions posed, let us pray for the members of the Episcopalian Church. I personally know several sincere Christians who are members of the Episcopalian Church who are agonizing over the current situation of their church. The reality is this, as Pope Leo XIII reasoned in his response concerning the validity of Anglican orders: When one intentionally disregards the revealed truth of Sacred Scripture, the consistent teaching of the faith and the design Our Lord gave to His Church, one is left with simply a social club or political party, not a church.