Old Holy Roman Church of the English Rite: Incardination Directive

I. INTRODUCTION

1) This Directive is issued with the intent of ensuring uniformity of standards of all clergy incardinated and exercising Sacred Ministry within the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church with regard to validity of Holy Orders in Apostolic Succession and consistency of Catholic Doctrine and Theology. It is further noted that, while some jurisdictions maintain valid Apostolic Succession, various heresies have been introduced. It is therefore essential to test all candidates for incardination in order to ensure that the Sacred Trust given to the Church and obligations under the Code of Particular Canon Law are maintained.

II. PROCEDURE FOR INCARDINATION OF CLERGY OF CHURCHES NOT IN APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION

2) Clergy from churches not in Apostolic Succession wishing to be incardinated in the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church must first be received into the Church via the form established in the Rituale Anglicanum for the Reception of Converts. Once received into the Church, they may not exercise the Sacred Ministry.

3) Candidates having been received into the Church are then to receive the Sacrament of Confirmation in due course. They are further to receive whatever instruction in catechism, Sacred Theology, liturgy, Church history, and other subjects pertaining to the ministry in general as the Bishop under whose authority they fall shall direct.

4) Having been declared ready to receive Holy Orders, the Bishop then may unconditionally commission a candidate to each of the Minor Orders, and then ordain to the Major Orders of Deacon and Priest at his discretion in accordance with Canon Law and other Directives as applicable. This shall take place only after the Oath of Incardination has been signed as directed by Canon Law, in the specific form given with this Directive.

III. PROCEDURE FOR INCARDINATION OF CLERGY OF CHURCHES IN APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION

5) Clergy seeking incardination in the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church who are ordained in Apostolic Succession not containing at least one Roman Catholic line independent of an Anglican line shall follow the procedures set forth in Section II above, except that they are confirmed conditionally and ordained conditionally.

6) Clergy seeking incardination who are ordained in Apostolic Succession containing at least one Roman Catholic line independent of an Anglican line need not receive the Sacrament of Confirmation. Such clerics may be incardinated by being received into the Church according to the form given in this Directive. However, their clerical faculties may be suspended in whole or in part by the Bishop receiving them as deemed necessary until such time as additional training may be completed.

IV. GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

7) All clergy to be incardinated must sign the Child Protection Policy of the Patriarchal See or an equivalent policy within a Suffragan Archdiocese or Diocese. Also, they shall submit all documentation requested by the diocese into which they seek incardination, or the Patriarchal See, and shall further submit Letters Dimissory from the bishop whose jurisdiction they seek to leave if they are in a Catholic diocese.

8) A background investigation and psychological examination is required for all clergy seeking incardination in accordance with existing standards established for ordination candidates. This need not be a new investigation and/or examination if sufficient proof of a recent investigation and/or examination may be provided.

9) All clergy being incardinated into the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church shall take the following oath in writing and, if not being ordained sub-conditione, in the ceremony provided below, except when exempted under this Directive. And note that clergy being incardinated under Section II of this Directive shall not be required to take this Oath, as they will have taken its equivalent in the Rite of Reception of Converts.

RITE OF INCARDINATION

The cleric to be incardinated kneels before the Bishop, who is seated at the faldstool before the altar. The cleric places his right hand on the Book of Gospels. He then recites the following Oath of Incardination (which shall also be signed by all clergy to be incardinated into the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church.)

I, N.N., ....years of age, enlightened by divine grace, kneel before thee, Right (or Most) Reverend Father, having before mine eyes and touching with my hand the holy Gospels. And with firm faith I believe and profess each and all the articles contained in the Apostles' Creed, that is: I believe in God, the Father almighty, Creator of heaven and earth; and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into hell, the third day he rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty, from thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the Holy Catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body, and + life everlasting. Amen.

I firmly admit and embrace the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and all the other constitutions and ordinances of the Church Universal and of this Particular Church.

I admit the Sacred Scriptures in the sense which hath been held and is still held by holy Mother Church, whose duty it is to judge the true sense and interpretation of Sacred Scripture, and I shall never accept or interpret them in a sense contrary to the unanimous consent of the fathers.

I profess that the sacraments of the New Law are truly and precisely seven in number, instituted for the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessary for each individual: baptism, confirmation, holy Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, holy orders, and matrimony. I profess that all confer grace, and that baptism, confirmation, and holy orders cannot be repeated without sacrilege. I also accept and admit the ritual of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of all the aforementioned sacraments.

I accept and hold in each and every part all that hath been defined and declared by the Sacred Council of Trent concerning original sin and justification. I profess that in the Holy Mass there is offered unto God a true, real, and propitiatory Sacrifice for the living and the dead; that in the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist the Body and Blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ is really, truly, and substantially present, and that there taketh place in the Mass what the Church calleth transubstantiation, which is the change of all the substance of bread into the Body of Christ and of all substance of wine into his Blood. I confess also that in receiving under either of these species one receiveth Jesus Christ whole and entire.

I firmly hold that Purgatory existeth and that the souls detained there can be helped by the prayers of the faithful.

Likewise I hold that the saints, who reign with Jesus Christ, should be venerated and invoked, that they offer prayers unto God for us, and that their relics are to be venerated.

I firmly profess that the images of Jesus Christ and of the Mother of God, Blessed Mary Ever-Virgin, as well as of all the saints should be given due honor and veneration. I also affirm that Jesus Christ left to the Church the faculty to grant indulgences, and that their use is most salutary to the Christian people. I recognize the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church as the mother and teacher of all the churches, and I promise and swear true obedience to the leaders of both this Particular Church and to the Church

Universal, further giving due honor to the Roman Pontiff, Successor of Saint Peter, the Prince of the Apostles and Vicar of Jesus Christ.

Moreover, without hesitation I accept and profess all that hath been handed down, defined, and declared by the sacred canons and by the general councils, especially by the Sacred Council of Trent and by the Vatican General Council. At the same time I condemn and reprove all that the Church has condemned and reproved. This same Catholic Faith, outside of which none can be saved, I now freely profess and I truly adhere to it. With the help of God, I promise and swear to maintain and profess this faith entirely, inviolately, and with firm constancy until the last breath of life. And I shall strive, as far as possible, that this same faith shall be held, taught, and publicly professed by all who depend on me and over whom I shall have charge.

So help me God and these holy Gospels.

The cleric being incardinated remains kneeling, and the bishop, still seated, says Psalm 51, or Psalm 130, concluding with Glory be as usual.

After this the bishop stands, gives up the mitre, and says:

V. Lord, have mercy. R. Christ, have mercy. R. Lord, have mercy.

OUR Father... the rest inaudibly until:

V. And lead us not into temptation. R. But deliver us from evil. V. Save thy servant. R. Who trusteth in thee, my God. V. Lord, hear my prayer. R. And let my cry come unto thee. V. The Lord be with you. R. And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

O GOD, whose nature is ever merciful and forgiving, accept our prayer that this thy servant, bound by the fetters of sin, may be pardoned by thy loving kindness: through Christ our Lord. R. Amen.

The bishop again sits down, taking the mitre and crosier, and facing the cleric being incardinated pronounces the reception in the Church and absolution from excommunication inserting the word perhaps if in doubt as to whether it has been incurred:

BY the authority of the Holy Church which I exercise here, I release thee from the bond of excommunication which thou hast (perhaps) incurred; and I restore thee unto communion and union with the faithful, as well as to the holy sacraments of the Church, and receiving thee into this Particular Church, restoring thee unto all clerical faculties appropriate to thy state; in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, + and of the Holy Ghost. R. Amen.

Lastly the bishop imposes some salutary penance, such as prayers, visits to a church, or the equivalent.

V. RECEPTION OF BISHOPS

10) Bishops seeking incardination into the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church may only be incardinated by permission of the Patriarch.

11) The Patriarch may reserve the faculties of an incardinated bishop, permitting him to serve as a priest only, for a period of time at his discretion if deemed beneficial for the good of both the Church and the incardinated bishop.

12) Those consecrated as bishop without at least one line of Roman Catholic Apostolic Succession outside of the Anglican lines must either have episcopal faculties reserved or be consecrated sub-conditione to the Episcopate at the discretion of the Patriarch.

13) Bishops may not be incardinated if so doing would violate Canon Law.

VI. POSITION OF NEWLY-INCARDINATED CLERGY

14) Following the principles of Saint Benedict, newly-incardinated clergy are welcomed as brothers, but occupy the lowest position initially.

15) After a suitable probationary period, newly-incardinated clergy are of equal standing to other clergy according to their rank.

16) During a period in which faculties are restricted in whole or in part, incardinated clergy are still entitled to the privileges of their clerical state, including vesture and protocol. Except where otherwise provided, vesture and clerical protocol may not be restricted except by the Patriarch. However, clergy incardinated under Section II of this Directive may not wear clerical vesture or exercise clerical protocol until they are ordained.

VII. SCHISM

17) No clergy shall be incardinated if they are participating in a schism or otherwise seeking illicitly to leave their lawful ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in accordance with the Code of Particular Canon Law. Furthermore, no clergy shall be incardinated if they are reasonably believed to be participating in a schism.

VIII. INCARDINATION OF CLERGY WHO HAVE PREVIOUSLY RESIGNED

18) Clergy incardinated in the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church who leave the Church and subsequently apply to be re-admitted may be re-admitted through the usual incardination process outlined in this Directive. In accordance with the principles of Saint Benedict, such a cleric must be kept in the lowest position for some time of probation until he proves himself.

19) After the third instance, no cleric shall be re-admitted to the serving clergy, and any such cleric that returns shall have all clerical faculties and privileges reserved, including vesture.

Given at the Court of Saint Mary of Walsingham.

+Rutherford Card. Johnson
Patriarch

PATRIARCHAL DIRECTIVE ON THE INCARDINATION OF CLERGY FROM EXTERNAL JURISDICTIONS

PATRIARCHAL DIRECTIVE
ON THE INCARDINATION OF CLERGY FROM EXTERNAL JURISDICTIONS