Thursday, March 29, 2012

Vatican Excommunicates Four Ukrainian Priests

Members of the Greek-Catholic Church of the Basilian Order have declared themselves as an "Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church of the Ukraine".   The explanation of the CDF.


Rome (kath.net) Four Greek-Catholic priests have proclaimed themselves to be Bishops, which the Holy See had recognized as a "active unrest".  The four Basilians of St. Joseph (Eliáš A. Dohnal, O.S.B.M., Markian V. Hitiuk, O.S.B.M., Metodèj R. Špirik, O.S.B.M. und Robert Oberhauser) had been previously thrown out of their order. The four so-called Bishops have maintained until now, that their ordinations are ecclesially valid and as such recognised by the Vatican.

The acts of the four priests "are morally and spiritually damaging not only to the Order of St. Joseph and the Greek-Catholic Church of the Ukraine, rather to the Holy See and the entire Catholic Church", says the Congregation for Doctrine in an explanation of 22 February, in a release this Thursday.

It is not been successful to dissuade the priests from their presentiment to found an "Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church of the Ukraine". They had tried, to have it recognized in civil law. The Holy See in its concern for the unity and the peace of the flock of Christ had hoped for a penitent return of the clerics to full communion with the Catholic Church. Unfortunately, they have proven their departure by an attempt to have t
he civil government recognize an "Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church of the Ukraine".

The Congregation has distanced itself for the protection of the common good of the Church and the salvation of the Faithful themselves in the form of these self-described Bishops, whose consecration is not being recognized as valid. Through their act the priests will have drawn the excommunication upon themselves with can. 1459 § 1 des „Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium“ These organizations may not identify themselves as "Catholic". The faithful are called upon to keep themselves distant from these groups and to pray for their members, "so that they come to understand and return to the full communion of the Catholic Church".
Link to original....

3 comments:

Sergio Patato said...

See this link:
http://vkpatriarhat.org.ua/en/?p=2502

Anonymous said...

Quote "The faithful are called upon to keep themselves distant from these groups and to pray for their members, so that they come to understand and return to the full communion of the Catholic Church"

Hmmm, would the apostatical church in Rome care to apply this injuction to anyone else? Nah, not for a second.

Orthodox Greek-Catholic Church of the Ukraine seems to be the true heirs of St. Josophat and John the Baptist in my book.

Tancred said...

Have you been following the situation on Ireland at all?