Pastoral Provision

THE PASTORAL PROVISION DECISION

In the late fall of 1976 the North American Province of the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC), a secular institute of Anglican priests, meeting in synod unanimously decided to ask its provincial to approach the Apostolic Delegate of the Holy See in Washington to initiate a request on behalf of the Episcopal priests who are married and who would offer themselves for priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic Church,  and for Episcopalians who would want to enter the Roman Catholic Church with some type of spiritual and liturgical common identity.

Later in 1977 a small group of parishes, withdrawn from the Episcopal Church, formed the Pro-Diocese of Saint Augustine of Canterbury and sought to approach the Catholic authorities with a similar request.

Individual Episcopal priests had advanced such requests to various Catholic local ordinaries.

In 1980 the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced the Holy See's favorable decision in the matter and described the basis on which a Pastoral Provision for former Episcopalians could be erected.

Bishop Bernard F. Law of Springfield-Cape Giradeau was appointed the Holy See's Ecclesiastical Delegate to coordinate the process.

The Sacred Congregation's Public Statement said:

    "In June 1980, the Holy See, through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, agreed to the request presented by the bishops of the United States of America on behalf of some clergy and laity formerly or actually belonging to the Episcopal (Anglican) Church for full communion with the Catholic Church.  The Holy See's response to the initiative of those Episcopalians includes the possibility of a 'pastoral provision' which will provide, for those who desire it, a common identity reflecting certain elements of their own heritage.

    "The entrance of these persons into the Catholic Church should be understood as the 'reconciliation of those individuals who wish for full Catholic communion,' of which the Decree on Ecumenism (No. 4) of the Second Vatican Council speaks.

    "In accepting former Episcopalian clergy who are married into the Catholic priesthood, the Holy See has specified that this exception to the rule of celibacy is granted in favor of these individual persons, and should not be understood as implying any change in the Church's conviction of the value of priestly celibacy, which will remain the rule for future candidates for the priesthood from this group.

    "In consultation with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has appointed the Most Reverend Bernard Law, bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, as ecclesiastical delegate in this matter.  It will be his responsibility to develop a proposal containing elements for the pastoral provision in question to be submitted for the approval of the Holy See, to oversee its implementation and to deal with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in questions pertaining to the admission of former Episcopalian clergy into the Catholic priesthood."

Vatican agreement to the initial request of the U.S. bishops was announced publicly for the first time, August 20, 1980, by Archbishop John R. Quinn, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.