To: Mrs. Tracey Trott
From: Fr. William J. King (Cannon Law, Office ‑
Diocese of Harrisburg) (717) 657‑4804
Monday, June 16,
2003
"A couple of
documents from the Vatican that I'm going to send to you at YC that they end probably
a list of questions that your son should ask the priests who says this mass.
Certainly it is not a authentic catholic mass and really has nothing to do with
the diocese of Harrisburg or any authentic bishop or catholic service or
parish.
They are a
schismatic group, we know about them and we did ask that announcements be
placed in parish bulletins in York and Lancaster counties, I hope this was done
and I know it was done in some parishes.
Basically I can
dress up in a football uniform and say I play for the Chicago Bears but that
doesn't make me a member of the NFL and essentially that's what these people
are doing. The priests may be authentically ordained priests, but they are not
acting in communion with the Catholic Church, they are not part of the Catholic
Church. Their mass may be a valid mass, but it's not part of the Catholic
Church and certainly doesn't fulfill the Sunday obligation. They may call
themselves catholic priests, we don't recognize them and they have no
affiliation with any bishop. So if I have time and I hope I do, it's a crazy
time in the office, to put together a few questions that your son could ask
these priests. It would involve: Who is their bishop? There is no such thing as
a priest acting without a bishop, or successor of the apostles. Also ask to see
their written mandate from Bishop Dattilo authorizing them to say this mass on
a weekly basis, because it is only the bishops who have the authority to permit
the celebration of this mass and if they can't show a document in writing from
the bishop of this diocese saying that they have the authority to do this, then
obviously they are not acting as part of the catholic church, they are
technically in "Schism" with the catholic church and if your son were
to continue to affiliate himself with this group then he would probably be in
schism or penalty away from the catholic church.
So those are the
questions and I'll send you the documents for him to read and discuss them with
these priest and hopefully discuss them with his proper parish priest as well
or he could give me a phone call here at the diocese too.”
(Schism: a split ‑
as in a church ‑ because of difference of opinion, doctrine, etc.)