Scranton, Pennsylvania, diocese has issued a warning to Deacon James Calderone that if he receives ordination from "a minister who is not in communion with (the) Holy Father", he will commit a "schismatic act" resulting in automatic excommunication. Calderone has served as deacon at St Aloysius Church in Wilkes-Barre, but is not currently listed as serving in any Luzerne County church on the Diocesan Web site. He is also a professor of social work at Misericordia University, the Times Leader reports.
The diocesan notice says Calderone "has issued an invitation and has made known his intention to receive an ordination from a minister who is not in communion with our Holy Father.
"Deacon Calderone, if he does this, will be committing a schismatic act. For this he will incur automatic excommunication, and if long lasting contumacy, obstinacy or the seriousness of the scandal warrant it, dismissal from the clerical state."
"Our Most Reverend Bishop directs that every Catholic in the Diocese of Scranton avoid any participation whatsoever in this offense against religion and the unity of the Church," the statement continues.
"Participation includes attending the schismatic ritual act itself or any gathering attached thereto."
Calderone told the Citizens Voice that he plans to be ordained at the end of May by Lawrence Harms, presiding archbishop of the American Catholic Church in the United States.
"For me, the American Catholic Church really takes the best of Catholicism, in my judgment," Calderone said.
"It's inclusive. It's ordained ministries are open to men, women, married, single, gay, straight. It does not have those kinds of divisions in terms of its ministries, and its sacraments are open to all, so at communion all are welcome to the table and for baptism as well."
According to the church's Web site, it was started in 1999 in Maryland and "affirms traditional Catholic beliefs of faith and love, spirituality, community and prayer".
It claims to celebrate the seven sacraments and adhere "to the essential Catholic doctrine and practice as expressed and implied in the statements of Vatican Council II, and in the light of the best contemporary thought."
Calderone said he was a deacon at St. Aloysius for nine years, and turned in his resignation in November. He has been accepted as a deacon into the American Catholic Church and is providing home and outreach ministry. After his ordination, he will be able to give Mass.
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