This lecture was delivered to the ELS on 24 January 2023 by the Revd Dr W. Becket Soule OP. The Roman Catholic Church has recognised the ordination of clergy from other churches in various ways over the centuries. Beginning with the sanation of ordinations at the Union of Brest in 1596, this lecture reviews the varied, and frequently contradictory, ways the Catholic Church has dealt with the clergy of other churches who have sought full communion with it, such as by absolute and conditional re-ordination, simple recognition, and other ways. As a point of reference, the practice of the (American) Episcopal Church in accepting clergy in "historic succession" and entire parishes of the Catholic Church into full communion is also reviewed. The presentation concludes with local attempts at mutual recognition between the Catholic Church and other churches.
Becket Soule has taught classical languages, law, and history at the Catholic University of America, the Dominican House of Studies (Washington, DC), the Pontifical College Josephinum (Columbus, OH), and Oxford University, and retired as Professor of Canon Law at St Paul University in Ottawa, Ontario. He has been visiting lecturer and fellow at other institutions of higher studies in the United States, Great Britain, and the Ukraine, and has served as an official of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches in Rome, and as Judicial Vicar and Episcopal Vicar of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in the United States and Canada; Becket has also served Anglican and Catholic parishes in Texas, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and England. He is now pastor of St Margaret of Scotland Catholic Church in Maggie Valley, NC.
The lecture was chaired by the Revd Russell Dewhurst, ELS Communications Officer. See www.ecclawsoc.... for more information about the Society, our programme of lectures and events, and how to join. We are very grateful for members' subscriptions which support us in our charitable activities, and in continuing to make content available online.