Catholic Diocese of One Spirit

Priestly Membership

To be an active member within the Catholic Diocese of One
Spirit, a priest, deacon or bishop must be ordained in the
apostolic succession tradition or be a previously-ordained
Catholic deacon, priest or bishop accepted for membership.
He or she must be active in a leadership role in ministry.

Each priest, deacon or bishop will be maintained in active
status by the issuance of a Certificate of Good Standing by his
or her bishop.

Priests, deacons and bishops must meet the standards
detailed below. Applicants for Holy Orders, or those wishing to
join the Diocese who are already ordained through Catholic
Apostolic Succession, apply using the Application process
found as part of this web site.

Criteria for Deacons, Priests and Bishops

Our ordained ministers are men and women, married and
unmarried, holding jobs and retired, heterosexual and
homosexual, voluntary and paid - because that is who God's
people are. Ours is not an authoritarian leadership, but rather a
leadership of service. This leadership is not "in charge," but
exists rather to reflect the perspective of its members who join
because of their contemporary understanding of the life and
message of Jesus, as expressed in these maturing principles.

Any priest, minister, bishop or deacon who is a member of the
Catholic Diocese of One Spirit is also automatically a member
of the Association for Contemporary Catholic Life.

To be accepted by the Diocese into ministry service, a
candidate must demonstrate the following in clear and
compelling ways, through its application process:

(a) A prayer life that seeks to recognize God in every aspect of
daily life.
(b) A love of people, reflecting the love that Jesus showed for
all people and the dignity Jesus respected within them, and
rejecting no individual or category of people (as was the
lived-style of Jesus).
(c) Although the Diocese imposes no credal or dogmatic litmus
test on applicants, membership implies an understanding of the
Body of Faith passed down from the time of Jesus.
(d) A demonstrated (not just hoped-for) desire for service to
others through spiritual ministry.
(e) A psychological wellness and wholeness, which allows the
individual to get along well with others and to be well accepted
by them because of a positive personality.
(f) An education and level of knowledge commensurate with the
people he or she is to serve.
(g) A degree of personal adequate financial sustainability
without help from the Diocese.
(h) A background free of continuing abuse of others, whether
sexually, chemically, psychologically, managerially or otherwise.
(i) A demonstrated ability to be a positive influence on the
community he or she will serve, and not a drainer of life or one
who constantly stirs up problems.
(j) A positive thinker who calls others to recognize God's love
and does not burden them with guilt, beliefs in sinful nature, and
debilitating personal reprimands.
(k) An articulate, pastoral promoter of contemporary theology
and modern Christian concepts, as may be espoused by the
Diocese.
(l) An ability to lead communal services with a command of
language and insights, and an ability to bring life to liturgies
without reading from a text or book.

We also agree with those at a workshop entitled "New Faces in
the Priesthood: Women Seeking Ordination" at the 2004 Call
To Action National Conference, in which the following were
deemed the qualities essential to the priesthood:

- radiating presence
- possessing the commitment of baptism
- being willing to facilitate the Divine
- having a capacity for intimacy
- recognizing a calling
- having a servant's heart
- being a good listener
- having respect for the other
- recognizing the sacramentality of life
- honoring their commitment to spiritual journey
- knowing their own brokenness
- having an authenticity
- being the Body of Christ
- loving those served
- having a sense of humor
- being rooted in prayer
- witnessing what God is up to in people's lives
- loving God
- being willing to live on the edge

Priests

Priests who are admitted to the Diocese serve creation and
humanity by sacramental service. Priesthood is a discernable
sacramental service to others, based on the message and life
of Jesus. It is not just a personal attribute. Priesthood has a
long history within Christianity as a method of identifying and
selecting those whose primary purpose in their life's work is to
pay particular attention to the life of God manifesting itself in all
that is and to work to kindle the resonant divinity which resides
in each person and in all of physical reality. Functioning priests
within the Diocese have an evident ministry of sacramental
service. Because a sacrament is a moment of God's grace
filling its recipient, every moment is sacramental. However,
priests of the Diocese look toward bringing out the spirituality
of those they serve through encouragement, liturgies and the
calling of attention to God's stirring work at those most special
moments of human life and earth habitation. Priests add to the
spiritual leaven of life, bringing to the fore the virtues and values
of God's life which lie within us all, as was taught by Jesus.

Priests within the Diocese are either ordained by one of the
Diocesan bishops for ministry within the Diocese, or they have
already been ordained and then accepted for ministry within the
Diocese by the bishop. They receive their faculties from the
Diocesan bishop.

Our bishop will usually ordain individuals to the priesthood who
have already spent years serving the people of God, either in
church work (such as catechesis, liturgy, social action, parish
administration, training, etc.) or through individual service to
others (such as hospital or prison ministry, work with the
homeless, etc.). The norm for ordination should be that the
individual has proven himself or herself in a field of church or
spiritual service, so that the next logical step in church service
does not disrupt the equilibrium of his or her life, does not take
that person beyond his or her capabilities and give them
feelings of inadequacy that would hurt their life or the lives of
those they come to assist. Intellectual ability and education
should reflect the community in which they will serve. Individuals
who believe that they would like to become priests, but who
have no record of church or spiritual service, if accepted, will
first be ordained to the diaconate, where they will then select
and engage in a ministry for a reasonable period of time until
both the individual and the bishop believe that they will reflect
well on the mission and pastoral criteria for ministry of the
Diocese, after which they may then be ordained to the
priesthood within the Diocese with the approval of the bishop.

Protestant ministers may wish ordination within Catholicism,
either to then serve as a Catholic priest, or to be a Catholic
priest and to continue serving within their Protestant tradition (if
that is allowed by that tradition).

Our priests may wear clerical attire, but rarely do so. They are
titled "Rev." or "Reverend," but these titles are so that others
may recognize their role and legality. Usually, they are called by
their first names. When people occasionally refer to the male
priests as "Father," no one is offended, but this address usually
does not last long. We seek to be "real-life" priests, not
"clerical" priests who are set aside on a different plane or
pedestal.

It is preferable that community priests who serve a distinct
group of people be ordained with one or two others from their
group, so that they can reinforce one another and work together
in their community. This type of structure also obviates the
community treating a singular individual as some sort of guru
who has all the answers, and it does not strain the individual
beyond his or her physical constraints (for example, allowing
him or her to get away as most normal people occasionally do,
because there is someone there to fill in).

There are also individuals who have formerly been a part of a
faith community, or who serve others in a solitary role, or who
are young and wish to direct their life to this kind of work. We
suggest those individuals should join a community, if possible,
for the fundamental formation comes from living within the
Christian community of service to others. If that is not possible,
then, with proper recommendations from others who have
known them, evaluation of their theological educational
background, if any, and knowledge of church life, and positive
determination by the bishop and his or her advisors, those
individuals may begin their journeys toward the priesthood by
ministry and studies.

Those already ordained as a Catholic deacon or priest may
find information here on how to be accepted as a priest or
deacon in the Diocese. Those who are not now priests or
ministers and who wish to know how to apply for ordination to
the Catholic priesthood within the Diocese, or how to apply to
study for the priesthood, please also see our section here.

Deacons

There are two different roles for the position identified as
deacon, which are available for people in the Diocese. The
diaconate is an order inaugurated in the Acts of the Apostles
which predates the ordained priesthood. Its function was to
serve the people of God, rather than to preside in leadership
roles, though the two often overlapped.

First, those seeking to be ordained to the priesthood will be
ordained into the diaconate fairly early into this process. In this
way they can tap into the grace of the sacrament to better serve
the people. Ordination to the diaconate will always imply a
ministry of service. It is not just an honorary title. The person to
be ordained must have identified and already begun service to
the poor, the needy, the church or to the larger society.

Secondly, the diaconate can be a permanent state in which the
deacon serves the poor, the needy, the church or the larger
society by bringing the living message of love, in the spirit
taught by Jesus, to others. In this permanent state, the deacon
does not lead Eucharistic liturgies, but rather serves in a less
public manner

Bishops

The role of the bishop of the Diocese is to serve the diocese's
priests and the people served by those priests. To sustain and
encourage the faith of the people of God, as successors to the
apostles, the bishop of the Diocese, together with any auxiliary
bishops he/she may ordain or accept to assist him/her, are
regional embodiments of the faith of the people they serve.
They personify the full ministerial attributes of the historical
church, which they serve by wisely ordaining members of the
Body of Christ as priests and deacons, whom they deem to
have pastoral abilities, leadership qualities, intelligence, and
the ability to articulate the God-Life expressed through the life
and message of Jesus; by conferring the sacrament of
confirmation on the mature members of the church; by being a
pillar of support and encouragement for the priests and
ministers within the bishop's area of influence; and by lending
healing and unifying balm to all the ministries of the church
within his or her area of influence.

Leaving the Diocese

Any member of the Diocese may be removed from
membership and participation in ministry by the Bishop for
good cause. Any person so identified for removal shall have the
opportunity to hear any complaints against him/her, to offer
explanations and argue against dismissal before the bishop
prior to any permanent suspension or termination of
membership. However, the decision of the bishop is final and
at his/her discretion. Any priest, bishop, deacon or minister
may remove himself or herself from the Diocese by resignation.

Priestly Ministry Requirements

4 references, obtained by the Diocese by personal contact or
personal phone interview.
A statement from the applicant regarding his/her ministry.
A signed statement of declaration, committing the applicant to
the Diocese's Code of Professional Ethics.
Acceptance by the Diocese and by the bishop.
Thereafter:
Continued good standing membership in the Diocese.