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Ordination to Holy Orders, incardination and dismissal of clergy for St. Brigit's Community Catholic Church

Candidates being ordained to the priesthood.

Ordination to Holy Orders

The St Brigit’s Community Catholic Church ordains both men and women to Holy Orders equally, does not discriminate on the grounds of sexuality or marital status, and does not require celibacy from its clergy. There is no upper limit for the age of ordinands and we affirm the ministry of people with disabilities.

St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church respects that its clergy may hold different opinions on issues of theology and ministry. However, all members must be actively accepting of the liberal ethos of St Brigit’s Community Catholic Church and the spiritual foundations established in its Canons.

The clergy is composed of extremely varied individuals. There is no one "type" to conform to, and indeed the diversity in the clergy reflects the diversity of God's creation.

Anyone genuinely answering a call to follow Christ can apply to serve, whether through traditional ordained ministry, pastoral serving or religious meditation and prayer. Clergy are people who are rightly respected by society, and society in turn has a right to expect that a clergy person will conduct him or herself with integrity.

After all, anyone can just 'be' a Christian and serve as God calls them, and some are 'independent ministers'. This has happened since the earliest times, but there is no 'framework' or expected standards nor disciplinary guidance for these individuals.

St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church is a legally registered federal corporate entity whose purpose is the advancement of religion. Members of St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church strive for best practice, have codes of conduct to follow and the support of their peers when things go right or when things do not go as intended.

All applicants must be fully self-supporting. St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church does not pay stipends to clergy or cover their expenses. All clergy are unpaid, voluntary and non-stipendiary.

Most of our clergy support themselves through a combination of ministerial and secular work, although it is possible for some to support themselves through full-time ministry, mostly as marriage commissioners or working with funeral directors as ministers for celebration of life services. Some are disabled/differently able and others retired and on OAS.

For us, our ministry is our calling and our passion and we accept it with the admonition to not be a burden to our congregations.

St. Brigit's Community Catholic Church is a federally registered not for profit corporation. This is important! In Canada, the churches are required to meet the provincial requirements for each province in which they operate. One of these requirements is for at least one initiating clergy member in a province to be able to prove, via documentation such as certificates and personal records that the minister/priest has been active in ministry in their province for the required time period.

These time frames vary from province to province. For example British Columbia has the longest qualifying period of 10 years while most have a 5 year active ministry requirement. Many small, independent churches cannot afford the costs of registration provincially or federally.

Because we are federally registered, as long as at least one clergy member can provide the required documentation of their continuous ministry in that province (and meet our requirements for incardination or ordination - if they are not already in Apostolic Succession) they can become a parish in our federally registered organisation and thus become eligible for their provincial recognition as a church and as clergy marriage commissioners.

Each parish is then a wholly independent financial entity under the control of the individual priest/minister who operates it. St. Brigit's Community Catholic Church offers training and spiritual oversight. We do not offer financial involvement nor any sort of business integration.

We expect all parishes to operate within the general catholic charism and conduct themselves at the reasonable level of public expectation of a catholic entity. We look for ongoing dialogue, relationships of trust and an annual accounting of each parish's ministry (a critical component of ongoing qualification stipulations for the parish and the parent church in governmental year end filings).

We have neither interest nor control over the financial accounting's, undertakings nor account-abilities of any independent parish beyond the expectation that they will be legal and ethical to remain in good standing with us as their spiritual parent body.

Many people really only want to be clergy marriage commissioners as their ministry. Once seen as marriage commissioners, clergy then have the credibility with the public to officiate at funerals also.

Others feel called to a full pastoral ministry. As already stated, our clergy is unpaid by us so operating as clergy marriage commissioners and funeral/celebration of life officiants is how they support their families and their ministry. These two types of ministry are usually paid by funeral directors or wedding planners or paid directly by couples seeking a clergy wedding but each having no or differing churches of origin. Possibly seeking smaller, more intimate and less costly weddings, etc. Regardless of their primary sources of income, all clergy must be fully self supporting.

Some wedding planners may even choose to complete the simple training needed for they themselves to qualify for ordination to Holy Orders as a Pastoral Chaplain/sub deacon and be the clergy marriage commissioner within their business, adding to the completeness of the 'package' they then offer to their clients.

Being federally registered, it makes no difference to us what province or territory these clergy operate in, as long as they meet the qualification requirements for their local area.

We specifically choose to be a not for profit rather than a registered charity because such charities have very specific restrictions and expectations imposed on their financial operations that would include each branch/parish. We prefer to leave individual finances to the individual parishes, allowing us to focus on ministry not business.

Only a registered charity can issue tax receipts thus St. Brigit's Community Catholic Church, even as a registered not for profit corporation, cannot and does not issue such receipts. We are determined to not be a burden to our congregations so we don't solicit donations and self support our ministries.

Incardination: Transferring Holy Orders From Another Church to St. Brigit's Community Catholic Church

Men and women who have been previously ordained to Holy Orders in a Christian church may apply for incardination to St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church. As a dispersed church, it is an online procedure. The procedure is as follows:

completion and submission of the application form according to the instructions on the form
submission of copies of all certificates of ordination to Holy Orders and post secondary academic study, including formal and informal theological training
submission of a criminal record clearance
submission of Letters of Excardination or proof of leaving the previous church, unless dual serving applies and with latitude for timing issues where such apply
Recent photograph clearly showing the face, and pictures in a ministerial setting if available

Applicants will be researched and traced within the ecclesial world and Apostolic Succession if appropriate. Their documents will be checked and verified and the bishop handling their application will ask any questions or discuss any matters by phone or video call or email. A ministry plan will be drawn up and upon acceptance documents from St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church will be issued to show proper and official authorisation as clergy of St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church.

St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church does not micro-manage her clergy or their ministries, allowing freedoms for each member of clergy to exercise their ministry in accordance with their relationship to Christ. The church does, though, act as a 'standards body' leading and guiding each minister and providing a framework for continuous improvement and a positive disciplinary procedure.

St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church does not accept ministerial credentials from internet-based churches or similar that offer "instant ordination" or ordination to Holy Orders that are 'purchased' as fulfilling the requirements for incardination, regardless of their legality or the genuineness of the ministry of the person concerned.

Ordination

Men and women clergy who have not been previously ordained or not ordained in Apostolic Succession and wishing to now have the full Apostolic Succession applied in their priesthood calling, may apply for ordination in St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church. The online procedure is as follows:

completion and submission of the application form according to the instructions on the form
submission of copies of all certificates of post secondary academic study, including formal and informal theological training if any
submission of a criminal record clearance
Recent photograph clearly showing the face, and pictures in a ministerial setting if available
A description of any church membership or helping out or serving no matter how small

Candidates will usually be asked to attend an online or face to face interview with a senior priest or bishop. They will be asked to explain their reasons for believing that they are suited to ministry in St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church. Any training needs will be discussed and any additional theological education determined.

St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church has training programs free of cost to candidates (and there are opportunities to study theology by distance learning should that be the candidates wish).

St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church uses a system of minor orders as well as Holy (or major) orders. This is where candidates advance towards Holy Orders in stages, but all the while are able to exercise a real and proper ministry as they learn. It also means that those who desire only 'lay' serving can advance to, say Reader and then progress no further, or stay at that level for as long as they like before advancing again. It also means that every priest is still a deacon too, and every deacon is still a reader too and so on.

St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church practices ordination to Holy Orders in the Apostolic Succession through the laying on of hands by a bishop in a public, open service. Upon ordination, documents from the church will be issued to show proper and official authorization as clergy of St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church.

Lay work and serving

Many people do not feel called to the ordained ministry for any number of reasons and we have numerous valuable and worthwhile roles for those in this position. In this instance a candidate applies using the application form as above, and a ministry plan is developed, any training needs identified and the applicant is admitted to a minor order and their 'lay' serving commences. Their ministry is authorised by the church but again, they have the freedom to express that ministry as God calls.

This type of lay ministry would include altar servers, lay readers, sacristan, lay Eucharist servers and other callings as per the congregations needs.

Dismissal of clergy

While we at St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church do not have paid clergy, any organisation has people come into it and people leave it. This is simply reality. People have busy lives and sometimes need to step away from ministry. Others find other organisations and wish to move on. Some are just not a good fit and need to be excused from their service. Occasionally someone has to be summarily, immediately, dismissed "for reason".

It is our hope that when the time comes for most people to leave our clergy they will do so on good terms and following proper exit protocols (written notice for our files and an exit interview). Unfortunately this cannot always be the case and some will need to be let go. In all cases we will follow proper Human Resources procedures to ensure fairness and transparency.

While we at St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church do not have a paid clergy, we will do all in our power to ensure that the respect and dignity of all persons shows in following progressive discipline, mediation where needed and agreed to by both parties and move to immediate dismissal only when there is clear cause.

Those choosing to leave will be able to receive references and we will assist with their incardination into other churches, if that is their desire.

We state clearly that any clergy suspected or accused of criminal acts will be reported forthwith to the proper authorities for investigation and will be immediately suspended pending the outcome of said investigation.

Such investigations are not and never can be the purview of St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church. We are a spiritual organisation. Such investigations rightfully are the responsibility of those appointed and trained to conduct them. As an organisation that can be deemed to know or ought reasonably to know the law, not reporting a crime can be determined to be a crime in and of itself.

When such investigation is complete and guilt is determined the clergy involved will be dismissed. Where they are shown not to be guilty they will be reinstated with all steps possible taken to mitigate any harm to their person or position.

Where it is found that false accusations have been made St. Brigit’s Community Catholic Church will assist in the prosecution of the person or persons making such false accusations. There is a distinct difference between forgiveness and justice. Both must be not only ensured but clearly seen to be ensured.

Ordination to Holy Orders, incardination and dismissal of clergy for St. Brigit's Community Catholic Church

Ordination to Holy Orders

Incardination: Transferring Holy Orders From Another Church to St. Brigit's Community Catholic Church

Dismissal of clergy

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