News - Holy Spirit Old Catholic Parish

Ordination to the Priesthood

On May 17th the North American Old Catholic Church ordained Deacon John to the Priesthood. The Mass of Ordination took place at St. Jude's Old Catholic Church in Bethlehem, PA at 3:00 P.M Mass. Our Archbishop Michael Seneco presided at Deacon John's Ordination.

Father John has been very active in the Roman Catholic Church. He served in many capacities over his lifetime having entered the seminary and studied for several years. He left the seminary and Married Mary Mennillo. Both Mary and John worked together in teaching Adult Initiation, Catechism classes and so many other areas of the church. John studied for the Diaconate in the Roman Church. His beloved wife, Mary, passed away several years ago. John has a daughter, Jude Marie and son-in-law, Greg Whitton, in Riverside, CA. John chose to be ordained in Bethlehem because of his close friendship with Fr. Julius the Pastor of the Parish.

Fr. John will be staying on in PA through the summer to complete his studies and practicum with Fr. Julius. He will return in September to again continue ministry at Holy Spirit Old Catholic Church. Watch the site for futher details as to place and times of services.

Article on St. Jude Old Catholic Church

The old way for a new life By Daniel Patrick Sheehan | Of The Morning Call March 15, 2008

Faith led the Rev. Julius Licata into the Roman Catholic priesthood -- and out again.

Ordained in 1981 in the Diocese of Trenton, he left 14 years later in dismay, frustrated by the what he considered the stifling nature of the hierarchy and unable to reconcile his spirit of inclusiveness with the church's doctrinal stands against women's ordination and homosexuality.

But his days as a priest weren't over.

Since early January, he has been presiding over weekly Masses in a Bethlehem chapel. The chapel is inside a Protestant church, and Licata, though offering a Mass indistinguishable from the Roman rite, is not presiding as a Roman priest.

He is an Old Catholic -- a member of a network of independent Catholic communities that split with Rome because of disputes over papal infallibility and other doctrinal matters.

The Mass is the same. So are the sacraments -- baptism, confirmation, communion and so on. But in many communities of the Old Catholic Church -- including Licata's -- women can be ordained to the priesthood and homosexuality is not regarded as ''disordered,'' as the Roman church defines it in the catechism. The church also condones contraception and permits remarriage after divorce.

''One of the things I had a problem with all through seminary was the acceptance of all people,'' said Licata, who started St. Jude Old Catholic Church on Jan. 5 in the chapel at Church of the Manger, a United Church of Christ congregation. ''God accepts everyone. It doesn't matter what you are, who you are.''

Licata left the priesthood in summer 1995 and has made a living since in therapy and social work. He is director of TeenCentral.Net, a KidsPeace-sponsored Web site that provides advice and counseling to young people.

He learned of the Old Catholic Church last year, when a friend's daughter was married in an Old Catholic church in California. He contacted the bishop of the North American Old Catholic Church -- one of several Old Catholic communities in the country -- and began studying the tradition.

He found it enticing. The community describes itself as a ''branch on the historic tree of Christianity,'' like the Anglican and Orthodox churches, with a broadly inclusive worldview.

The disillusioned priest quickly realized he had found a new home. And, because he was already ordained, he didn't need to go through the process again. In October, he was installed as a priest of the United States Old Catholic Church, which has parishes in Wisconsin, Kentucky, Virginia, Texas, Illinois, Washington, D.C. and now, Bethlehem.

Licata offers Mass on Saturday. So far, his congregation numbers only about six regulars, most of whom are lifelong Roman Catholics who, for one reason or another, grew disenchanted with the church.

One parishioner, a woman in a same-sex relationship who asked not to be named, said she has been splitting Mass attendance between Licata's parish and her Roman Catholic Church. She wants to remain faithful to the church of her upbringing but resents the demand that she deny an essential part of her identity -- her sexuality -- to be considered truly Catholic.

''There is such a thing as a gay practicing Catholic, and it's a shame the Roman Catholic Church can't acknowledge that,'' she said. ''But I'm not ready to forfeit my faith.''

Georgette Larsen, who attends with her 90-year-old mother, Angela Seidler, and sister, also named Angela, said Licata preaches the Christian message of love without the sense of judgmentalism she discerned in the Roman church.

''If you make poor choices in life, they scrutinize you for it,'' she said.

Not so Licata, who preaches a message of sincerity and simplicity, she said. The pastor's homily on a recent Saturday focused on that very theme. ''The Gospel wasn't made to be a huge book filled with difficult lessons we have to go to college to learn,'' he said. ''It was made to be simple.''