What is a canceled priest? A canceled priest is defined as one canceled for an unjust reason. Thus, the rest of this article does not refer, for example, to priests in prison for harming children.  Rather, it applies to solid priests canceled by their bishops for being too conservative… nay, too Catholic.

A man named Paul in New England recently wrote me:
Could you do a Substack article on how priestly employment works? Can’t the canceled priest be hired by a willing dioceses? Or are they black balled?  Can a priest transfer to a different dioceses? Can a group of Catholics hire a priest to live in their area? There is no TLM where I live in [New England.]  The closest one is many hours away.

I replied:
Dear Paul,
Thanks for writing. Those are great questions about canceled priests.

Canceled priests seem to fit into a dozen categories. But, as far as bishops are concerned, there’s only two categories: Those in good-standing (unwelcome in parish life but not-suspended—like me) and those not in good standing (those unassigned and suspended—like some of my priest-friends across the country.) Let’s talk about the latter category.

-Some conservative and traditional lay Catholics appreciate canceled priests.  Take Fr. CH, for example, a normal (Novus Ordo) diocesan priest friend of mine who was “suspended” by his bishop for publicly declaring people still need the sacraments under covid.  Fr. CH was not only canceled from parish life, but also suspended.  Both conservatives and trads like him.  But even some of that unique group might refrain going to him for confession or Mass, out of fear his sacraments are invalid, as he is not only canceled but also putatively-suspended.  Such “suspended priests” are not permitted to find a another mainstream bishop anywhere in the world.  So, such priests have to decide if they’re going to leave the priesthood, or keep going with the sacraments.  Happily, people like Fr. CH. keep offering the sacraments, anyway.

-Other conservative and traditional lay Catholics not only appreciate such suspended priests, but also believe we are in a state of emergency and thus come to the conclusion that such suspensions of priests by bad bishops are bogus.  Such people will still go to Fr. CH for confession.  They understand an unjust law is no law at all.  In other words, you can’t be legitimately “suspended” for saying that Catholics need the sacraments.

-However, even families in the latter category will not usually pay for a full-time priest in a cabin in their backyard. Room, board, Mass items, health insurance, etc. Many lay people like the idea of helping canceled priests, but most chicken-out when they get scared by the bishop threatening them with schism or the thought of what it actually is to pay for a full-time priest including a little spending money. As I wrote in the first bullet point above, such suspended priests are not permitted to find another bishop anywhere in the world.

So, many good lay people have grand plans for canceled priests, but few of the lay people are actually able to carry the cross of diocesan shaming all the way to Calvary with such canceled priests.

Another analogy is: Imagine a top-notch general or trauma surgeon canceled by a hospital for not taking the C19 vaccine. If he actually lost his medical license, what can people who really believe in him do? Open up a surgi-center in the woodshed in their backyard? Of course not. We are all really tied to the broken system in which we live, unless we go fully independent. And we are going to see more priests go independent.

The above ends my email to Paul.  But I want to add one thing:  Even though I didn’t originally write this article thinking of the faithful of North Carolina, I later realized my email would also perfectly explain why the priests of Charlotte will not disobey what they believe to be “lawful orders” in their current requests for the TLM.  They believe that breaking from even a leftist bishop might not only endanger their pocketbooks, but even their souls.  That’s why these are extremely complex issues.  Honestly, I don’t have an easy answer for them, even as my stance as a hermit is sometimes seen as an odd “work-around” to the system.  Hard times call for desperate measures.

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