Holy Orders (Catholic Church) - Ecumenical Efforts Regarding Holy Orders - Recognition of Other Churches' Orders

Recognition of Other Churches' Orders

The Catholic Church recognizes the validity of holy orders administered by the Eastern Orthodox, Polish National, Oriental Orthodox, and Old Catholic Churches and the Assyrian Church of the East because those churches have maintained the apostolic succession of bishops, i.e., their bishops claim to be in a line of succession dating back to the Apostles, just as Catholic bishops do. Consequently, if a priest of one of those eastern churches converts to Roman Catholicism, his ordination is already valid; however, to exercise the Order received, he would need to be incardinated either into a religious community or a diocese. Eastern Orthodox bishops can, and frequently do, grant recognition to the holy orders of converts who were earlier ordained in the Catholic Church (though there is much debate in the Orthodox Church about this); that is part of the policy called church economy.

A controversy in the Catholic Church over the question of whether Anglican holy orders are valid was settled by Pope Leo XIII in 1896, who wrote in Apostolicae Curae that Anglican Orders lack validity because the rite by which priests were ordained was not correctly performed from 1547 to 1553 and from 1558 to the 19th century, thus causing a break of continuity in apostolic succession and a break with the sacramental intention of the Church. Leo XIII condemned the Anglican ordinals and deemed the Anglican orders "absolutely null and utterly void". Some Changes in the Anglican Ordinal since King Edward VI, and a fuller appreciation of the pre-Reformation ordinals suggest, according to some private theologians, that the correctness of the dismissal of Anglican Orders may be questioned; however Apostolicae Curae remains Roman Catholic definitive teaching and was in fact reinforced by Cardinal Ratzinger now Pope Benedict XVI.

Since 1896 many Anglican bishops have been consecrated by bishops of the Old Catholic Church whose holy orders were recognized by the Holy See. Nevertheless, all Anglican clergymen who desire to enter the Catholic Church do so as laymen and must be ordained in the Catholic Church in order to serve as priests. Catholics are, according to Ad Tuendam Fidem and Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, obliged to hold the position, that Anglican Orders are invalid.

Catholics do not recognize the ordination of ministers in other Protestant churches that do not maintain the apostolic succession.

Anglicans accept the ordination of most mainline denominations; however, only those denominations in full communion with the Anglican Communion such as some Lutheran denominations, may preside at services requiring a priest.