A new—and potentially explosive—dubium

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Jun 11, 2024

In the Open Letter that I reproduce below, Father Jan Krutewicz, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago, has raised an interesting and important question—one that has potentially explosive implications.

This letter has been addressed to Pope Francis and to Cardinal Victor Fernandez, in his capacity as prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The letter speaks for itself, so I am reproducing it here without comment.—PFL

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Update: Upon reflection, I’m afraid that Father Krutewicz will not receive the answer he wants from Rome, for reasons that I explain below, in a comment at the bottom of his Open Letter.

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Question: Is the Sacrament of Holy Orders valid when conferred on a deacon or priest by a bishop involved at any time in homosexual acts with the candidate for ordination?

And similarly: Is the Episcopal Consecration valid in a case where any one of the three bishops taking part in the consecration had been at any time sexually involved with the bishop-elect?

This question is solely about the integrity of the Sacraments whenever there is the possibility that the intention of the ordaining minister and the ordained would oppose the intention of Christ for the Church and which would directly undermine the validity of the Sacrament.

The recent Note from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gestis Verbisque, On the Validity of the Sacraments. in #18 recalls that the…

…personal faith and moral condition [of the minister who celebrates the Sacrament] (...) do not affect the validity of the gift of grace. Indeed, the minister must have the ‘intention of doing at least what the Church does,’ which makes the sacramental action (...) a fully ecclesial act, removed from personal arbitrariness. Moreover, since what the Church does is precisely that which Christ has instituted, the intention—together with matter and form—also contributes to making the sacramental action an extension of the Lord’s saving work. Matter, form, and intention are intrinsically united. They are integrated into the sacramental action such that intention becomes the unifying principle of the matter and form, making them into a sacred sign by which grace is conferred ex opere operato

If the Sacrament of Holy Orders would be granted as a repayment for sexual favors, then it would lack a valid intention. In fact, it would have the intention of the enemy of Christ.

A similar example of perversion of the intention of the Sacrament is in cases of attempts of sacramental absolution to a partner in sin against the Sixth Commandment. Canon 977 declares such absolutions invalid, and the confessor incurs excommunication latae sententiae, as per canon 1378.1.

It is my very strong personal doubt whether ordinations granted in exchange for mutual sexual acts are valid under any circumstances because of the lack of the right intention. This includes doubt about the validity of any past priestly or episcopal ordinations in the demonstrated circumstances of mutual involvement in moral depravity.

I wish to make this question very clear: my doubt is not about the personal faith and moral condition of the minister of the Sacrament but about using impure intention that opposes the intention of the Church.

In recent history there were many scandals involving homosexual bishops sexually abusing their seminarians along with the intent of ordaining them later to the priesthood. Such cases involved Cardinal McCarrick of Washington DC, Cardinal Groer of Vienna, Archbishop Paetz of Poznan and many, many others.

I ask the Holy Father, the Cardinals and Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church to consider the question and give it a proper response for the good of the Church and the salvation of souls.

A clear official declaration about the possible lack of validity of ordinations between partners in sin against the Sixth Commandment would benefit the Church and ensure the integrity of Holy Orders. It would help to curb abuse of authority and homosexual acts in seminaries if the abuser and the abused know that his ordination would be invalid.

The Church has been very diligent in safeguarding the proper form and matter of the Sacraments. In recent cases, for example, a change to a single word in the Sacrament of Baptism had rendered the baptism and all following Sacraments, including Holy Orders, invalid. The man with an invalid baptism would have to receive all Sacraments validly in order to resume his priestly ministry in the Church.

Every deacon, priest, and bishop who had ever been ordained by his partner in homosexual acts would need to come forward and submit his resignation until further review and a decision rendered by the Holy See.

Related to the question about validity of ordinations between partners in sins of sexual depravity is the problem of an overwhelming presence of homosexual men in seminaries and among the Catholic clergy in some parts of the Church.

Every bishop, vocations director, and seminary rector knows exactly which men applying to the seminary have homosexual proclivities. The questions about sexual orientation are asked up front at the admission. The same applies to religious orders. It would be prudent for all seminary faculty, rectors, religious superiors, bishops and cardinals with homosexual inclinations to resign their positions for the good of the Church. All Catholic bishops need to be advised that they cause grave harm to the Church if they knowingly admit homosexual men to seminaries and ordain them to the priesthood.

Homosexual clerics, once ordained, practically cannot be prevented from promotions in the hierarchy. They may become bishops and cardinals, even as prominent as Theodore McCarrick or Hans Hermann Groer. They may try to promote “gay marriage” and corrupt the teachings of the Church on sexual morality to match their own sinful inclinations. They will also promote men with similar depraved proclivities and turn dioceses and religious communities into exclusive gay clubs where anyone perceived, even remotely, as a threat to the gay agenda will be persecuted and excluded.

One of my former parishioners, a young man, had once reported to me that he wanted to become a priest in a religious community but the superior of that community wanted first to have sex with the man. He was deeply disturbed and scandalized and gave up his pursuit of a priestly vocation altogether. I had no way to verify the story but advised the man that it was his Christian duty to inform the local bishop about his experience of moral corruption among Catholic clergy. Later, after the public scandal involving Theodore McCarrick, I realized that there was the possibility of a local gay bishop who, like McCarrick, would not see anything wrong with acts of sexual depravity.

The presence of homosexual men among the clergy completely destroys priestly fraternity. There are many examples of this kind of corruption already taking place in different parts of the Catholic Church.

Disclaimer: I have no grudge or any kind of “hate” against persons with same-sex attraction. I personally know that many of these baptized brothers and sisters make daily sacrifices in order to live in the state of grace. Those Catholic men who struggle with same-sex attraction will understand that the ordained priesthood is not for them, and in the clerical state the potential for causing grave harm to the Church and to their own souls would be too great.

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Editor’s Note:

In all likelihood Father Krutewicz will not receive the answer he wants from the Vatican (if he receives any answer at all). The Church has a long history of accepting the validity of sacraments—specifically including the sacrament of Holy Orders—even when there is some evidence of improper intention. For instance, the Church unequivocally condemns the sin of simony, yet ordinations done as a result of simony are considered valid.

To render a sacramental ordination invalid, one would have to demonstrate not just that some sinful behavior occurred in the past, but that at the time of the ordination there was no intention to do what the Church intends. That would set a very high bar for nullifying the sacrament: a standard that could be met only in egregious cases.

The finding that a baptism was invalid involves a different question: the lack of proper form in the administration of the sacrament. A defect in form or in matter could render an ordination invalid. But that is not the question here. Regarding the more difficult question of intention, the Church has always assured the faithful that insofar as we are all sinners, there is no question that a valid sacrament can be administered by a sinful priest or bishop.

(In recent years the Church has taken a very different approach to the question of intention in assessing the validity of marriages. But that is a question for another day.)

Nevertheless I think that the question raised in this Open Letter is pertinent—at least as a topic for discussion and examination of conscience—given the extent of the corruption that has been exposed.