(Deacon) Professor Goes into Schism: More Bad Fruit from Misericordia University

Deacon Calderone will be committing a schismatic act. For this he will incur automatic excommunication.

SCRANTON (Catholic Online) - Dr. James Calderone was a permanent deacon in the Diocese of Scranton, Pennsylvania. The Diocese is led by Bishop Joseph Martino, a staunch defender of the Catholic Faith and a Pro-Life Hero.

Our readers recall Bishop Martino's regular and persistent pastoral corrections to Senator Bob Casey concerning his repeated failure to defend the Right to Life. They will also recall the Bishop's strong defense of orthodoxy on Catholic College campuses in his Diocese.

The good Bishop has had an ongoing battle with the so called 'Diversity Institute' of Misericordia University, a Catholic University in the Diocese. In spite of the Bishop's clear direction, the University sponsored a homosexual activist to come to the campus to address their students. This was done under the auspices of this "Diversity Institute."

Dr. James Calderone is in his 23rd year teaching in the Social Work Program at Misericordia University. He is also a member of the Board of that same Diversity Institute. He is a former Deacon at St. Aloysius Church in Wilkes-Barre who turned in his resignation in November.

If he persists in his recent course of conduct he will soon be a former Catholic.

The Professor has announced his plans to be ordained this month as a priest of a group calling itself the American Catholic Church in the United States. This group has absolutely no connection to the real Catholic Church. The purported priestly ordination will take place at the hands of Lawrence Harms who is the presiding Archbishop of the group.

Calderone recently told local reporters, "For me, the American Catholic Church really takes the best of Catholicism, in my judgment. It's inclusive. Its ordained ministries are open to men, women, married, single, gay, straight. It does not have those kinds of divisions in terms of its ministries, and its sacraments are open to all, so at communion all are welcome to the table and for baptism as well."

The group was started in 1999 under its own authority. Calderone is currently listed on their website as the deacon who is responsible for their St. Martin Luther King, Jr. Pastoral & Outreach Center.

The Diocese of Scranton has issued the following Decree on their web site:

OFFICIAL NOTICE: This notice is addressed to the following in the Diocese of Scranton:

The Lay Faithful
Diocesan and Religious Priests
Deacons
Religious Brothers
Major Superiors of Women Religious

Deacon James M. Calderone of the Diocese of Scranton has issued an invitation and has made known his intention to receive an ordination from a minister who is not in communion with our Holy Father.

Deacon Calderone, if he does this, will be committing a schismatic act. For this he will incur automatic excommunication and, if long lasting contumacy, obstinacy or the seriousness of the scandal warrant it, dismissal from the clerical state.

Our Most Reverend Bishop directs that every Catholic in the Diocese of Scranton avoid any participation whatsoever in this offense against religion and the unity of the Church. Participation includes attending the schismatic ritual act itself or any gathering attached thereto.

Moreover, Pastors are to publish this NOTICE in parish bulletins on the weekend of May 16 and 17, 2009. Major Superiors of Women Religious are asked to ensure that this episcopal directive be received by each Sister in their Communities who is stationed in the Diocese of Scranton.

James B. Earley, Chancellor, Diocese of Scranton, May 7, 2009

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