Is there a public list of laicized priests?

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Charleston135

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I recently realized that a man I know was ordained an RC priest 32 years ago but has been civilly married for 12 years and has children.

I know for certain he has celebrated mass in the past three years, and that he presents himself in certain communities as a priest. I think (but am not sure) that there are two other priests who know about his marriage and allow him to celebrate mass. I think (but am not sure) that a bishop knows as well.

The situation is even more complicated than that, but I’ll stop there. I’m trying to give the benefit of the doubt, but I just can’t figure out how the situation is legit. Is there a public list of laicized priests? Do I have an obligation to report this situation?
 
Charleston135 said:
I recently realized that a man I know was ordained an RC priest 32 years ago but has been civilly married for 12 years and has children.

I know for certain he has celebrated mass in the past three years, and that he presents himself in certain communities as a priest. I think (but am not sure) that there are two other priests who know about his marriage and allow him to celebrate mass. I think (but am not sure) that a bishop knows as well.

The situation is even more complicated than that, but I’ll stop there. I’m trying to give the benefit of the doubt, but I just can’t figure out how the situation is legit. Is there a public list of laicized priests? Do I have an obligation to report this situation?
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The fact that a former priest is now married is not unusual, there are tons of guys out there. If he said Mass in a Catholic parish or institution, the bishop should be notified. But if he did Mass in someone’s house,
Or a non Catholic Church, there’s not much a bishop can do about it, unless it was sponsored by some Catholic organization.

I doubt if there’s a list of laicized priests, any more than a list of divorced Catholics. But there are lists of current priests, check diocesan directory if you know what city he is from. Google his name if you don’t know what city he is from.

There’s an organization called Rent a priest, who are all laicized married priests, who do Masses and sacraments to various groups. The bishop can’t stop them.
 
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Generally, when priests are laicized because of some big scandal such as child sexual abuse, the diocese makes some public statement about that.

However, when priests are laicized for less scandalous and more private reasons, such as the priest wanting to be married, usually there is no big public announcement or name on a list. It’s my understanding that the priest is usually expected to move away from his previous parish and go be a married layman somewhere else where he is not known as a priest. However, they don’t always do that.
 
Not really. Records are kept of individual priests - when they were ordained (and by who), their postings, any other appointments and, of course, laicisation. Each diocese has a record of its priests - active, inactive and removed from ministry so a simple phone call is usually all it takes to ascertain a priest’s bona fides.

Besides this, priests also have an official document called a celebret which they’re required to show when wanting to do any sort of public ministry outside of their own diocese. In recent years, the abuse problems have made this a whole lot stricter with some dioceses now requiring visiting priests to apply for “clearance” in advance, with a register of visiting priests kept in each church.

Granted, any rule is only as good as those who apply it and so if a priest really wants to allow a laicised priest to say mas then the rulebook sure isn’t going to stop him. While the laicised priest can still celebrate mass validly, knowingly allowing any priest without faculties (basically a licence to exercise public ministry) to celebrate mass is going to get a priest in a world of hurt with his bishop.
 
Simply call your Diocese Chancery Office and ask about him.
 
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