The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem

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What is “The Sovereign Order of Saint John of Jerusalem”? A local hospice is run by persons of this order and when I looked up its history, it seems to be a very old Catholic organization. However, I asked if this hospice was Catholic and was told that it is not. Also, I inquired of a priest if it was legit and was told that it was not. May a Catholic join the order – that is, take vows – and still remain a practicing Catholic?
 
contact your diocese for an authoritative answer about the order and the facility
 
A question comes to mind here: in which country is this hospital? AFAIK, the real Knights of Malta do not operate in the US. I realize this is from wikipedia, but it does give a decent overview. Of particular note is the section on “mimic orders.” (A listing of recognized priories can be found here).
 
Perhaps it wasn’t intended as such, but for some reason that strikes me as testy. Notice I said AFAIK. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Sorry for any misunderstanding. :o
 
Thanks, everyone. I had written a long response indicating how my question arose, but I decided against posting it, as I will gladly rely on the information that there is a legit organization and that I should check into the hospice. It just gives me the creeps that there are copycat organizations.
 
Thank you. 🙂 No harm, no foul.

And BTW, yes, you’re correct: AFAIK = as far as I know. 🙂
 
(name removed by moderator),

I know I said I was satisfied, but this bothered me overnight and I called the local OSJ and now I am even more confused. I hate to bother the local diocesan offices, as they are booked solid.

The OSJ chaplain told me he was Catholic, but the group is Orthodox and is ecumenical in its members. It has lay members who take vows. The priests are Opus Dei. I just don’t see how all of this fits together. How can a Roman Catholic take any kind of vows in an Orthodox “ecumenical” organization? (The founder was Fr. von Lobkowitz and it was connected with Pichel – from what I read online, this is not one of the real OSJ organizations, whose websites I visited and who have such different credentials.) Would a Catholic be excommunicated by taking vows in this rogue organization?
 
This thread was resurrected nearly four years after the original discussion. The parties have moved on to other things now.
 
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