SAVE THE REV. MR. NKAMUKE'S ORDERS

Intervene. O descend as a dove or/A furious papa or a mild engineer, but descend. Auden 

In the past few months, via email, comments on our posts, Skype, IM, and snail mail, we've been conducting a lively conversation on the subject of one-handed priestly ordination. Our correspondents have been legion and include both our supporters as well as several close loyalists of Dannie -- CLODs for short. (The CLODs have been of immense help, for they've helped us refine our thoughts on the subject -- something we might have postponed but for their inquiries.) In light of a recent request from commenter "Introibo ad Altare" for additional rebuttals of the Blunderer's inadequate monograph on the topic, we decided it was time to launch a new series. Our chief motivation, however, didn't arise from a miffed CLOD's challenge. It resulted from reading in the rector's March newsletter that this November "One Hand Dan" is slated to ordain the Rev. Mr. Nkamuke Okechukwu to the priesthood.

The Rev. Mr. Nkamuke, a Nigerian national, will no doubt return to his homeland to promote the traditional Catholic faith and offer the sacraments (unless the SW Ohio cult needs another gofer in holy orders and sees fit to co-opt him like so many other unfortunates). Africa, as we all know, may be the last bastion of Christian resistance to Modernism. Christianity in all its forms is flourishing there, and the continent promises a far more fertile ground for the traditional Catholic faith than does post-Christian Europe or secularized, cult-enthralled America. In addition, the rumor mill has it that the Rev. Mr. Nkamuke may have been tapped to receive the episcopacy some day so that Africa will have its own traditional bishop and not need to rely on high-living, neo-colonialist, fortune-hunting prelatasters from the U.S. or Europe.

Therefore, it is of paramount importance that no doubts at all, not even the slimmest, attach to this young cleric's priestly orders. If, as the rector and eight other priests affirmed in 1990, Dannie was ordained a priest with one hand only, then there was a defect in his ordination. Now, if that defect is essential, then it has to be remedied, especially if one must be a valid priest first in order to be validly consecrated a bishop, as Merkelbach -- a rector favorite -- holds.* In other words, if  "One Hand" is not a bishop, then he can't validly confer the priesthood on the Rev. Mr. Nkamuke in November; if that's the case, then countless traditional Catholics in Africa will be deprived of valid sacraments: their immortal souls will be in jeopardy. (At least in the U.S., we can find unquestionably valid priests outside the cult, for we have many valid bishops, and more are on on the way, from what we hear).

Of course, it won't be sorted out until the Restoration. There are just too many if's to know anything for certain.   Better to play it safe. The Blunderer's defense of one-handed orders, with its scandalous mistranslation and other deficiencies, must be dismissed out of hand as useless. Moreover, in Sedeville there are no professionally trained theologians anyway to give it a competent try, and Trad World wouldn't accept an opinion written by anyone outside the cult, no matter how impressive his credentials. Therefore, inasmuch as "One Hand" is highly unlikely to seek conditional ordination to banish all doubts -- and shut us up -- there is only one option: 

Descend upon the rector's inbox and mailbox with fervent petitions that he himself, not "One-Hand," ordain the Rev. Mr. Nkamuke to the priesthood.

Make no mistake about it: when a question concerns the validity of the sacraments, one must follow the safer course in matters of doubt. As we'll see, contrary to what the ever-wrong Blunderer wrote, there IS sufficient doubt about one-handed ordinations to command our adherence to the safer course. Blindly supposing that "One-Hand" is a validly ordained priest as well as a valid bishop is simply not a safe course. In fact, it's morally unsafe, for there is too great a risk of losing eternal life without valid sacraments.

Don't believe anyone who tells you that the question of one-handed ordination is settled.  Indeed, owing to Tony the Blunderer's mortally flawed monograph, the matter is now as wide open as on September 21, 1990, when the rector and the other priests put their signatures to their ad cautelam letter to "One-Hand."

Over the ensuing weeks, we'll be posting additional information, arguments, and considerations about one-handed orders. (We've already posted a detailed analysis of the Blunderer's embarrassing mistranslation here.**) Meanwhile, we ask you to join the crusade to assure that the Rev. Mr. Nkamuke will return to his country a validly ordained priest and never have to worry about his orders' being called into question. (CLODs can assist, too, for if, like Pharoah's, rector's heart is hardened, they might, with enough pluck, be able to persuade a sniveling "One-Hand" to seek conditional ordination and consecration for the good of souls. He's rapidly losing the little influence he used to enjoy in France (oh, yes, big troubles there, just wait for the news!), so he just might be persuaded to do the right thing over here.

Here's where you can contact the rector to intervene. Plead with him, beg him, beseech him not to allow "One-Hand Dan" to "ordain" the guiltless and worthy Rev. Mr. Nkamuke:

Most Holy Trinity Seminary

1000 Spring Lake Highway, Brooksville FL 34602

352.799.0541

bpsanborn2002@yahoo.com

*For a very brief discussion of diverse opinions on this issue, see our 10/9/11 post One-Hand Redux.

**To summarize the chief argument briefly: Pius XII's Latin absolutely does not translate as "The matter of the Sacred Orders of Diaconate, Priesthood, and Episcopacy is one and the same and that indeed is the imposition of hands," as the Latin-challenged Blunderer asserts. The correct translation is "the matter, and the only matter, of the Sacred Orders of the Diaconate, the Priesthood, and the Episcopacy is the imposition of hands." (Be sure to read footnote 1 at the end of our document: it exposes the Blunderer's unwarranted addition of words that were never in the original).