Corpus Christi Blog

Fr. Rey Clutario has been incardinated to the Diocese of Phoenix.

10-16-2016Weekly ReflectionFr. Chad King

Fr. Reynaldo Clutario has been incardinated to the Diocese of Phoenix. "Incardination," what does it mean? As far as I remember in my Canon Law class, one of the rights and privileges of an ordained Catholic member of the clergy is that the ordained clergy member of a particular Diocese, or any religious order, or a priest belonging to any apostolic institute, has the right to transfer to any Diocese, religious order, or apostolic institute of his choice for his good and for the advantage of the Church. This movement or process is called incardination and excardination.

From Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incardination_and_excardination):

In the Roman Catholic Church, incardination refers to the situation of a member of the clergy being placed under the jurisdiction of a particular bishop or other ecclesiastical superior. Its antonym, excardination, denotes that a member of the clergy has been freed from one jurisdiction and is transferred to another. Both terms are derived from the Latin cardo (pivot, socket, or hinge), from which the word cardinal is also derived—hence the Latin verbs incardinare (to hang on ahinge or fix) and excardinare (to unhinge or set free).

The purpose of incardination is to ensure that no cleric, whether deacon or priest, is "freelance",without a clear ecclesiastical superior to whom he is responsible.

In the Church, a man is incardinated as the clerical subject of a diocesan bishop or his equivalent (a vicar apostolic, territorial abbot, territorial prelate, superior of a personal prelature, etc.) or of a religious institute, society of apostolic life or secular institute upon ordination to the diaconate: within the ordination ceremony prior to the actual sacrament of Holy Orders itself, the man places himself under a promise of obedience to his bishop or other ordinary of a particular church, or makes an acknowledgment of a pre-existing vow of obedience to a prior, abbot or other superior in an institute of consecrated life or society of apostolic life. According to the American National Catholic Church (ANCC), "The process of incardination begins with a review of professional experience, formation, education and training. Letters of recommendation are collected while psychological examinations and criminal background checksare conducted."

In my case, I decided to join the Diocese of Phoenix after serving as Associate Pastor at Elizabeth Seton in Sun City and as Pastor of St. Frances Cabrini in Camp Verde and St. Joseph in Mayer for seven years as a priest belonging to the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity, an apostolic institute. Before a priest can join the Diocese of Phoenix he has to ask permission from his local Superior about his intention of leaving his own religious community and simultaneously he has to look for a benevolent bishop to accept him in his diocese. The bishop will give the priest a provisionary period of one to five years so he can discern his new l i f e. In that period, the two local Superiors have their constant communications looking to the development of the process. As mentioned in the ANCC, the priest is required to take the psychological examination, have dental and physical examination too, and be recommended by the pastors of the parish where the priest previously worked and where he is presently working. (For example, Fr. Chad wrote a recommendation letterfor me.)

After four years since I applied for that process, on the 5th day of the month of October, I was incardinated to the Diocese of Phoenix and excardinated from my community belonging to the apostolic institute of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity. I am happy for this new life as a Diocesan priest and am looking forward to a new challenge to grow in my priestly ministry with a new vision and mission in life. "Please pray for me." I ask for your prayers just as Pope Francis asks us to pray for him.

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