“Mr. Crow once served as a priest in the archdiocese but is no longer a member of the clergy, confirmed in a letter by our Holy Father, Pope Francis,” the statement said. Crow initiated the process himself, the archdiocese noted.
Archbishop Thomas Rodi in the statement expressed “gratitude” to Pope Francis for the decree, the archdiocese said, with the prelate saying in the press release: “I pray that this decision is one more way in which we can all move toward peace after these unsettling events.”
“I continue to pray for God’s grace to bring healing for all,” Rodi added.
Though no power on earth can erase the sacramental imprint of a priest’s ordination, laicization strips the clergyman of the legal status of being a cleric.
When a person loses the clerical state, he no longer has the right to exercise sacred ministry in the Church, except in the extreme situation of encountering someone who is in immediate danger of death.
Furthermore, someone who has lost the clerical state no longer has the canonical right to be financially supported by the Church.
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