Friday, May 20, 2016

Priest-Professor Honored by U.S. President, Inspires Selfless Service in Others

WASHINGTON 30 May 2016 (ORCNS) - Monsignor Rutherford Cardinal Johnson was recently honored by United States President Barack Obama with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The honor was given in recognition of over 4000 hours of volunteer service in organizational support, humanitarian efforts, and education on local, national, and global levels. 

Mgr. Rutherford Card. Johnson
Mgr. Rutherford is an economics lecturer at the University of Minnesota, an Adjunct Professor of Geography at the University of South Alabama, and a traditional Old Roman Catholic priest. He was previously was awarded the Gold Medal in the President's Volunteer Service Award program, the premier volunteer service recognition given by the President as part of an initiative to inspire people to take positive action to change the world. 

When asked about the honor, Mgr. Rutherford said, "Helping others is part of my clerical vocation and an integral part of my work as an educator. I commend the President for promoting volunteering service. Serving others and inspiring service in others is one of my greatest joys in life."


Wednesday, May 18, 2016

Franciscan Brother and Seminarian Ordained as Porter

LEXINGTON, KY 13 May 2016 (ORCNS) - Rev. Br. Dom Elliott Francis, TOR Mar. received the First Tonsure as a cleric and was ordained to the Order of Porter in the Old Roman Catholic Patriarchate of St. Stephen at Christ Church Cathedral today. Br. Elliott is a member of the Franciscan Third Order Regular of the Brothers and Sisters of Penance of the Blessed Virgin Mary (TOR Mar) and a seminarian. The officiant was Mgr. Rutherford Cardinal Johnson, Patriarch of St. Stephen. The First Tonsure, now a snipping of the hair in five locations in the form of a cross, is symbolic of the full round shave area of the head typically worn by clerics and religious in the past and still some today. 

Mgr. Rutherford, Card. Patriarch of St. Stephen,
administers the First Tonsure to Dom Elliott Francis

It is traditionally through the First Tonsure that a candidate enters the clerical state. The Order of Porter is the first of the Minor Holy Orders and is also typically a stepping stone on the way to the priesthood. During the ordination of a Porter, the candidate receives the keys to the church, opens the church doors, and rings the church bells, all symbolic of the traditional and historic duties of that office. 

An audience was held by theCardinal Patriarch prior to the
ordination during which time Dom Elliott (right)
took the oaths of ordination

The Patriarchal See of St. Stephen is an ancient, autonomous, semi-autocephalous Old Roman Catholic Patriarchate with Anglican patrimony descended from the Roman Catholic See of Utrecht. The See of Utrecht has remained independent since 1145, when the Holy See in Rome granted autonomy. Modernly also known as the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church (ARRCC), the Patriarchate continues administrative independence while embracing as brethren other Catholic and Anglican bodies, such as the current Roman Communion (commonly referred to as the Roman Catholic Church), the Anglican Ordinariate, and the Anglican Communion.