{"id":71231,"date":"2025-12-16T08:45:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T08:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/?p=71231"},"modified":"2025-12-16T08:45:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T08:45:14","slug":"leader-of-schismatic-colorado-springs-group-disregards-excommunication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/leader-of-schismatic-colorado-springs-group-disregards-excommunication\/","title":{"rendered":"Leider van schismatieke groep in Colorado Springs negeert excommunicatie"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n null \/ Credit: Paul Gueu\/Shutterstock<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Denver, Colorado, Dec 5, 2025 \/ 18:18 pm (CNA).<\/p>\n

After receiving a letter of excommunication from the Vatican, the leader of a schismatic group in Colorado Springs told congregants he would ignore it \u2014 furthering the divide between the small splinter group and the Catholic Church.<\/p>\n

Anthony Ward heads the Servants of the Holy Family, a group that labels itself as Catholic in spite of the Diocese of Colorado Springs\u2019 declaration<\/a> that the group is schismatic.  <\/p>\n

In een 40-minute speech<\/a> to his congregation in which he called Church authorities \u201ca kangaroo court\u201d of \u201cheretics\u201d and \u201cfreemasons,\u201d Ward went public on Nov. 16 about his excommunication and his plans to continue ignoring the Catholic Church\u2019s directives. <\/p>\n

During a secret ceremony in 2024, a bishop whose name was withheld at the time consecrated Ward as a bishop without papal permission.<\/p>\n

In the Catholic Church, only the pope can appoint bishops. Consecrating a bishop without papal mandate<\/a> is considered illicit and incurs an automatic \u201clatae sententiae\u201d excommunication for both parties.<\/p>\n

During the meeting at the Servants\u2019 chapel on Nov. 16, Ward told his congregation that the Catholic Church had made a declaration of excommunication against him due to what he described as \u201cpersistent, rebellious disobedience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though excommunication is a \u201cmedicinal penalty<\/a>\u201d designed to urge an individual to repent, Ward has said he is \u201cignoring\u201d the letter and will not be responding within the 30-day window given to him. <\/p>\n

Embracing the claims of the letter, Ward said he will continue to disobey, instead putting his loyalty toward what he called \u201cthe true Catholic faith.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cI have not and will not obey commands from the kangaroo court composed of heretics, schismatics, Freemasons, representatives of the most vile sinful perversions, enemies of the cross of Christ,\u201d Ward told the congregation, \u201cof whom the majority of bishops \u2014 particularly in this country \u2014 no longer believe in the real presence of Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ in the Eucharist.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. Catholic bishops recently led a yearslong Eucharistic Revival that centered on the Catholic belief that the Eucharist is the body, blood, soul, and divinity of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

Despite the local Catholic diocese\u2019s denouncement of the Servants, the group continues to hold Eucharistic celebrations and is recruiting<\/a> minors as well as adult men to be trained as priests.<\/p>\n

The Servants\u2019 website<\/a> advertises the group as \u201cfaithful to the Latin Mass\u201d as well as to \u201cCatholic doctrine and morals\u201d and claims it is \u201cendorsed by Catholic bishops worldwide.\u201d <\/p>\n

Ward named Archbishop Telesphore George Mpundu Lusaka, the African archbishop emeritus of Zambia, as the bishop who illicitly consecrated him, but the other bishops are not specified readily on the website. <\/p>\n

When asked to comment, a spokesperson for the Diocese of Colorado Springs referred to the most recent public verklaring<\/a> by Bishop James Golka in April 2024. <\/p>\n

Since 2013, the Diocese of Colorado Springs has publicly held that the Servants are \u201cnot in good standing\u201d with the Church.   <\/p>\n

Pointing to continued \u201cobstinate ill will\u201d by the Servants, Golka verklaarde<\/a> last year that Ward and other priests affiliated with the Servants \u201care not in good standing with the diocesan or the universal Catholic Church\u201d and declared it \u201ca schismatic group.\u201d <\/p>\n

Pointing to canon law, Golka declared that its Eucharistic celebration \u201cis illicit and a grave moral offense\u201d and that its celebration of baptism \u201cis illicit.\u201d The bishop also declared celebrations of penance, the sacrament of matrimony, confirmation, and holy orders by this group to be invalid. <\/p>\n

Golka said it would be \u201can act of spiritual danger\u201d for Catholics to attend celebrations led by the Servants and encouraged the faithful to pray for reconciliation. <\/p>\n

The Servants did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/268311\/leader-of-schismatic-colorado-springs-group-disregards-excommunication<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

null \/ Credit: Paul Gueu\/Shutterstock Denver, Colorado, 5 dec. 2025 \/ 18:18 uur (CNA). Na ontvangst van een excommunicatiebrief van het Vaticaan vertelde de leider van een schismatieke groep in Colorado Springs aan zijn kerkgangers dat hij deze zou negeren \u2014 wat de kloof tussen de kleine afgescheiden groep en de Katholieke Kerk verder vergroot. Anthony Ward leidt de [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":71970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-71231","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-news"],"mb":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Leader-of-schismatic-Colorado-Springs-group-disregards-excommunication.webp?fit=800%2C600&quality=75&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5163,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/nl\/learn\/schismatic-spanish-nuns-have-last-chance-to-avoid-formal-excommunication\/","url_meta":{"origin":71231,"position":0},"title":"Schismatic Spanish nuns have last chance to avoid formal excommunication","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"juni 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"[ad_1] Source null \/ Credit: Declausura Foundation ACI Prensa Staff, Jun 17, 2024 \/ 17:15 pm (CNA). 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