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Michael Patrick O'Connor Cox (born 1945) is an Irish independent bishop. He is best known for ordaining the singer Sinéad O'Connor.

"the breakaway Latin Tridentine church"

In 2001, Cox planned to convert a 75 ft commercial fishing trawler, called The Little Bishop, into "a mobile floating church, offering on-board marriages and baptisms to people around the British Isles."

Cox planned to protest against the ship being sailed into Ireland by the pro-choice feminist group Women on Waves.

In 2004, Cox's 84 ft trawler, called The Patriarch, caught fire while underway and sank – the sinking "destroyed what would have been Cox's latest effort to grab headlines" in 2004 by planning to shadow "the abortion ship, Aurora." Cox also planned to use The Patriarch as a church.

In 2011, Cox was a candidate in the general election for the Laois-Offaly constituency, coming last with 60 votes.

In 2013, a District Court judge requested that the Garda Síochána investigate a marriage conducted by Cox for a 17-year-old Traveller youth and his partner.

Civil marriages in Ireland require that the participants are over 18, or have a Court Exemption Order if this is not the case.

Cox does not solemnise legal valid marriages.

Cox states that such weddings conducted by him are religious, not civil, and that there is no religious reason why somebody 16 years old should not get married.

"I recognise their customs and appreciate them. Anyone who asks why I do what I do – I tell them that I make it clear the wedding ceremony is purely religious. I do not register marriage with the state."

- Michael Cox Cox insists on parental consent and parents being present at the ceremony."

Lynch points out that Cox "has different opinions on issues such as women priests and marriage age" than the Roman Catholic Church.

"Travellers have specific customs surrounding marriage, and often get married much younger than settled couples."

"In Ireland, the minimum age you can marry is 18 years unless you have a Court Exemption Order."

"Many Travellers get married younger than 18 and seek court exemption orders," according to Doorley and Lynch.

According to David Lynch, in Voice of Travellers, Cox "plays a special role for some in the Travelling community. He is willing to marry young Travellers under the age of 18."

Cox "remains popular," according to Lynch, although Cox "makes clear that such weddings have no legal basis" and "are not recognised by the Roman Catholic Church."

Lynch wrote that "Cox maintains there is no religious reason why somebody 16 years old should not get married."

"Cox also claims to have carried out high profile exorcisms and healing."

According to Lynch, Cox "first hit the tabloid headlines over a decade ago when he carried out exorcisms at a Dublin Radio Station and later in Marley Park."

Cox "claims to be blessed with healing powers."

"He lives near his isolated rural church some miles outside Birr."

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"Although popular, the weddings have no legal standing and court exemption orders are required by the State."

a 16-year-old future spouse was "not allowed get married in a Catholic church" because of her age.

Cox performs wedding ceremonies, which "have no legal standing," for spouses as young as 16, as long as their parents consent and are at the ceremony.

Circa 1999, Cox and Buckley founded, what some news articles call, the "Latin Tridentine Church."

Traveller practise child marriage.

In 2002, Buckley "defended his right to give blessings to teenagers as young as 14, after it was reported he performed a ceremony involving a 15-year-old Traveller."

"We have had cases like this before whereby the children actually believe they are legally married and it has taken a lot of effort to unwrangle everything," according to Father Stephen Monaghan, a Travellers' parish priest.

There is a common thread of some kind of ceremonies involving children who are under the impression that they are married when they are in fact not.

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Cox performed marriages of children below the legal age for marriage, which in Ireland is 18 years of age.

In a 2013 case, Judge Patrick Durcan of the Children's Court in Ennis, Ireland, described Cox as "a man who calls himself a bishop" and commented that "anyone who masquerades as a clergy man and who takes money from young people and imbues in them a mistaken belief that he has married them, is in my view committing the most serious offence."

In a different 2014 case, Durcan "told the court 'it is disgraceful that a young man like this is duped into believing that he is married by someone who parades around and calls himself a bishop, but is not a bishop'." According to Durcan, Cox "has no function" in regards to marriage. "This man is not a bishop. He is not entitled to marry you so he is Mr Cox, not Bishop Cox."

Early life
Cox was an Irish soldier and a Dún Laoghaire harbour policeman.

Ministry
as "his own religious order" according to Joe Humphreys of The Irish Times.

"The church offered marriage annulments to people who became members."

Cox offered Tridentine Masses at Monkstown, County Dublin in mid-1980s.

Cox "was ordained in 1987 by Roman Catholic clergy who were followers of the Tridentine church."

"There is no Tridentine Church as such," and according to Peader Laighleis, "Cox describes himself as a 'Tridentine' bishop."

"By this, he seems to mean that because he celebrates the Tridentine Mass, he must be a Tridentine Bishop."

"Catholic laity may attend the Tridentine Mass, if allowed under the terms of the 1984 instruction (indult) of Pope John Paul II."

According to Laighleis, none of Cox's Masses qualify as indult Masses.

According to Laighleis, the Society of Saint Pius X "has totally repudiated" Cox.

Cox "appears to be operating on his own initiative, and seems to believe the adjective 'Tridentine' can be employed as an excuse for his completely irregular ministry."

Cox, a self-described "traditionalist,"

Laighleis wrote that it seems to be "impossible to accommodate with Catholic tradition" "the agenda proffered by" Cox and Buckley.

Cox's church is St Coleman's, in the townland of Cree, near Birr, County Offaly.

Cox ministers to Travelers.

Cox started "a telephone confession service" in the 1990s. Callers "were charged £1 a minute" to use his premium-rate telephone number "and invited to leave details of any medical problems, for which a Latin Mass would be offered the following Sunday."

The "healing and confession line" charged callers IR£1 per minute

Consecration
Bishop Ciarán Broadbery consecrated Cox on xx April 1978.

Cox was consecrated as a bishop in 1992.

"He was ordained a priest by a Vietnamese Tridentine bishop in Switzerland in 1978, then consecrated four years later to become Ireland's only Tridentine Catholic bishop."

Both the minister of consecration and Cox individually incurred a disciplinary latae sententiae excommunication for the schismatic act;

Cox was formally excommunicated after his ordination as a bishop.

According to Walsh, Cox "was wondering about the possibility of making his peace with Rome. That apparently didn't work out."

Cox was formally reconciled with the Catholic Church in 1992.

"four years later the Irish bishops declared publicly that Cox was 'not in harmony with the Catholic church' after it was discovered that he was granting sacramental absolution to penitents over the telephone."


 * The RCC "does not nor shall it recognize their ordination, and as regards all juridical effects, it considers them in the state which each one had previously."

Cox consecrated Buckley in May 1998. or June 1998.

"Buckley, has excommunicated himself from the Roman Catholic Church by being consecrated as a bishop, a Hierarchy spokesman has said."

In June 1998, Jim Cantwell, director of the Catholic Press and Information Office, said that Cox consecration of Buckley was valid but illicit.

Both Cox, the minister of consecration, and Buckley, the recipient of consecration, individually incurred a disciplinary latae sententiae excommunication for the schismatic act.

Cantwell "said the office of bishop 'is essential to the unity of the Catholic Church'. It breached that unity for a person to consecrate another bishop or to accept ordination on his own authority alone 'and without any mandate from the Holy See'."

"Buckley and Cox are to found a society in which they will 'co-operate pastorally and which will welcome men and women of every persuasion'."

We intend particularly looking at re-enacting the Holy Orders of those priests who have left and indeed we will examine the whole area of women's ministry in the church'," a 1998 statement from Cox said.

In 2005 Buckley wrote that "simony invalidates orders."

"I did not wish to be overly identified with Cox's perspective. As a result of this," he "felt it necessary to align  with another valid bishop."

As late as April 1999, the Cox consecration of Buckley was described as illicit by some.

But, Vincent Twomey, of St Patrick's College, Maynooth, wrote, in April 1999 that in his opinion, the consecration of Cox was not valid.

"And yet the issues are undoubtedly serious, comparable to somebody setting himself or herself up as a judge of the Circuit or High Court. This would be seen as outrageous. The sad thing is that, due to the general collapse of our religious culture, almost anything in the realm of faith can be claimed by anybody – and be taken seriously by the public media. As a result, the issues themselves are inevitably, albeit unintentionally, trivialised."

"Cox bases his claim to be a bishop on a succession that goes back to" Archbishop Ngô Đình Thục. In January 1976, Thục "ordained several priests and bishops" at El Palmar de Troya, Spain, "acting, it would seem, on instructions from somebody claiming to be a visionary."

"The Vatican reacted almost immediately (September 17th, 1976), drawing attention to the penalties - including excommunication - incurred by" Thục "and those he had ordained."

In 1983, the CDF reaffirmed the 1976 decree against Thục and those he ordained.

The 1983 CDF notification affirmed that the RCC "does not nor shall it recognize their ordination."

The 1983 CDF notification also states that, the RCC "regards all juridical effects, it considers them in the state which each one had previously." "in other words as laymen or priests." "Thus, in the eyes of the Church, we are dealing with Cox,  Father  Buckley,  and,  O'Connor."

The 1983 CDF notification "is one that is phrased in canonical terms" such as illicit and valid. "The former means that a public and solemn act of the Church, such as the administration of a sacrament, was carried out in contravention of the legal conditions set down by the Church."

"Validity in this context belongs to the sphere of sacramental theology and affirms that a sacrament, though not executed in accordance with the legal conditions set down by the Church is nonetheless effective as a sacrament, that is, God's intended effect takes place."

"An example would be a priest who has been suspended from exercise of the priesthood, yet gives absolution or celebrates Mass. His act would be gravely evil, in fact sacrilegious, but the unsuspecting faithful would still have received absolution or attended a valid Mass."

The 1983 CDF notification "does mention the question of the validity of those ordained by in an aside - effectively leaving it aside for further study. The Church is reluctant to deny the validity of any sacrament, irrespective of the circumstances, and generally takes its time before making an authoritative decision."

"Central to the question of validity is the intention to do as Christ intended. It is unlikely that any sensible person could be persuaded that the antics of the Palmar de Troya cult could be seen to fulfil this condition," according to Twomey.

Statements by Catholic Church
By May 1999, "[t]he Holy See has confirmed," according to Martin Clarke the Director of Communications for the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference in irishtimes.com, that "there is no justification for considering as valid the 'Episcopal ordination' received by" Cox or Buckley.

"The Irish Bishops' Conference rejected that, however, claiming there was no justification for considering as valid the 'episcopal ordination' received by Buckley. The Vatican later confirmed this judgment "

Arguments by Buckley about consecrations by Thục

 * According to Buckley, from the premise (Paul VI excommunicated Thục) to Buckley's conclusion ("it was because" Paul VI "accepted that" Thục "had passed on valid episcopal orders without papal approval.")
 * Cox was not consecrated by Thục.


 * "The fact that" Paul VI excommunicated Thục, according to Buckley "is itself evidence of validity."
 * Buckley does not address difference between fact of ceremony vs validity of sacrament.


 * Buckley pointed out that the 1976 "You can only be excommunicated in this context by consecrating a bishop without a papal mandate."

Arguments by Buckley about Broadbery consecration

 * Buckley asked in 1999, "Why was laicised if he were not valid?"
 * There is no reliable published account of this.
 * Since the Second Lateran Council, marriage contracted by a cleric is invalid.
 * Moreover, Paul VI stated in 1976 that ....


 * Buckley asked, if Broadbery, "ordained and consecrated at Palmar de Troya, was not validly ordained and consecrated, why did laicise him before allowing him to marry?"
 * the possibility of being in a clerical state is an impediment? to contracting a canonically valid? Latin Church marriage.


 * Buckley wrote in 1999 that Broadbery "has already been laicised by and is now married."


 * After Broadbery consecrated Cox, Bishop Donald J. Herlihy, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Ferns, laicised Broadbery, according to Patrick Buckley.
 * Buckley speculated in 2005 that Broadbery's "validity obviously being accepted."

Arguments by Buckley about Cox consecration

 * "Cox resides in the Diocese of Killaloe."
 * According to Buckley, Bishop William Walsh of Killaloe wrote in a letter: "My understanding is that Cox was ordained to the priesthood by a Catholic Bishop. His ordination would therefore be valid even if unlawful as the said Bishop was acting without approval of the Holy See. My understanding is that  Cox was later consecrated a bishop by a Catholic Bishop. His consecration as bishop would be deemed valid even if unlawful because the said Bishop was acting without the approval of the Holy See."


 * "For many years now the Archdiocese of Dublin has been trying to convince Cox to apply to be laicised."
 * "Why would the church want to laicise a man who is not in valid Holy Orders?"
 * Loss of clerical state within the Latin Church is a change in his rights and obligations within the Latin Church.
 * Cox is not a cleric within the Latin Church so he has no clerical rights or clerical obligations within the Latin Church.
 * Paul VI stated in 1976 that


 * Buckley asked in May 1999, if "Cox was not validly ordained and consecrated, why said that he is?"
 * What Walsh wrote, and Buckley quoted in April 1999, was subtly different. Walsh wrote that in Walsh's "understanding" if the sacraments were conferred by Catholic bishops then both the ordination and consecration "would be deemed valid even if unlawful."
 * If the two premises, that the bishops were Catholic, change then the two conclusions change.


 * Buckley wrote, in his 2005 autobiography, that Cox's "validity has also been attested to by" William Walsh, Roman Catholic Bishop of Killaloe.


 * Buckley asked in May 1999, if "Cox was not validly ordained and consecrated, [...] why does the Archdiocese of Dublin ask him to be laicised?"
 * Peader Laighleis, chairman of Ecclesia Dei Ireland, wrote in 1998 that Cox had not approached the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei "which has the brief of reconciling disaffected traditionalists with the 'institutional' Church."
 * Moreover, Cox was formally reconciled with the Catholic Church in 1992. By that time the CDF pronounced in 1976 and 1983 about Thục ordinations.


 * "The validity of Cox,  has been recognised by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin," according to Buckley.


 * "the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin, urged  to apply for laicisation," according to Buckley.
 * Buckley confused the act of urging "to apply for laicisation" with the granting of a laicisation rescript.

Arguments by Buckley about Buckley consecration (1st ritual)

 * Buckley asserted that Bishop Patrick Walsh, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Down and Connor, "knew that I had already been a bishop for a month" when Walsh suspended him from priestly functions.
 * John McManus, Media Liaison Officer for the Diocese of Down and Connor, replied: "I have to state categorically that this is untrue." According to McManus, McManus pointed out to Walsh that Buckley first announced his consecration in News of the World.


 * Buckley asked in May 1999, if Buckley "was not validly consecrated, why did the Church ask me to go to confession to another Irish bishop and have him get Rome to secretly relieve me of episcopal orders so that my consecration would never become public knowledge in Ireland?"


 * Buckley made his consecration public by announcing it in June 1998.


 * internal forum vs external forum


 * Buckley asked in May 1999, if Buckley was "not validly consecrated, why has the Church said that I am 'automatically excommunicated'?"
 * "One can only be excommunicated in that context by being validly consecrated a bishop without the so-called papal mandate."
 * The act is the delict regardless of its validity.


 * Buckley wrote in 1999 that he was "ready to defend" his ordination "at a public enquiry before" bishops of the ICBC.
 * This is a straw man since no one has challenge the validity of his ordination. Buckley has right to challenge the validity of his ordination. Buckley was absolute ordination in 197?.


 * Buckley wrote in 1999 that he was "ready to defend" his consecration "at a public enquiry before" bishops of the ICBC.
 * Buckley has right to challenge the validity of his consecration. But, "a public enquiry" is not the canonical process and the ICBC is not the competent forum.


 * "When I was consecrated a bishop by Cox last May it was suggested to me by members of the Hierarchy that I approach  Walsh for confession and confess I had become a bishop without a papal mandate."
 * Buckley was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest.
 * Every delict is a sin. Confession is the sacramental act for a sinner to repent, confess, and reconcile with God. It "it entails the desire and resolution to change one's life" (CCC 1431).
 * The sacramental act is not the same as the juridical act of reconciling with the church.
 * absolution is reserved for the Apostolic See.

Arguments by Buckley about Buckley conditional consecration (2nd ritual)
According to Buckley, Buckley was conditionally consecrated by Peter Paul Brennan in February 1999. Buckley wrote in 1999 that he was conditionally consecrated as a "precaution" because Buckley was "conscious" that Cox "was somewhat of a 'loose canon and "that the Church could get to" Broadbery.

Primary documents
possible footnote and/or placed into other articles

1951 decree
In case a man, who is neither named nor expressly confirmed by the Apostolic See, is consecrated as a bishop, even if compelled by grave fear (1917 CIC c. 2229, § 3, 3 °), both the bishop, of any rite or dignity, and the recipient incur ipso facto excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See.

1983 notification
The penal sanctions from the 1917 Code of Canon Law (1917CIC) canons listed in 1983 notification are:


 * 1) "Bishops who ordained other bishops, as well as the bishops ordained, besides the sanctions mentioned in canons 2370  and 2373, 1 and 3, of , incurred also, ipso facto, excommunication most specially reserved to the Apostolic See as stated in the Decree of the Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office of 9 April 1951 (AAS XLIII, 1951, p. 217 f.) The penalty contained in  canon 2370  applies also to assisting priests, should any have been present."


 * 1) "In accordance with canon 2374  priests illicitly ordained in this way are ipso facto suspended from the order received,"
 * "and they are also irregular should they exercise the order ( canon 985, 7)."


 * 1) "Finally, as regards those who have already received ordination in this illicit manner, or who will perhaps receive ordination from them, whatever about the validity of the orders, the Church does not nor shall it recognize their ordination, and as regards all juridical effects, it considers them in the state which each one had previously, and the above-mentioned penal sanctions remain in force until repentance."


 * 1983CIC Canon 1015 §1: "Each person is to be ordained to the presbyterate or the diaconate by his proper bishop or with legitimate dimissorial letters from him.".
 * Canon 1383: "A bishop who, contrary to the prescript of can. 1015, ordains without legitimate dimissorial letters someone who is not his subject is prohibited for a year from conferring the order. The person who has received the ordination, however, is ipso facto suspended from the order received."


 * 1983CIC Canon 1013: "No bishop is permitted to consecrate anyone a bishop unless it is first evident that there is a pontifical mandate."
 * Canon 1382: "Can. 1382 A bishop who consecrates some one a bishop without a pontifical mandate and the person who receives the consecration from him incur a latae sententiae excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See."


 * 1983CIC Canon 1384: "a person who illegitimately performs a priestly function or another sacred ministry can be punished with a just penalty."


 * 1983CIC Canon 1385: "A person who illegitimately makes a profit from a Mass offering is to be punished with a censure or another just penalty."


 * 1983CIC Canon 1041, 6.

2004 reply from Ratzinger to Murphy-O'Connor
In 2004, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), replied to Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, archbishop of Westminster, about a request by Broadbery for declaration on the nullity of his ordination. Ratzinger wrote that the CDF decreed in the 1983 notification on "the illicit ordinations of El Palmar de Troya" and does not address "the particulars of individual ordinations." Ratzinger requested that Murphy-O'Connor communicate a prescript to Broadbery from the 1983 notification. The CDF prescript is:"Finally, as regards those who have already received ordination in this illicit manner, or who will perhaps receive ordination from them, whatever about the validity of the orders, the Church does not nor shall it recognize their ordination, and as regards all juridical effects, it considers them in the state which each one had previously, and the above-mentioned penal sanctions remain in force until repentance."

Other examples
Edward N. Peters lay summary of Peter Vere's 2001 advisory opinion is: "Those confirmed under Abp. Thuc's 'lineage' should be conditionally re-confirmed."

Edward Yarnold wrote in 1994 that:"Few theologians would now wish to defend a narrow "pipe-line theory", which would base the bishop's authority on the historical succession of episcopal ordinations alone without reference to the succession maintained by the Churches themselves; few would attempt any theological justification for episcopi vagantes (clandestinely consecrated bishops without recognised sees)."

Ordination of O'Connor
Cox "maintains there is no reason in scripture why there cannot be women priests."

O'Connor gave "as 'an act of charity' to set up a healing centre for Ireland's travelling community in County Offaly."

According to BBC, Buckley, "called the donation 'disturbing' and said there was a question of whether simony - the act of purchasing a sacrament - had taken place."

In an interview for Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) from Lourdes, O'Connor said: "It would be a lie to say I bought by priesthood. This man would not have ordained me for any money if he had not know I had a true vocation."

O'Connor gave IR£150,000 to Cox who ordained her.

"The £150,000 donation had originally been intended for a healing centre for Travellers in Bishop Cox's ministry in Birr, Co Offaly."

simony

Cox said that he would return the money to O'Connor.

Cox "did not doubt" O'Connor's motives.

Cox "offered his church" to O'Connor and "she has vowed to take over when I'm gone." Buckley wrote in 2005 that he "was unhappy about the circumstances surrounding Sinead's ordination." "Cox later said that he returned the cheque to Sinead." "I was very afraid of simony — the buying of holy orders."

Cox said: "I would never prostitute my holy orders."

Sequence of consecration

 * Thục consecrated Clemente Domínguez y Gómez on 11 January 1976.
 * Domínguez consecrated Broadbery on 1 September 1977.


 * Peter Paul Brennan consecrated Buckley on 14 February 1999.
 * Buckley consecrated Brennan on 14 February 1999.

parked notes
about Thuc 1976 ordinations:

timeline and a source for links: