From our post yesterday: We are NOT a church; the first line, “We (EMMI) are Independent Catholics (ISM) and Clerics devoted to the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching authority,” is ambiguous to our readers.

Let me explain the differences.

1: We view Vatican II as a valid ecumenical council intended to renew the Church for the modern world. We think, as studies such as a National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) paper note, that Catholic Mass attendance and religious vocations declined measurably worldwide in the decades following the 1960s implementation of Vatican II.

2: We follow the mainstream Old Catholic churches in Europe (the Union of Utrecht), which actually moved in a progressive theological direction: 3: allowing married priests, 4: abolishing mandatory clerical celibacy, 5: ordaining women, and entering full communion with the Anglican Communion.

6: We agree with the Novus Ordo of the Mass, but the Roman reforms went too far; 7: they removed too much of the sacred (Britannica: diminished reverence, sacredness, and the sacrificial nature of the Mass), especially that lay people do not receive communion at Mass but have the host in a pyx and have communion later outside the church; I think that is worse than 8: open communion during the celebration of the Eucharist. As my friend, the Right Reverend Ashley Deutschmann, stated on his website: Christ at the Center. Everyone at the Table.

9: Open to LGBTQ members being part of the clergy.

10: We apply a strict ritual discipline, whereas Rome is more liberal

11: We agree with Local languages, even if the Archbishop (Me) is a member of the Confraternity of Saint Peter.

12: We agree with Active lay participation.

13: We agree with the universal call to holiness.

14: We agree with the Permanent diaconate: allowing qualified married men or women to be ordained as deacons.

15: We reject the collective blame of Jews for Christ’s death, condemn antisemitism, and recognize elements of truth in other world religions.

16: We affirm religious freedom as a fundamental human right, asserting that individuals should follow their conscience in matters of faith without coercion.

17: We position ourselves as a partner in addressing global concerns like poverty, war, and human dignity. Also involved in Mental Health Ministry and Prison Ministry, including drug abuse.

18. As Rome, we are open to Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue (IAoC Ministry and URI)

19: Brother Eric Michel Roman Catholic Ecclesial Affiliations 

20:.We apply Roman Canon 2335 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law

Like the Facebook group name is:

Not All Catholics Are Roman, But All Catholics Are One

Cenacle

But I love it; no time for anything else.

The ministry now has five (5) websites

1. Here, of course, is the Franciscans of the Eucharist (TOFE): https://franciscanseucharist.com
2. Also, the Franciscans of the Immaculate (TOFI): https://franciscansimmaculate.org
3. A little while ago, we started the African Bible Academy: https://bibleacademy.africa
4. And recently, one that I have worked on since 1993, helping those who endure Mental Health Challenges, in-prison and out-of-prison individuals and those people with substance abuse, the Wholeness Chaplaincy at https://wholenesschaplaincy.org
5. The last one is our new AFRICA website here: https:/ericmichelministries.com

• Plus The African Ministry Facebook Page
• The Facebook Personality (My page) and the chaplaincy
• The Facebook Online MESFC Group
• And the Facebook African Fraternity EMMI Fraternité Group

If I am not with you, I am on one of these nine (9) places, when not with Marie...

.

Fulton John Sheen (born Peter John Sheen; May 8, 1895 – December 9, 1979) was an American Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1966 to 1969. He was known for his preaching, especially on television and radio.

Ordained a priest of the Diocese of Peoria in Illinois in 1919, Sheen quickly became a renowned theologian, earning the Cardinal Mercier Prize for International Philosophy in 1923. He later taught theology and philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He served as a parish priest before he was appointed an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of New York in 1951. He held this position until 1966, when he was made Bishop of Rochester. He resigned in 1969 as his 75th birthday approached and was made archbishop of the titular see of Newport (a diocese in Wales).

For 20 years as “Father Sheen”, later monsignor, he hosted the night-time radio program The Catholic Hour on NBC (1930–1950) before he moved to television and presented Life Is Worth Living (1952–1957). Sheen’s final presenting role was the syndicated The Fulton Sheen Program (1961–1968), with a format very similar to the earlier Life Is Worth Living show. For that work, Sheen won an Emmy Award for Most Outstanding Television Personality and was featured on the cover of Time magazine. Starting in 2009, his shows were being rebroadcast on the EWTN and the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Church Channel cable networks. His contribution to televised preaching resulted in Sheen often being called one of the first televangelists.

The cause for his canonization was officially opened in 2002. In June 2012, Pope Benedict XVI officially recognized a decree from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints stating that he lived a life of “heroic virtue”, a major step towards beatification, and he is now referred to as venerable. On July 5, 2019, Pope Francis approved a reputed miracle through Sheen’s intercession, clearing the way for his beatification. Sheen was scheduled to be beatified in Peoria on December 21, 2019, but this was postponed after Bishop Salvatore Matano of Rochester expressed concern that Sheen’s alleged assignment of a priest who had been the subject of a 1963 sexual misconduct case might be cited unfavourably in a forthcoming report from the New York Attorney General. The Diocese of Peoria countered that the priest had been assigned not by Sheen but by his successor, and that Sheen had been “exonerated” following thorough examination of the matter, having “never put children in harm’s way”. In March 2026, it was announced that his beatification would occur on September 24, 2026, in St. Louis, presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle.

BOOK

“It is really not so important what we say to God; it is important what He says to us.”

– Venerable Fulton J. Sheen