The mission of Men of Melchizedek (MOM) is to facilitate assistance to Catholic priests experiencing difficulties in complete accordance with the authentic teaching of the Church and of the Holy Father and his predecessors.
Because of its mission, MOM has a unique role within the Church – it aims to offer material, spiritual, and emotional support for priests in need. Priests may have those needs for a wide variety of reasons, whether internally, because of their own internal struggles, or externally, because of their struggles with others, including at times, others within the institutional Church. For this reason, MOM does not seek to have, nor does it wish to have, official recognition by the institutional Church.
Some may wonder why an organization, dedicated to those who serve at the very heart of the Church, would not want official recognition by the Church. Actually, the reasons are clear on reflection.
A sad fact of modern life is that conflicts of interest can exist between a priest and the Church. In any dispute with a priest, the Church aims to protect its interests and it may or may not, consciously or unconsciously, serve to protect the interests of the priest. In that case, the priest is left defenseless and subject entirely to the discretion of other individuals in the Church whose decisions regarding a priest may be unjust. While we trust the Holy Spirit is present and available to guide the Church’s decision-making regarding its priests, we also understand that the Church is comprised of fallible human beings who may make bad decisions regarding its priests, negligently or intentionally.
Against this backdrop, and MOM’s mission to offer aid to priests in need, MOM does not wish to have official recognition by the institutional Church. Official recognition would compromise MOM’s role, because it would cause the priests whom MOM serves to question whether MOM is acting exclusively in their interests. Moreover, MOM cannot overlook the pressures that may be brought to bear on its mission, if official recognition were to be held out as reward for taking sides against a priest. In other words, MOM’s mission would suffer from both the appearance of partiality, as well as the pressure to become partial, against the priests whom MOM serves.
None of this is to suggest, even remotely, that MOM does not wholeheartedly and unreservedly support the faith of the Catholic Church – it does. And it also has enjoyed the support of priests, bishops, and cardinals at the highest levels of the Church. Our board members and our staff are devout Catholics who cherish the Faith and aim to defend the Church against all evils.
Accordingly, no inference whatsoever should be drawn about MOM’s fidelity to the Church, and to Church teaching, nor for our faithful love for our bishops, simply because MOM does not have official recognition from the institutional Church. Indeed, it is because of that fidelity to the Church, and to Church teaching, that MOM exists.