Welcome to the Bishop Clarence Kelly Web Site
On October 19, 1993, Fr. Clarence Kelly of the Society of St. Pius V was consecrated a Bishop according to the traditional rites of the Roman Catholic Church by Bishop Alfred Mendez, retired Bishop of the diocese of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. Before Bishop Kelly's consecration, the Society of St. Pius V was without a Bishop. Concerns were raised as to where the Society would find priests for the future if the crisis in the Church were to continue for a great length of time. Without a Bishop, new priests could not be ordained. Bishop Mendez, a long time supporter of the Society, courageously stepped forward and performed the consecration, as well as ordaining two additional priests for the Society. The following is the statement from Bishop Mendez proclaiming the ordinations and the consecration:
"When I was called to Santo Domingo in 1960 by the Apostolic Delegate, I was stunned when he told me the Pope had chosen me to be Bishop of Arecibo, Puerto Rico - first Bishop - a new Diocese. I asked permission to offer Mass before accepting. It was the Si Diligis Mass: "Si diligis me...pasce agnos meos, pasce oves meas." Although the designate Mass of the Pope, the Pope is Bishop of Rome and spiritually shares the "fullness of the Priesthood" with all Bishops consecrated to that "fullness." I had gone directly to God with the problem and His first words were the direct answer: "Si diligis me..."
The fullness of the priesthood is an awesome responsibility. It conferred on the Bishop of Arecibo, as on the Bishop of Rome, the responsibility for priests and laity to "fidei integritate laetetur.....et in religionis integritate persistat."
And although I retired from Arecibo in 1974, I remain a Bishop, still responsible in my lifetime to do all in my power to feed the lambs and sheep, which means to secure for them the Sacraments of the Church. And in these days when the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass is being abandoned all over the world - Tolle Missam, Tolle Ecclesiam - I have secured, as far as possible, the Sacraments for the Faithful by the ordinations of two Society of St. Pius V priests for them on September 3, 1990, and, to continue the priesthood, the consecration of a Bishop for them on October 19, 1993.
Signed,
Bishop Alfred F. Mendez, C.S.C., D.D.
Retired Bishop of Arecibo
Notarized: November 26, 1993
San Diego County, California, U.S.A.
