Here is the list of 23 points that Father Pfeiffer mentioned briefly in the conference he did recently on Ambrose Moran. It is the concerns and questions that some of the faithful would like to be answered.
THE PROBLEM WITH AMBROSE MORAN 1) Baptized in Orthodox Church: In a letter to Archbishop Gregory, Moran says he was born and baptized an Orthodox
2) No Catholic baptismal certificate shown up to now: all we know is that Moran was baptized into the schismatic Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 1953.
3) Only a certificate that he was ordained in the Orthodox Church: Ambrose Moran tells us in a video, at 4 minutes & 50 seconds, that he was ordained a priest by Cardinal Josyf Slipyj in 1974, but there is no certificate of this.The May 1974 Ordination Certificate is the ordination (Orthodox) certificate found in the archives of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada. Here are the comments of Fr. Bohdan Bilinksy, current Episcopal Vicar of the same Eparchy, regarding this certificate.
“The letterhead is from the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Kiev. The signatory, Bishop Nicholas is that of an Orthodox Bishop and not connected with the Catholic (Roman nor Eastern) Church hierarchy.” This certificate of ordination in the Orthodox Church was confirmed authentic by a high-ranking schismatic clergyman of the Holy Protection Cathedral. This clergyman telephoned Ambrose Moran, asked him questions, and was satisfied with his answers.
4) Archbishop Nicholas wasn’t even a Bishop when Moran was supposedly ordained by him: Bishop Nicholas was consecrated a Bishop in 1978 and so he couldn’t have ordained Ambrose in 1974.
5) Major inconsistencies with the 1976 Certificate of Consecration (Catholic): - the Certificate of Consecration has been cut off at the bottom, including the ‘seal’ on the left and the seal of Bp. Borecky is missing, which makes the document not legal.
- There is no day for the date, but only “July____1976”
- Card. Slipyj is using a title of “Patriarch” which was never granted by Rome; he had only the title of “Major Archbishop”
-The so-called “Bp. Dimitri” signing on behalf of “Patriarch Maximos V” (1908-2001, a Mekite Greek Catholic Patriarch), does not exist; this name never appears in any list of bishops of the Melkite Patriarchate; it would also make no sense to sign “on behalf” of another bishop in a Consecration Certificate.
- The name of the Church “St. Clement” in Rome has been crossed out and replaced by handwriting with “St. Sophia.”
- The letterhead and the frame is not in use by the Catholic Ukrainians but by the Orthodox Ukrainians.
- The mention of “Our Vicar Bishop” has no sense in the ecclesiastical vocabulary, except for the Vicar of Rome, who represents the Pope; the appropriate expressions would be ‘Auxiliary’ of ‘Coadjutor,’ but it is always mentioned in a separate document.
-We have no Catholic record of any separate document attesting that Moran has previously received the title of “Archimandrite.”
-The name of William/Ambrose Moran never appears in any list of Bishops consecrated by Card. Slipyj in the website catholic-hierarchy.org.
- Fr. Marco Yaroslav Semethen, the Parish Priest of the Ukrainian Catholic Santa Sofia Basilica in Rome where Moran claims he was consecrated by Slipyj in 1976, after examining the “Episcopal Certificate’ provided by Moran, arrived at the following conclusions:
“Document absolutely false! I ran the document for verification to close associates of Cardinal Slipyy of that period. And those of Mons. Ivan Muzycka and Mons. Ivan Dacko was negative! In archives took Basilica Santa Sofia is not no copy of the document dubbed. Signed by Cardinal Slipyi the document submitted does not match with the real signature he used His Beatitude! The same signature and letterhead. Stamp also false! Signature of bishop Boretsky not match the signature he used! Two witnesses who were secretaries of cardinelw Slipyi not remember a fact of Episcopal Moran Dolgoroukyi. It’s all.” - In addition, here are the comments of Fr. Bohdan Bilinksy (of the Ukranian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto) regarding this certificate:
“The signatures of Cardinal Slipyj and Bishop Borecky are not congruent with their signatures we have on file. I allege that they are forgeries. The signature of Bishop Dmitri is not familiar to me but Bishop Dmitri was not likely to sign for another.”
6) Problems with the 1976 Certificate of Consecration (Orthodox): - The Episcopal Certificate has been altered by handwriting in two places: the date of Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Orders, including episcopal consecration, has been changed from Sunday June 12, 1983 to Sunday June 12, 1953; and the date of the ceremony was changed from 1983 to 1976. A closer look at the document allows us to see that in both cases the original dates were 1983 and 1984 respectfully. A proof of the alteration is that “June 12, 1953” was not a Sunday but a Friday!
- In addition, the date of this ceremony of consecration cannot be “June 12, 1953” because Moran was three years old! Actually it is easy to conclude that the real date of his episcopal consecration was rather on “Sunday, June 12, 1983”.
- In addition, Moran claims that the bishops who consecrated him a bishop were “Catholic” at the time of the consecration. This is totally untrue. We have testimonies affirming they were Schismatic Orthodox.
7) The certificate stationary is always the same: The certificate stationery is the same from 1974 to 1986 from Catholic to Orthodox from New York to Rome from priest ordination to Bishop consecration. Bishop Kirkland's Orthodox certificate in 1986 and Moran's ordination and his Cardinal Slipyj consecration certificate in 1976 are all printed from the same source. Note that the twelfth star down on the right hand border on all the documents have the same stamp imperfection.
8) No letter of incardination: From a reply from the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto: “HE WAS NOT incardinated into the Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada.” Fr. Andriy Chirovsky: “I do, hereby, declare that (Priest, Bishop, Archbishop) Moran IS NOT and NEVER HAS BEEN incardinated into the Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada.”
9) Letter from Bishop Isidore to Ambrose is suspect: a) From a reply from the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto: “Another letter allegedly from Bishop Isidore to Ambrose. Is suspect. It has no protocol number. It is dated Aug. 26, 1976.”
b) In the supposed letter from Bishop Isidore Borecky confirming Ambrose's appointment as Metropolitan-Archbishop, August 26, 1976, the signature appears copied from Moran’s Letter of Incardination.
10) Doctored photos: a) Photo of Ambrose Moran and Cardinal Slipyj outside Holy Wisdom (St. Sophia) Cathedral, Rome, in 1976, following ceremony of episcopal consecration.
b) Photo of John Paul II and Ambrose Moran.
11) Doesn’t sign as a Bishop in June 30, 1980 letter: This is a letter found in the archives of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto and Eastern Canada. William Moran identifies himself as “Fr.” Basil Moran. Hold on a minute! Why does he identify himself as “Father” when he was supposedly consecrated a bishop twice in 1976 (and this while he was continuing his graduate studies as per the February 14, 1975 letter, which is also referenced in this June 30, 1980 letter)? And don’t forget that Bishop Borecky himself, according to Ambrose Moran, co-consecrated him a bishop in July 1976 and provided him a letter dated August 26, 1976 congratulating him for being appointed the successor of Cardinal Josyf Slipyj.
12) Says he submitted himself to the Orthodox Church: In a letter that was received by Bishop Isidore Borecky and dated June 30, 1980, “Fr.” Moran says:
“I am writing to inform Your Grace that I have submitted to the jurisdiction of Metropolitan Archbishop Theodosius of the Orthodox Church in America in order to regularize myself finally. I want to express my sincere thanks to you for all your help and kindness in past years.
“As I am in the process of being received into the Orthodox Church in America, a short note from Your Grace would be very helpful….stating that I am of good character….”
13) Doesn’t dress as a Bishop: In 1982 at a Chrism Mass with Bishop Musey, Moran was already a bishop at that point for 6 years. Never does a bishop dress as a simple priest for a Chrism Mass.
14) Schismatic in 1983: There is a decree appointing Bishop Ambrose Moran to be the successor of Metropolitan Hryhorij (Gregory), presiding consecrating bishop of Ambrose Moran in 1976, and Metropolitan Andrew for the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the U.S.A. The decree was signed by four schismatic bishops, including Ambrose Moran, and dated December 15, 1983. This document shows that Bishop Ambrose Moran was still a schismatic in 1983, seven years after his consecration by the schismatic Metropolitan Hryhorij (Gregory). Cardinal Josyf Slipyj died on September 7, 1984. If Cardinal Slipyj truly consecrated or re-consecrated Ambrose Moran in 1976, then why was Ambrose Moran under the wing of Metropolitan Hryhorij (Gregory) in 1983 while Cardinal Slipyj was still alive? You would think he would have been under the wing of Cardinal Slipyj (or someone else appointed by Rome), if Ambrose Moran remained Catholic from 1976 after his alleged consecration by Cardinal Slipyj to the Cardinal’s death in 1984.
15) Affiliation with Genuine Orthodox Church of America (G.O.C.A.) as late as October 2007:
Proof of this is:
a) letter by Moran to Archbishop Gregory giving his Orthodox resume
b) letter of Moran to the clergy and faithful of the G.O.C.A. announcing that he was joining this church.
c) a letter by Gregory to Moran welcoming him to the G.O.C.A.
d) a declaration read and signed by Moran during his Reception into the G.O.C.A.
16) Website says he was a Metropolitan-Archbishop in the schismatic church in 2010: On the website page, there is mention of a Dimtri Gaines serving under Metropolitan-Archbishop Ambrose Moran in the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church in the USA until 2010.
17) False doctrine: In an interview with Fr. Hewko, at 16: 38, Ambrose says: “When I look at the fruit that comes from Vatican II for whatever reason – misinterpretation or certain individuals going off in a different direction – I find in general a very upsetting situation in what is called the Catholic Church since Vatican II.” Vatican II itself is bad, not just the fruit from it and Fr. Hewko corrects Ambrose on this point during the same interview.
18) Dubious statement about Archbishop Lefebvre: Ambrose claims to have offered Archbishop Lefebvre to help with co-consecrating the bishops in 1988. Archbishop Lefebvre apparently told him that he already had a co-consecrator and that Ambrose was to work quietly in the wings.
19) Negative accounts: The replies from priests and bishops about Ambrose have been firmly in the negative. (see replies from the former rector of the Maronite Cathedral Our Lady of Lebanon, the Provincial Secretary of the Salesians regarding Don Bosco College Seminary, the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Toronto, etc.)
20) Official pictures from Incarnation School, Queens Village, N.Y: The photos in the official yearbook show him as a “religious brother” in 1972 and as a layman 1973.
21) Ambrose claims to be a Cardinal: A person who met and spoke with Ambrose Moran in Boston, Kentucky back in September 2015, recounted the following:
“Ambrose told us that JPII secretly made him a cardinal by an esoteric symbolic gesture known to Church insiders. He said that during his audience with JPII, not only did JPII refer to him as "Josephat the New," but also that JPII removed Ambrose's skullcap and put it back on Ambrose's head inside out. Ambrose told us that this was a covert way to communicate JPII's election of Ambrose to the cardinalate. Ambrose gave us a series of titles we could call him. I can remember Archbishop, Archimandrite, Metropolitan, and Patriarch. He told me the proper way to address him is "Your Beatitude."
22) Ambrose claims to be the “bishop in white”: The same person who met and spoke with Moran in Boston, Kentucky back in September 2105 (see point #21 above) also stated the following:
"One of the claims he made at the restaurant is that he believes he might be the bishop in white referred to by Sister Lucia in the vision of the Third Secret of Fatima. He told us that, because of his ecclesiastical rank, he is permitted to wear a white cassock. And because of the great work of saving the Church that he is now come out from hiding to perform, he will most likely be killed . . .” 23) Gives non-Catholic advice: Back in September 2015, in Boston Kentucky, Ambrose Moran gave advice to a young Catholic girl visiting OLMC. She was trying to decide whether to join the religious life or get married and Ambrose suggested to her that she could marry an Orthodox priest in order to have “the best of the both worlds.”
To view any certificates, letters, etc., you can contact: christusrexquebec@bell.net