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The Rev. William Hausen knows just what he'll do when he gets the letter notifying him of his formal excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church: Frame it.

The Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese announced Thursday that Hausen "has incurred automatic excommunication" by starting a splinter church. The diocese sent Hausen notification of the pronouncement via certified letter, said the Rev. Ronald Lengwin, diocesan spokesman.

Hausen, 66, of Sewickley, said he received notice of a certified letter but didn't have time to pick it up from the post office; he was going to the Andre Rieu concert last night at Mellon Arena.

Hausen on Sunday led the first service of Christ Hope Ecumenical Catholic Church in a rented ballroom at the Sewickley Country Inn. Excommunication was a self-imposed consequence of that act, Lengwin said.

Diocesan officials still hold out hope for reconciliation, should Hausen abandon Christ Hope and return to the Catholic faith.

"I don't see any reconciliation in the future," Hausen said. "If (Christ Hope) is not somewhat successful, I'll be flipping hamburgers at Seven Springs."

Hausen, who owns a small farm in Seven Springs, labeled the excommunication notice an attempt by the church to control him and his followers by means of "fear and guilt."

Those who join Hausen's church -- like him -- will excommunicate themselves from the church, Lengwin said.

"We are not looking to punish anyone," Lengwin said. "At the same time, your actions do have consequences when you freely and willingly leave the church."

The formal notification of Hausen's excommunication calls Christ Hope a "schismatic church."

"The Christian Faithful need to know that free and willful participation in this church implies separation from the Catholic Church. This a serious matter that no one should take upon himself or herself lightly," says the notice, which will appear in today's Pittsburgh Catholic.

Hausen threatened in 2002 to leave the church, which led to his transfer from St. James Catholic Church in Sewickley to the Sacred Heart Parish in Shadyside, Lengwin said.

The priest captured headlines that year when he delivered a controversial Easter homily saying parishioners should be "pissed off" over the state of the church and questioning mandatory celibacy for clergy and rules against the ordination of women.

At the time of his reassignment, church officials asked that Hausen not drive because of his struggle with alcoholism, the diocese said in a news release yesterday. The church "consistently provided him support and treatment," the diocese said, but the drinking problem persisted and that led the diocese last October to place Hausen on administrative leave.

Hausen has said that he's an alcoholic and has incorporated 12-step methods into his services.

Lengwin said the doors remain open to Hausen but couldn't say what conditions the diocese might set.

"There is no formula," Lengwin said. "Reconciliation is always something you offer with great enthusiasm."

Catholics who have been excommunicated cannot serve as witnesses at baptisms, weddings or confirmations, Lengwin said.

Excommunications are rare, said Bill Ryan, spokesman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Two priests have excommunicated themselves under circumstances similar to Hausen's in the past 15 years.

The Rev. Jim Callan and pastoral administrator Mary Ramerman was excommunicated in 1999 in Rochester, N.Y., when they split to form another church. And the Rev. George August Stallings, of Washington, D.C., was excommunicated in 1989 when he founded the African American Catholic Congregation.

None was formally notified that they'd been excommunicated, according to officials.

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Roman Catholic Church experts say excommunication is rare. A look at cases over the past 20 years:

2002: Seven women, including former Ohio first lady Dagmar Celeste, are ordained in a ceremony in Germany led by Romulo Antonio Braschi, a schismatic Argentine bishop. The seven subsequently are excommunicated.

1999: The Rev. Jim Callan and pastoral administrator Mary Ramerman, along with 200 members of Corpus Christi Church in Rochester, N.Y., are excommunicated after ignoring orders to stop such practices as serving Communion to non-Catholics, blessing same-sex unions and allowing a female pastoral associate.

1996: Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, of Lincoln, Neb., excommunicates members of Call to Action, a reform group at odds with many of the denomination's tenets.

1989: The Rev. George Stallings, of Washington, D.C., is excommunicated after establishing the African American Catholic Congregation, a breakaway church that grew out of his belief that the Roman Catholic Church should do more to serve its 2 million black members.

1988: Archbishop Marcel Lefevbre, of France, a fierce critic of changes introduced by the Second Vatican Council -- especially the translation of Masses from Latin into the languages of each nation -- is excommunicated.

Source: National Catholic Reporter

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Past problems

Famous figures disciplined by the Catholic Church through the centuries:

1209: King John, who was forced to sign the Magna Carta, excommunicated after dispute with Pope Innocent III over who should become archbishop of Canterbury.

1521: Martin Luther, German theologian and leader of the Protestant Reformation, excommunicated for rejecting papal authority.

1570: Queen Elizabeth I, English monarch, excommunicated after she became head of the Church of England

1633: Galileo Galilei, astronomer, convicted of heresy, for supporting theory that Earth revolves around the sun rather than vice versa. In 1992, Pope John Paul II said the church had wronged Galileo.

Source: Tribune-Review research

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