David Bawden

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Script error: No such module "For". Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Template otherScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

David Allen Bawden (September 22, 1959 – August 2, 2022),[1] who took the name Pope Michael, was an American conclavist claimant to the papacy. Bawden believed that the Catholic Church had apostatized from the Catholic faith since Vatican II, and that there had been no legitimate popes elected since the death of Pope Pius XII in 1958. In 1990 he was elected pope by a group of six laypeople, including himself and his parents. In 2011, he was ordained a priest and consecrated a bishop by an Independent Catholic bishop.

Early life and education

Bawden was born in 1959 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, to Clara (Template:Nee Barton) and Kennett Bawden.[1][2][3] He attended elementary school and high school in Oklahoma City.[2] He had one brother.[3]

Bawden's parents were traditionalist Catholics who rejected Vatican II.[4] In the mid-1970s, he and his family became followers of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX).[5][6] Bawden entered the SSPX seminary in Écône, Switzerland, in 1977, then transferred to Saint Joseph's Priory in Armada, Michigan. He was dismissed in 1978.[4][6] His family subsequently moved to St. Marys, Kansas, where the SSPX ran Saint Mary's Academy and College. Bawden worked for the school and his brother attended it.[7] In 1981 Bawden broke with the SSPX.[5] Prior to claiming the papacy, he worked as a real estate agent and furniture maker.[8]

Claim to the papacy

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". Bawden believed that all the popes since the death of Pope Pius XII on October 9, 1958, were modernists, heretics, and apostates, and that their elections were invalid.[9] On July 16, 1990, Bawden, his parents, and three other laypeople held what they claimed to be a papal conclave at the Bawden family's thrift store in Belvue, Kansas.[5][3] Bawden, then aged 30, was elected pope.[10][11] One of the "electors", Teresa Stanfill Benns of Denver, co-authored a book with Bawden entitled Will the Catholic Church Surivive the Twentieth Century? (1990).[12][13]

Bawden subsequently styled himself "Pope Michael" after Saint Michael the Archangel.[8] Bawden had invited hundreds of Independent Catholic bishops and sedevacantists to the election, but none attended.[14] As Bawden was not ordained until 2011, he was unable to celebrate Mass or confect the sacraments as a priest.[4]

Later years and death

File:Pope Michael Casket Burial.jpg
Bawden's burial

After the election, Bawden continued living at home with his parents.[3] In 1993, they relocated to Delia, Kansas.[5] His father died in 1995.[15] In 2007, Theresa Benns and 2 other members of the conclave accused him of heresy and started a petition to have him abandon his claim to the papacy. [16] Bawden established a presence on the internet as an alternative claimant to the papacy;[17] in 2009 he stated that he had approximately 30 "solid followers".[18] He supported himself through donations and by republishing out-of-print religious literature.[6] In 2010, the independent filmmaker Adam Fairholm released a feature-length documentary about him, Pope Michael.[19]

Bawden announced that he had been ordained a priest and then consecrated a bishop on December 11, 2011, by an Independent Catholic episcopus vagans, Bishop Robert Biarnesen of the Duarte-Costa and Old Catholic episcopal lineages.[20][21] Bawden said that he was able to validly celebrate Catholic sacraments, offer the Mass, ordain other men to the priesthood, and consecrate them as bishops, since he believed that the Duarte-Costa and Old Catholic lineages were recognized as valid by the Catholic Church.[22]

On July 10, 2022, his church's Twitter account posted that Bawden had to have emergency surgery and was in a coma.[23] Bawden died on August 2, 2022, in Kansas City, Missouri.[1][24]

References

<templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" />

  1. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ a b c d Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  17. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ Template:Cite tweet
  24. ↑ Template:Cite tweet

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Further reading

External links

Template:SSPX

Retrieved from "http://debianws.lexgopc.com/wiki143/index.php?title=David_Bawden&oldid=5096103"