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Clarence James Kelly (November 23, 1941 – December 2, 2023) was an American Traditionalist Catholic bishop. He was a co-founder of the Society of Saint Pius V and the founder of the Congregation of Saint Pius V.
Kelly attended the Catholic University of America between 1967 and 1969 where he studied philosophy. He began his theology studies in 1969 at the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, New York.
Almost immediately, these priests, with Kelly as their leader, formed the Society of Saint Pius V (SSPV), which held that it is at least a debatable question whether the popes since 1958 have been legitimate Roman Pontiffs. The Society does not believe that it has the right to decide the question of sedevacantism definitively, but believes that "those who presently are thought to be occupying hierarchical positions in the Catholic Church are acting, for the most part, as though they do not have the Faith, according to all human means of judging".
They reject any changes to the Mass (including changes made to the Holy Week Ceremonies by Pope Pius XII in 1955), and adhere to the preconciliar Code of Canon Law. Kelly was replaced by Father Richard Williamson as the superior of the SSPX's North-East district of the United States.
In part due to Kelly's rejection of the validity of sedevacantist bishops consecrated by or in the lineage of Bishop Ngô Đình Thục, some of the original priests of the SSPV, such as Father Daniel Dolan, Father Anthony Cekada, Father Donald Sanborn, and Father Thomas Zapp, broke away from the society.
In 1984, Kelly purchased a former Catskills resort in Round Top, New York, and established St. Joseph's Novitiate. There he also founded the Daughters of Mary, Mother of Our Savior, a congregation of religious sisters. Goldman, Ari L., "A Fight Over an Ex-Nun's Mind and Soul", The New York Times, August 11, 1988
Lengthy litigation followed the expulsion of Kelly and others from the SSPX over the disposition of property and churches. Fundamentalisms Observed, Volume 1, (Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby, eds.) University of Chicago Press, 1994, p. 133, n. 81 In 1985, Kelly, Cekada, Dolan, and Sanborn sued Schmidberger, Williamson, Bolduc, and others related to the SSPX for libel. "Kelly v. Schmidberger", 12 Media L. Rep. 1297, 1299 (S.D.N.Y. 1985)
In 1996, Kelly founded the Congregation of Saint Pius V (not to be confused with the Society of Saint Pius V, which he co-founded earlier), a society for priests and coadjutor brothers.
On February 28, 2007, he consecrated Father Joseph Santay, CSPV, as a bishop. On December 27, 2018, Kelly served as the co-consecrator in Santay's episcopal consecration of Father James Carroll, CSPV.
Episcopacy
On October 19, 1993, in Carlsbad, California, Kelly was consecrated a bishop by Bishop Alfredo Méndez-Gonzalez, the retired Bishop of Arecibo, Puerto Rico.
Personal life and death
Kelly resided at Immaculate Heart Seminary. He died on December 2, 2023, at the age of 82. A Solemn Pontifical Requiem Mass was celebrated for the repose of his soul in the chapel of St. Pius V in Melville, New York, on December 6. His funeral, in the form of a Solemn Mass, was celebrated on December 7 in St. Joseph's Novitiate Chapel in Round Top, New York, after which he was buried in the nearby cemetery.
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