One of Rev Mario’s favourite axioms was that "The Church is dead". By this he meant that the age where formal structures and organisations dictating the thinking and spiritual development of people had passed. From 1968 he was predicting the departure of congregations from the orthodox church structures. By 1995 he had seen much of this prediction come to pass. The priest was no longer called to trauma situations, or to help people in life crises. Instead, the counsellor, the therapist, the psychologist, the social worker, and many other professionals were sought to give counsel. Mario, together with his co-worker Colin Read, decided that if people would no longer come to the priest, then they would send the priest to the people. Together, they envisaged a "Free" priesthood where an individual working in an occupation, interacting with other souls, could be ordained. The power of this initiation would combine with their professional expertise.

In September 1996, nineteen people were ordained into this inaugural new expression of the priesthood (The Free Priesthood). Their occupations covered a wide variety of human-interactive fields including medicine, counseling, business, music, law, and a range of therapeutic expressions.

The New Expression of the Priesthood continues to this day to be transmitted. From every walk of life new souls take up the challenge, and are ordained each year.