B767 Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Communication Breakdown; Confusion
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Aircraft; Weather
Holding over SLT on the arrival into EWR because ILS to both 4R and 4L have become out of service.  Only approach is RNAV.  We are unable to do these approaches due to being unqualified.  After many attempts to contact dispatch we receive a reply asking why we are not shooting the RNAV approach.  We send an unable reply.  We then; shortly thereafter; receive another reply from dispatch stating--and I am quoting because I printed and saved the message--'per FOM you can do RNAV GPS approaches just not RNAV RNP.  So you should be good to continue.' [Signed].  At best this is massive incompetence from both the dispatcher and flight operations duty manager and at worst purposeful deception to try to get us to complete the flight.  The ILS eventually came back online and we proceeded uneventfully.
When both runway 4 ILS's at EWR were out of service the flight crew of a B767 debated with Dispatch about their legality to fly the published RNAV procedures.