Independent Catholic Church
Of North America

Old Catholic History

Old Catholic: An Introduction and Historical Sketch

Who We, As Old Catholics, Are

The Old Catholics are a body of Christians committed to the Person of Jesus

Christ and His teaching. We accept and believe the testimony of His Apostles,

eyewitnesses of His Life, Death and Resurrection from among the dead.

They passed on to succeeding generations their own testimony about Jesus

Christ and His life. By the proclaiming of His Gospel and the giving of their

own testimony (called the Apostolic Tradition), the Church, which the Lord

instituted, was built up. Old Catholics are an historic part of the One, Holy,

Catholic and Apostolic Church and have their origins in the Ancient Catholic

Church of the Netherlands.

The Ancient Catholic Church of the Netherlands

St. Willibrord missionized the area of Europe known as the Low Countries

in the Seventh Century firmly establishing the Catholic Faith and Tradition

in the Netherlands and other countries in that region. Early on, three

principal dioceses were established in the cities of Utrecht, Deventer and

Haarlem to administer the affairs of the Church in the territory. Utrecht

eventually became the archiepiscopal see with supervision over Deventer

and Haarlem. Assenting to a petition made by the Holy Roman Emperor

Conrad III and Bishop Heribert of Utrecht, Blessed Pope Eugene III, in 1145 A.

D. granted the Cathedral Chapter of Utrecht the right to elect successors to

the See in times of vacancy. The fourth Council of the Laterian confirmed this

privilege in 1215. The autonomous character of the Ancient Catholic Church

in the Netherlands was further demonstrated when a second grant by Pope

Leo X, Debitum Pastoralis, conceded to Philip of Burgundy, 57th Bishop of

Utrecht, that neither he nor his successors, nor any of their clergy or laity,

should ever, in the first instance, have his cause evoked to any external

tribunal, not even under pretense of any apostolic letters whatever; and that

all such proceedings should be, ipso facto, null and void. This papal

concession, in 1520, was of the greatest importance in defense of the rights

of the Church.

The Church in the Netherlands and the Reformation

Armed with the protection of the papal concessions, the Church in the

Netherlands continued to minister even through the Reformation.

During this period of strife, the Church in the Netherlands, as in many other

countries, was forced to "go underground" in order to survive. But survive

and remain extant, it did. Eventually, the Archbishop of Utrecht and other

Church leaders reached an informal agreement with the civil government,

whereby it could again function openly without interference from the

Reformers.

The Move from Isolation

Following the First Vatican Council in 1870 (at which the hierarchy of the

Church of Holland were refused admittance), a considerable dissent among

Catholics, especially in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, arose over the

dogma of papal infallibility. The dissenters, while holding the Church in

General Council to be infallible, could not accept the proposition that the

Pope, acting alone, in matters of faith and morals is infallible. Many formed

independent communities that came to be known as Old Catholic. They

are called Old Catholics because they sought to adhere to the beliefs and

practices of the Catholic Church of the post-Apostolic era. The Old Catholic

communities appealed to the Archbishop of Utrecht who consecrated the first

bishops for these communities. Eventually, under the leadership of the

Church of Holland, these Old Catholic communities joined together to form

the Utrecht Union of Churches. The Utrecht Union of Churches approbated,

in 1908, the establishment of a mission in Great Britain. Archbishop Gerardus

Gul of Utrecht consecrated Father Arnold Harris Matthew, a resigned Roman

Catholic priest, Regionary Bishop for England. It was Bishop Mathew's charge

to minister among Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics impeded from full

participation in the life and sacraments of the Church. Toward this end, Bishop

Mathew consecrated Austrian nobleman, Prince Rudolph Edward de Landes

Berghes, in 1913 for work in Scotland. Prince Rudolph (1873-1920) left England

for the United States at the onset of World War I.

In the United States

Bishop de Landes Berghes, in spite of great difficulty and isolation from the

Utrecht Union of Churches, due to Bishop Mathew's hasty action in

withdrawing from the Union, was able to plant the roots of an independent

expression of Catholicism in America. He elevated to the episcopacy two

priests, Carmel Henry Carfora and William Francis Brothers. Each of these

bishops, in his own manner, continued the mission begun by Bishop de

Landes Berghes. With the passing of these original organizers from the

ecclesiastical scene, the Old Catholic Church in the United States has evolved

from a fairly centralized administration with structured oversight of ministry

to a local and regional model of administration with self-governing dioceses

and provinces more closely following St. Ignatius of Antioch's concepts of the

Church as a communion of communities each laboring together to proclaim

the message of the Gospel.

Recent Developments

At the suggestion of the Archbishop of Utrecht, the Old Catholic bishops in

the United States established the Council of Independent Catholic Bishops

as a means to more closely coordinate ministry and serve as a forum for better

communication and exchange of ideas and planning. Since it’s founding in

1982, the Council has achieved some success in bringing a greater sense of

unity and purpose and action to the Old Catholic hierarchy in the United

States.

What Old Catholics Believe

The faith of Old Catholics is simply that of the Catholic Church as taught by

the Church from apostolic times to the present day. The ecumenical Councils

clearly express what Old Catholics believe without the need for apology or

excuse. In 1823, Archbishop Willibrord van Os of Utrecht reiterated adherence

to the unchanging doctrine of Catholicism in the following words:” We accept

without any exception whatever, all the Articles of the Holy Catholic Faith. We

will never hold nor teach, now or afterwards, any other opinions than those

that have been decreed, determined and published by our Mother, Holy

Church..." Thus, Old Catholics, tracing their Apostolic Succession through the

Roman Catholic Church to the Apostles, participated in the full sacramental

ministry of the Church. The Rule of Faith of Old Catholics is faithful

adherence to Sacred Scripture and the Apostolic Tradition.

How Do We Differ

In matters of discipline, administration and procedure, Old Catholics differ

from the Roman Catholic Church. For example, clerical celibacy (which is a

matter of discipline) is optional among Old Catholics. Married men and

women may be ordained and in many of our dioceses clergy may, with prior

Episcopal consent, enter into Holy Matrimony after ordination. Liturgical

expression is also a matter of discipline determined by the local bishop.

Consequently, many Old Catholic communities have adopted the liturgical

renewal promulgated following the Second Vatican Council while still

maintaining Tridentine liturgy, in Latin or direct translation into classical or

modern English, in those parishes that desire it. Eastern rite Old Catholic

parishes exist as well, which follow the ancient liturgies of that rich tradition.

Because Old Catholic communities are small, they are able to success fully

implement the Ignatian model of the Church referred to earlier. This concept

views the faithful with their clergy and bishop as a community or family in

loving concern for each other and each working together to live the Scriptural

commands in their daily lives as Christians bringing the love of Christ to

others. Old Catholic communities utilize their size and lack of highly detailed

structure to the very best advantage organizationally by their ability to

expedite decisions affecting the sacramental and community life of the faithful,

within the revelation and authority of Holy Scripture and Apostolic Tradition.

Other Distinctions

There are other distinctives by which Old Catholic communities are

differentiated from Roman Catholic parishes. The matter of papal infallibility

defined by Vatican Council I is a non-issue for Old Catholics, since we are

independent of papal jurisdiction. All Old Catholic communities accord the

Holy Father that respect due him as Successor of St. Peter, Prince of the

Apostles and Patriarch of the West. Old Catholics adhere to the teaching from

apostolic times that the Church in General Council is infallible. Another

difference is that divorced people who remarry are treated in a pastoral

manner and not excluded from the sacramental life of the Church. Further, the

matter of contraception is treated as a matter of personal conscience between

husband and wife. Old Catholic theology recognizes that the Church's

teaching magisterium has no less than two objects: the formation of conscience,

in which case authority has an instructive quality; and the nurturing of an

informed conscience to full maturity, in which case authority is guiding but

not directive.

Old Catholic Ministry

By developing new methods and ideas with an emphasis on community, and

Catholicism, which expresses a warmth and interest in the total person, Old

Catholic communities are able to address the needs of today's society in the

waning years of the Twentieth Century. For the contemporary Catholic

searching to maintain his/her Faith but desiring to do so without excessive

institutionalism that often loses contact with the individual; for those with a

Catholic background who feel impeded from full participation in the life and

Sacraments of the Church; for the many unchurched who desire the joy and

peace of Our Lord's Word and His Holy Sacraments, Old Catholic

communities provide available alternative and allow a person to be a part of

Christ's Church, and beat peace with his/her conscience. Old Catholic

communities, because of their size, can give individual attention to the

individual spiritual needs of the faithful and, where necessary, develop

unique ministries to meet those needs.

Encyclopedia Article on Old Catholics

Christian denomination organized in Munich in 1871 by Roman Catholics who

protested the dogma, proclaimed the previous year by Vatican Council I, of

the personal infallibility of the pope in all ex cathedra pronouncements (see

Infallibility). The Munich protest, by 44 professors under the leadership of the

German theologians and historians Johann Joseph Ignaz von Döllinger and

Johannes Friedrich, was directed against the binding authority of the Vatican

Council. To this protest a number of professors at Bonn, Breslau (, Freiburg,

and Giessen declared their adherence. At Cologne in 1873 the German

theologian Joseph Hubert Reinkens was elected bishop of the Old Catholics in

the ancient fashion, by “clergy and people,” that is, by all the Old Catholic

priests and by representatives of the Old Catholic congregations. He was

consecrated at Rotterdam by the bishop of Deventer, the Netherlands, and

acknowledged by the German states of Prussia, Baden, and Hessen. Döllinger

refused to become involved in organized schism and eventually broke with

the movement, but he never returned to the Roman Catholic Church.

Old Catholics conduct church services in the vernacular. Priests are allowed to

marry. Intercommunion with the Church of England was accomplished at a

conference in Bonn in July 1931; the concordat was ratified later by the Vienna

congress of the Old Catholic church and by the convocations of Canterbury and

York of the Church of England. According to recent figures, the Old Catholics

number fewer than 250,000, with fewer than 70,000 in the U.S. [1]

reserved.

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