TheCatholic Apostolic Church (CAC), also known as theIrvingian Church orIrvingite Church, is adenomination in theRestorationist branch of Christianity.[1][2] It originated inScotland around 1831 and later spread to Germany and the United States.[3] The tradition to which the Catholic Apostolic Church belongs is sometimes referred to asIrvingism or theIrvingian movement afterEdward Irving (1792–1834), a clergyman of theChurch of Scotland credited with organising the movement.[1]
The church was organised in 1835 with the fourfold ministry of "apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastors".[4] The denominations in the tradition of the Catholic Apostolic Church teach "the restoration to the universal church of prophetic gifts by the direct inspiration of the Holy Ghost."[5]
As a result ofschism within the Catholic Apostolic Church, other Irvingian Christian denominations emerged, including theOld Apostolic Church,New Apostolic Church,Reformed Old Apostolic Church andUnited Apostolic Church; of these, the New Apostolic Church is the largest Irvingian Christian denomination today, with 16 million members.[6][7]
Irvingism has elaborateliturgies; it teaches threesacraments:Baptism,Holy Communion andHoly Sealing.[1][8][9]
Edward Irving, also a minister in theChurch of Scotland, preached in his church atRegent Square in London on the speedyreturn of Jesus Christ and the real substance of his human nature.[citation needed]
Irving's relationship to this community was, according to its members, somewhat similar to that ofJohn the Baptist to theearly Christian Church. He was the forerunner and prophet of the comingdispensation, not the founder of a new sect; and indeed the only connection which Irving seems to have had with the Catholic Apostolic Church was in fostering spiritual persons who had been driven out of other congregations for the exercise of theirspiritual gifts.[10]
Around him, as well as around other congregations of different origins, coalesced persons who had been driven out of other churches, wanting to "exercise their spiritual gifts". Shortly after Irving's trial and deposition (1831), he restarted meetings in a hired hall in London, and much of his originalcongregation followed him. Having been expelled from the Church of Scotland, Irving took to preaching in the open air inIslington, until a new church was built for him and his followers in Duncan Street, Islington, funded byDuncan Mackenzie ofBarnsbury, a formerelder of Irving's London church.[11]
Shortly after Irving's trial and deposition (1831), certain persons were, at some meetings held for prayer, designated as "called to be apostles of theLord" by certain others claimingprophetic gifts.[10]
In the year 1835, six months after Irving's death, six other people were similarly designated as called to complete the number of the twelve, who were then formally separated, by thepastors of the local congregations to which they belonged, to their higher office in the universal church on 14 July 1835. This separation is understood by the community not as "in any sense being a schism or separation from the one Catholic Church, but a separation to a special work of blessing and intercession on behalf of it." The twelve were afterwards guided to ordain others—twelve prophets, twelve evangelists, and twelve pastors, "sharing equally with them the one Catholic Episcopate," and also seven deacons for administering the temporal affairs of the church catholic.[10]
The names of those twelve apostles includedJohn Bate Cardale,Henry Drummond,Spencer Perceval,Thomas Carlyle, andDuncan Mackenzie.
Each congregation was presided over by its "angel" or bishop (who ranks as angel-pastor in the Universal Church); under him are four-and-twenty priests, divided into the four ministries of "elders, prophets, evangelists and pastors," and with these are the deacons, seven of whom regulate the temporal affairs of the church—besides whom there are also "sub-deacons, acolytes, singers, and door-keepers." The understanding is that each elder, with his co-presbyters and deacons, shall have charge of 500 adult communicants in his district; but this has been but partially carried into practice. This is the full constitution of each particular church or congregation as founded by the "restored apostles," each local church thus "reflecting in its government the government of the churchcatholic by the angel or high priest Jesus Christ, and His forty-eight presbyters in their fourfold ministry (in which apostles and elders always rank first), and under these the deacons of the church catholic."[10]
The priesthood is supported bytithes; it being deemed a duty on the part of all members of the church who receive yearly incomes to offer a tithe of their increase every week, besides the free-will offering for the support of the place of worship, and for the relief of distress. Each local church sends "a tithe of its tithes" to the Temple, by which the ministers of the Universal Church are supported and its administrative expenses defrayed; by these offerings, too, the needs of poorer churches are supplied.[10]
For the service of the church a comprehensivebook of liturgies and offices was provided by the apostles. It dates from 1842 and is based on the Anglican, Roman and Greek liturgies. Lights,incense, vestments,holy water,chrism, and other adjuncts of worship are in constant use. In 1911, the ceremonial in its completeness could be seen in thechurch in Gordon Square, London and elsewhere.[10]
The daily worship consists ofmatins with proposition (or exposition) of thesacrament at 6 a.m., prayers at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., andvespers with proposition at 5 p.m. On all Sundays and holy days there is a "solemn celebration of theeucharist" at the high altar; on Sundays this is at 10 a.m. On other dayslow celebrations are held in the side-chapels, which with thechancel in all churches correctly built after apostolic directions are separated or marked off from thenave by open screens with gates. The community has always laid great stress on symbolism, and in the eucharist, while rejecting bothtransubstantiation andconsubstantiation, holds strongly to areal (mystical) presence. It emphasizes also the phenomena of Christian experience and deems miracle and mystery to be of the essence of a spirit-filled church.[10]
The services were published asThe Liturgy and other Divine Offices of the Church. ApostleCardale put together two large volumes of writings about the liturgy, with references to its history and the reasons for operating in the ways defined, which was published under the titleReadings on the Liturgy.
The Eucharist, being the memorial sacrifice of Christ, is the central service. The Irvingian Churches teach the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, though they rejected what they saw as the philosophical explanations of the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation as well asLollardist doctrine of consubstantiation.[12]
Some of the music in the Catholic Apostolic Church is composed byEdmund Hart Turpin, former secretary of theRoyal College of Organists.
Irvingism teaches threesacraments:Baptism,Holy Communion andHoly Sealing.[8][9]
In 1911, the CAC claimed to have among its clergy many of the Roman, Anglican and other churches, the orders of those ordained by Greek, Roman and Anglican bishops being recognized by it with the simple confirmation of an "apostolic act." The community had not changed in 1911 in general constitution or doctrine. At the time, it did not publish statistics, and its growth during late years before 1911 is said to have been more marked in the United States and in certain European countries, such as Germany, than in Great Britain. There are nine congregations enumerated inThe Religious Life of London (1904).[10]
In the 21st century, of the principal CAC buildings in London, theCatholic Apostolic Central Church, in Gordon Square, survives and has been let for other religious purposes.
Aside from Irving, notable members includeThomas Carlyle,Edward Wilton Eddis who contributed to the Catholic Apostolic hymnal, andEdmund Hart Turpin who contributed much to CAC music.
In the 19th century, the Dutch branch of theRestored Apostolic Mission Church (at first known asApostolische Zending, since 1893 officially registered asHersteld Apostolische Zendingkerk (HAZK)) was created. This later became theNew Apostolic Church.
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All ministers in the church wereordained by an apostle, or under delegated authority of an apostle. Thus, following the death of the last of the apostles, Francis Valentine Woodhouse, in 1901, the consensus of trustees, who administer the remaining assets, has been that no further ordinations are possible.[14]
A collection of papers related to the Catholic Apostolic Church, compiled by the Cousland family of Glasgow, is held at the Cadbury Research Library,University of Birmingham.[15]
From this nexus at Albury Park would eventually emerge the openly-restorationist Catholic Apostolic Church, in which both Drummond and London Scots preacher, Edward Irving (1792-1834), would figure prominently. Significant for the purposes of this discussion is the fact that the Catholic Apostolic Church would distinguish itself not only for its bold claim to exercise the charismata of the Apostolic age, but also for its lavish liturgies borrowed from the pre-Reformation church, both East and West.
In the 1990s the New Apostolic Church had almost 300 apostles with 60,000 congregations comprising 16 million members globally.
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