| Old Catholic Church | |
|---|---|
| Polity | Episcopal |
| Union of Utrecht | |
| Union of Scranton | |
| Associations | World Council of Churches (Union of Utrecht only) |
| Full communion | Anglican Communion (Union of Utrecht only) Church of Sweden (Union of Utrecht only)[3] Philippine Independent Church (Union of Utrecht only) |
| Separated from | Catholic Church |
| Also known as Old Catholics or Old-Catholic churches | |
The termsOld Catholic Church,Old Catholics,Old-Catholic churches,[4] orOld Catholic movement,[5] designate "any of the groups ofWestern Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of theundivided church but who separated from theSee of Rome after theFirst Vatican Council of 1869–70".[6][7]
The expression Old Catholic has been used from the 1850s by communions separated from theRoman Catholic Church over certain doctrines, primarily concerned withpapal authority andinfallibility. Some of these groups, especially in theNetherlands, had already existed long before the term. The Old Catholic Church is separate and distinct fromTraditionalist Catholicism.
Two groups of Old Catholic churches currently exist: theUnion of Utrecht (UU, not to be confused withUnitarian Universalism) and theUnion of Scranton (US). Neither group is infull communion with theHoly See. Member churches of the Union of Utrecht are in full communion with theAnglican Communion as well as theEvangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden and thePhilippine Independent Church[8][9] and many UU churches are members of theWorld Council of Churches.[10][11] Other churches which claim to be Old Catholic yet are not members of the Union of Utrecht or Union of Scranton are Independent Old Catholics.[12]
Both groups trace their beginning to the 18th century when members of theSee of Utrecht refused to obey papal authority and wereexcommunicated. Later Catholics who disagreed with the RomanCatholic dogma ofpapal infallibility, as defined by theFirst Vatican Council (1870), were thereafter without a bishop and joined with the See of Utrecht to form the Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches. Today, Utrechter Union churches are found chiefly in Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
In 2008, thePolish National Catholic Church created the Union of Scranton and separated from the Union of Utrecht. This was done in protest of the older Union's decision toordain women and blesssame-sex marriages. TheNordic Catholic Church later joined the Union of Scranton as well.
In the pre-Reformation era, there were already disputes that set the stage for an independent bishopric of Utrecht between theCatholic Church and theHoly Roman Empire, notably during between the 11th to 15th centuries.
The northern provinces that revolted against theSpanish Netherlands and signed the 1579Union of Utrecht, persecuted the Roman Catholic Church, confiscated church property, expelled monks and nuns from convents and monasteries, and made it illegal to receive theCatholic sacraments.[13] As a result, priests and communities went underground. Groups would meet for thesacraments in the attics of private homes at the risk of arrest.[14] Priests identified themselves by wearingall black clothing withvery simple collars.[15]
All theepiscopal sees of the area, including that of Utrecht, had fallen vacant by 1580, because theSpanish crown, which since 1559had patronal rights over all bishoprics in the Netherlands, refused to make appointments for what it saw asheretical territories, and the nomination of anapostolic vicar was seen as a way of avoiding direct violation of the privilege granted to the crown.[15] The appointment of an apostolic vicar, the first after many centuries, for what came to be called theHolland Mission was followed by similar appointments for other Protestant-ruled countries, such asEngland, which likewise became mission territories.[15] The disarray of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands between 1572 and about 1610 was followed by a period of expansion of Roman Catholicism under the apostolic vicars,[16] leading to Protestant protests.[17]
The initial shortage of Roman Catholic priests in the Netherlands resulted in increased pastoral activity ofreligious clergy, among whomJesuits formed a considerable minority, coming to represent between 10 and 15 percent of all the Dutch clergy in the 1600–1650 period. Conflicts arose between these, and the apostolic vicars andsecular clergy.[18] In 1629, there were 321 Roman Catholic priests in the United Provinces, 250 secular and 71 religious, with Jesuits at 34 forming almost half of the religious. By the middle of the 17th century, the secular priests were 442, the religious 142, of whom 62 were Jesuits.[19]
The sixth apostolic vicar of theDutch/Holland Mission,Petrus Codde, was appointed in 1688. In 1691, the Jesuits accused him of favouring theJansenistheresy.[20]Pope Innocent XII appointed a commission ofcardinals to investigate the accusations against Codde. The commission concluded that the accusations were groundless.[21] In 1702,Pope Clement XI deposed Codde, to which Codde obeyed.[22]
While the religious clergy remained loyal to the Holy See, three-quarters of the secular clergy at first followed Codde, but by 1706 over two-thirds of these returned to Roman Catholic allegiance.[23] Of the laity, the overwhelming majority sided with the Holy See.[19] Thus, most Dutch Catholics remained in full communion with the pope and with theapostolic vicars appointed by him.
After Codde's resignation, the Diocese of Utrecht electedCornelius Steenoven asbishop.[24] The See of Utrecht declared the right to elect its own archbishop in 1724, after being accused ofJansenism. Following consultation with both canon lawyers and theologians in France and Germany,Dominique Marie Varlet, a Catholic bishop of the French Oratorian Society of Foreign Missions, consecrated Steenoven as a bishop without a papal mandate.[25] What had beende jure autonomous becamede facto an independent Catholic church. Although the pope was notified of all proceedings, the Holy See still regarded the diocese as vacant due to papal permission not being sought. The pope, therefore, continued to appoint apostolic vicars for the Netherlands. Steenoven and the other bishops wereexcommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church, and thus began theOld Catholic Church in the Netherlands.[14] Subsequent bishops were then appointed and ordained to the sees ofDeventer,Haarlem andGroningen under theSee of Utrecht in later years.[26]
Due to prevailing anti-papal feeling among the powerful DutchCalvinists, the Church of Utrecht was tolerated and even praised by the government of theDutch Republic.[27]
In 1853Pope Pius IX received guarantees ofreligious freedom from KingWilliam II of the Netherlands andre-established the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the Netherlands.[28] The Holy See considers theRoman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht as the continuation of theepiscopal see founded in the 7th century and raised to metropolitan status on 12 May 1559, thus not recognizing any legitimacy of Old Catholics.[29]
 |
| Papal primacy,supremacy andinfallibility |
|---|
Catholic episcopal councils compared to popes |
Existing dogma compared to popes |
Objections and controversy
|
After theFirst Vatican Council (1869–1870), several groups of Roman Catholics inAustria-Hungary,Imperial Germany, andSwitzerland rejected theRoman Catholic dogma ofpapal infallibility in matters of faith and morals and left to form their own churches.[30] The formation of the Old Catholic communion of Germans, Austrians and Swiss began under the leadership ofIgnaz von Döllinger, following the First Vatican Council.[4] These were supported by theOld Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht, who ordained priests and bishops for them. Later the Dutch were united more formally with many of these groups under the name "Utrecht Union of Churches".[31]
In the spring of 1871, a convention inMunich attracted several hundred participants, includingChurch of England and Protestant observers.[32] Döllinger, an excommunicated Roman Catholic priest and church historian, was a notable leader of the movement but was never a member of an Old Catholic church.[33]
The convention decided to form the "Old Catholic Church" in order to distinguish its members from what they saw as the novel teaching in the Roman Catholic dogma of papal infallibility. Although it had continued to use theRoman Rite, from the middle of the 18th century the Dutch Old Catholic See of Utrecht had increasingly used thevernacular instead of Latin. The churches which broke from the Holy See in 1870 and subsequently entered into union with the Old Catholic See of Utrecht gradually introduced the vernacular into theliturgy until it completely replaced Latin in 1877.[34] In 1874, the Old Catholics removed the requirement ofclerical celibacy.[21]
TheCatholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany received support from the government ofOtto von Bismarck, whose 1870sKulturkampf policies persecuted the Roman Catholic Church.[35] In Austria-Hungary,pan-Germanic nationalist groups, like those ofGeorg Ritter von Schönerer,promoted the conversion of all German speaking Catholics to Old Catholicism and Lutheranism, with poor results.[36]
In 1897 a group of Polish migrants in the United States broke away from the Holy See due to theological and liturgical issues; their leader,Franciszek Hodur, was consecrated a bishop by Old Catholic Archbishop of UtrechtGerardus Gul, establishing thePolish National Catholic Church, which joined the Union of Utrecht.
In 1910,Arnold Mathew—a formerBritish Catholic and Anglican, who was consecrated by Old Catholic Archbishop Gul in 1908—split away from the Union of Utrecht, establishing theOld Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain. In 1914, he consecratedRudolph de Landas Berghes, who emigrated to the United States in 1914 and planted the seed of Old Roman Catholicism in the Americas. Mathew also consecrated an excommunicated Capuchin Franciscan priest as bishop:Carmel Henry Carfora.[37] VariousChristian denominations claimingapostolic succession from Mathew were founded in the world through Berghes, Carfora, and others includingJames Wedgwood—founder of theLiberal Catholic Church. Such groups' apostolic succession is deemed to be invalid by both theHoly See, theUnion of Utrecht and theAnglican Communion. Mathew himself wasexcommunicated and declared a "pseudo-bishop" byPope Pius X,[38] while theInternational Old Catholic Bishops' Conference declared his consecration to benull and void, obtainedmala fide.[39]
Another significant figure,Joseph René Vilatte, who was ordained a deacon and priest by BishopEduard Herzog, of theChristian Catholic Church of Switzerland;[40] he worked with Catholics of Belgian ancestry living on theDoor Peninsula ofWisconsin, with the knowledge and blessing of the Union of Utrecht and under the full jurisdiction of the local Episcopal Bishop ofFond du Lac, Wisconsin.[41] However, he subsequently left the Old Catholics and was later consecrated a bishop by PatriarchMar Julius I of theMalankara Orthodox Syrian Church, though the validity of such consecration is disputed.[39] He proceeded to establish a number of Christian denominations before eventually reconciling with the Holy See.[42]
In 2003, the Polish National Catholic Church voted itself out of theUU due to the Utrechter Union's acceptance of female ordination, and their attitude towardshomosexuality, both of which the Polish National Catholic Church rejects.[43][44] Prior, in 1994, the German Old Catholic bishops of the Utrechter Union decided toordain women as priests, and put this into practice on 27 May 1996. Similar decisions and practices followed in Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.[45] By 2020, the Swiss church also voted in favour ofsame-sex marriage. Marriages between two men and two women were conducted in the same manner as heterosexual marriages.[46]
The Old Catholic Church of Slovakia was accepted in 2000 as a member of the Union of Utrecht.[47] As early as 2001 some issues arose concerning future consecration of Augustin Bacinsky as old-catholic bishop of Slovakia, and the matter was postponed.[48] The Old Catholic Church of Slovakia was expelled from the Union of Utrecht in 2004, because the episcopal administrator Augustin Bacinsky had been consecrated by anepiscopus vagans.[49]
At present, the only recognized Christian church in North America that is in communion with the Union of Utrecht is theEpiscopal Church.[50] Since the Polish National Catholic Church schismed with the Utrechter Old Catholics, the two Old Catholic unions do not recognize each other. Christians claiming to be Old Catholic outside of both the Union of Utrecht and Union of Scranton are referred to as Independent Old Catholics; according to Robert Caruso inThe Old Catholic Church:[12]
The history of the independent Old Catholic movement in the U.S. is highly disordered, partially because so many fragmented entities have erroneously adopted the term "Old Catholic," e.g., the Old Roman Catholic Church, the Liberal Catholic Church, the churches established by Bishop Vilatte and Bishop Mathew, and so on. This problem developed when more and more self-labeled independent Catholic bishops began falsely claiming to be part of the Old Catholic Church. Thesewandering bishops (as they are labeled by Utrecht and the Anglican churches) were, in a manner of speaking, altogether of another ecclesial origin apart from the Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht.
As of 2016[update], there were 115,000 members of Old Catholic churches.[51]
| Church | Membership |
|---|---|
| Catholic Diocese of the Old-Catholics in Germany | 15,500[52] |
| Old Catholic Church of Austria | 14,621[53] |
| Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands | 10,000[54] |
| Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland | 13,500[55] |
| Old Catholic Mariavite Church in Poland | 29,000[56] |
| Polish Catholic Church in Poland[b] | 20,000[57] |
Old Catholic theology views theEucharist as the core of theChristian Church; from this point of view, the church is a community of believers. All are incommunion with one another around the sacrifice ofJesus Christ, as the highest expression of the love ofGod. Therefore, the celebration of the Eucharist is understood as the experience of Christ's triumph oversin. The defeat of sin consists in bringing together that which is divided.[58]
An active contributor to the Declaration of the Catholic Congress of Munich, 1871—and all later assemblies—wasJohann Friedrich von Schulte, professor ofdogmatics atPrague. Von Schulte summed up the results of the congress as follows:[59]
The 1889Declaration of Utrecht states the Union of Utrecht believes inVincent of Lérins's following quote from hisCommonitory: "all possible care must be taken, that we hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, by all; for this is truly what iscatholic".[60][61] TheUU allows those who aredivorced to have a new religious marriage in the church,[62] and Old Catholics had gradually replaced the Latin mass with the vernacular by 1877.[34] In 1989, the Union of Utrecht opposedabortion, but "[u]nusual exceptions should be made in consultation with a priest".[63]
Old Catholicism valuesapostolic succession by which they mean both the uninterrupted laying on of hands by bishops through time (thehistoric episcopate), and the continuation of the whole life of the church community by word and sacrament over the years and ages. Old Catholics consider apostolic succession to be the handing on of belief in which the whole Church is involved. In this process the ministry has a special responsibility and task, caring for the continuation in time of the mission of Jesus Christ and his apostles.[58]
According to the principle ofex opere operato, certain ordinations by bishops not in communion with Rome arestill recognised as being valid by the Holy See, and the ordinations of and by Old Catholic bishops in the Union of Utrecht churches has never been formally questioned by the Holy See until the more recent ordinations of women as priests.[64]
The Union of Utrecht considers that the reunion of the churches has to be based on a re-actualization of the decisions of faith made by the undivided Church. In that way, they claim, theoriginal unity of the Church could be made visible again. Following these principles, later bishops and theologians of the Union of Utrechts churches stayed in contact withRussian Orthodox,Lutheran andAnglican representatives.[3][65]
Old Catholic involvement in the multilateralecumenical movement formally began with the participation of two bishops, from the Netherlands and Switzerland, at the Lausanne Faith and Order (F&O) conference (1927). This side of ecumenism has always remained a major interest for Old Catholics who have never missed an F&O conference. Old Catholics also participate in other activities of the WCC and of national councils of churches. By active participation in the ecumenical movement since its very beginning, the OCC demonstrates its belief in this work.[65]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Baumgarten, Paul Maria (1911). "Old Catholics". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:Vincent of Lérins (1955) [1894 by various publishers]."TheCommonitory of Vincent of Lérins, for the antiquity and universality of the catholic faith against the profane novelties of all heresies". InSchaff, Philip;Wace, Henry (eds.).Sulpitius Severus, Vincent of Lerins, John Cassian. A select library of the Nicene and post-Nicene fathers of the Christian Church. Second series. Vol. 11. Translated by Charles A. Heurtley (Reprint ed.). Grand Rapids: B. Eerdmans. pp. 127–130 [132].OCLC 16266414 – viaChristian Classics Ethereal Library. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain:Neale, John M (1858).History of the so-called Jansenist church of Holland; with a sketch of its earlier annals, and some account of the Brothers of the common life. Oxford; London: John Henry and James Parker.hdl:2027/mdp.39015067974389.OCLC 600855086.
Cultural sphere ofChristian traditions that developed in theLatin Church in theWestern Roman Empire, further diversified starting from theProtestant Reformation in the 16th century | ||||||||||||||
| Main divisions |
|  | ||||||||||||
| History |
| |||||||||||||
| Theology | ||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
