Independent Catholic Churches

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Independent Catholic Churches are Christian denominations (or congregations) which claim apostolic succession for their bishops but are not a part of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the Old Catholic Churches under the Archbishop of Utrecht or the Anglican Communion. Independent Catholic bishops are sometimes referred to as episcopi vagantes ("wandering bishops") because of their lack of affiliation with a larger communion of churches.

[edit] History

Bishop Arnold Mathew being ordained a bishop by Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht Gerardus Gul at St. Gertrude's Cathedral, in the city of Utrecht, on 28 April 1908.

Although the term Old Catholic was first used in 1853 to describe those Catholics belonging to Utrecht in the Netherlands, most scholars date the "modern" Old Catholic movement to the 1870s. After the First Vatican Council in 1870 considerable groups of Austrian, German and Swiss Catholics rejected the declaration of papal infallibility and left to form their own churches independent of Rome. These churches were supported by the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht who ordained their priests and bishops. Later they united more formally under the name Utrecht Union of Churches^[1].

The Independent Catholic Movement came to Great Britain in 1908 when Arnold Harris Mathew was consecrated a bishop in the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht. Utrecht incorrectly believed that Mathew had a significant following in the United Kingdom, and also that there would be a wave of clergy wanting to leave the Church of England as a result of Pope Leo XIII's declaration that Anglican orders were null and void. Mathew believed that Old Catholicism would provide a home for these disaffected clergy; the mass conversions never materialised. Before breaking with the Union of Utrecht Mathew ordained several individuals to the episcopacy and priesthood, from whom a number of new churches quickly developed, including the Liberal Catholic Church, the first bishop of which was James Wedgwood, consecrated by F.S.Willoughby, who had in turn been consecrated by Mathew.^[2]

Joseph René Vilatte is credited with being the first person to bring the Independent Movement to North America.^[3] An Old Catholic priest, in 1892 Vilatte travelled to Ceylon where he obtained ordination to the episcopacy by Archbishop Alvarez of the Independent Catholic Church of Ceylon. Over the following twenty-eight years Vilatte consecrated a number of men to the episcopacy; these bishops, or their successors, went on to found many different jurisdictions in the United States, including the American Catholic Church, the African Orthodox Church, the Apostolic Christian Church, the Free Church of Antioch and the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch, Malabar Rite^[4].

[edit] Independent Catholic groups

Many, but not all, independent Catholic clergy claim descent from the Old Catholics of Utrecht, although Utrecht does not accept their orders, and considers them to be invalid. Like Orthodoxy, Utrecht holds that ordinations can only be done within the Church as a whole and with appropriate permission. Other Independent groups in North America began life as Protestant and/or Charismatic congregations; for example, the Charismatic Episcopal Church came into being when charismatic fellowships rediscovered both sacramentalism and the historical apostolic succession. Another similar group, the Evangelical Orthodox Church, found its way into mainstream Eastern Orthodoxy: one part joined the Antiochan Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America in 1987, other parishes later entered the Orthodox Church in America, whilst a remnant, which does not claim traditional apostolic succession, has kept the name EOC and continues as an independent communion. Since the orders of the EOC were not regarded as valid by the Orthodox bishops, the reception of clergy into mainstream Orthodoxy was always accompanied by their ordination.

The Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church was founded in the 1940s as Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa withdrew from the Roman Catholic Church in protest against the Church's perceived support of Nazis who fled to Latin America. Duarte Costa went on to consecrate other bishops in Europe as well as North and South America. Several independent Catholic bodies today claim to trace their apostolic succession through Duarte Costa.

A number of liturgical churches are sometimes regarded as Independent Catholic, but do not fit neatly in this category. Continuing Anglican Churches are sometimes included in this grouping, but this is controversial, especially with regard to the larger Anglican bodies, and these Continuing Churches do not count themselves as being within the Independent Catholic movement. Traditionalist Roman Catholic groups are sometimes regarded as Independent Catholics (i.e. not in communion with the pope), but these groups do not see themselves in this manner; rather they regard themselves as being the true Church, believing that Roman Catholicism has embraced teachings which are schismatic, or even heretical since the Second Vatican Council. Evangelical Catholic groups such as the Evangelical Community Church-Lutheran, consider themselves to be Lutheran, rather than Independent Catholic as their origins are Lutheran. A similar controversy exists regarding the Old Calendar Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions, including the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and bodies which split from mainstream Orthodoxy specifically in order to maintain the Old Liturgical Calendar. There have been attempts to construct broader categories to include many of these groups, the most well known of which is the "Independent Sacramental Movement," but most of these conservative/traditional churches would still be uncomfortable with such a characterisation.

The Polish National Catholic Church is occasionally referred to as an Independent Catholic Church; however, the PNCC rejects this designation. The PNCC derives its orders from the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht, but is no longer in communion with Utrecht or the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. These relationships ended because the PNCC rejects the ordination of both women and sexually active gays. Whilst no longer in communion with any other body, the PNCC remains a relatively substantial denomination, maintaining active dialogue with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches, and is a member of the World Council of Churches.

A very few independent Catholic groups have grown to a larger size (e.g. The Ecumenical Catholic Communion) but the majority consist of one or two bishops, a few priests and deacons, and a small number of adherents. In numerous cases, bishops have been consecrated without having any priests under their jurisdiction, and some bishops have undergone several consecrations in an attempt to secure a more diverse claim to apostolic succession.

As mentioned, the Orthodox Communion rejects the validity of such Independent Old Catholic ordinations since they have been done outside the Church (i.e. Orthodoxy) and Utrecht maintains a similar position. Roman Catholicism, which has tended to hold a more mechanistic view of ordination, also does not accept the validity of the orders of Independent Old Catholic clergy and any who have been received into Roman Catholicism have been welcomed as laity and not clergy. This is for several reasons: the proliferation of ordinations together with poor - and conflicting - records make it difficult to ensure validity; the participation of women in ceremonies renders any ordinations dubious in the eyes of the Vatican; the theology of many in the Independent Old Catholic Movement is unacceptable from the viewpoint of the Roman Catholic Utrecht and Orthodox churches e.g. many undergo multiple (i.e. sequential) ordinations which demonstrates an unacceptable concept of ordination to Catholicism, Orthodoxy and Utrecht which believe that one is either ordained or not. Further, many clergy in the Independent Community believe in reincarnation, others reject the Trinity whilst still others (such as the Liberal Catholic Church) believe in theosophy and various forms of esotericism. These beliefs are heretical according to Orthodoxy, Roman Catholicism and Utrecht and would render invalid the ordination of any who believed in them regardless of the ordaining prelate or the ritual used.

The study of the Independent Old Catholic Movement is further complicated by the fact that it is very fluid, with groups forming and dissolving with some frequency due to disagreements and the realigning of associations.

[edit] Faith and practice

Virtually all independent Catholic Churches worship according to a set liturgy, usually derived from a mainstream historical Christian rite, such as the Syriac, Byzantine, or Roman. Sometimes they use a liturgy that is a combination of two or more of these historical liturgies or one that is unique to the Church in question. By definition, all such groups are episcopal in polity, being led by bishops and priests who are assisted by deacons. All hold to some type of sacramental understanding of the Christian faith related to that broadly held in common by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian, and Anglican Churches. Many also affirm the text of the Nicene Creed, but interpretations vary widely.

However, Independent groups disagree on the ordination of women, the ordination of sexually active gays and lesbians, the acceptability of same-sex marital unions, abortion, contraception, divorce, and other issues that are controversial also in more mainstream sections of Christianity. However, unlike most of their more conventional counterparts, these groups, usually being quite small, tend to be internally fairly homogeneous on these and other issues; in other words, divisions on these and other questions are between these groups, not so much within them.

These Independent Catholic groups represent a variety of doctrines. Some, such as the Liberal Catholic Church,the Free Church of Antioch, the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch – Malabar Rite (the "Church of Antioch"), and the recently formed Young Rite are characterised by a theosophical or New Age orientation. Others are quite conservative, following extremely traditionalist Catholic or Old Calendar Orthodox positions; still others describe themselves as "Evangelical Catholic" and are High Church Lutherans.

Many have embraced the model of parish organisation in which a bishop, not a priest, is the pastor of a parish. This model enables those who wish to become bishops to rationalise the process even when there are no other members of the clergy in the group. Thus, a high percentage of those who enter the Independent Catholic clergy end up seeking ordination to the episcopacy. Congregations tend to be minuscule and sometimes even non-existent e.g. the website of newly-established Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church states that it has no laity at present (January 2008).^[5]

It is rare to find Independent clergy who are supported financially in their work. In the United Kingdom there are several who make a substantial income by conducting marriages and/or funerals, from high church to humanist or even pagan in character, leading to the charge that these people see ministry as a career rather than the traditionally understood vocation. However, most Independent clergy pursue their ministry as a part-time, volunteer calling, whilst engaging in some other occupation in order to support themselves and their families.

[edit] Ecclesiology

Independent Catholic clergy have often received multiple ordinations/consecrations to ensure a broad and diverse claim to apostolic succession. Though perhaps less prevalent than in the past, the practice continues; for example, Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan of the African Orthodox Church, one of four who were conditionally ordained to the episcopate by the excommunicated Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo on 24 September 2006, was first consecrated on 10 June 1978, and subsequently conditionally re-consecrated a number of times prior to the ceremony conducted by Archbishop Milingo.[1]

The claims of many within the Independent movement to continuity with holy orders as found in the mainline churches are based at least in part on an understanding of apostolic succession that has been held by some within Roman Catholicism since the time of the Donatist controversy in the 4th and 5th centuries A.D. According to those who hold this understanding, a person becomes a true bishop if consecrated in an approved rite by another (validly ordained) bishop even when he is outside the boundaries of Catholicism. However, most theologians within the Roman Catholic Church consider this view to be mechanical and reductionist; thus, they teach that such ceremonies have no effect on the grounds that an ordination is for service within a concrete Christian Church. Therefore an ordination ceremony that concerns only the individual himself does not correspond to the understanding of ordination held by Catholicism and is subsequently without efficacy. Many Independent Catholics would reject this characterisation, seeing their bishops as always ordained for the service of others and for the Christian community, whether in a defined jurisdiction or more broadly. The Old Catholics of the Union of Utrecht, the Coptic Church and the various Orthodox churches completely reject the validity of the ordinations of heretics or schismatics, and thus do not recognise the orders of those within the Independent Catholic movement, to whom they apply these categories.

While the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church has more than once declared that certain episcopal consecrations have no canonical effect, it has stated that it was not thereby expressing a judgement on the validity of those consecrations, but merely on their canonical efficacy. Thus, when it declared devoid of canonical effect the consecration ceremony conducted by Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục for the Carmelite Order of the Holy Face group on 31 December 1975, it refrained from pronouncing on its validity. It made the same statement with regard to later ordinations by those bishops, saying that, "as for those who have already thus unlawfully received ordination or any who may yet accept ordination from these, whatever may be the validity of the orders (quidquid sit de ordinum validitate), the Church does not and will not recognise their ordination (ipsorum ordinationem), and will consider them, for all legal effects, as still in the state in which they were before, except that the ... penalties remain until they repent" (Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Decree Episcopi qui alios of 17 September 1976 - Acta Apostolicae Sedis 1976, page 623).

With regard to Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo's episcopal ordination on four men - all of whom, by virtue of previous Independent Catholic involvement, claimed already to be bishops - on 24 September 2006: the Roman Catholic Church, as well as stating that, in accordance with Canon 1382 of the Code of Canon Law, all five men involved incurred automatic ("latae sententiae") excommunication through their actions, declared that "...the Church does not recognise and does not intend in the future to recognise these ordinations or any ordinations derived from them, and she holds that the canonical state of the four alleged bishops is the same as it was prior to the ordination."^[6] Unlike other similar statements, this statement was not an official declaration of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, but rather a press statement. It is however clear that the Holy See is of the belief that these four men remain lay persons and are not clergy and that in this statement Roman Catholicism follows the same theological line as Utrecht and the Orthodox churches in its understanding of ordination. It is highly significant that any Independent clergy who have been granted reconciliation with Roman Catholicism have been welcomed as lay persons rather than as priests or bishops.

In contrast, Rome neither questioned the validity nor the canonical effect of the consecrations that the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre performed in 1988 for the service of the relatively numerous followers of the Traditionalist Roman Catholic Society of St. Pius X that he had founded. Lefebvre was obviously capable of forming the necessary intention whilst some have questioned the mental capacity of Archbishops Ngô and Milingo to perform ordinations according to the understanding of Roman Catholicism. Ngô was advanced in age and possibly suffering from dementia and Milingo had undergone a marriage conducted by the Unification Church, which would raise questions about Milingo's theology; the Vatican statement concerning Milingo also refers to him as "elderly" with attendant implications.

The official view of the Eastern Orthodox Church has been summarised as follows: "While accepting the canonical possibility of recognising the existence (υποστατόν) of sacraments performed outside herself, (the Eastern Orthodox Church) questions their validity (έγκυρον) and certainly rejects their efficacy (ενεργόν)."^[7] It sees "the canonical recognition (αναγνώρισις) of the validity of sacraments performed outside the Orthodox Church (as referring) to the validity of the sacraments only of those who join the Orthodox Church (individually or as a body)."^[8] This applies to the validity and efficacy of the ordination of bishops and the other sacraments, not only of the Independent Catholic Churches, but also of all other Christian Churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, and the Assyrian Church of the East.

In the final analysis, it may be said that the evaluation of Independent Catholic sacraments is solely a matter for these groups themselves. The views of other denominations e.g. the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, may be of interest but these churches hold no authority over the independent groups. Yet, others would argue that the views of Utrecht, Roman Catholicism and Orthodoxy are of significant importance as is it they who have been the guardians of the definition of apostolic succession, which members of the Independent movement seek so earnestly to claim even while being disavowed by these same churches of Rome, Constantinople and Utrecht.

[edit] References

[2]

[edit] See also

• Antiochian Catholic Church in America
• Catholic Charismatic Church of Canada
• Evangelical Catholic Church
• The Evangelical Old Catholic Communion
• Free Church of Antioch
• Independent Sacramental Movement
• Liberal Catholic Church
• Old Catholic Church
• Orthodox-Catholic Church of America
• Sedevacantist antipope

[edit] External links

[edit] Umbrella organizations

• Independent Catholic Churches International
• Independent Liberal Catholic Fellowship An ecumenical, independent fellowship of clergy and denominations in the liberal Catholic tradition
• The World of Autocephalous Churches Go-to site for information and links regarding independent Catholic Churches, especially those in North America.
• Independent Movement Database - A database of information on the Independent Movement.
• The Sophia Circle Non prescriptive circle of esoterically-minded bishops