Old Catholic History
Old Catholic Church of North America

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]

[1]"Old Catholics," Microsoft® Encarta® 98 Encyclopedia. © 1993-1997 Microsoft Corporation. All
rights reserved.