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Independent Catholic Churches

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Independent Catholic Churches are, by and large, very small churches which make a claim to the valid Apostolic Succession of their bishops. Their bishops are often dismissed in mainstream Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican circles as episcopi vagantes ("wandering bishops").

Contents

History

The actual beginnings of the Independent Catholic Churches of today are very difficult to pin down. Most all of the churches of today derive their Apostolic Succession from the Old Catholic Churches. Over the years, some of these churches have grown to fairly decent sized churches, but more often than not, these churches rarely consist of more than a bishop or two, a few priests and deacons, and a small number of faithful. One Anglican scholar, writing in the early twentieth century, has referred to them as "frivolous bishops." However, in 1996, another scholar, Dr. Gregory Singleton, concluded, "Decentralization of religious organizations in the US is a likely trend in the future (we can see some signs of it now). It may be that these Independent movements may provide us with models, both of what has not worked, and what might work, if taken seriously." (See below.)

Many of these churches are offshoots of either the Old Catholic Movement, the Indian Orthodox Church, the Russian Orthodox Church, the Brazilian Catholic Church, or some combination of these. In the past, Independent Catholic bishops often received multiple consecrations to assure uncontested "apostolic succession." While the practice still persists, it is less prevalent today than in the past.

Most Independent Catholic Churches split off from or were expelled directly from the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox Church. Others, however, began life as Protestant Charismatic congregations that rediscovered both sacramentalism and the historic apostolic succession. At least one, the former Evangelical Orthodox Church, found its way into mainstream Eastern Orthodoxy. Still others are offshoots of the Theosophical movement, often generating longterm and authentic congregations, if less obviously larger denominations. Currently, these more theosophical or New Age or Gnostic congregations tend to be the largest independent bodies. Another of the larger Independent Catholic churches is the African Orthodox Church, founded by former Episcopalians intending to directly serve the African-American community. It seems to have spawned a group called the Anglican Church Worldwide which is allied with the Continuing Anglican Movement. However, the largest Independent Catholic body today is the traditional and quite conservative Charismatic Episcopal Church which derives its apostolic ministry from a Brazilian Roman Catholic bishop, Carlos Duarte Costa.

Continuing Anglican Churches are sometimes included in this grouping, but this is controversial, especially with regard to the larger Continuing Anglican bodies, as is the inclusion of Traditionalist Catholic groups. The same could be said of the larger Old Calendar Eastern Orthodox jurisdictions, to include the Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church and bodies which split from mainstream Orthodoxy specifically in order to maintain the Old Calendar.

The Polish National Catholic Church is sometimes considered an Independent Catholic Church, but the PNCC itself rejects this association. The PNCC derives its Holy Orders from the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht, but is no longer in communion with Utrecht nor with the Episcopal Church in the U.S. These relationships were ended because the PNCC rejects the ordination of women and sexually active gay men. While no longer in communion with any other body, it remains a relatively substantial denomination recognized as such not only within Catholic and Eastern Orthodox circles but also by Protestant churches.

Ecclesiology

According to normative Roman Catholic ecclesiastical theology, the sizes of their churches in no way compromises their status as bishops per se. This has created a phenomenon of bishops who can and do make claims to being legitimate bishops of the Christian church, but who have no organizational connections to any historic communion.

This claim is based on the Roman Catholic understanding of the "validity" of apostolic succession, in which a bishop may be said to be a true bishop if he has been consecrated by a valid bishop, even if that consecration was outside the boundaries and against the wishes of the Roman Catholic community. Eastern Orthodox reject this definition of apostolic succession, believing instead that the episcopacy exists only within the concrete Church, and so do not recognize the episcopacy of the Independent Catholic churches.

Faith and practice

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

However, these churches are divided with regard to 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 which are also controversial in more mainstream sections of Christianity, whether Roman Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, or Orthodox. However, unlike most of their more conventional counterparts, these Churches, usually being quite small, tend to be fairly internally homogeneous with regard to these and other issues; in other words, divisions on these and other questions are between these Churches, not so much within them.

These churches represent a variety of doctrine. Some Independent Catholic churches, such as the Liberal Catholic Church and the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch – Malabar Rite (the "Church of Antioch") are characterized by a theosophical or New Age orientation. Others are quite conservative, following extremely traditional Roman Catholic or Old Calendar Orthodox positions. Others describe themselves as "Evangelical Catholic" and are more or less High Church Lutherans.

Many of these churches, possibly turning necessity into virtue, have intentionally embraced an "Ignatian" model of parish organization, in which a bishop, not a priest, is the pastor of a parish and is assisted by a group of priests, an intraparish presbyterium, as well as by one or more deacons. This model was often prevalent during the first centuries of the Christian church.

Given this, it is rare, while nonetheless possible, to find Independent Catholic clergy who are supported financially in their work. Most Independent Catholic clergy are "tentmakers," pursuing their ministry as a part-time, volunteer calling while engaging in some other occupation in order to support themselves and their families.

Formation

Many Independent Catholic clergy are not prepared for their positions in the customary academic manner. Some even lack undergraduate degrees. Nevertheless there are others who have earned degrees in theology/divinity, others who have Placement Equivalency Degrees (PEDs or, as the Anglican Communion calls them, GOEs), and still others have professional or other advanced degrees. There are also a notable few highly educated and/or successful persons (published authors, composers, college professors, seasoned clergy who were ordained originally as Roman Catholic or Orthodox priests, and former Roman Catholic women religious and lay parish administrators) who now number among the clergy of these churches. It is also only fair to note that a lack of formal education does not necessarily preclude adequate theological knowledge and expertise in pastoral care, especially given that the academic preparation which prevails in mainstream Churches at this time is a relatively recent development. Some networking groups within the movement are now working to establish standards of clergy formation, including education, that would make for relatively simple exchange of clergy with, for example, the Old-Catholic Union of Utrecht or certain denominations in North America which have voiced interest in returning to the Historic Episcopate. The Independent Catholic Churches International (an umbrella organization) has, among other options, a formal training agreement with Wisdom University (the University of Creation Spirituality) in Oakland, California.

See also

External links

Umbrella Organizations

 

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