Independent Catholicism

Independent Catholic churches are small Christian groups that identify with Catholic tradition but are not in communion either with the Roman Catholic Church or with any other churches whose sacraments are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church (such as the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches).

Virtually all groups in the independent Catholic movement claim to have valid apostolic succession for their bishops. The bishops of independent Catholic churches are sometimes referred to as episcopi vagantes ("wandering bishops") because of their lack of affiliation with a larger communion of churches.

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, 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 the pope. 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 (UU).

The "independent" Catholic movement came to Great Britain in 1908 when Arnold Harris Mathew was consecrated by Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands Archbishop Gerardus Gul. The UU 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; however, the mass conversions failed to occur. Before separating from the UU, Mathew ordained several individuals to the episcopacy and priesthood, from whom a number of new churches quickly developed, including the Liberal Catholic Church, whose first bishop, James Ingall Wedgwood, was consecrated by Frederick Samuel Willoughby, who had been consecrated by Mathew.

Joseph René Vilatte, an Old Catholic priest, is credited with being the first person to bring the independent movement to North America. In 1892 Vilatte traveled to India where he obtained ordination to the episcopacy by the Oriental Orthodox bishops in India. Over the following 28 years Vilatte consecrated a number of men to the episcopacy. These bishops, or their successors, went on to found many different jurisdictions in North America.

Groupings

Many, but not all, independent Catholic clergy claim descent from UU member churches, although Utrecht does not officially accept their orders. Like Orthodoxy, Utrecht holds that ordinations can only be done within the church as a whole and with appropriate authority. Some 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 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, kept the name EOC and continued 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 ordination.

The Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church was founded in 1945 by Bishop Carlos Duarte Costa, who withdrew from the Roman Catholic Church, opposing its position on clerical celibacy and divorce and accusing it of Fascist sympathies, which he saw evidenced in documents such as Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno and Divini Redemptoris. Duarte Costa went on to consecrate other bishops in Europe as well as North and South America. Several independent Catholic bodies trace their apostolic succession through Duarte Costa, including the Catholic Apostolic Church in North America.

A number of liturgical churches are sometimes regarded as independent Catholics, 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 Catholic groups that are in irregular standing with the Holy See (such as the SSPX, not Traditionalist groups in full communion with the Pope, such as the FSSP) are sometimes regarded as independent Catholics, but they do not see themselves in this manner; rather they regard themselves as being the true Church, believing that Catholicism has embraced teachings which are schismatic, or even heretical since the Second Vatican Council. 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, for example the Independent Sacramental Movement, but most of these groups would be uncomfortable with such a characterization.

Evangelical Catholic groups such as the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church (formerly the Evangelical Community Church-Lutheran) describe themselves as Lutheran, rather than Catholic, because of their Lutheran heritage and the fact that they accept those clauses of the unaltered Augsburg Confession which agree with their understanding of the Roman Catholic magisterium. Others, such as the Antiochian Catholic Church in America, do describe themselves as Catholic, while claiming that their doctrine is based, with variations, on that of a church that has been unrelated to the Roman Catholic Church for centuries.

The Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) 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 homosexuals. 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. It is also a member of the World Council of Churches.

Very few independent groups are as large as either the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, with 27 congregations in the United States and 6 in Europe, or The Old Catholic Church, Province of the United States with 13 congregations or the Catholic Apostolic Church in North America, with 10 congregations; 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. Some bishops receive several consecrations in an attempt to secure a more diverse claim to apostolic succession, for example, Bishop Hugh George de Willmott Newman.

Faith and practice

Virtually all members of the independent movement 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 group in question. (It was not uncommon for leaders of the various churches in early Christianity to develop rites such as the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, St. Basil the Great, the Milan Rite and the Byzantine Rite.) By definition, all such groups are episcopal in polity, being led by bishops and priests who are assisted by deacons. All hold to a sacramental understanding of the Christian faith related to that broadly held in common by the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian, and traditional or high church Anglican and Anglo-Catholic churches (low church or evangelical Anglicans are more Reformed in their understanding). Independent Catholicism also affirms the text of the Nicene Creed, but interpretations vary widely based upon how many councils are recognised by the independent Catholic Church in question.

However, independent groups disagree on the ordination of women, homosexuality, abortion, contraception, divorce, and other issues that are controversial also in more mainstream sections of Christianity. 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 congregations 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 Young Rite are characterised by a theosophical orientation. Other independent groups are quite conservative, following extremely traditionalist Catholic or Old Calendar Orthodox positions; still others describe themselves as "Evangelical Catholic" and High Church Lutherans.

Holy orders

Independent clergy have often received multiple ordinations/consecrations in an attempt 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 Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo on 24 September 2006, claims to have been first consecrated on 10 June 1978, and subsequently conditionally consecrated a number of times prior to the ceremony conducted by Milingo. Also, in 2007, various independent Catholic bishops in the UK underwent multiple mutual reconsecrations "as a gesture of unity".

Questions and views regarding the validity and efficacy of holy orders

The claims of many within the independent movement to continuity with holy orders as found in Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy are based at least in part on an understanding of apostolic succession that has been held by some within the Latin Church since the time of the Donatist controversy in the 4th and 5th centuries AD. According to those who hold this view, a person becomes a bishop if consecrated in an approved rite by another (validly ordained) bishop even when he is outside the boundaries of Catholicism. However, some contemporary Roman Catholic theologians consider this view to be mechanical and reductionist; teaching that such ceremonies have no effect on the grounds that ordination is for service within an established Christian church. Therefore an ordination ceremony that concerns only the individual himself does not correspond to the understanding of ordination held by the Roman Catholic Church and is subsequently without efficacy. Independent clergy 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. As for the Old Catholics of the Union of Utrecht, the Coptic Church and the various Orthodox churches, they completely reject the validity of the ordinations of heretics or schismatics, and thus do not recognise the orders of independent clergy, to whom they apply these categories.

While the Roman Catholic Church has more than once declared that certain episcopal consecrations have no canonical effect, it has occasionally stated that it was not thereby expressing a judgement on the validity, but merely on their canonical efficacy (see also Valid but illicit). Thus, when it declared the consecrations performed by Archbishop Pierre Martin Ngô Đình Thục for the Christian Palmarian Church of the Carmelites of the Holy Face devoid of canonical effect on 31 December 1975, it refrained from pronouncing on its validity. It made the same statement about later ordinations by those bishops, saying that, "those who have been ordained in this unlawful manner, or who may in the future be ordained by them, whatever about the validity of their orders, the Church does not recognize their ordination nor shall it do so, and she considers them, as regards all legal effects, in the state which each one had beforehand and subject to" penal sanctions of 1917 Code of Canon Law canons 2370 and 2373 §1, §3, as well as excommunication reserved to the Apostolic See mentioned in a 1951 decree. The clause "in the state which each one had beforehand" indicates that the Holy See views as juridically laymen those whose sole claim to be clergy is based on the ordinations in question.

The Holy See of the Roman Catholic Church did not question the validity of the 1988 Ecône consecrations by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre for the Society of St. Pius X that he had founded. Lefebvre was capable of forming the necessary intention while questions were raised regarding the mental capacity of Archbishops Ngô and Milingo to perform ordinations according to the understanding of the Catholic Church. 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 his theology; the Vatican statement concerning Milingo also refers to him as "elderly", with obvious attendant implications.

The official view of the Eastern Orthodox Churches may be summarised as follows: "Thus, the Orthodox Church, while accepting the canonical possibility of recognising the existence ([υποστατόν] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: gre (help)) of sacraments performed outside herself, it questions their validity ([έγκυρον] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: gre (help)) and certainly rejects their efficacy ([ενεργόν] Error: {{Lang}}: unrecognized language code: gre (help))." 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)." The Orthodox Communion does not, and will not, accept as valid any ordination ceremonies of clergy not accepted into their own communion.

Multiple (sequential) ordination ceremonies and conditional ordination

Some independent clergy have undergone a second ordination ceremony, under the hand of a bishop having a different line of apostolic succession, with a view to remedying any defect in their original ordination, or dispelling any doubt concerning their original ordination, and establishing a more widely accepted claim to valid, effective and regular holy orders. In such a second ordination ceremony, holy orders might be granted conditionally in that the bishop conducting the second ceremony would use words to the effect "If you are not already ordained already, I now ordain you". Clergy have sometimes sought and obtained a number of further ordination ceremonies on this basis.

Multiple (sequential) consecration ceremonies and conditional consecration

Similarly, some independent bishops have undergone a second consecration ceremony, under the hand of a bishop having a different line of apostolic succession, with a view to remedying any defect in their original consecration, or dispelling any doubt concerning their original consecration, and establishing a more widely accepted claim to valid, effective and regular episcopal orders. In such a second ceremony, episcopal consecration might be granted conditionally in that the bishop conducting the second ceremony would use words to the effect "If you are not already consecrated a bishop, I now consecrate you". Bishops have sometimes sought and obtained a number of further consecration ceremonies on this basis.

Cross-consecration

Where, in a single ceremony involving two or more existing bishops, the bishops each consecrate (or conditionally consecrate) the other bishops, thereby sharing each other's lines of apostolic succession, this is known as "cross consecration".

Prevalence of multiple (sequential) ordination/consecration ceremonies and of cross-consecrations

Practices of this nature continue, though they are perhaps less prevalent than in the past. As an example: Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan of the African Orthodox Church, one of four who were conditionally consecrated to the episcopate by the Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo on 24 September 2006, claims to have been first consecrated on 10 June 1978 and subsequently conditionally re-consecrated several times between June 1978 and September 2006. Emmanuel Milingo was a Roman Catholic archbishop, prior to being excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church..

Hugh George de Willmott Newman is a notable example of an individual who was conditionally consecrated numerous times. Over a period of ten years between 1945 and 1955, Newman took part in a number of ceremonies involving conditional consecration and cross-consecration.

See also

• American Catholic Church in the United States
• American National Catholic Church
• Antiochian Catholic Church in America
• Breakaway Catholic Churches
• Catholic Charismatic Church of Canada
• Christ Catholic Church
• Conclavism
• Ecumenical Catholic Church
• Ecumenical Catholic Communion
• Evangelical Catholic Church
• Fraternité Notre-Dame
• Imani Temple African-American Catholic Congregation
• Independent Sacramental Movement
• Mariavite Church
• National Catholic Church of America
• Old Catholic Church
• Old Roman Catholic Church
• Old Catholic Mariavite Church
• Order of Corporate Reunion
• Orthodox-Catholic Church of America
• Philippine Independent Catholic Church

External links

• Independent Sacramental Movement Database