Catholic Word of the Day: OLD CATHOLICS, 12-30-13

CCDictionary ^ | 12-30-13 | Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary

[Salvation]

Featured Term (selected at random:

OLD CATHOLICS

 

General name for various national churches that at different times separated from the Roman Catholic Church. Three main segments are distinguishable.

The Church of Utrecht in Holland, which separated from Rome in 1724. The immediate occasion for the break was the Jansenism of some of the Dutch Catholics, notably their archbishop, Petrus Codde (1648-1710).

The German, Austrian, and Swiss Old Catholics were organized after certain leaders in these countries rejected the two dogmas of papal infallibility and the universal ordinary magisterium, defined by the First Vatican Council in 1870. Their principal intellectual leader was John Joseph Ignatius Döllinger (1799-1890), Bavarian priest and Church historian.

Slavic Old Catholic Churches, mainly Polish, Croat, and Yugoslav, came into existence in America and elsewhere because of alleged discrimination by Anglo-Saxon bishops, but also because of clerical celibacy.

The doctrinal basis of the Old Catholic Churches is the Declaration of Utrecht in 1889. Its main provisions are the rejection of the papal primacy and obligatory auricular confession; married clergy; and in general acceptance of the first seven ecumenical councils as adequate statements of the Christian faith.

In 1925 the Old Catholic communion formally recognized Anglican ordinations, and in 1932 entered into full communion with the Church of England, based on the Bonn Agreement of July 2, 1931.

All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

[Salvation]

I believe some of these "Old Catholics" may have infiltrated into the United States. Can't prove it without further research, though.

[Salvation]

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Old Catholics

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[brooklyn dave]

I wonder how many of these guys exist in the US?
Such a small group going off by itself would tend to get
progressively weirder as time went by. They may have had some legitimate arguments back after Vatican I but their
arguments for existence seem to hold less of a rationale today. Why not just become a branch of th Anglican Church
for all practical purposes?

[Dr. Sivana]

Why not just become a branch of th Anglican Church for all practical purposes? Well, they may have recognized Anglican orders but the Roman Catholics didn't. However, the Roman Catholics DID recognize Old Catholics as validly ordained (starte with real bishops and used a valid rite).

This was their big distinguishing feature, recognized valid orders. This was very widely used until there were a ridiculously large number of priests and bishops relative to their congregations.

In recent years, most of the Old Catholics allow ordination of women, which the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize. The Polish National Church separated from the Old Catholics over the issue. As far as I know the Polish National Catholic Church separated because the U.S. Poles were sick of getting Irish pastors who did not accommodate the customs or meet the needs of the Polish congregations.

[Salvation]

Interesting. So are the Polish Catholics still around?

[M Kehoe]

I'm an old Catholic hoping to get older.

Hey, it's not my call...

5.56mm

[Dr. Sivana]

Interesting. So are the Polish Catholics still around?

Yup. The town in CT that I grew up in has one. I went to the Polish Roman Catholic Church in town, which is only three or four blocks from the main Roman Catholic Church. It opened up VERY shortly after the Polish National Catholic Church planted its flag about a half mile southwest, in the 1920s. Both are still open.

In nearby Meriden, there are still about a half-dozen ethnic Catholic churches in a 1/2 mile radius St. Stanislaus,(Polish), St. Laurent (French), St. Rose (Hispanic), St. Mary (German), St. Joseph (Irish) Our Lady of Mount Carmel (Italian).