Old Catholic Church
The Old Catholic Church also called the International Catholic Union of Utrecht consists since 1870 of Catholics who reject the dogma of papal infallibility but especially the doctrine of of the bishop of Rome. These autocephalous churches Catholics gathered from 1889 and form a unity around the IBK (Internationalen Altkatholischen Bischofskonferenz, French Bishops' Conference International Old Catholic or ICE) on the basis of the Declaration of Utrecht. The members of this church, particularly in Switzerland , prefer the name Christian Catholic Church. There are also other groups proclaiming themselves "Old Catholics", but who are not members of the Union of Utrecht.
Summary |
The Church "Old Episcopal in Utrecht
The Catholic Church in the United Provinces had been profoundly disrupted by the Reformation , to the point that Rome had dissolved the bishoprics. But there remained important Catholic communities under the authority of the Vicar Apostolic of the Mission of Holland. Offices were celebrated in secret and laity also had a greater weight in the government of the Church. In 1691, the Jesuits accused the apostolic vicar Petrus Codde promote the heretical Jansenist. Investigations on two occasions by order of Pope Innocent XII and Clement XI , innocent Petrus Codde the charge of heresy. Clement XI, however, suspended from his post as vicar apostolic in 1701. He refuses to comply, and is also supported by its people in this quarrel, until his resignation in 1703. Although not Codde Jansenist Jansenists fleeing persecution by Louis XIV against them were still relatively numerous in the territory under its jurisdiction. They benefited as much, the climate of relative religious tolerance existing in the United Provinces. This presence was further increased from 1713 and the proclamation of the Bull Unigenitus by Clement XI.
In 1723, the Canons of Utrecht dissatisfied with the apostolic vicar appointed by Rome decide to elect Cornelius Steenoven as Archbishop of Utrecht. He was consecrated bishop by Dominique Marie Varlet , a former bishop coadjutor of Bossuet , who had been dismissed from office for Jansenism and appointed titular bishop of Babylon. The Pope replied with an excommunication of the new archbishop and his followers. The break with the Holy See is consumed. This rupture was increased even when a Roman Catholic diocese was reinstated in Utrecht in 1851 and the rejection by the Old Episcopal Church of Utrecht in 1864, and the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and especially the Papal infallibility.
Consequences of Vatican I
The proclamation of the dogma of papal infallibility in 1870 and the condemnation of Modernism by Vatican Council I have shocked a great number of faithful and priests, particularly in Germanic countries ( Germany , Austria , Switzerland ). In these countries, churches are being established in the rejection of the new directions of the Roman Catholic Church, from networks of liberal Catholics that existed before. From the beginning, the Archbishop "Old-Episcopal" in Utrecht offers spiritual and sacramental assistance to these groups, including the confirmation of children.
In September 1871 a conference in Munich brings together over 300 representatives of these groups, but also observers Anglicans and Protestants. The great figures of this congress are Loyson Hyacinthe and Ignaz von Dllinger two priests and Catholic theologians opposed the Papal Infallibility, which have just been excommunicated. At this conference, the Archbishop "Old-bishop in Utrecht, Bishop Loos is received in triumph. Several conferences will then meet to organize and structure the Church. In 1874, the discipline of celibacy for priests in some churches and abandoned the same year, a Faculty of Catholic Theology Christian is based within the University of Bern. In 1877, the vernacular languages are adopted in the liturgy.
The organization of "Old Catholics"
In 1889 , a union of these Churches is established under the name of Union of Utrecht. She decides to launch missions to the UK and North America. It entrusts this task to Bishop Arnold Harris Matthew and Joseph-Ren Vilatte , but they abandoned the communion with Utrecht, leaving in their wake many groups and errant bishops proclaiming themselves "Old Catholics". It connects to intercommunion with the Anglican Communion in 1931 by the Bonn Agreement (Bonn Agreement), and approaches and with other groups from Catholicism, but in conflict with the Holy See , as Mariavites in 1909 or the Philippine Independent Church in 1965.
Today
The Old Catholic Church is rooted in the Catholic tradition. It knows for example the same sacraments as the Roman Catholic Church and draws its origin Apostolic of the Roman Catholic Church by Bishop Dominique Marie Varlet. Its practices were however different from those of the Roman Church in many ways and that to varying degrees across countries.
Thus, in Switzerland , the Netherlands , Austria , Belgium , France and Germany , the Church admits married priests, ordination of women, remarriage after divorce, artificial contraception and even (locally) the blessings of homosexual couples. These are things that the Roman Catholic Church rejects (except for the ordination of married men in some Eastern communities, or in the case of married Anglican priests or Orthodox who convert to Catholicism, and which retain their priesthood are ordained or when they were already married).
Old Catholic Mission in France is under the authority of the Archbishop of Utrecht as a delegate of the International Conference of Bishops of the Union of Utrecht (the IBK).
The Old Catholic Church is in inter-communion with the churches of the Anglican Communion. As such, the ministers ability to serve one or the other community in the circumstances. She is also a founding member of the World Council of Churches.
The Old Catholic Church is active in twenty countries and has about 500,000 faithful Doctrine For literature, see: Organization
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