Old Catholic Church

Old Catholic Church, (especially) in Switzerland Christ Catholic Church, in the Netherlands Oud-Katholieke Kerk, denotes the community of independent Catholic churches, some of which are united in the Union of Utrecht.

The Old Catholic Churches in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland arose in protest against the dogmatic definitions of jurisdictional primacy and papal infallibility promulgated at the First Vatican Council on July 18, 1870, in the Dogmatic Constitution Pastor Aeternus. Those Roman Catholics who rejected the new dogmas were excommunicated. They called themselves "Old Catholics" - referring to the Old Church - in order to distinguish themselves from what they saw as the "new" Roman Catholic Church. From 1872 onwards they founded their own congregations and local churches.

The Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands is of special importance. The Archbishopric of Utrecht is the oldest Old Catholic Church (independent of Rome since 1723), from which all other Old Catholic Churches received episcopal ordination in apostolic succession, so that according to (Roman Catholic) canon law ordinations performed by Old Catholic bishops are valid, but in the case of episcopal ordinations they are impermissible, since they lack papal confirmation. Likewise, the Orthodox Churches recognize the validity of Old Catholic ordinations on the merits, provided they are not administered to or by a woman.

Name

The official names of the three Old Catholic churches in the German-speaking world are:

• "Catholic Diocese of Old Catholics in Germany".
• "Christ Catholic Church of Switzerland"
• "Old Catholic Church of Austria".

Theology and Church Order

Understanding of faith

• The Bible and Tradition are regarded as the basis and guide of faith (regula fidei).
• The depositum fidei includes the dogmatic decisions of the seven Ecumenical Councils
• These include in particular:
• the Niceno-Constantinopolitanum without filioque as authentic summary of the faith
• the belief in the Trinity: there is one God who exists in three persons of the same essence (Father, Son and Holy Spirit)
• Jesus Christ is true man according to his humanity and true God according to his divinity; in the unmixed unity of his two natures (divine and human) he is one person.
• Because of her central position in God's work of salvation, Mary bears the predicate God-bearer (in the Western Church: Mother of God), since she conceived and gave birth to the second divine person, the Son of God, in virginal integrity through the action of the Holy Spirit.

• The following doctrines are rejected as contrary to the teaching of the early church:
• the infallibility of the Pope in matters of faith and morals
• the universal jurisdiction of the Pope over the universal Church
• the Immaculate Conception of Mary
• the Assumption of Mary
• the doctrine of transubstantiation.

• It is taught, however, that
• the Pope, as Bishop of Rome and Patriarch of the West, has a position of honour
• the Eucharist is a sacred sacrificial meal in which the faithful who receive the body and blood of the Lord also have communion with one another.

Understanding the Church

The ecclesiological principles are found in the Statute of the International Bishops' Conference, as well as in the constitutions of the individual Old Catholic national churches. For example, the Statute of the Old Catholic Church in the Netherlands states:

In the Synodal and Congregational Order of the Old Catholic Church in Germany, the interaction of "personal, collegial and communal episcopacy" is weighted more in favor of the laity:

The content of the Old Catholic understanding of the Church is specified in the Constitution of the Christian Catholic Church in Switzerland. Article 3 of the preamble reads:

The legal system of the Polish Catholic Church exemplifies how the connection between catholicity and national church can be shaped:

Church Order

• The constitution of the Old Catholic Churches is episcopal-synodal and based on democratic principles (majority decision; separation of powers):
• Adult members of the congregation have rights of co-determination, which are exercised primarily at the semi-annual congregational meetings.
• These include the election of the church council, the synod deputies and, as a rule, the pastor.
• The bishop is elected at a synod, which includes lay people and clergy delegated from the congregations.
• The bishop leads the diocese together with the synodal council (in Germany: with the synodal representation).
• Jurisdiction in the diocese is vested in independent synodal courts.

• Coercion in the practice of religion is rejected:
• The obligation of the faithful to hear auricular confessions was abolished in Germany after 1873.
• Since 1878, clergy have been exempt from celibacy in principle; however, they are free to live voluntarily without marriage.
• The fees for ecclesiastical acts and indulgences were abolished in Germany in 1873.
• There is no mandatory Sunday commandment.

• Role of women, homosexuals and divorcees in the Western European Old Catholic Churches:
• All baptized Christians who share the faith in the Real Presence are invited to receive the Eucharist (this also applies to remarried divorcees).
• Women are admitted to the sacrament of Holy Orders, see main article Ordination of Women.
• A second church wedding of divorced persons is possible if certain conditions are met.
• The blessing of same-sex couples is possible in consultation with the pastor in charge.

• Liturgical Reforms:
• Holy Mass and other services have been celebrated in the national language in Germany since 1877, in Switzerland since 1885, in Austria since 1879 and in the Netherlands since 1908.
• Instead of individual confession, sacramentalabsolution may also be received communally.
• The Communion of the Chalice - in some dioceses also the Intinctio - are part of the liturgical practice.

Liturgy

The Holy Eucharist, with the Liturgy of the Word and Homily, is usually celebrated on every Sunday and on Solemnities. The consecrated hosts are kept in a tabernacle, near which there is usually a perpetual light.

The degree of solemnity of the liturgy varies according to parish and priest. In some parishes, Sunday services resemble Roman Catholic weekday Masses; in others, High Masses with deacon, altar service, and incense are celebrated regularly or occasionally. Sometimes kneeling is done during consecration and for communion. The liturgical ministries of cantor, organist, and lector are performed by lay persons, while children, youth, and in some places adults serve as altar servers.

The following main articles provide information on individual aspects of Old Catholic liturgy:

Criticism from the Roman Catholic side

Occasionally the reforms carried out by the Old Catholic Church (e.g. introduction of the national language, abolition of compulsory celibacy, most recently the introduction of the ordination of women) were seen as a "Protestantization process". The Old Catholics were accused by the Roman Catholic side of being neo-Protestants. The Old Catholic side counters this assertion with the fact that the Old Catholic Church did not intend to give up the catholicity of the church by its reforms, and, on the other hand, that the Roman Catholic Church itself introduced one or the other reform, which it had prevented until then, almost a hundred years later, e.g. the liturgical reform, the national language in the service or the ordination of married men as permanent deacons.

The Old Catholic Church does not see in its positions and reforms any innovations that affect the original, generally binding faith of the Church or even run counter to it. Rather, according to the Old Catholic view, these reforms are based on an original Catholicism that corresponds to the spirit of the Gospel and the tradition of the Church of the first millennium. This also applies, for example, to the possibility of priests to marry. Rather, in the Old Catholic view, it was the changes in the doctrine of faith and morals of the Roman Catholic Church brought about by the First Vatican Council, which elevated the infallibility and universal jurisdiction of the Pope to binding doctrines of faith, that were the actual "innovations" to be rejected out of Old Catholic sentiment. The Old Catholic movement raised its objection to Vatican I not least because it was not an ecumenical council in the Old Church sense, but rather a particular synod. Moreover, there was a considerable minority among the Roman Catholic bishops present who initially rejected the new dogmas and evaded the vote by leaving early.

Despite some similarities, for instance in the emphasis on the synodal principle, the Old Catholic Church in its self-understanding differs fundamentally from the churches of the Reformation, for instance because it - apart from the preservation of the apostolic tradition and the belief in the sacrificial character of the Eucharist - adheres to the seven number of sacraments.