I found a link on the New Oxford Review news page that spoke of a former permanent deacon in the States (Diocese of Scranton) who is about to be excommunicated for seeking ordination to the priesthood in the American Catholic Church, a body begun in Maryland ten years ago. This piqued my curiosity, and so I googled and discovered their web page. One might have thought, given their comments about themselves:
[The American Catholic Church] affirms traditional Catholic beliefs of faith and love, spirituality, community and prayer. It celebrates the seven sacraments and adheres to the essential Catholic doctrine and practice as expressed and implied in the statements of Vatican Council II, and in the light of the best contemporary thought.
that it was a breakaway from the Catholic Church, this being reinforced and maybe explained by the fact that they will ordain just about anyone—women, men, gay, straight &c. &c. , and by the lovely picture of their presiding Archbishop, Lawrence J Harms DD (where did he get the DD?) which tells you everything you need to know about its theology and spirit.
However, if you look down the pages, you will discover that in fact this Harms' orders descend from yet another of those Episcopi Vagantes. In other words, they are just simply a private playpen for those who like that sort of thing. I think that the Vatican may sleep easy for now; these are not NewChurch independent and on the rampage.
You will also see on the pages, by the way, that they have canonized Martin Luther King.
3 comments:
'Aida' comes to mind on viewing that photo! I had a look at the link but it was all far too confusing for this late hour. Thank you for giving an explanation. I had not come across the term 'old catholic' until very recently.
They'll probably canonize 0ero in due course. But for *the One* they may even make that exception.
Interesting indeed! Thank you for sharing!
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