The Old Catholic Church

Western Orthodoxy

Catholic but not Roman · Orthodox but not Eastern

✠ WELCOME

The Patriarchate of The Old Catholic Church bears solemn witness to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, grounded in the undivided faith of the primitive church and continuing in obedience to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

We are Catholic, but not Roman—faithful to the universal Church and the Apostolic Tradition, without submission to papal supremacy.
We are Orthodox, but not Eastern—preserving the fullness of the faith in the Western expression of ancient orthodoxy.

We stand as Western Orthodox—heirs of the Church as it existed in the first millennium, within the ancient Pentarchy, before the Great Schism of 1054, A.D.—faithfully preserving the sacred deposit of faith through reverent liturgy, apostolic succession, and conciliar governance.

Christ is the center and head of our Church. We proclaim Jesus Christ as the sole foundation of our faith and the unifying source of our ecclesial identity.

In fidelity to Sacred Scripture, the Sacred Tradition, and the teachings of the Seven Ecumenical Councils, we seek not novelty, but continuity—to live and proclaim the faith once delivered to the saints (cf. Jude 1:3). Ours is not a faith reimagined, but a faith received, preserved, and lived with humility, conviction and love.

As a mission statement we take a quotation from St. Paul’s Epistle to the Ephesians 1:17-19

'I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints, and His incomparably great power for us who believe'.

The Church, as the Body of Christ, is called to reflect the divine harmony of truth, beauty, and holiness. We therefore affirm a conciliar model of ecclesial life, wherein the College of Bishops—in communion with one another and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit—discerns and safeguards the will of Christ for His Church.

We reject both the centralization of Roman legalism and the fragmentation of modern innovation. Instead, we hold to the spiritual integrity of the undivided Church, grounded in the traditions of the West and illuminated by the unchanging light of Christ.

In this, we are inspired by the words of St. Vincent of Lérins: “We hold that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.”

Western in Tradition, Apostolic in Faith

What has become known, over the centuries, as The Old Catholic Church, has existed since it was founded by our Lord Jesus Christ, developed by the Benedictine Saints Willibrord and Boniface (730 AD), and has been an autocephalous Church authorized by the II Ecumenical Council of Letran in 1139 AD. Papal Decree since 1145, later ratified by the IV Lateran Council of 1215 and authorized to be free of any judgement outside of its jurisdiction by the Papal Bula "Debitum Pastoralis" of 1520 AD. It is, therefore, valid and licit, part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

Through the celebration of the sacraments, the preaching of the Word, and the consecration of lives to prayer, service, and holiness, The Patriarchate of The Old Catholic Church seeks to be a true continuation of the ancient Church in a modern world, offering sanctuary, clarity, and truth amid confusion.

✠ Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam To the Greater Glory of God.

'The fact that there is a valid form of Catholicism that is independent of Rome and that values local control seems scandalous to some and causes delight or even relief to others. The Old Catholic Church has branches all over the world. They constitute one of the most interesting and diverse movements in Christian history, a movement worthy of greater visibility and academic attention'. ('The Old Catholic Movement, Its Origins and History' Apocryphile Press, Berkeley, CA.)