FrM

We do NOT claim spiritual authority or jurisdiction over the baptized who are under the authority of the Diocese of Saint Petersburg.  We do not seek our members from among this existing flock. We do not intend schism or a replacement hierarchy, rather we understand ourselves as a sui juris structure whose mission in this age is to protect and steward the Old Faith (pre 1960 understanding of Catholic Christianity).  Our apostolate focuses on those who seek the Traditional Catholic Faith and manner of worship but who cannot find it in the mainstream Church of this age. Our converts come from lapsed Catholics and those who were brought up unchurched or protestant who have discovered the Old Faith. We welcome Catholics of other jurisdictions as visitors.

We count as friend all who wish to restore the Old Mass and Old Faith as normative in the West, even when this friendship is not always reciprocated.

Our Constitution states:

ARTICLE II – BELIEF:

This Old Roman Catholic Communion is one in matters of Faith and Morals, de fide, with the Church established by Jesus Christ.  It embraces all such doctrine of the Apostolic See of Rome, and it condemns all heresies and other errors condemned by that same See.  It accepts as Catholics those who share this doctrine and conduct their affairs accordingly.

and also:

ARTICLE XXX – INTERCOMMUNION

SECTION 3.  INTERCOMMUNION. — Members of this Communion may receive the Sacraments of Penance and the Holy Eucharist from priests whom they perceive to be Catholic as outlined in Article II (above) of this Constitution.

In practice we generally permit foreign clergy in valid orders to assist in choir, in choir dress, during sacred functions in our churches, and conduct ourselves in like manner in their churches.

Even with one another, we do not concelebrate in our tradition (except at one’s own ordination) so it removes a common point of friction.

We welcome any Catholic properly disposed to receive the sacraments. Our clergy enjoy friendships with Catholics of a variety of backgrounds including those who prefer the Mass of Paul VI.  Though we only offer the sacraments according to the older rites.

Pope Francis is recognized by our communion as the Bishop of Rome and as Pope.  We acknowledge that are serious canonical and theological problems with this papacy but believe it is for a future Catholic pope and Council to sort out.  We reject any restriction upon the Old Faith or the Old Mass.

Many of Francis’ statements horrify and scandalize.  We pray for his return to the Faith of the Saints.

You may wish to visit our Resource page for more specific information.  We will be adding more as time goes on and there is a Francis Section.

 It is imperative to understand that just as the mere claim to be “Catholic” or “Roman Catholic” guarantees nothing about someone’s doctrinal orthodoxy, moral rectitude, or authentic worship;  neither does the claim to be an “Old Roman Catholic.”  Titles, names, and labels do not insure reality.  In today’s world, one has to ask questions and receive reasonable answers.  The Old Roman Catholic Church, See of Cær-Glow is not affiliated with those who would bend the moral law, compromise with falsehood, or offer false and distorted worship to Almighty God.  Under God’s law there can be no “gay marriage,” no ordination of women, no “clown Masses,” no Marxism, no Modernism, or anything else that has not come down to us from “the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration.”

“It embraces all such doctrine of the Apostolic See of Rome, and it condemns all heresies and other errors condemned by that same See.  It accepts as Catholics those who share this doctrine and conduct their affairs accordingly.” (Constitution of the Old Roman Catholic Church, Article II)

There are a variety of groups who claim to be “Catholic”.  Some even use “Old Roman Catholic” and have been rumored to be selling exorcisms and running wedding businesses operating “chapels”/oratories without congregations.  As for the most substantial difference between the terms “Old Catholic” and “Old Roman Catholic” is the acceptance of all 20 doctrinal councils.  Some of these groups deny the Immaculate Conception and Papal Infallibility, some attempt to ordain women, some do not adhere to the moral teachings concerning marriage and sexuality.  It can be confusing but then most have noticed significant difference between post Vatican II New Rite Catholic parishes.  In the same town it can be found that some look almost traditional and hold to many aspects of the Old Faith, others embrace a New Age and idolatrous trajectory; both have “Catholic” on the door.

Ven. Fulton Sheen speaks of this prophetically as he said pre-Vatican II:

“. . . The third temptation in which Satan asked Christ to adore him and all the kingdoms of the world would be His, will become the temptation to have a new religion without a Cross, a liturgy without a world to come, a religion to destroy a religion, or a politics which is a religion — one that renders unto Caesar even the things that are God’s.

In the midst of all his seeming love for humanity and his glib talk of freedom and equality, he will have one great secret which he will tell to no one: he will not believe in God. Because his religion will be brotherhood without the fatherhood of God, he will deceive even the elect. He will set up a counterchurch which will be the ape of the Church, because he, the Devil, is the ape of God. It will have all the notes and characteristics of the Church, but in reverse and emptied of its divine content. It will be a mystical body of the Antichrist that will in all externals resemble the mystical body of Christ. . . .”

As for the specific original “break” between Old Catholic and Old Roman Catholic here is a related document:

Declaration of Autonomy
[from the Old Catholics]

We the undersigned Bishop, on behalf of our clergy and laity of the Catholic Church of England, hereby proclaim and declare the autonomy and independence of our portion of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. We are in no way whatever subject to or dependent upon any foreign See, nor do we recognize the right of any members of the religious bodies known as ‘Old Catholics’ on the Continent, to require submission from us to their authority or jurisdiction, or the decrees, decisions, rules or assemblies, in which we have neither taken part nor expressed agreement.

We had supposed and believed that the Faith, once delivered to the Saints, and set forth in the decrees of the Councils accepted as Ecumenical no less in the West than in the East, would have continued unimpaired, whether by augmentation or by diminution, in the venerable Church of the Dutch Nation.

We anticipated that the admirable fidelity with which the Bishops and Clergy of that Church had adhered to the Faith and handed it down, untarnished by heresy, notwithstanding grievous persecution during so many centuries, would never have wavered.

Unfortunately, however, we discover with dismay, pain, and regret that the standards of orthodoxy, laid down by old by the Fathers and Councils of the East and West alike, having been departed from in various particulars by certain sections of Old Catholicism, these departures, instead of being checked and repressed, are, at least tacitly, tolerated and acquiesced in without protest, by the Hierarchy of the Church of the Netherlands.

In order to avoid misapprehension, we here specify nine of the points of difference between Continental Old Catholics and ourselves:

[1] Although the Synod of Jerusalem, held under Dositheus in 1672, was not an Ecumenical Council, its decrees are accepted by the Holy Orthodox Church of the Orient as accurately expressing its belief, and are in harmony with the decrees of the Council of Trent on the dogmas of which they treat. We are in agreement with the Holy Orthodox Church, regarding this Synod. Hence, we hold and declare that there are Seven Holy Mysteries or Sacraments instituted by Our Divine Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, therefore all of them necessary for the salvation of mankind, though all are not necessarily to be received by every individual, e.g. Holy Orders and Matrimony. Certain sections, if not all, of the Old Catholic bodies, reject this belief and refuse to assent to the decrees of the Holy Synod of Jerusalem.

[2] Moreover, some of them have abolished the Sacrament of Penance by condemning and doing away with auricular confession; others actively discourage this salutary practice; other, again, whilst tolerating its use, declare the Sacrament of Penance to be merely optional, therefore unnecessary, and of no obligation, even for those who have fallen into mortal sin after Baptism.

[3] In accordance with the belief and practice of the Universal Church, we adhere to the doctrine of the Communion of Saints by invoking and venerating the Blessed Virgin Mary, and those who have received the crown of glory in heaven, as well as the Holy Angels of God. The Old Catholics in the Netherlands have not yet altogether abandoned this pious and helpful custom, but, in some other countries, invocation of the Saints has been totally abolished by the Old Catholics.

[4] Although it may be permissible and, indeed, very desirable, in some countries, and under certain circumstances, to render the Liturgy into the vernacular languages, we consider it to be neither expedient nor tolerable that individuals should compose new liturgies, according to their own particular views, or make alterations, omissions and changes in venerable rites to suit their peculiar fancies, prejudices or idiosyncrasies. We lament the mutilations of this kind which have occurred among the Old Catholics in several countries and regret that no two of the new liturgies composed and published by them are alike, either in form or in ceremony. In all of them the ancient rubrics have been set aside, and the ceremonies and symbolism with which the Sacred Mysteries of the Altar have been reverently environed for many centuries, have, either wholly or in part, been ruthlessly swept away. The Rite of Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament has also been almost universally abolished among the Old Catholics.

[5] In accordance with the primitive teaching of the Church of the Netherlands, which prevailed until a very recent date, we consider it a duty of the part of Western Christians to remember His Holiness the Pope as their Patriarch in their prayers and sacrifices. The name of His Holiness should, therefore, retain its position in the Canon of the Mass, where, as we observed at our consecration in Utrecht, it was customary, and remained so until a recent date in the present year [1910], for the celebrant to recite the name of our Patriarch in the usual manner in the Mass and in the Litany of the Saints. The publication of a new vernacular Dutch Liturgy in the present year causes us to regret that the clergy of Holland are now required to omit the name of His Holiness in the Canon of the Mass. Happily, only a small number of other alterations in the text of the Canon have, so far, been introduced. These include the omission of the title, ‘ever Virgin’ whenever it occurs in the Latin Missal. Such alterations pave the way for others of an even more serious nature, which may be made in the future, and, as we think, are to be deplored.

[6] Following the example of our Catholic forefathers, we venerate the adorable Sacrifice of the Mass as the supreme act of Christian worship instituted by Christ Himself. We grieve that the Old Catholic clergy, in most countries, have abandoned the daily celebration of Mass, and now limit the offering the Christian Sacrifice to Sundays and a few of the greater Feasts. The corresponding neglect of the Blessed Sacrament, and infrequency of Holy Communion, on the part of the laity, are marked.

[7] In accordance with Catholic custom and with the decrees of the Ecumenical Councils, we hold that the honour and glory of God are promoted and increased by the devout and religious use of holy pictures, statues, symbols, relics, and the like, as aids to devotion, and that, in relations to those they represent, they are to be held in veneration. The Old Catholics have, generally speaking, preferred to dispense with such helps to piety.

[8] We consider that the Holy Sacraments should be administered only to those who are members of the Holy Catholic Church, not only by Baptism, but by the profession of the Catholic Faith in its integrity. Unhappily, we find persons who are not Catholics are admitted to receive Holy Communion in all Old Catholic places of worship on the Continent.

[9] The Old Catholics have ceased to observe the prescribed days of fasting and abstinence, and no longer observe the custom of receiving Holy Communion fasting.
For these and other reasons, which it is unnecessary to detail, we, the undersigned Bishop, desire, by these present, to declare our autonomy and our independence of all foreign interference in our doctrine, discipline and policy. In necessáriis únitas, in dubiis libertas, in ómnibus caritas.
+ Arnold Harris Mathew
December 29, 1910
The Feast of St. Thomas of Canterbury

The Old Roman Catholic Church finds itself in a canonical situation similar but not identical to the Society of St. Pius X.  Though you occasionally find local bishops and priests who do not understand this, the Roman Church considers us a part of the one true Church but considers us “irregular” in the sense we choose our own bishops (which is contrary to the Roman preference and directive).

Many books have been written on the post-Vatican II mess and we will not attempt to provide an exhaustive answer here but a simple one.

The local mainstream/post-Paul VI era diocese will typically discourage or forbid attendance at our Masses unless a situation of emergency.  For our part we agree with Rome that we are part of the One True Church and believe we are preserving the Old Faith of most of the Saints.  Hence why we are “Old Roman Catholics”.  There are many organs in a body though only one body.  We share the same DNA of apostolic succession.

We pray for eventual full union with Rome and the restoration of the Old Faith.