OLD CATHOLIC CONFEDERATION

The Old Catholic Confederation (OCC) was founded in 2013 in order to promote an authentic Old-Catholic Christian religious identity through theological orthodoxy, episcopal-synodical polity, canonicity and visible unity among Old-Catholics in the United States.

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The Old Catholic Confederation faithfully embraces the authority of the Holy Gospel, the First Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Early Church, the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed in its ancient formula, the sacred Tradition of the ancient Church especially embodied within the writings of the Fathers of the Church, the Sacraments and the Episcopal-Synodal governance of the Church. Indeed, as St. Vincent de Lerins put it, as Old-Catholics, we believe "that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all."

 

Concerning the Sacraments, the Old Catholic Confederation encourages a restoration of the practices of the ancient Church, and especially with regard to the Rites of Christian Initiation of Baptism, Chrismation (Confirmation) and Holy Communion to be administered to infants and adults following ancient practice. Likewise, many bishops of the Confederation continue to tonsure new clerics and confer the minor orders of cantor, lector and subdeacon (in the ancient practice) upon our candidates as they progress toward Holy Orders. Following the example of Christ and the Apostolic tradition of the Early Church, the Churches of the Confederation ordain married and celibate candidates to the ministry. Further, the Old Catholic Confederation encourages a restoration of the solemnity and mysticism proper to the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist that is also joyful and appropriate for the modern Church. With respect to the realm of moral theology, as Old-Catholics, we affirm the ancient, apostolic exhortation of the primacy of conscience.

 

The Old Catholic Confederation promotes a high standard of spiritual formation, pastoral experience and the necessity of philosophical and theological higher education for seminarians as well as continuing formation for clergy.