Editing Old Catholic Church (section)

==History==
===Pre-Reformation diocese and archdiocese of Utrecht===
{{Main article|Archdiocese of Utrecht (695–1580)}}
In the pre-[[Reformation]] era, there were already disputes that set the stage for an independent bishopric of Utrecht between the [[Catholic Church]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]], notably during between the 11th to 15th centuries.

===Post-Reformation Netherlands===
{{Main article|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands|Old Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht}}
The northern provinces that revolted against the [[Spanish Netherlands]] and signed the 1579 [[Union of Utrecht]], persecuted the Roman Catholic Church, confiscated church property, expelled monks and nuns from convents and monasteries, and made it illegal to receive the [[Catholic sacraments]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kaplan|first=Benjamin J.|date=Autumn 1994|title={{thinsp}}'Remnants of the papal yoke': apathy and opposition in the Dutch reformation |journal=[[The Sixteenth Century Journal]]|volume=25|issue=3 |pages=653–669|jstor=2542640|issn=0361-0160|doi=10.2307/2542640|s2cid=163784117 }}</ref> However, Catholicism did not die, rather priests and communities went underground. Groups would meet for the [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|sacraments]] in the attics of private homes at the risk of arrest.{{sfn|Neale|1858}} Priests identified themselves by wearing [[Clerical clothing|all black clothing]] with [[Clerical collar|very simple collars]].<ref name="Parker" />

All the [[episcopal sees]] of the area, including that of Utrecht, had fallen vacant by 1580, because the [[Spanish crown]], which since 1559 [[Spanish Netherlands|had patronal rights over all bishoprics in the Netherlands]], refused to make appointments for what it saw as [[Heresy in the Catholic Church|heretical]] territories, and the nomination of an [[apostolic vicar]] was seen as a way of avoiding direct violation of the privilege granted to the crown.<ref name="Parker">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O1uRGuEWx3UC&pg=PA30 |pages=30–31|title=Faith on the Margins: Catholics and Catholicism in the Dutch Golden Age |isbn=9780674033719|last1=Parker|first1=Charles H.|date=July 2009|publisher=Harvard University Press }}</ref> The appointment of an apostolic vicar, the first after many centuries, for what came to be called the [[Holland Mission]] was followed by similar appointments for other Protestant-ruled countries, such as [[Vicar Apostolic of England|England]], which likewise became mission territories.<ref name="Parker" /> The disarray of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands between 1572 and about 1610 was followed by a period of expansion of Roman Catholicism under the apostolic vicars,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZUrFh6pSd3MC&pg=PA48 |pages=48–49|title=Calvinists and Catholics During Holland's Golden Age: Heretics and Idolaters |isbn=9781107023246|last1=Kooi|first1=Christine|date=30 April 2012|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> leading to Protestant protests.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DxWUCtuXAlQC&pg=PA168 |page=168|title=The Low Countries as a Crossroads of Religious Beliefs|isbn=9004122885|last1=Gelderblom|first1=Arie Jan|last2=De Jong|first2=Jan L. |last3=Vaeck|first3=Marc Van|date=January 2004|publisher=BRILL }}</ref>

The initial shortage of Roman Catholic priests in the Netherlands resulted in increased pastoral activity of [[religious (Catholicism)|religious]] clergy, among whom [[Jesuits]] formed a considerable minority, coming to represent between 10 and 15 percent of all the Dutch clergy in the 1600–1650 period. Conflicts arose between these, and the apostolic vicars and [[secular clergy]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Zachman |first1=Randall C. |date=September 2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wSza_fU2yI4C&pg=PA124 |page=124 |title=John Calvin and Roman Catholicism: Critique and Engagement, then and Now |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=9780801035975}}</ref> In 1629, there were 321 Roman Catholic priests in the United Provinces, 250 secular and 71 religious, with Jesuits at 34 forming almost half of the religious. By the middle of the 17th century the secular priests were 442, the religious 142, of whom 62 were Jesuits.<ref name=Parker39>{{cite book|last1=Parker |first1=Charles H. |date=July 2009 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O1uRGuEWx3UC&pg=PA39 |page=39|title=Faith on the Margins: Catholics and Catholicism in the Dutch Golden Age|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674033719}}</ref>

The sixth apostolic vicar of the [[Dutch Mission|Dutch/Holland Mission]], [[Petrus Codde]], was appointed in 1688. In 1691, the Jesuits accused him of favouring the [[Jansenist]] [[heresy]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=Civic Humanism in Clerical Garb: Gallican Memories of the Early Church and the Project of Primitivist Reform 1719-1791 |last=Van Kley |first=Dale K. |volume=200 |issue=1 |pages=77–120 |journal=Past & Present |date=August 2008 |doi=10.1093/pastj/gtm055}}</ref> [[Pope Innocent XII]] appointed a commission of [[Cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] to investigate the accusations against Codde. The commission concluded that the accusations were groundless.<ref name=Vissera>{{cite journal |last=Vissera|first=Jan|date=2003|title=The Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht|journal=International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church|volume=3|issue=1|pages=68–84 |doi=10.1080/14742250308574025 |s2cid=144732215|issn=1474-225X}}</ref> In 1702, [[Pope Clement XI]] deposed Codde, to which Codde obeyed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hardon |first=John A. |url=http://archive.org/details/religionsofworld0000hard |title=Religions of the World |date=1963 |publisher=Newman Press |others=Internet Archive |location=Westminster, Md. |pages=470 |chapter=17. Old Catholic Churches}}</ref>

While the religious clergy remained loyal to the Holy See, three-quarters of the secular clergy at first followed Codde, but by 1706 over two-thirds of these returned to Roman Catholic allegiance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bakvis |first1=Herman |url=https://archive.org/details/catholicpowerinn00bakv |url-access=registration |page=[https://archive.org/details/catholicpowerinn00bakv/page/22 22] |title=Catholic Power in the Netherlands |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=9780773503618 |year=1981}}</ref> Of the laity, the overwhelming majority sided with the Holy See.<ref name=Parker39/> Thus, most Dutch Catholics remained in full communion with the pope and with the [[apostolic vicars]] appointed by him.

After Codde's resignation, the Diocese of Utrecht elected [[Cornelius Steenoven]] as [[Bishops in the Catholic Church|bishop]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=ELJ |title=Cambridge Journals Online - Ecclesiastical Law Journal |publisher=Journals.cambridge.org |access-date=2010-04-25}}</ref> The See of Utrecht declared the right to elect its own archbishop in 1724, after being accused of [[Jansenism]]. Following consultation with both canon lawyers and theologians in France and Germany, [[Dominique Marie Varlet]], a Catholic bishop of the French Oratorian Society of Foreign Missions, consecrated Steenoven as a bishop without a papal mandate.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KpwfAAAAIAAJ&pg=PP13 |title=Domestic Correspondence of Dominique-Marie Varlet |year=1986 |access-date=2010-04-25|isbn=9004076719 |last1=Varlet |first1=Dominique-Marie|publisher=BRILL }}</ref> What had been ''de jure'' autonomous became ''de facto'' an independent Catholic church. Although the pope was notified of all proceedings, the Holy See still regarded the diocese as vacant due to papal permission not being sought. The pope, therefore, continued to appoint apostolic vicars for the Netherlands. Steenoven and the other bishops were [[Excommunication (Catholic Church)|excommunicated]] by the Roman Catholic Church, and thus began the [[Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands|Old Catholic Church in the Netherlands]].{{sfn|Neale|1858}} Subsequent bishops were then appointed and ordained to the sees of [[Deventer]], [[Haarlem]] and [[Groningen (city)|Groningen]] under the [[Old Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht|See of Utrecht]] in later years.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l79xM4Cxde0C&pg=PA4|title=The Old Catholic Church|date=October 2006|edition=3rd|access-date=2010-04-25 |isbn=9780912134413 |last1=Pruter |first1=Karl|publisher=Wildside Press LLC }}</ref>

Due to prevailing anti-papal feeling among the powerful Dutch [[Calvinists]], the Church of Utrecht was tolerated and even praised by the government of the [[Dutch Republic]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qchh2SrClcC&pg=PP10 |title=Aspects of European history, 1494-1789 |access-date=2010-04-25 |isbn=9780415027847 |last1=Lee |first1=Stephen J. |year=1984|publisher=Routledge }}</ref>

In 1853 [[Pope Pius IX]] received guarantees of [[religious freedom]] from King [[William II of the Netherlands]] and [[Reestablishment of the episcopal hierarchy in the Netherlands|re-established the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the Netherlands]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Algis Ratnikas |title=Timeline Netherlands |url=http://timelines.ws/countries/NETHERLANDS.HTML |publisher=Timelines.ws |access-date=2010-04-25 |archive-date=2 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100402040722/http://timelines.ws/countries/NETHERLANDS.HTML |url-status=dead }}</ref> The Holy See considers the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht]] as the continuation of the [[episcopal see]] founded in the 7th century and raised to metropolitan status on 12 May 1559, thus not recognizing any legitimacy of Old Catholics.<ref>''Annuario Pontificio 2013'' (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 {{ISBN|978-88-209-9070-1}}), p. 769</ref>

===First Vatican Council, Old Catholic Union of Utrecht===
{{Papal primacy and infallibility|expanded=objections}}

After the [[First Vatican Council]] (1869–1870), several groups of Roman Catholics in [[Austria-Hungary]], [[Imperial Germany]], and [[Switzerland]] rejected the [[Roman Catholic dogma]] of [[Papal infallibility|papal infallibility in matters of faith and morals]] and left to form their own churches.<ref>{{cite web|title=Old Catholic Conference |url=http://www.oldcatholichistory.org/pages/documents/Dollinger.html|access-date=2010-04-25 |website=oldcatholichistory.org}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}{{cbignore}}</ref> The formation of the Old Catholic communion of Germans, Austrians and Swiss began under the leadership of [[Ignaz von Döllinger]], following the First Vatican Council.<ref name="WCC" /> These were supported by the [[Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht]], who ordained priests and bishops for them. Later the Dutch were united more formally with many of these groups under the name "[[Utrecht Union|Utrecht Union of Churches]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldcatholichistory.org/pages/documents/Congress.html |title=Declaration of the Catholic Congress |website=oldcatholichistory.org |access-date=2010-04-25}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In the spring of 1871, a convention in [[Munich]] attracted several hundred participants, including [[Church of England]] and Protestant observers.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Study of the First Old Catholic Congresses |url=http://www.oldcatholichistory.org/pages/history/Congress1.html |website=oldcatholichistory.org|access-date=2010-04-25}} {{Dead link|date=September 2010|bot=H3llBot}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Döllinger, an excommunicated Roman Catholic priest and church historian, was a notable leader of the movement but was never a member of an Old Catholic church.<ref>{{cite web |title=Father Johann Joseph Ignaz von Dollinger |website=oldcatholichistory.org |url=http://www.oldcatholichistory.org/pages/clergy/Dollinger.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727142139/http://www.oldcatholichistory.org/pages/clergy/Dollinger.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2011 |url-status=dead |access-date=23 March 2010 }}</ref>

The convention decided to form the "Old Catholic Church" in order to distinguish its members from what they saw as the novel teaching in the Roman Catholic dogma of papal infallibility. Although it had continued to use the [[Roman Rite]], from the middle of the 18th century the Dutch Old Catholic See of Utrecht had increasingly used the [[vernacular]] instead of Latin. The churches which broke from the Holy See in 1870 and subsequently entered into union with the Old Catholic See of Utrecht gradually introduced the vernacular into the [[liturgy]] until it completely replaced Latin in 1877.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |issn=0735-8318 |author=James S. Pula |date=Summer 2009 |volume=27 |issue=3 |pages=1–19 |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=/journals/us_catholic_historian/v027/27.3.pula.html |via=Project MUSE |journal=U.S. Catholic Historian |title=Polish-American Catholicism: A Case Study in Cultural Determinism |doi=10.1353/cht.0.0014 |s2cid=154139236 |access-date=2010-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110608014459/http://muse.jhu.edu/login?uri=%2Fjournals%2Fus_catholic_historian%2Fv027%2F27.3.pula.html |archive-date=8 June 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1874, the Old Catholics removed the requirement of [[clerical celibacy]].<ref name="Vissera" />

The [[Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany]] received support from the government of [[Otto von Bismarck]], whose 1870s ''[[Kulturkampf]]'' policies persecuted the Roman Catholic Church.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Davis |first=Derek H.|date=Autumn 1998|title=Editorial: Religious persecution in today's Germany: old habits renewed|journal=Journal of Church and State|volume=40|issue=4|location=Waco, TX |publisher=J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor University|pages=741–756 |doi=10.1093/jcs/40.4.741|issn=0021-969X}}</ref> In Austria-Hungary, [[German nationalism in Austria|pan-Germanic nationalist groups]], like those of [[Georg Ritter von Schönerer]], [[Away from Rome!|promoted the conversion of all German speaking Catholics]] to Old Catholicism and Lutheranism, with poor results.<ref>{{cite book|last=Jensen|first=John H.|year=1971|title=Forces of change|series=The European experience, topics in modern history|volume=1|location=Wellington|publisher=Reed|isbn=9780589040635 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f9AOAAAAQAAJ}}{{Page needed|date=February 2016}}</ref>

=== Spread of Old Catholicism throughout the world ===
[[File:Altkatholische Kirche Gablonz Jablonec.jpg|thumb|Old Catholic [[parish]] church in [[Jablonec nad Nisou|Gablonz an der Neiße]], [[Austria-Hungary]] (now Jablonec nad Nisou, [[Czech Republic]]). Some ethnic German Roman Catholics supported Döllinger in his rejection of the Roman Catholic dogma of papal infallibility.]]In 1897 a group of Polish migrants in the United States broke away from the Holy See due to theological and liturgical issues; their leader, [[Francis Hodur|Franciszek Hodur]], was consecrated a bishop by Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht [[Gerardus Gul]], establishing the [[Polish National Catholic Church]], which joined the Union of Utrecht.

==== Split of Old Roman Catholics and Liberal Catholics ====
In 1910, [[Arnold Mathew]]—a former [[British Catholicism|British Catholic]] and Anglican, who was consecrated by Old Catholic Archbishop Gul in 1908—split away from the Union of Utrecht, establishing the [[Old Roman Catholic Church in Great Britain]]. In 1914, he consecrated [[Rudolph de Landas Berghes]], who emigrated to the United States in 1914 and planted the seed of Old Roman Catholicism in the Americas. Mathew also consecrated an excommunicated Capuchin Franciscan priest as bishop: [[Carmel Henry Carfora]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Independent and Old Catholic Churches |publisher=Novelguide.com|url=http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ear_01/ear_01_00043.html|access-date=2010-04-25|url-status=dead|archive-date=2008-09-29|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080929060718/http://www.novelguide.com/a/discover/ear_01/ear_01_00043.html}}</ref> Various [[Christian denomination|Christian denominations]] claiming [[apostolic succession]] from Mathew were founded in the world through Berghes, Carfora, and others including [[James Wedgwood]]—founder of the [[Liberal Catholic Church]]. Such groups' apostolic succession is deemed to be invalid by both the [[Holy See]], the [[Union of Utrecht]] and the [[Anglican Communion]]. Mathew himself was [[Excommunication in the Catholic Church|excommunicated]] and declared a "pseudo-bishop" by [[Pope Pius X]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Pius X Papa |date=15 February 1911 |title=Sacerdotes Arnoldus Harris Mathew Herbertus Ignatius Beale Et Arthurus Guilelmus Howarth Nominatim Excommunicantur |url=https://archive.org/details/sacerdotes-arnoldus-harris-mathew-herbertus-ignatius-beale-et-arthurus-guilelmus |journal=[[Acta Apostolicae Sedis]] |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=53–54}}</ref> while the [[International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference]] declared his consecration to be [[null and void]], obtained [[mala fide]].<ref name="Brandreth19872">{{Cite book |last=Brandreth |first=Henry R. T. |title=Episcopi vagantes and the Anglican Church |publisher=Borgo Press |year=1987 |isbn=0-89370-558-6 |location=San Bernardino, CA |orig-year=First published in 1947}}</ref>

Another significant figure, [[Joseph René Vilatte]], who was ordained a deacon and priest by Bishop [[Eduard Herzog]], of the [[Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland]];<ref>{{cite web|last=Weeks|first=Donald M.|title=A partial chronological history of pioneer Old Catholics in the United States|website=oldcatholichistory.org|url=http://www.oldcatholichistory.org/pages/timetable/timetable.pdf|access-date=2010-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727142221/http://www.oldcatholichistory.org/pages/timetable/timetable.pdf|archive-date=2011-07-27|url-status=dead}}</ref> he worked with Catholics of Belgian ancestry living on the [[Door Peninsula]] of [[Wisconsin]], with the knowledge and blessing of the Union of Utrecht and under the full jurisdiction of the local Episcopal Bishop of [[Fond du Lac, Wisconsin]].<ref>C.B. Moss (1964) "The Old Catholic Movement" p.&nbsp;291, middle paragraph</ref> However, he subsequently left the Old Catholics and was later consecrated a bishop by Patriarch [[Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvares|Mar Julius I]] of the [[Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church]], though the validity of such consecration is disputed.<ref name="Brandreth19872" /> He proceeded to establish a number of Christian denominations before eventually reconciling with the Holy See.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=23 June 1925 |title=Une grande conversion |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2621873 |access-date= |website=[[La Croix (newspaper)|La Croix]] |language=}}</ref>

=== Polish National Catholic schism from Utrecht ===
In 2003, the Polish National Catholic Church voted itself out of the {{abbr|UU|Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches}} due to the Utrechter Union's acceptance of female ordination, and their attitude towards [[homosexuality]], both of which the Polish National Catholic Church rejects.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pncc.org/?page_id=6 |title=Our History |publisher=PNCC.org |access-date=13 August 2014 |archive-date=1 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101215550/http://www.pncc.org/?page_id=6 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utrechter-union.org/page/24/history|title=Utrechter Union - History |website=www.utrechter-union.org}}</ref> Prior, in 1994, the German Old Catholic bishops of the Utrechter Union decided to [[Ordination of women|ordain women as priests]], and put this into practice on 27 May 1996. Similar decisions and practices followed in Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alt-katholisch.de/information/frauenordination.html|title=Information&nbsp; > &nbsp;Frauenordination&nbsp;• Katholisches Bistum der Alt-Katholiken in Deutschland|website=www.alt-katholisch.de|access-date=22 January 2018|archive-date=3 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180303090743/http://www.alt-katholisch.de/information/frauenordination.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> By 2020, the Swiss church also voted in favour of [[same-sex marriage]]. Marriages between two men and two women were conducted in the same manner as heterosexual marriages.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=James |first1=Roberts |last2=Teague |first2=Ellen |date=1 September 2020 |title=News Briefing: Church in the World |url=https://www.thetablet.co.uk/news/13319/news-briefing-church-in-the-world |access-date=2023-04-21 |website=The Tablet |language=en}}</ref>

=== Old Catholic Church of Slovakia ===
The Old Catholic Church of Slovakia was accepted in 2000 as a member of the Union of Utrecht.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utrechter-union.org/page/171/communiqu%C3%A9_of_the_ibc_meeting_in|title=Utrechter Union - Communiqué of the IBC meeting in Breslau/PL 2000|website=www.utrechter-union.org|access-date=22 January 2018|archive-date=2 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502203117/http://www.utrechter-union.org/page/171/communiqu%C3%A9_of_the_ibc_meeting_in|url-status=dead}}</ref> As early as 2001 some issues arose concerning future consecration of Augustin Bacinsky as old-catholic bishop of Slovakia, and the matter was postponed.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utrechter-union.org/page/172/communiqu%C3%A9_of_the_ibc_meeting_in|title=Utrechter Union - Communiqué of the IBC meeting in Bendorf/D, 2001|website=www.utrechter-union.org|access-date=22 January 2018|archive-date=29 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729213151/http://www.utrechter-union.org/page/172/communiqu%C3%A9_of_the_ibc_meeting_in|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Old Catholic Church of Slovakia was expelled from the Union of Utrecht in 2004, because the episcopal administrator Augustin Bacinsky had been consecrated by an ''[[episcopus vagans]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.utrechter-union.org/pagina/139/member_churches|title=Utrechter Union - Member Churches|website=www.utrechter-union.org|access-date=22 January 2018|archive-date=13 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613210645/http://www.utrechter-union.org/pagina/139/member_churches|url-status=dead}}</ref>

At present, the only recognized Christian church in America that is in communion with the Union of Utrecht is the [[Episcopal Church (United States)|Episcopal Church]].<ref>{{cite web |author=Thaddeus A. Schnitker |date=July 1999 |title=The Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht |url=http://www.tec-europe.org/partners/Utrecht_partners.htm |access-date=2013-08-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417223214/http://www.tec-europe.org/partners/Utrecht_partners.htm |archive-date=17 April 2012 }}</ref>