Editing Old Catholic Church (section)

=== 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>