Who Are We?

hostilities. Now we must bring this Gospel, this “good news” or “good word” of freedom in Christ to all men, as Jesus Himself directs us. Of course, just listening to the Word, or giving verbal assent to some abstract Article of Faith is not sufficient to help us in living our lives – we must open ourselves to live the Word, sharing it with all of our brothers and sisters. This is the mission of our Church, the reason for its existence, to be the fellowship of men striving to live the Gospel, to really live this love.

If you desire more information in regards to our work or jurisdiction than is discussed here, or to be placed upon our mailing list, please contact:

The parishes and missions of The North American Old Roman Catholic Church are striving to serve this mission by firmly retaining the traditional Mass, Rites and Ceremonies of the Catholic Church, while also addressing the various needs of other Christians who have united with our Church by providing other various and valid expressions of worship, and a truly Christian and Catholic life.

or you can call us at: (617) 438-3042

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

The North American Old Roman Catholic Church 73 Pleasant Street Springvale, ME 04083

Who Are We?

Please visit our website at: www.naorcc.org

The North American Old Roman Catholic Church

THE NORTH AMERICAN OLD ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH _________________________ HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: The North American Old Roman Catholic Church is the canonical American expression of the worldwide Old (Roman) Catholic movement. This so-called Old Catholic movement results from the fusion of separate movements away from Roman domination of the Western Church.

The first of these movements developed in The Netherlands when the Dutch Catholics exercised their canonical right of electing their own Bishops. Due to political pressures, the Holy See refused to recognize these elections. Therefore, rather than deny their liberty in Christ by bowing to Papal authoritarianism, certain Dutch Catholics, under the leadership of the ancient Archiepiscopal See of Utrecht have maintained a separate existence from Rome since the 18th Century.

The second movement developed as a result of the First Vatican Council’s declaration of Papal Infallibility in 1870. Rejecting this non-Scriptural novelty, other Churches in Austria, Germany and Switzerland separated from Rome and came into a loose communion with Utrecht and are known as the “Old Catholic Churches”.

The movement spread with the consecration of a Bishop for England in 1908, namely Arnold Harris Mathew, a former Roman Catholic Priest. It was from this English Old Roman Catholic Church that The North American Old Roman Catholic Church received its foundation in Apostolic Faith and Episcopal Succession in 1916 through the person of Archbishop Rudolph de Landas Berghes et de Rache.

DOCTRINAL POSITION: We hold the Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, as the basic Rule of the Christian Faith, in which we find the record of God’s revelation of Himself to man through His people Israel, and above all in His Son, Jesus Christ.

unbroken line from the Apostolic Church, without any doctrinal novelties; North American in its mode of expressing that Faith and in its scope of apostolic ministry and works; Old Roman in the orthodox tradition of the Apostolic See of Rome in the undivided Catholic Church.

Today we see that other Churches including the Roman Catholic Church itself are advancing towards positions on points of doctrine and discipline that the Old Roman Catholic Church adopted years ago. We welcome such developments towards a common understanding of the Christian and Catholic Faith and also seek to work with all Catholic minded Christians for the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth.

We accept and seek to apply the tradition of the Apostles and the Fathers of the Early Church in interpreting Scriptural revelation.

We accept this tradition in line with the rule formulated by St Vincent of Lerins in the 5th Century, that the standard of Catholic orthodoxy is what has been believed everywhere, always and by all. Basing ourselves on this rule, we persevere in professing the Faith of the primitive Church as formulated in the Catholic Creeds and specified precisely by the unanimously accepted decisions of the Ecumenical Councils held in the undivided Church of the first thousand years.

PRESENT STATUS: Our concerns with the foundations of our Faith is not an academic exercise but is rather an emphasis on our continuity with the undivided Church, with the Apostles, with Christ and through Him with the Jewish Faith of the Old Covenant. The action of God in man’s history through His people did not cease with the Apostles – it goes on and will continue. The first Christians saw the Church as a living organism. We are not expected to be Christians of the 19th or 16th or even the 1st Centuries. We are called to be Christ in the world today, to speak and live His love today, to show the oneness of God and man in a fragmented world, in an idolatrous society.

The North American Old Roman Catholic Church thus stands as an orthodox Catholic Church.

Catholic in holding the historic Faith derived in

It is only because of Our Lord’s Gospel of love that we have been able to continue to proclaim His message of love and salvation in the face of all