So what happened to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church? She hasn’t truly been One for some 950 years. But if you think that the Great Schism between the East and West in 1054 A.D. was bad, just look at us now. In a time when the Church of Jesus Christ is ripping herself to shreds over sexuality, morality, secularism, revisionism, and a thousand other points of contention, some trivial, some not so trivial, it leaves little hope for a reunion of Holy Mother Church. And the Old Catholic Church is as bad as any of them. So what is an Old Catholic to do in this new age? Well, here’s what I think, folks. I think the time is right, and the world is ripe for real Old Catholics to unite as one voice to proclaim the good news; to bring the unchurched into the Family of God, and to bring the exchurched back into the fold. Wait a minute. “Real” Old Catholics? What’s a real Old Catholic? What unites us as Old Catholics? What unites us as Catholics? As Christians? If you do a web search on the Old Catholic Church, you’ll find everything under the sun. You’ll find churches that you can barely distinguish from the Roman Catholic Church, all the way to “churches” that you can barely distinguish as Christian! You’ll find websites without churches, bishops without clergy, self-proclaimed Archbishops, Primates and Metropolitans without sees or jurisdictions. You’ll also find wonderful, orthodox Christians worshipping God and loving one another in the Name of Jesus. Do you know what Old Catholics in the United States are famous for these days? Being a bunch of schismatic, infighting clergy with little or no congregations, who are constantly bickering among themselves about validity, excommunicating each other, and going off to start their own thing. My brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to change that. We ARE going to change that in the Diocese of Texas. We WILL become a family of believers, grounded firmly in Holy Scripture, under the headship of our Lord Jesus Christ, the only and ultimate Supreme Leader of the Church. So let’s all work together to make that happen. Let’s start with where we agree rather than where we disagree. And I suggest that we start with the best selling book of all time. Can we agree that Holy Scripture is the inspired Word of God and our ultimate written authority? Now you Old Roman Catholics are going to tell me that tradition is equal in authority to Scripture. And you reformed-minded Old Catholics are going to shout Sola Scriptura! My two cents worth is, tradition is extremely important, but it must be firmly grounded in the Holy Bible. Not necessarily directly quoted, but firmly grounded (the word “Trinity” is never mentioned in Scripture, but the doctrine is certainly found in many places). Okay, let’s talk about it. Can we agree on Holy Scripture as the foundation of our faith? And without trying to interpret one chapter/verse or another, in or out of context, can we agree that the Bible as a whole is the inspired Word of God?
