Utrecht Union
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The Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches, most commonly referred to by the short form Union of Utrecht (UU), is a federation of
Old Catholic churches The terms Old Catholic Church, Old Catholics, Old-Catholic churches, or Old Catholic movement, designate "any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the undiv ...
, nationally organized from
schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...
s which rejected Roman Catholic doctrines of the
First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...
in 1870; its member churches are not in communion with the
Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
. The 1889 '' Declaration of Utrecht'' is one of three founding documents together called the Convention of Utrecht. Many provinces of the Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches are members of the
World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...
. The is in
full communion Full communion is a communion or relationship of full agreement among different Christian denominations or Christian individuals that share certain essential principles of Christian theology. Views vary among denominations on exactly what constit ...
with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden; the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...
through the 1931 Bonn Agreement; the
Philippine Independent Church The Philippine Independent Church (; ), officially referred to by its Philippine Spanish name (IFI) and colloquially called the Aglipayan Church, is an independent catholic Christian denomination, in the form of a nationalist church, in the ...
, the
Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church The Spanish Reformed Episcopal Church, also translated as Reformed Episcopal Church of Spain, or IERE () is the church of the Anglican Communion in Spain. It was founded in 1880 and since 1980 has been an Extra-provincial Anglican churches, extra ...
, and the Lusitanian Catholic Apostolic Evangelical Church through a 1965 extension of the Bonn Agreement; and, the
Mar Thoma Syrian Church The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, often shortened to Mar Thoma Church, and known also as the Reformed Syrian ChurchS. N. Sadasivan. A Social History of India''. APH Publishing; 2000. . p. 442. and the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malab ...
through the 2024 Thiruvalla agreement. the includes six member churches: the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (OKKN), the Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany, the
Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is an Old Catholic denomination in Switzerland. This denomination is part of the Union of Utrecht. History In 1871 the Zürich Catholic community planned to build a church to commemorate the 1270s ...
, the Old Catholic Church of Austria, the Old Catholic Church of the Czech Republic, and the Polish Catholic Church in Poland. The church has approximately 400,000 members.


History


Foundation and enlargement

The mother church, the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands, was established in the 18th century as a result of tensions between the local Catholic hierarchy and the
Roman Curia The Roman Curia () comprises the administrative institutions of the Holy See and the central body through which the affairs of the Catholic Church are conducted. The Roman Curia is the institution of which the Roman Pontiff ordinarily makes use ...
. The other churches, such as the Catholic Diocese of the Old Catholics in Germany, and the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland, followed suit after the
First Vatican Council The First Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the First Vatican Council or Vatican I, was the 20th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, held three centuries after the preceding Council of Trent which was adjourned in 156 ...
, which defined the dogma of
papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a Dogma in the Catholic Church, dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Saint Peter, Peter, the Pope when he speaks is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "in ...
.


Missionary activity and schisms

In the former
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
, the union had three organized Old Catholic episcopal jurisdictions: Old Catholic Church of Croatia (created in 1922-1923, first bishop Marko Kalojera consecrated in 1924 in Utrecht), Old Catholic Church of Slovenia (with bishops Radovan Jošt and Anton Kovačevič), and Old Catholic Church of Serbia (with bishop Milan Dobrovoljac (1954-1966). Three churches formed "Union of Old-Catholic Churches in Yugoslavia" (1954). This union eventually ceased to exist with break-up of Yugoslavia (1991-1992) and even before that, the Old Catholic bishopric in Serbia was extinguished, and the same happened with bishoprics in
Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
and
Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...
. Finally, remaining Old Catholic parishes in Croatia and other parts of former Yugoslavia were placed under jurisdiction of the Old Catholic Church of Austria. With the establishment of the Polish National Catholic Church in the United States as a member of the Utrechter Union, by 1997, the International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference stated that this church was not in full communion with other Union of Utrecht churches because they did not accept the
ordination of women The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination ...
. Since 1998, the Polish National Catholics did not permit the conference's bishops to participate in episcopal consecrations. The conference stated in 2003 that full communion "could not be restored" and "effectively expelled" the Polish National Catholic Church. The church "refused to repudiate" a 1976 conference statement opposing the ordination of women, and the Polish National Catholics "indicated that any attempt to admit women to the ministerial priesthood would lead to a break in full communion with churches that adopted the practice." The Old Catholic Church of Austria approved the blessing of same-sex unions in 1998 without deliberation; in contrast, the Polish National Catholic Church disapproved the blessing of same-sex unions in 2002 and "described homosexual practice as sinful". The Polish National Catholic Church established the Union of Scranton in 2008, and no other North American body has been recognized by the International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference. The Old Catholic Church of Slovakia was a member church of the Union of Utrecht from 2000 but it was removed from membership in 2004. In July 2011, the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland ended its mission to Old Catholic parishes in Italy. "In cooperation with ecumenical partner churches" the parishes were "offered a model that guarantees their continued pastoral care".


Organization

Individual Union of Utrecht member churches maintain a degree of autonomy, similar to the practice of the
Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...
. Each
diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, prov ...
of the member churches has a diocesan
bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
, and countries with more than one diocese have a bishop who is appointed as "bishop in charge" or a similar title. The
primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
(' leader) of the union is the Archbishop of Utrecht (not to be confused with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht). From 2000 to 2020, the archbishop was Joris Vercammen, a former Roman Catholic who served on the central committee of the
World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodo ...
. In 2020, Joris Vercammen was succeeded by Bernd Wallet.


Theology and practices

The Old Catholic churches reject the universal jurisdiction of the pope, as well as the Roman Catholic dogma of
papal infallibility Papal infallibility is a Dogma in the Catholic Church, dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Saint Peter, Peter, the Pope when he speaks is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "in ...
(1870), which was used to proclaim the Roman Catholic dogmas of the
Assumption of Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of w ...
(1950). While Old Catholics affirm the
Real Presence The real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, sometimes shortened Real Presence'','' is the Christian doctrine that Jesus Christ is present in the Eucharist, not merely symbolically or metaphorically, but in a true, real and substantial way. Th ...
of Christ in the Eucharist, they do not emphasize
transubstantiation Transubstantiation (; Greek language, Greek: μετουσίωσις ''metousiosis'') is, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, "the change of the whole substance of sacramental bread, bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and ...
as the sole dogmatic explanation for this presence. Old Catholics of Utrecht generally refrain from using the ' and ' clauses in the
Nicene Creed The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...
and also reject a dogmatic understanding of
Purgatory In Christianity, Purgatory (, borrowed into English language, English via Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman and Old French) is a passing Intermediate state (Christianity), intermediate state after physical death for purifying or purging a soul ...
; however, they generally do recognize a purification by Christ's grace after death and include prayers for the dead in their liturgy and devotions. They maintain such basic western Catholic practices as
baptism Baptism (from ) is a Christians, Christian sacrament of initiation almost invariably with the use of water. It may be performed by aspersion, sprinkling or affusion, pouring water on the head, or by immersion baptism, immersing in water eit ...
by
affusion Affusion is a method of baptism where water is poured on the head of the person being baptized. The word "affusion" comes from the Latin , meaning "to pour on". Affusion is one of four methods of baptism used by Christians, which also include to ...
(pouring of water) and the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist. Additionally, they have many aspects in common with the Orthodox, Lutheran and Anglican churches, such as optional
clerical celibacy Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because thes ...
. Utrechter churches accept the doctrines of the Christian Church before the Great Schism of A.D. 1054.


See also

* Willibrord Society


Notes


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Union Of Utrecht (Old Catholic) Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches Christian organizations established in 1889 Christian denominations established in the 19th century History of Utrecht (city) 1889 establishments in the Netherlands