According to those who hold that view, a person becomes a bishop if consecrated in an approved rite by another validly ordained bishop even when he is outside the boundaries of Catholicism. However, some theologians consider this view to be mechanical and reductionist and hold that an episcopal ordination is for service within a specific Christian church, and an ordination ceremony that concerns only the individual himself does not make him truly a bishop and are without effect.

That view has been affirmed, for instance, by the International Bishops' Conference of the Old Catholic Church with regard to ordinations by Arnold Mathew , [7] Independent clergy reject the characterisation, seeing their bishops as always ordained for the service of others and for the Christian community, whether in a defined jurisdiction or more broadly.

Independent Catholicism

The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church and the other churches of Oriental Orthodoxy completely reject the validity of the ordinations of heretics or schismatics and thus do not recognise the orders of independent clergy, whom they place in those categories. While the Roman Catholic Church has more than once declared that certain episcopal consecrations have no canonical effect, it has occasionally stated that it was not thereby expressing a judgement on the validity but merely on their canonical efficacy see also Valid but illicit.

Pius X that he had founded. The official view of the Eastern Orthodox churches may be summarised as follows: The bishop conducting such a ceremony may use conditional language on the lines of "If you are not already ordained or consecrated a bishop , I now ordain you or consecrate you a bishop ".


  • .
  • .
  • .
  • .
  • List of independent Catholic denominations - Wikipedia.
  • .
  • .

Sometimes, a series of such ceremonies is undergone. In what is called "cross-consecration", bishops representing different lines of apostolic succession consecrate each other to multiply the claims of each to genuine apostolic succession. Practices of such nature continue but are perhaps less prevalent than in the past. As an example, Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan of the African Orthodox Church , one of four conditionally ordained to the episcopate on 24 September by Roman Catholic Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo , who was therefore excommunicated , claims to have been first consecrated on 10 June and to have been subsequently conditionally reconsecrated several times before participating in the Milingo ceremony.

Hugh George de Willmott Newman is a notable example of an individual who was conditionally consecrated numerous times. Over a period of ten years between and , Newman took part in several ceremonies of conditional consecration and cross-consecration.

Independent Catholicism

It was Newman's aspiration that individual bishops would carry not just one or two historic lines or streams of apostolic succession but numerous different lines or streams, converging to form an ecumenical apostolic succession. Independent Catholic denominations Independent Catholic denominations , Catholics not in communion with Rome , or Breakaway Catholics , is a term for minor schismatic Christian denominations self-identifying as Catholic despite not affiliated with or recognised by the Catholic Church. Gertrude's Cathedral, in Utrecht , on 28 April Stanislaus Kostka Church St.

Archived from the original on North American Catholic Apostolic Church.


  1. Independent Catholic churches.
  2. Port Hope Simpson Mysteries, Ternua eta Labrador, Kanada (Basque Edition).
  3. ;
  4. List of independent Catholic denominations.
  5. ?
  6. Catholic Apostolic Church in North America. Acta Apostolicae Sedis in Latin published Translated in Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith L'Osservatore Romano published Retrieved — via vatican. The limits of the church in an orthodox perspective. The online library of the Church of Greece.

    Independent Catholic denominations

    Online Cultural Center of the Church of Greece. Church Creed Gospel New Covenant. Unless explicitly noted otherwise, all content licensed as indicated by RationalWiki: For concerns on copyright infringement please see: Christ died for our articles about Christianity. Catholicism Eastern Orthodox Protestantism Restorationism. Devil's in the details. Christianity portal v - t - e.

    Independent Catholic Education

    This page contains too many unsourced statements and needs to be improved. The consecrating bishop must be able to trace his succession through an unbroken line of bishops back to the original church founded by Jesus the Christ and his Apostles.

    Navigation menu

    As a general rule there must be two validly consecrated co-consecrators in participation with the main consecrating bishop to insure the validity of the consecration. Once a person becomes a priest or a bishop they are ordained spiritually for their entire life. Over the thousands of years of church history there have been validly consecrated bishops from Catholic denominations including the Roman Catholic Church who have broken their affiliation and allegiance to a particular denomination.

    These bishops and denominations have been called schismatic. Those bishops who have left a denomination are still valid bishops and may continue to ordain priests and consecrate new bishops, thus the valid Apostolic Succession is carried on.

    Independent Catholic denominations

    The major splits or schisms, from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church sometimes called the greater Catholic Church founded years ago, were The Eastern Orthodox separation in and the Anglican community in There have been a few times in church history where the Church at Rome has given permission for a particular Diocese to elect its own bishops without being appointed by the Pope.

    Bishops, independent of Rome, have come about through both of these mechanisms. Each independent Catholic denomination establishes their own Code of Canon Law, and their own theological stand on these issues. As previously stated the various denominations move from very conservative to very liberal. You would have to check with each church group to find out what their stance is on these matters.


    • Clara dos Anjos (Portuguese Edition);
    • Anastasia Series I Omnibus.
    • Introducing Biological Energetics: How Energy and Information Control the Living World.
    • Independent Catholicism - Wikipedia?
    • ?
    • La ville: Phénomène de représentation (French Edition).

    The Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch ordains women to its priesthood, priests can be married, and celibacy is optional.