Apostolic Catholic Church

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Apostolic Catholic Church of Our Beloved Ingkong
The seal of the Apostolic Catholic Church showing the Catholic cross (right) and the Eastern Orthodox cross (left).
Orientation	Apostolic and Paleo-orthodox
Polity	Episcopal
Leader	Patriarch John Florentine L. Teruel, P.P.
Associations	National Council of Churches in the Philippines
Geographical areas	Worldwide
Founder	Patriarch John Florentine L. Teruel and St. Maria Virginia Peñaflor Leonzon (Honorary Foundress)
Origin	July 7, 1992[1]  Philippines Hermosa, Bataan, Philippines
Separated from	Roman Catholic Church
Separations	CMHT (unrecognized)
Members	1,000,000 (2009 estimate)[2]
Tertiary institutions	Collegio de Santa Maria Virginia and College of the Most Holy Trinity
Official website	www.acc-ingkong.com

The Apostolic Catholic Church (ACC) is a self-governing church, based in the Philippines, that claims to trace its faith and worship from the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that Jesus Christ and his Apostles established. The Church believes the Trinitarian Doctrine that states that the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit are three persons in one being. The Church prays for the unity of the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church,^[3] but is regarded as schismatic by the Roman Catholic Church.^[4]

Overview

It is a conservative church which has attire requirements men and women,^{[citation needed]} a requirement criticised by other Christian churches as being inappropriate to manifest holiness.^{[citation needed]} Especially during the sacrifice of the Holy Mass, veils and decent dresses are worn by women while men wear white shirts and trousers, but mostly white soutanes. Attire deemed vulgar by adherents to the Church, such as mini skirts and jeans for women and sando shirts for men, are strictly prohibited. These ancient church traditions were removed after the Vatican II Council by the Roman Catholic Church but were all retained by the Apostolic Catholic Church to show-off its orientation.^{[5][not in citation given]} Members of the Church are also known for their discipline and piety; youths are not allowed intimate relationships with one another. Adults are prohibited vices such as alcohol and cigarettes. The Apostolic Catholic Church is an autocephalous church: although it follows much of Catholic teaching and theology, it is not in communion with the Church of Rome; it has its own leader, Patriarch John Florentine L. Teruel, P.P.,^[1] and does not recognize the supremacy of the Bishop of Rome as the head of the Catholic Church.

Foundation

The Apostolic Catholic Church (ACC) was founded in 1992 by John Florentine L. Teruel. His mother, the ACC Matriarch, Maria Virginia Peñaflor Leonzon, became its honorary foundress. The church is based in Sacrifice Valley Ecclesiastical State in Hermosa, Bataan, Philippines. It has two main shrines: one is the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Sacrifice Valley and the other is the National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rock in Quezon City, with the first as its main cathedral. The church was registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on August 4, 1992.

Patriarchate

The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Sacrifice Valley, Hemosa, Bataan, Philippines

The Apostolic Catholic Church National Shrine of Our Lady of the Rock in EDSA, Quezon City, Philippines.

The Apostolic Catholic Church has a patriarchate similar to Eastern Orthodox churches; located in Hermosa, Bataan, Philippines. It is officially called Barangay Sacrifice Valley Ecclesiastical State where the highest clergy of the church and the Patriarch Dr. John Florentine Leonzon Teruel reside and govern the whole denomination. Like other Christian patriarchates worldwide, Sacrifice Valley does not accept the authority of the See of Rome but respects it.^[6] Its principal church is The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity, where the history and foundation of the church took place. There is also a unique and one of a kind outdoor church, called the Nature's Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary which has circular structures that shelter the different cult images of Mary, the Theotokos. It is also known as the Pilgrimage Capital of Bataan because every year during Holy Week, thousands of people including Roman Catholics visit it for their devotion to Mahal na Ingkong, title given by their leader to God as revealed to the Patriarch and St Maria Virginia; The Apostolic Catholic Church follows the Episcopal polity because it maintains a council of bishops that is headed by a sole leader, the Patriarch.^[7]

Denomination

The Apostolic Catholic Church is a Pseudo-Christian cult, but it claim itself to ba a Catholic denomination that can be classified as paleo-orthodox because its goal is to mediate Catholicism to revive the ancient traditions that Papacy taught early Catholics.^[8] The church manifests itself as schismatic catholic because it does not accept the authority of the Pope nor the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility and the conditions approved in the Vatican II Council that removed some ancient Christian traditions.

Hierarchy of members

There are two types of members, the "Sealed Servants" or official members and the associate members or those who received other Catholic Sacraments but did not yet receive the Holy Sealing from God, the Holy Spirit, through His Holy Covenant, Saint Maria Virginia or through the Patriarch, John Florentine. There is also a hierarchy of members from children to adults. Sealed Servants are classified as "APO" (men and women, 21 years old and above) and "Auxiliaries" (youth, below 21 years old). Auxiliaries are further classified into: Hijas de Maria (girls 13 to 20 years of age), Cherubims or Seraphims, (boys 13 to 20 years of age), and Angelitos and Angelitas (girls and boys below 13 years old).^[9]

Church governance and congregation

Patriarch John Florentine Teruel

The Apostolic Catholic Church, as a self-governing autocephalous church, has only one congregation and religious order which is the Order of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit (OMHS). The members of the congregation are the archbishops, bishops, priests, deacons, subdeacons, deaconesses, nuns, and third order members, bound by their evangelical vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, and acceptance of their immediate superiors, to the Patriarch, John Florentine L. Teruel, P.P., and to God the Holy Spirit, who is called by his new Name Ingkong.^[10] The lay governing body of the Apostolic Catholic Church is headed by the Parish Pastoral Council, with its own elected officers and committees, the working force of the church.

Church governance is divided into Dioceses headed by archbishops or bishops. Each diocese is also divided into individual parishes headed by one or more priests.

The church is an active member of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines along with other Protestant and non-Roman Catholic churches whose goal is to achieve ecumenism.^[11] Today, the church is said to have more than five to eight million members worldwide, making it the third largest Christian denomination in the Philippines after the Roman Catholic Church as the first and the Iglesia Filipina Independiente or Aglipayan as the second.^[2]

Saints

Saint Maria Virginia wearing red when is still alive, with some nuns behind her.

The Apostolic Catholic Church follows the doctrine of recognizing saints and holy people based on what they have done while still alive. Similar to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, it recognizes all Roman Catholic and Orthodox saints.^[12] Currently, there is only one saint beatified by the ACC Patriarch. St. Maria Virginia Peñaflor Leonzon, mother of the Church and the Patriarch, Dr. John Florentine L. Teruel, PP. She is the honorary foundress of Apostolic Catholic Church and its Cursillo Movement. Having an elevated spiritual life, she was beatified and canonized a saint in 1995 by the Patriarch. Because of this, St. Maria Virginia P. Leonzon became the first Filipino non-Roman Catholic saint. All members of the church congregation believe that St. Maria Virginia P. Leonzon was the Covenant of the Holy Spirit, Mahal na Ingkong and the reincarnation of the Virgin Mary. When she was still alive, St. Maria Virginia was a living saint for all ACC members. She died at the age of 83 in Sacrifice Valley in 2005.^[13]

Symbol

The Eastern Rite Cross (left) and The Western Rite Cross (right)

The official symbol of the church are two crosses with a dove between them. The Eastern Rite Orthodox cross is on the left and the Western Rite Roman Catholic cross is on the right with a dove that represents unity and peace between them in the center. The combination of the two crosses are viewed by the Apostolic Catholic Church as symbolic of the unity of Christianity, particularly the Eastern and Western Churches.

View on family planning

The Apostolic Catholic Church views the RH Bill (Reproductive Health Bill) as the answer to the increasing growth in the Philippine population. Unlike the Roman Catholic Church that views it as a sinful act, the ACC church considers it a non-abortive method of planning a family in the future. They were previously skeptical about the bill, but after Patriarch John Florentine Teruel heard the discussion of Representative Edcel Lagman, the principal author of the bill, they now fully support it, similar to other Protestant Christian denominations.^[14]

References

• ACC home
• ABS-CBN news
• Apostolic Catholic Church (Sacrifice Valley) report by Karen Davila on The Correspondents (2004)

External links

• Official website