Liberal Catholic Church

This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page. It does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve it by citing reliable sources. Tagged since July 2009. Its neutrality is disputed. Tagged since July 2009. It may have been edited by a person who has a conflict of interest with the subject matter. Tagged since July 2009.

Part of a series on the Liberal Catholic Movement
Background
Christianity · Western Christianity · English Reformation · Anglicanism · Old Catholic
People
Arnold Harris Mathew · James I. Wedgwood · Charles Webster Leadbeater
Rites
Liberal Rite
Churches
Liberal Catholic Church Liberal Catholic Church International Liberal Catholic Church Grail Community Liberal Catholic Church Theosophia Synod Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church Old Catholic Church of British Columbia Reformed Liberal Catholic Church St. Mychal Judge Old Catholic Church in Dallas Universal Catholic Church The Young Rite

The Liberal Catholic Church (LCC) is a form of Christianity open to theosophical ideas and even reincarnation. It is not connected to the Roman Catholic Church. The title also is applied to various separate and independent denominations throughout the world holding many theosophical ideas in common.

Church background

The founding bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church was J. I. Wedgwood of the Wedgwood China family, who became a theosophist and was ordained as a priest in the Old Catholic movement on July 22, 1913, by Arnold Harris Mathew (whose membership in the Union of Utrecht was terminated in 1910). Archbishop Mathew was a resigned Roman Catholic priest who had been consecrated by Archbishop Gerardus Gul of Utrecht on April 28, 1908, and appointed as the first Old Catholic bishop in Britain. Thus the Liberal Catholic Church claims to trace its apostolic succession back to Rome through Old Catholicism. In the end Mathew came to cease all ties with the Utrecht Union of Churches to vow allegiance once more to the Roman Catholic Church (this did not happen) and to advise those of his flock who were Theosophists to resign membership of the Theosophical Society Adyar. This advice was not taken seriously by many of the church's members. Wedgwood was consecrated to the episcopate on February 13, 1916, by Bishop Frederick Samuel Willoughby (who had been consecrated by Bishop Matthew), and started the organisation that would later become the Liberal Catholic Church, of which Wedgwood became the first Presiding Bishop. Bishop Wedgwood published articles within the Theosophical Society on ceremonial work. These writings interested Charles Webster Leadbeater, an alleged clairvoyant and Anglican priest who was consecrated as a Liberal Catholic bishop in 1916. C. W. Leadbeater became the 2nd Presiding Bishop.

The 1941 Schism

In 1941, a schism occurred in the church due to breaches of canon law and the laws of the state of California on the part of the Presiding Bishop, which led to the church known abroad as the Liberal Catholic Church International earning the legal right to be known as the Liberal Catholic Church in the United States. In America, the entity originally known as the Liberal Catholic Church may no longer use that name.^{[citation needed]}

The 2003 Schism

In 2003 the issue of the limitation of the right of a bishop to ordain candidates of his choice gave rise to a differences of opinions which resulted into two groups: a 'traditional' and a more 'liberal' one. The ordination of women was the primary point of conflict.

Since both groups use the name 'Liberal Catholic Church' distinguishing between the two may be confusing.

Church Structure

The Liberal Catholic Church is governed by the "General Episcopal Synod" of all bishops. As the Church are really the members, the General Episcopal Synod is the assembly of all bishops recognized as such by its members. The synod meets formally every three years and it elects a Presiding Bishop from among their ranks as the church's chief executive officer. The current Presiding Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church is the Right Reverend Maurice Warnon for the GES recognizing Ordinations for all and the Right Reverent Graham Wale for the GES restricting the priesthood and the episcopate to only men. The General Episcopal Synod also elects priests to the episcopacy, with the approval of the parishes of their respective provinces. The bishops of the Liberal Catholic Church may hold office until the mandatory retirement age of 75.

Each province is governed by a regionary bishop who, in turn, may have one or more bishops functioning as assistants. A province may also have its own Clerical Synod of deacons, priests and bishops. For the most part these clergy are not financially compensated and hold secular jobs. They also may marry and hold property.

Training for the clergy varies from province to province. The Liberal Catholic Institute of Studies was created to standardise the program of studies for the development of future deacons and priests, but laypersons may follow the courses as well.

The church permits the ordination of non-celibate gays and lesbians.

Basis of Teaching

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved. (December 2007)

According to church teaching, the Liberal Catholic Church draws the central inspiration of its work from an earnest faith in the living Christ. It holds that the vitality of a church gains in proportion as its members not only revere and worship a Christ who lived two thousand years ago, but also strive to affirm in their lives the eternal Christ of whom St. John (Chapter 8:58) speaks: "Before Abraham was, I am." It is the Christ who ever lives as a mighty spiritual presence in the world, guiding and sustaining His people.

Liberal Catholicism regards these promises as validating all Christian worship, of whatever kind, so long as it be earnest and true. But it further holds that while the promise of the presence with individual believers is thus effective, Christ also appointed certain rites or sacraments, called 'mysteries' in the Eastern Church, for the greater helping of his people, to be handed down in the Church as special channels of power and blessing. Through these 'means of grace' The Liberal Catholic Church believes that Christ is ever present within His Church, in fellowship and Communion, guiding and protecting them from birth to death.

Sacraments and apostolic succession

According to the Liberal Catholic Church's Statement of Principles, "The Liberal Catholic Church recognises seven fundamental sacraments, which it enumerates as follows: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Eucharist, Absolution, Holy Unction, Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders. It claims an unbroken apostolic succession through the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht and claims that its orders are 'acknowledged as valid throughout the whole of those churches of Christendom which maintain the apostolic succession of orders as a tenet of their faith." The LCC International has modified their Statement of Principles to read "it (the LCC) has preserved an episcopal succession that is valid, as understood throughout the whole of those churches in Christendom that maintain the apostolic succession as a tenet of their faith."

In 1920, C.W. Leadbeater published a book for the use of the clergy of the Liberal Catholic Church called The Science of the Sacraments. The book has pictures what Leadbeater said he saw with his claimed clairvoyant ability to observe etheric matter with his third eye. The pictures show the effect of performing the sacraments on the distribution of etheric matter within the vicinity of the congregation.

Unity of all religions

The Liberal Catholic Church believes that there is a body of doctrine and mystical experience common to all the great religions of the world and which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. Moving within the orbit of Christianity and regarding itself as a distinctive Christian church it nevertheless holds that the other great religions of the world are also divinely inspired and that all proceed from a common source, though religions may stress different aspects of the various teachings and some aspects may even temporarily be ignored. These teachings, as facts in nature, rest on their own intrinsic merit. They form that true catholic faith which is catholic because it is the statement of universal principles. The LCC bases these beliefs on what St. Augustine said: "The identical thing that we now call the Christian religion existed among the ancients and has not been lacking from the beginnings of the human race until the coming of Christ in the flesh, from which moment on the true religion, which already existed, began to be called Christian." (Retract I. XIII,3). The same principle is involved in the declaration of St. Vincent of Lerins: "That let us hold which everywhere, always and by all has been believed: for this is truly and rightly catholic." .

See also

• Warren Prall Watters
• Free Church of Antioch
• Maitreya (Theosophy)
• Old Catholic Church Utrecht Union
• Old Catholic

References

External links

• The Liberal Catholic Church overview of the entire Liberal Catholic movements, regardless of jurisdiction
• The Liberal Catholic Church, Province of the USA