Our Mission

 

The Old Roman Catholic Church is called by God to proclaim the Gospel and Teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ to all the world.

 

We are called to live this commitment to the Gospel by professing the full and authentic Catholic Faith in the doctrinal, sacramental and liturgical tradition of the Roman Catholic Church, while possessing an indisputable line of Apostolic Succession of Holy Orders, together with its accompanying canonical authority, via the Archiepiscopal See of Utrecht from whom we are descended.

Our Parishes

 

Most parishes of the North American Old Roman Catholic Church are small faith communities of approximately five to fifty parishioners each, who are committed to living and practicing their Catholic Faith according to the traditional forms of worship and devotion common throughout the Catholic world before the early 1960's e.g. the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass celebrated according to the Tridentine Rite; the traditional form of all seven Sacraments; the use of a traditional form of the catechism for religious instruction; the Rosary; Novenas; Stations of the Cross; Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament; the daily praying of the Divine Office (Breviary); fasting and abstinence; a traditional Church Calendar with all of the traditional Holy Days and Feast Days as well as the inclusion of the more recently added Saints and several special Feast Days of our own jurisdiction; the observance of the Religious Life for Priests, Brothers and Sisters.

 

Each parish or mission is owned locally by the members of the parish, managed by an elected Vestry or Parish Council who maintain and control the financial and temporal fabric of the parish, while the spiritual, liturgical and apostolic work and ministry of the parish is conducted by the pastor and his associates under the spiritual and canonical authority of the Bishop of the Diocese to which the parish belongs.

 

Elected representatives of the parish also serve as delegates to the Diocesan Synod and serve on various diocesan committees.

 

Elected clergy and lay members of our varous dioceses and provinces serve as delegates to the General and Provincial Synods of the Church and serve on the different committees of those bodies as well.

 

We believe that the laity of the church are full collaborators and cooperators with the clergy in the mission and work of the church, and are thus expected to take an active role in their capacity as such. We vehemently reject the idea that the sole role of the laity is to "pay, pray and obey". 

Our Clergy

 

The clergy of the Old Roman Catholic Church are validly and canonically ordained Catholic Deacons, Priests and Bishops who stand in a line of unbroken Apostolic Succession stretching from the first Twelve Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ right down to the present day. This line of Apostolic Succession was obtained via the Archiepiscopal See of Utrecht in the Netherlands, a diocese established in the year 695 by Saint Willibrord, known as the Apostle to the Frisians.

 

The local parish or mission is usually placed under the spiritual direction and care of a priest or deacon, and he is often assisted by other priests or deacons in the work and ministry of the parish or mission.

 

Groups of missions and parishes are organized into the various dioceses of the church and are under the canonical authority and supervision of the local bishop who is known as the Ordinary of the Diocese. The Ordinary may be assisted by an Auxiliary Bishop if needed.

 

Dioceses are then grouped together to form an ecclesiastical Province of the Church which is administered by an Archbishop known also as the Metropolitan. He has a limited canonical oversight and authority over the various bishops and dioceses of his Province, but is prohibited under most circumstances, except for specific situations outlined in the Codex of Canon Law, from interfering in the regular administration of the several dioceses of his Province.

 

The various Provinces are then organized as the general church and operate together under the canonical authority and supervision of one of the archbishops who has been elected by the College of Bishops and confirmed in office by the clergy and lay members of the General Synod, who is known as the Metropolitan-Primate. The first and thus the Primatial See of the Old Roman Catholic Church in the western hemisphere was originally known as: The Metropolitan See of the United States and Canada. In 2006 the title of this Primatial See was amended to: The Primatial See of Nova Terra, signifying the entire western hemisphere with the Latin title originally designating that area as the "new world".  Therefore our Metropolitan-Primate is styled or known as The Metropolitan-Primate of the Primatial See of Nova Terra.