Gay bishops, married nuns: meet the Old Catholics
Formed by dissident Dutch and German bishops, the Old Catholics movement has been in existence since the 1870s.
- Peggy Fletcher Stack
- United States
- May 22, 2012
Archbishop Michael Seneco, of Washington, D.C., is a gay man who plans to marry his longtime partner in September.
Bishop Jim Morgan, of Ogden, Utah, is also gay and has been with the man he considers his husband for 30 years.
In this church, the bishops’ marital relations haven’t caused a ripple among the clergy or the laity. No protests. No outraged believers. No furious voting.
Both priests are leaders of the North American Old Catholic Church, a little-known brand of Catholicism, with elements most Catholics wouldn’t recognize. According to its website, it preaches openness, tolerance and interfaith dialogue as “an essential way to build a more holistic and loving world in accordance with the Gospels.”
North American Old Catholics, members say, “are redefining what it means to be a universal catholic church in a modern world needing prophetic voices.”
In this incarnation of Catholicism, priests and nuns may marry whomever they wish, every baptized person (including divorced members) is welcome to take Communion and women can be priests. Their faith statements read like a litany of progressive concerns — the environment, anti-torture, gay rights, women’s rights, nuclear disarmament, reproductive rights.
The Old Catholics oppose abortion but don’t believe their view should be codified in civil law. And there is no allegiance to Rome. Indeed, the movement started with the question of papal infallibility.
During the First Vatican Council, convened in Rome between 1869 and 1870, bishops huddled to hammer out the role of the papacy. Some argued against elevating the pope to such a centrally important stature, believing the church should continue its longtime tradition of allowing regional bishops to be somewhat autonomous.
Full Story: 'Old Catholics' embrace new movements
Source: Religion News Service
Bishop Jim Morgan, of Ogden, Utah, is also gay and has been with the man he considers his husband for 30 years.
In this church, the bishops’ marital relations haven’t caused a ripple among the clergy or the laity. No protests. No outraged believers. No furious voting.
Both priests are leaders of the North American Old Catholic Church, a little-known brand of Catholicism, with elements most Catholics wouldn’t recognize. According to its website, it preaches openness, tolerance and interfaith dialogue as “an essential way to build a more holistic and loving world in accordance with the Gospels.”
North American Old Catholics, members say, “are redefining what it means to be a universal catholic church in a modern world needing prophetic voices.”
In this incarnation of Catholicism, priests and nuns may marry whomever they wish, every baptized person (including divorced members) is welcome to take Communion and women can be priests. Their faith statements read like a litany of progressive concerns — the environment, anti-torture, gay rights, women’s rights, nuclear disarmament, reproductive rights.
The Old Catholics oppose abortion but don’t believe their view should be codified in civil law. And there is no allegiance to Rome. Indeed, the movement started with the question of papal infallibility.
During the First Vatican Council, convened in Rome between 1869 and 1870, bishops huddled to hammer out the role of the papacy. Some argued against elevating the pope to such a centrally important stature, believing the church should continue its longtime tradition of allowing regional bishops to be somewhat autonomous.
Full Story: 'Old Catholics' embrace new movements
Source: Religion News Service
