- Catholic Life Church
Infobox Christian denomination
name = Catholic Life Church
imagewidth =
caption =
main_classification =
orientation =
polity =
founder =A. L. Mark Harding andPeter A. Tonella
founded_date = 1971
founded_place =
separated_from =
parent =
merger =
separations =
associations =
area =Colorado
congregations =
members =
footnotes =The Catholic Life Church is a
Christian religious denomination founded in 1971 byA. L. Mark Harding andPeter A. Tonella .cite book |last= Melton|first=J. Gordon |authorlink=J. Gordon Melton |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=The Encyclopedia of American Religions |origdate= |origyear=1987 |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= 2nd|series= |volume= |date= |year= |month= |publisher=Gale Research Company |location=Detroit |language= |isbn=0-8103-2133-5 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages= |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ]Tonella had earlier been a priest in the
Roman Catholic Church who had married in the 1950s. He left that church to join theProtestant Episcopal Church , only to leave that body for theChrist Orthodox Catholic Patriarchate , where he eventually became bishop ofSaint Petersburg, Florida , under BishopPeter A. Zurawetzky .The church grew quickly, particularly in the
Denver area where it established several congregations. The church was supported in part by the Harding, with funds he raised as the owner and operator of fourpornography stores in Denver. Harding was eventually consecrated bishop by Tonella andWalter X. Brown of theArchdiocese of the Old Catholic Church , later becoming the church's patriaarch.Harding was later arrested and sentenced to prison. On his release in 1981, he resumed his earlier roles as Patriarch and Presiding Bishop of the church.
References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.