Orthodox-Catholic Church of America

The Seal of the OCCA

The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America (OCCA) is an independent and self-governing Orthodox jurisdiction based in the United States but also with clergy in Mexico and Australia.

The OCCA is not associated with any mainstream Orthodox church. It is governed by a synod of diocesan bishops (currently seven) and a metropolitan archbishop. The current metropolitan is Archbishop Peter (Robert Zahrt). The ecclesial purpose of the OCCA is the worship of God in the Holy Trinity; the proclamation and continuing of the Orthodox faith as taught in holy scripture, the apostolic tradition and the seven ecumenical councils of the undivided and ancient Church of Christ. While not in communion with the Patriarch of Constantinople and not regarded as "canonical" by the Standing Conference of the Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas (SCOBA), the OCCA is one of a number of churches seeking to blend Orthodoxy in an American setting. The OCCA is a standing member of the International Council of Community Churches (ICCC).^[1]

The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America should not be confused with the Orthodox Church in America (OCA), a SCOBA recognized Orthodox church in full communion with most Eastern Orthodox churches. The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America does not claim to be wholly Eastern, but an American jurisdiction within the body of Orthodox churches.^[2]

Distinctive characteristics

Both men and women, married and unmarried, may be ordained to all three orders of the apostolic ministry (deacons, presbyters, and bishops). All clergy and their ministries are self-supporting and the church as a jurisdiction is, by its canons, forbidden to own property. OCCA ordains openly lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual persons as clergy and blesses their unions as it does those of heterosexual couples. Access to the seven sacraments is offered to all individuals regardless of sex or sexual orientation. The OCCA has two monastic (religious) communities. Monasticism within the jurisdiction takes either a Western, Eastern or Oriental form just as the liturgical identity of the church as a whole represents herself.

History

The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America was established in the United States in 1892 under the mandate of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch, Ignatius-Peter IV. The founding archbishop, Mar Timotheus (Joseph René Vilatte) had been ordained priest by Bishop Ernst Herzog of the Old Catholic Church in Bern Switzerlandon June 7, 1885.^[3] Working in the Great Lakes area, predominantly in Wisconsin, Fr. Vilatte sought to bring about the return of a Western Rite of Orthodoxy. Fr. Vilatte received both support and opposition in this attempt, but eventually he was consecrated as archbishop for North America, in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) ^[4] by Archbishop Francis Alvarez with the permission of the Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch in 1892. The history of the OCCA is grounded, therefore, both in the East and West.

In the 19th century, the Indian branch of the Syrian Orthodox Church had begun ordaining local priests for the western rite in order to supply ministers for their western rite congregations. Among these were Bishops Julius Alvarez, Paul Athanasius, Paul Evanious, and George Gregorius (the latter later canonized as St. Gregorius Geverghese). Father Vilatte was ordained by them as Mar Timotheus and appointed as metropolitan for the newly formed American diocese. The next patriarch (H.H. Ignatius Abdul Masih II, who was deposed in 1905) was not interested in a Western Rite church half way around the world and gave it no support. The synod of the American archdiocese, finding no support from the patriarchate, declared itself autocephalous (self-governing) in 1910. This declaration has not been recognized by other Orthodox churches and OCCA is, like many other Orthodox jurisdictions around the world, considered non-canonical by the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in America (SCOBA).

Soon after his return to the United States, various ethnic parishes began approaching Mar Timotheus to consecrate bishops to create independent jurisdictions; all these gathered under the umbrella of the American Catholic Church (ACC), as it was then called, and formed a synod of bishops with himself at its head.

Increasingly for several years before his retirement in 1920, Mar Timotheus left the affairs of the ACC under the care of his co-adjutor, Frederick E.J. Lloyd, whom he had consecrated to the episcopate in 1915. When Mar Timotheus formally retired, Lloyd was elected Archbishop and Metropolitan.The following year Mar Timotheus consecrated George Alexander McGuire to the episcopacy. The founding convocation of parishes and clergy who gathered earlier in 1921 to organize the African Orthodox Church (AOC) had elected McGuire to be their bishop, and sent a delegation to Mar Timotheus to acquire an apostolic episcopacy. Before the consecration could take place, Lloyd and McGuire and their respective consultors negotiated a complex set of agreements to regulate relations between the ACC and the AOC; as a matter of principle the AOC insisted on being led by people of African descent, since most of the clergy who had gathered to establish the jurisdiction and elected McGuire as their bishop had left jurisdictions where they were marginalized on the basis of their race. Lloyd was a member of the AOC synod but McGuire was not subject to him, nor he to McGuire.

For the next decade, our jurisdiction and the AOC remained, so to speak sisters. In 1928, McGuire consecrated one of Lloyd's priests who wasserving in New York City, William Tyarks, as bishop; he also joined the synod but Archbishop McGuire deposed him in 1932 and consecrated Clement Sherwood as the new archbishop of his American Orthodox Catholic Church, which functioned as an eastern-rite diocese of the joint synod. Sherwood, who had been ordained presbyter by Archbishop Lloyd, was originally consecrated bishop by Tyarks, but after the latter�s deposition, requested that McGuire conditionally reconsecrate him. The following year Archbishop Lloyd reposed in the Lord, and Sherwood was his successor. (One of the sources of the multiplicity of jurisdictions deriving their orders from Mar Timotheus is the number of bishops consecrated by Lloyd or with his permission who later functioned as independents successors in their respective local communities.) Sherwood remained a member of the AOC synod until he reposed in 1969, functioning as sort of an Eastern Rite exarch for those not of African descent. In this role, he acted autonomously as primate of our jurisdiction.

One of his most courageous acts was the consecration, in 1957, of George Augustine Hyde to the episcopy. 1970 Archbishop George Augustine Hyde was elected and enthroned as metropolitan archbishop. His administration saw a consolidation of Western Rite liturgy and an emphasis in ministry to the marginalized of our society. In particular, Archbishop Hyde was the first cleric in the United States to establish a parish (in Atlanta in 1946) for lesbian and gay Christians. He retired in 1980 with the subsequent election of Metropolitan Archbishop Alfred Louis Lankenau (1930-2010). Under Archbishop Alfred the synod of the church agreed to the ordination of women. Archbishop Alfred retired in 1999 and was suceeeded by Metropolitan Archbishop E. Paul Brian Carsten who died in March 2009. On June 1, 2009, Bishop Peter (Robert Zahrt) was elected and enthroned as the metropolitan archbishop of the jurisidiction.

Wider connections

The Syrian Orthodox Church vibrantly exists today and has grown across the world. While OCCA has no current official relations with their Mother Church, OCCA accords them the respect due to an Apostolic Church and to a church who in a time of need assisted Mar Timotheus in his vision for a truly Western Orthodox presence in the United States. The Syrian Orthodox Church continues to acknowledge their ordination of Mar Timotheus.

The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America is not the only jurisdiction to claim Bishop Rene Vilatte. Many other independent and Old-Catholic jurisdictions can validly lay claim to apostolic succession through Vilatte.

In 1921 Mar Timotheus ordained the first African-American bishop, George Alexander McGuire, for the African Orthodox Missionary District of New York, which later became the African Orthodox Church. Mar Timotheus believed that an African American was perfectly capable of being a bishop and would be the proper choice to serve priests and congregations who were African Americans. (Little did he know that Bishop George would eventually take the Church to Africa itself.)

Name

In May 1891, Bishop Vladimir (Sokolovsky), the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in the United States, referred to Fr. Vilatte's flock as "true Old Catholic-Orthodox Christians [now] under the patronage of our Church." Theriault, Serge A., "Msgr. Rene Vilatte: Community Organizer of Religion, 1854-1929 (Berkeley: Apocryphile Press 2006 This concept that the church was truly both Old Catholic (Western) and Orthodox was translated by this jurisdiction into the name "Orthodox-Catholic". The concept is that of a church with Western liturgy and Eastern (Orthodox) spirituality and theology.

See also

	Christianity portal
	Eastern Christianity portal
	Oriental Orthodoxy portal

• Orthodox Catholic Church
• List of Christian denominations

Sources

• A.C. Terry-Thomas, The History of the African Orthodox Church (1956) [no place of publication; I assume, but it's not stated, that the AOC itself was the publisher]
• Azevedo, Carmo, *Patriot & Saint: The Life Story of Father Alvares/Bishop Mar Julius I* (Panjim: 1988).
• Attwater, Donald. Churches in Communion with Rome. The Christian Churches of the East, Revised ed. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1961.
• Churches Not in Communion with Rome. The Christian Churches of the East, Revised ed. Milwaukee, Wisconsin: The Bruce Publishing Co., 1961.
• Duncan, Rev. Stephen, DMA. A Genre of Hindusthani Music (Bhajans) as Used in the Roman Catholic Church. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press 1999 (Original dissertation published in Memphis , TN and Bandra, India. 1992.)
• This We Believe: Basic Tenets of the Orthodox-Catholic Church of America, second edition. Galveston, Texas: OCCA Archdiocese, 2005.
• Conciliar Press. What on Earth is the Orthodox Church. Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, (No date given).
• Fortescue, Adrian, The Lesser Eastern Churches. New York: A.M.S. Press, 1972; reprint, London: Catholic Truth Society, 1913.
• Hyde, Most Rev. George, (ret.) (Rev. Gordon Fisher, OCCA, ed.).Genesis of the Orthodox Catholic Church of America. Indianapolis, Indiana: Orthodox Catholic Church of America,1993.
• Joseph, John. The Nestorians and their Muslim Neighbors. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961.
• Pothan, S.G. The Syrian Christians of Kerala. Bombay, India: Asta Publishing House, 1963.
• Taft, Rev. Robert, S.J. The Liturgy of the Hours in the Christian East. Kerala, India: K.C.M. Press, 1983
• Theriault, Serge A., "Msgr. Rene Vilatte: Community Organizer of Religion, 1854-1929 (Berkeley: Apocryphile Press 2006,
• Trigg, Rev. Michael, ed. et al. An Introduction to Western Rite Orthodoxy. Ben Lomond, CA: Conciliar Press, 1993.
• Ware, Kalistos. The Orthodox Church. Revised edition. Penguin. 1993
• http://syrcom.cua.edu/Hugoye/Vol7No2/HV7N2Kiraz.html, accessed 11/11/11.

Photographs of the original Syriac bull of consecration for Mar Julius, and also translations of his and Mar Timotheus�s certificates, can also be found in this article.

References

1. ^ International Council of Community Churches
2. ^ Orthodox-Catholic Church of America official website
3. ^ First Independent Catholic Prelate in North America
4. ^ theriault, serge A., "Msgr. Rene Vilatte: Community Organizer of Religion, 1854-1929 (Berkeley: Apocryphile Press 2006,

Further reading

• Theriault, Serge A., "Msgr. Rene Vilatte: Community Organizer of Religion, 1854-1929 (Berkeley: Apocryphile Press 2006

External links

• Orthodox-Catholic Church of America official website
• International Council of Community Churches