THE OLD ROMAN CATHOLIC
IN NORTH AMERICA
[WEXFORD JURISDICTION]
STATEMENT OF FAITH
We believe that the Church to be the one true Church which Jesus Christ founded on earth, to which we submit with all our hearts. We admit and embrace most firmly the apostolic and ecclesiastical traditions and all the other constitutions and prescriptions of the Church as found in the Sacred Canons of the Old Roman Catholic Church [Wexford Jurisdiction]. We also admit and embrace most firmly the Statement of Faith as found in the Sacred Canons, namely:- We hold that Holy Tradition [Scripture] is the true and living word of God and that its interpretation is to be found in the Nicene Creed, the teachings of the Seven Holy Synods of the Church and in the teachings of the Holy Fathers of the Christian Faith. We believe God inspired all the writers of Scripture with objective fact, free from error, for our instruction. The Faith as written and handed down to us through the Prophets, Apostles and the Fathers unalterted, we hold fast without additions or subtractions. God's truths do not rely on our acceptance or our feelings. Holy Tradition [Scripture], the Nicene Creed, the teachings of the Seven Holy Synods and the teachings of the Father are unchanging in our ever-changing world. We believe that the Nicene Creed, the teachings of the Seven Holy Synods of the Church and the teachings of the Fathers to be the true interpretation of Scriptures and the Holy Faith taught by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. We hold that our salvation rests upon this Faith in Christ alone. Those of other views are of another spirit and we count them not as Christian in any sense of the word. We hold that traditions of men [customs], although valid expressions of faith, are not necessarily part of the Catholic Faith. We also hold that those who teach them as necessary are guilty of idol worship. Faith in Christ as taught by the Prophets, Apostles and the Fathers alone is necessary. We believe that Christ, God did institute seven holy Mysteries as a means of sharing in the life of the Holy Spirit. They are:
We believe Baptism to be valid when administered according to Christ's command, as found in the Scripture; that is, in the Name of the Holy Trinity with water. We hold Christmation [Confirmation] to be divinely instituted and recorded in the Epistle of 1 John 2: 20-27; "You have unction from the Holy One, and you have received of Him abiding in you." We believe that the true Body and the true Blood of Christ to be present in the Holy Eucharist as taught by Holy Scripture and all the Holy Fathers of the true Faith. In this definition we neither add nor subtract. Christ's own words suffice; "This is MY Body,: This is MY Blood." Christ's words are sufficient for our Faith. Additional definitions only tend to confuse and mislead; and, we hold them to be of man-made origin. We believe and hold that the mystery of Holy Penance is of divine origin as found in Holy Scripture. The power of the "keys" was instituted by Christ for the forgiveness of sin and the comfort of the penitent. The Sacrament of the Sick we hold to be of Apostolic origin, as found in the Epistle of Saint James, for the health and consolation of the sick, by the working power of the Holy Spirit. We believe and hold the Orders of the Ministry to be of divine origin as found in Holy Scripture and necessary to God's Holy Church. Holy Scripture and the teachings of the Fathers tell us that those who minister in the Church should be called to their station in life to teach the Word of God and administer the Sacraments according to divine institution, by laying on of hands by a Bishop who is the representative of Christ and His Church. A proper ordination never takes place without the affirmation of both clergy and laity, the Body of Christ. Matrimony was instituted by God Himself in the Garden of Eden and this state was blessed and reaffirmed by Christ by the Wedding of Cana. It has as its purpose the perpetuation of the human race, companionship, submission of God's moral law and the Christian up-bringing of children. We believe the monastic life to be a holy expression and witness to the Christian life, although we do not believe it to be necessary to the Church's life and we do not hold the monastic state as equal to a Sacrament. When monastic life is freely chosen by an individual for the honour and glory of God and in witness to the Faith, then it is a useful and holy thing in the Church. For, virginity is only preserved by the working and power of the Holy Spirit and is only of value to the Church when it is lived for God's own purposes. Those who claim that Matrimony is a lessor state than that of a monk and who claim Matrimony an alternative to the state of a monastic are but glory-seekers and know not the correct teachings of the Scriptures and the Fathers. Each state of life in the Christian Faith is a witness and confession of a divine call from God. God's will and purpose must be the aim of each person seeking to live a holy life. We believe and hold it ture that salvation is a free gift of Faith in Jesus Christ. We believe that good works are a necessary witness of true Faith in Jesus Christ. We hold it to be heresy to teach that any or all the saints together could merit the forgiveness of even one sin against God. It is through the sufferings and death of Christ our Lord that our salvation has been granted to us. Faith and salvation in Jesus Christ are free gifts from God without any merit on our part. The true Faith is to be found in the Holy Scriptures and its true interpretation is found in the teachings of the Seven Holy Synods, the Nicene Creed and the teachings of the Fathers. We believe the Virgin Mary to be the virgin mother of Christ; the Incarnate Word of God as taught by the Nicene Creed. We believe Mary to have been ever a virgin as taught by the Scriptures indirectly and taught by history and the teachings of the Fathers directly. We believe in the Communion of Saints, the just who had their salvation in Faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. We believe that the Saints here on earth and those in Heaven pray for us. Yet, we reject the teaching that the Saints merit favour or salvation for us. For, they pray to God through the merits of Christ our High Priest and our only Mediator between God and man. True veneration of the Saints, is to follow their way of life and practice of their example. We reject that to ask the prayers of other, living or dead, is against the teaching of Christ. Rather it is an affirmation of Faith in the true nature of the Church, the Body of Christ. We believe that respect, veneration and praying before icons [images] is a good and helpful means of calling to mind Christ and His Saints. Those who believe that icons are gods or alive are guilty of idol worship and those who believe we worship them as a god are guilty of the same sin, for they attribute life to wood and paint and paper. The Commandments of God forbids us to fall down and worship before an image as a god. It does not forbid us to cherish memories of the truths of our Faith in the arts. Whoever says that Scripture forbids the right use of the arts denies the use of our God-given talents for God's honour and glory. We believe that Christ will come again in the flesh as recorded in the Scriptures and taught in the Nicene Creed. The moral code of the Christian life is to be found in Holy Scripture, the teachings of the Church and the Fathers. The Ten Commandments and the Two-fold Commandment of Jesus Christ are binding for all generations. The Church is the Mystical Body of Christ, united in the true Faith handed down by the Apostles through the ages with Christ as its head. We believe the Church is guided by the Holy Spirit in all her teachings of Holy Tradition [Scriptures] and its interpretion from the Creed, the Seven Holy Synods and the teachings of the Fathers. We believe the Church of Christ is a "Community of Communities". That each community or diocese is presided by a Bishop in his own right a successor of the Apostles in Ministry and Jurisdiction [subject to the Canons of this Jurisdiction] that all the Bishops of the Catholic world assembled in General Council are the only infallible body in matters of doctrine; that the Bishop of Rome is subject to the decisions of the General Councils as much as any other Bishop, that in virtue of his rank as Patriarch of the Occident, the successor of Peter has a "Primacy of Honour", in the hierarchy of the whole Church; that in the Western Church he possesses a "Primacy of Jurisdiction" giving him the privilege and the duty of coordinating the global activities of the Western Rite, of keeping a watchful eye for and sounding the alarm against heretical movements, of voicing his considered opinion on local nominations and elections to episcopal charges, of convening General Councils; of collecting fees and tithes for councillarly approved church-wide purposes such as foreign missions, maintenance of central agencies, etc. But he has not the prerogratives of an absolute monarch, able to name and remove Bishops at will, to send into the local churches representatives responsible only to himself, to limit the jurisdiction of local Bishops and their courts, [this does not condemn a councillarly approved court of appeal in Rome, but does disapprove of the removal from local jurisdiction of certain cases, marriage annulments for instance] to reserve certain classes of sins to the exclusive absolution of the pope etc. To the Old Roman Catholic Church, the pope is like a constitutional president in the service of the Church, not an autocrat. True to her ancient heritage, the Old Roman Catholic Church holds the Catholic doctrines of the Incarnation, Passion, Death and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ; and the personal union in Him of the two natures, the human and the Divine. Unlike some of the "Old Catholics" sectarians who deny the doctriens of original sin, the eternal punishment of hell or the necessity of faith for salvation, we reaffirm the Catholic position on these doctrines. The Church honours the Virgin Mary as the Mother of God and holds the true Catholic doctrine of the Virgin birth of Christ. The Church teaches the doctrine of the real presence of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament and the spiritual efficacy of the Sacrifice of the Mass for the living and for the dead. The Creed of the Old Roman Catholic Church is that contained in the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. In the latter, the controversial words "and the Son", [the filioque of theologians] are omitted, since they were added by the Roman Church long after the Council of Nice and against its explicit directive that nothing be added or taken away from the Creed. The doctrinal of the first Seven Holy Synods are part of the deposit of our Faith. We also admit and embrace most firmly the Declaration of Utrecht, September, 1889. We accept, without hesitation, and profess all that has been handed down, defined, and declared by the Sacred Canons and by the Seven Holy Synods. At the same time we condemn and reprove all that the Church has condemned and reproved. We also accept and admit the ritual of the Catholic Church in the solemn administration of all the Sacraments. This same Catholic Faith, outside of which nobody can be saved, we freely profess and to which we truly adhere, we promise and swear to maintain and profess, with the help of God, entire, inviolate, and with firm constancy until the last breath of life; and we shall strive, as far as possible, that this same Fatih shall be held, taught, and publicly professed by all those who depend on us and by those of whom we shall have charge.
the enquiry it justly deserves.
Old Roman Catholicism
|
