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CHURCH HISTORY, CHAPTER IV:
The Old Catholic Church of America The Old Catholic Church of America has its origins in the
Independent Catholic Church in London and its missionary efforts. The Old Catholic Church had already
established itself in England by Archbishop Arnold Harris Mathew, and several
bishops in the West were determined to bring Old Catholicism to America as
well, among them was a Bishop Banks. James Bartholomew Banks of London was consecrated to the
episcopacy in 1922 by Frederick Samuel Willoughby (Titular Bishop of St.
Pancras). Bishop Banks, who was the
head of the Independent Catholic Church (later known as the Old Catholic
Orthodox Church), came to America to establish an Old Catholic presence there
as an outreach of the London church. He consecrated Paul Francis Cope as the Bishop of Old
Catholic Church of America (OCCA) in May of 1925. Bishop Cope was a pious, but cautious, pastor. He maintained his flock, being careful as
not to introduce it to the numerous problems and schisms which had become
commonplace in other Old Catholic churches in the United States. He later accepted Francis Resch, who would
become the next Archbishop of the OCCA, as a candidate for the priesthood. BISHOP PAUL COPE AND BISHOP FRANCIS RESCH Francis Xavier Resch was a graduate of Southern Normal
University in Huntingdon, Tennessee and received his degree in
languages. He taught Latin and German
in the public high school at Earlsboro, Oklahoma in 1912. He married
Christine Agnes Dienhart, an Episcopalian, on May 1, 1912, who bore him two
children. The first child died in Earlsboro, but the second child, Frederick
Sylvester born December 31, 1913 lived to become an Episcopal priest in
Arizona. Francis Resch published a newspaper in Earlsboro and
later moved it to Shawnee, Oklahoma in 1913. He was superintendent of schools
at Leadville, Arkansas from 1930 to 1962 later moving to Kansas City,
Missouri where he qualified for the priesthood under Bishop Cope and was
ordained him March 5, 1939. As an Old Catholic priest, Father Resch was anxious to
promote the growth and impact of the Church. Bishop Cope was, in the new
priest's opinion, too conservative and deliberate, and having learned of a
Carmel Henry Carfora, he withdrew from Cope's jurisdiction and was
incardinated by Bishop Carfora. Archbishop-Primate Carfora accepted Fr. Resch into the
North American Old Roman Catholic Church and, on December 8, 1940,
consecrated him as a bishop. In a
matter of months, however, Resch began to regret that he had ever left Bishop
Cope’s communion, and sought to rejoin the Old Catholic Church of
America. He describes all this in a
latter to Fr. Charles Bauer of Chicago (August 19, 1942): "the growth of the church was very slow because of
the Archbishop's great care and solicitude against taking in men who were not
worthy of the trust. He hesitated taking men into the church until I came
along...but because his hesitancy to expand and reach out, I withdrew and
went over to the North American Old Roman Catholic Church. I was consecrated
a bishop in that church by Carfora. I soon learned that I had made a great
mistake in joining that church. I went back to Archbishop Cope, to bask again
in the sunshine of a saintly man, a man of whom anyone could be proud, After
coming back, he told me that he had intended to consecrate me to the
bishopric and prevailed upon me to accept the office of auxiliary bishop,
which I did. The Archbishop is very conscientious, and he has kept the church
free from all evil influences.” Indeed, Bishop Cope welcomed Resch’s return into the Old
Catholic Church of America and, accepting Carfora’s consecration of him as
valid, appointed him as the auxiliary bishop on June 15, 1941. Keeping in mind the prevailing troubles
experienced by those bishops consecrated by Carfora and other Old Catholic
bishops, he insisted that the church distinguish itself as legitimately and
theologically Old Catholic:
"There are at the present time so many of the independent
churches that it is hard to distinguish one from the other. There is only one
way to know the Old Catholic Church of America and to distinguish it from the
others, and that is by its purity of purpose, it honesty and its upright
Christian polity." And again "We want to guard against Carforism.
Our Church is clean and pure. Every man is a gentleman. Every man is a
priest, a shepherd of souls. The Church is young and small but it is holy and
without spot. The size of the church is less important than the nature and
kind of clergy it possesses. We teach and believe all that ancient and
historic Catholic Christendom teaches.” Bishop Resch served the church well in Missouri and in
Mississippi later coming to Illinois where as an Old Catholic priest he
served in Episcopal parishes. He served for awhile in St. Margaret parish,
Park Fall, Diocese of Eau Claire, Wisconsin and then in Good Shepherd parish,
Momence, Illinois as listed in the 1953 Episcopal Church directory. He succeeded Cope as Archbishop of the church
and established the headquarters in Illinois. He was a man of education and
breeding fitting Newman's definition of a gentleman in all respects. He
struggled to fulfill his charge as Archbishop, keeping the church solvent by
committing his financial resources as well as his talents to the mission of
the church. BISHOP WALTER BROWN Thanks be to God that after the conclusion of Bishop
Resch’s fruitful years as Archbishop-Metropolitan, he was succeeded by man
who also accomplish great things.
This man was Walter Xavier Brown. Brown was born in Portage, Wisconsin, November 9, 1931,
the son of Henry and Alice (nee Parks) Brown. He was educated in Wisconsin
schools, completed his undergraduate studies in Illinois. He joined the Old Roman Catholic Church
and received his seminary training at the St. Augustine Seminary. He was
ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Richard Arthur Marchenna on August 21,
1961. He was later incardinated into the Old Catholic Church of
America and was elevated to the episcopacy by Bishop Resch on August 25,
1963. Upon the retirement of Archbishop Resch, he succeeded him as
Archbishop. The Church prospered and grew with the dedicated
leadership and sacrificial labors of Bishop Brown. Holy Family Retreat Home for men and April House for women were
operated by OCCA clergy as rehabilitation centers for recovering
alcoholics. Hiermonk Gregory
Valentine oversaw Eastern Rite communities.
The OCCA entered into communion with Archbishop Pierre Pasleau of
Belgium, Archbishop Pace of the American Orthodox Catholic Church in Rome, and
Bishop Perry Sills of Evangelical Orthodox Church (San Jose,
California). Though not in communion
with the Old Catholic Diocese of Utrecht, Bishop Earl Gasquoine was invited
to attend the Conference of Old Catholic Bishops in Europe as an
observer. All candidates for Holy
Orders and clergy applicants for incardination were watched under scrutiny to
ensure that they possessed a “strong sense of duty with a deep piety.” BISHOP JAMES BOSTWICK Following Archbishop Brown’s tenure, the OCCA was again
blessed with another virtuous leader, under whom the Church has again
experienced some wonderful improvements; among them, a standard missal for
the Mass used by all clergy and the growth of the parishes and clergy in
South America. James Edward Bostwick was born in Watertown, Wisconsin on
August 14, 1949 to Lawrence and Isabell (nee Roedl) Bostwick. He attended
Queen of the Apostles Seminary in Madison, Wisconsin, a Roman Catholic
institution run by the Pallatine Fathers and Brothers, for four years and graduated
in 1969, thereupon entering the Pallatine Fathers and Brothers in Phelps,
Wisconsin, where he was vested as a religious brother for a year and a
half. Hasty changes occurring in the churches following the
Vatican II Council, forced Bostwick to leave. Thereafter, he discovered the Old Catholic Church of America
and the traditional liturgy and teachings which had been abandoned by the
Roman Catholic Church. In 1972, he began to attend Holy Cross Seminary under the
jurisdiction of the OCCA. He studied
under Archbishop Brown for three and a half years and was ordained to the
priesthood April 10, 1976. After ordination, the Archbishop was made pastor
of the Church of the Holy Angels in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, where he remained
until 1981, when Our Lady of Hope was opened in DeForest. He was consecrated as a bishop on September 19, 1992 at St. Nicholas Cathedral, Watertown, Wisconsin. Having served as coadjutor with the right of succession until Archbishop Brown's retirement effective November 1, 1997, Archbishop Bostwick has assumed the role of Metropolitan, being solemnly installed at a Mass of Ember Saturday in Advent, December 20, 1997 at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Angels, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. He currently serves as the Archbishop-Metropolitan, with Bishop Earl Patrick Gasquione as Metropolitan Chancellor and Father William J. M. Smith as Dean of Holy Cross Theological Seminary. |
ARCHBISHOPS of the Old
Catholic Church of
America + James Bartholomew Banks PICTURE NOT + Paul Francis Cope
+ Francis Xavier Resch
+ Walter Xavier Brown
+ James Edward Bostwick |
