History - The United American Catholic Church - Portsmouth, VA

History

  • Old Catholic History

    • Origins

      The term Old Catholic was first used in 1853 to describe those Catholics belonging to the See of Utrecht in the Netherlands. Most scholars, however, date the modern Old Catholic movement to the First Vatican Council of 1869-1870, during which Pius IX declared the doctrine of papal infallibility henceforth to be church dogma. In response, considerable groups of Austrian, German and Swiss Catholics left to form their own churches independent of the pope, rejecting not only papal infallibility but also Pius IX's earlier 1854 declaration as dogma of the Immaculate Conception. These new churches were supported by the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht who ordained their priests and bishops. Later, they united more formally under the name Utrecht Union of Churches.

      Historically, the See of Utrecht always had a sense of autonomy. Philip of Burgundy, 57th Bishop of Utrecht (1517–1524), through a family connection with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, secured a significant concession from Pope Leo X, who granted to Philip internal autonomy in both church and temporal affairs for himself and his successors without interference from outside their jurisdictional region. This significantly broadened Utrecht's independence; in the future, no clergy or laity from Utrecht could be tried by a Roman tribunal.

      The movement spreads

      Subsequently, the Old Catholic movement spread eastward as far as Poland and westward as far as the U.K. and across the Atlantic to the U.S. Although our primary concern here is the rise of the Independent church in the U.S., a brief look at the movement in the U.K. is important to note as well.

      The Independent Catholic movement arrived in Great Britain in 1908 with the consecration of Arnold Harris Mathew in the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht. Utrecht incorrectly believed that Mathew had a significant following in the United Kingdom and that following Leo XIII's declaration that Anglican orders were null and void, there would be a wave of clergy wanting to leave the Church of England. Mathew understandably believed that Old Catholicism would provide the perfect home for these disaffected clergy, but the mass conversions failed to occur. Mathew subsequently broke with the Union of Utrecht, but not before he ordained several individuals to the episcopacy and priesthood, from whom a number of new churches quickly developed.

      Across the Atlantic

      Joseph René Vilatte, an Old Catholic priest, is credited as the first person to bring the Independent movement to North America. He was ordained in 1885 in France, first as deacon on June 6 and as priest the following day, June 7, by Most Reverend Eduard Herzog, Bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Switzerland.

      Seven years later, in 1892, with the permission and support of the Jacobite Old Catholic Bishop of North America, Vilatte was ordained to the episcopate in Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Over the following twenty-eight years, Vilatte consecrated a number of men to the episcopacy. These bishops, or their successors, went on to found many different jurisdictions in North America. The United American Catholic Church is one of these jursidictions.

  • United American Catholic History

    • In the U.S., Vilatte worked tirelessly with congregations in rural Wisconsin, providing the only Catholic presence there, and in 1915 founded the American Catholic Church in Chicago. He is considered by many a Father of the Independent Sacramental Movement in America; many jurisdictions—including the UACC—trace their Apostolic Succession through him and the Old Catholic Church of Holland, thus to Rome and the Apostles.
       
      Eventually Archbishop Vilatte was reconciled with the Roman Church. He retired to a French monastery, where he died on July 8, 1929, at the age of 75.
       
      Summary
       
      The history of the Old Catholics, their evolution into what we know today as the Independent Sacramental Movement, and Joseph Rene Vilatte's part in it all is a far more intricate and complex story than what we are able to present here. And although in some respects and according to some accounts, Vilatte had a storied past and a somewhat dubious character, Archbishop Joseph Rene Vilate was nevertheless a man of zeal, founding the ministries, ordaining the priests and consecrating the bishops who have given us the Independent Sacramental Movement of today, and for that we are deeply indebted to him.
       
      The UACC
       
      The history of the UACC is also an intricate and complex story and involves many personalities who played large and small roles. Here is a brief timeline.
       
      1989: The American Catholic Church is reorganized.
       
      1995: Bishop Robert J. Allmen is consecrated Presiding Archbishop. The reorganized church, nationally centered at Good Shepherd Cathedral in Hampton Bays, NY, spreads quickly.
       
      1996: The ACC has diocese / churches in many states.
       
      2000: Presiding Archbishop Robert J. Allmen retires and the Synod of Bishops elects Most Reverend Sharon DiSunno as Presiding Archbishop of the renamed American Catholic Church International.
       
      2002 (July): The American Catholic Church International, Diocese of the South, headed by Bishop Anthony Hash, severs ties with the Church and forms the United American Catholic Church.
       
      2002 (October): The UACC holds its first Synod in Roanoke, VA, elects an Executive Committee, adopts Canons and appoints Most Reverend Anthony Hash as Presiding Bishop. He is subsequently given the title of Archbishop and continues to lead the Church today.
       
      2003 (August): The UACC considers the Sacramentality of same sex unions. After a lengthy discussion the item was voted on and passed by a unanimous vote that “The UACC recognizes the Sacramentality of Unions between partners of the same gender as well as between partners of opposite genders.”
       
      2008 (August): The Synod of the UACC pledges 10% of National Church income to causes directly helping those living in poverty.
       
      2010: The Most Rev. Anthony Hash, Presiding Bishop, appointed the Very Rev. Christopher Ross as Chancellor of the United American Catholic Church.
       
      2013 (August): The Very Rev. Tom Shortell osfc is elected Auxiliary Bishop of the United American Catholic Church. Bishop Shortell and is later Consecrated August 23, 2014 by Presiding Bishop Tony Hash, Bishop Joseph Grenier of the Celtic Christian Church, and Bishop Tony Santore of the Catholic Apostolic Church in North America.
       
      2016: The UACC is approached about a possible merging of the jurisdiction with the Catholic Apostolic Church in North America.
       
      2017 (April): The UACC experiences great sadness at the loss of Bishop Tom Shortell who passed away suddenly.
       
      2018 (February) The UACC pulls away from the merger with CACINA but remains as an intercommunion partner.
       
      2019 The UACC goes through restructuring to better serve the Church and the laity at large, the mission, culture and vision are reevaluated and rewritten, Saint John Eudes Seminary is formed, Friar Don Pratt, OSFC is elected Auxiliary Bishop, and new clergy and seminarians are added to the clergy of the denomination.