Old Roman Catholic Church in Europe - Beliefs

Beliefs

Old Catholic theology views the Eucharist as the core of the Church. From that point the Church is a community of believers. All are in communion with one another around the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, as the highest expression of the love of God. Therefore, the celebration of the Eucharist is the experience of the Lord's triumph over sin. The defeat of sin consists in bringing together that which is divided.

Through communion, differences between people are reconciled and that which was scattered is brought together. In Old Catholic theology, “Church” means reconciliation. “Church” means the restoration of broken relations between God and men and men with each other. The ORCCE holds exactly the same understanding of ecclesiology as the Eastern Orthodox; from the Orthodox perspective, the Church is one, even though it is manifested in many places. Orthodox ecclesiology operates with a plurality in unity and a unity in plurality. For Orthodoxy there is no "either / or" between the one and the many. No attempt is made, or should be made, to subordinate the many to the one (the Roman Catholic model), nor the one to the many (the Protestant model). It is both canonically and theologically correct to speak of the Church and the churches, and vice versa. Thus, within the ORCCE individual local churches retain their autonomy in self-governance, but subscribe to the same basic understanding of the Church and of the faith as a communion expressing "one Church".

The ORCCE believes in unity in diversity. As a result, some diversity of belief and practice is to be found among its churches than is characteristic of the Roman Catholic Church or the Eastern Orthodox churches. For example, some of the churches hold to the Roman dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception, others regard it as a doctrine worthy of pious belief but not necessary to believe for salvation and may hold to an Orthodox understanding of the nature of Mary; but all member churches commemorate the Feast of the Conception whether as a holyday of obligation or not. Old Roman Catholics often refer to the Church Father St. Vincent of Lerins and his saying: "We must hold fast to that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all the Faithful" as a basis for discerning and as an arbitrary tool in defining, faith and praxis. For this reason the ORCCE does not ordain women to the Sacred Ministry nor does it condone same-gender marriage and in various other ways is differentiated from the contemporary praxis and teaching of the Utrecht Union.