Doctrine
Perhaps the most fundamental positions of the Old Catholic Church are its claim to apostolic succession and to being legally separate from the Roman Catholic Church.
The churches of the Union of Utrecht have been in communion with the Church of England since 1931. The Polish National Catholic Church was part of the Union and also in communion with the Episcopal Church in the United States. The PNCC left the Union of Utrecht and broke communion with the Episcopal Church over the issues of the ordination of women and openly gay clergy.
Old Catholics have celebrated Mass in the vernacular virtually since their foundation, even if not everywhere, doing so as early as the 18th century in Utrecht. They reject the Roman Catholic dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Mary as well as papal infallibility. Their practice of private confession has fallen into disuse in most areas. Since 1878 Old Catholic clergy have been allowed to marry at any time. It would also seem that, by the beginning of the 20th century, the Eucharistic fast had been abandoned, along with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and the veneration of the saints: in his declaration of ecclesial independence of December 29, 1910 Arnold Harris Mathew wrote to the Old Catholics of Utrecht deploring the lack of these practices amongst Old Catholics on the European continent.
The main bodies of the Old Catholics are theologically progressive. The Dutch Old Catholics since 1998 have allowed women to enter the priesthood and, for a long time, have allowed divorce. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some Roman Catholic priests who have been unable to accept certain Roman Catholic disciplines or doctrines have joined the Old Catholic Church, often in order to marry.
Whilst the vernacular was introduced at a very early stage, external rites remained very Catholic, and the prayers of Mass still emphasized sacrificial intention. Although distinct from the Roman Catholic Church, since the 1960s most Old Catholics in communion with Utrecht have followed the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which met periodically from 1962 to 1965.
Read more about this topic: Old Catholic Church Of The Netherlands
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