The Old Catholic Church has been vibrant and growing in the past several decades as clergy and laity come to understand that the Declarations of Utrecht, written well over a century ago, speak to many of today's issues, calling for recognition of Church Councils for guidance, major reforms in clerical training, dramatic new roles for the laity, an insistence on re-estabishing a unified and undivided Church, as well as a return to the teachings and practices of the primitive church. Is this not a prophetic church?

 

It is common today to hear conservative Roman Catholic theologians refer lovingly and reverently to Blaise Pascal, Le Nain de Tillemont, Pierre Nicole, Antoine Arnauld and Mere Angelique Arnauld a generation removed from their spiritual guide, Francis De Sales, and all renowned scholars of their day. They don't tell us of the persecution by the church that destroyed this great source of Catholic piety.

 

The Abbey of Port Royal, France, in the seventeenth century was a gem of Catholic scholarship and a devout child of the Church. It functioned in "Les Petites Escoles" or small faith communities, as in the early church and flourished because of intimacy with the people. In an unfortunate clash with history it became a center of controversy. It was accused of following Jansenism, a fully Catholic reflection of a type of piety espoused by Jean Calvin. The Church condemned Jansenism despite not being able to demonstrate the five verbatim problems it officially had with Jansen's work "Augustinus". The Jesuits of the day preferred Latin, memorization and Monarchy to French, freedom of thought and the rights of the individual and demolished Port Royal Abbey right down to the desecration of its graves.

 

Stray "So Called Jansenists" sought protection in Holland and received it from the Catholic Bishop of Utrecht, Archbishop John Van Neercassel. This Metropolitan See had, since its beginning in the fifth century, the right to select its own bishops, so in 1697, upon the death of Neercassel, it exercised its privilege and elected Peter Codde (Bishop of Sabaste) as its new bishop. The Vatican refused to recognize him as punishment for the Christ-like offer of asylum to "so called Jansenists". For several generations no children were confirmed, no priest ordained. The Catholic Bishop of Babylon, Dominique Marie Varlet, took pity as he traveled through the country and consecrated Cornelius Steenoven as Archbishop of Utrecht. Thus began an involuntary yet quite necessary Old Catholic Church. For a century and a half they begged the church to stop this vendetta but were ignored. When Vatican I convened in 1870 to declare Papal Infallibility a Dogma, the Old Catholics were not permitted to attend. The Old Catholic Church only grew as a result as more bishops rejected Papal infallibility as both un-Biblical and un-Traditional (that particularly Roman Catholic check and balance for authenticity).

 

Today discerning Catholics are offended by the hierarchialism and clericalism that has demolished Vatican II as surely as it did Port Royal. We don't understand why the church protects pedophiles and apologizes to no one. We don't grasp why the tragedy of divorce must lead to lonely Catholicism, expensive annulments or, with remarriage, eternal exile... no matter the cause. We don't see sin in someone's sexual orientation, but only when people fail to love BOTH God and Neighbor. We wonder how people can go hungry while Bishops live as kings in Castles. We wonder how abandonment of parishes in the city and near suburbs constitutes evangelization. We wonder as they did at Port Royal and Utrecht, about many things.