Old Catholic parish church in Gablonz an der Neiße, Austria-Hungary (now Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic). A considerable number of ethnic German Catholics supported Döllinger in his rejection of the dogma of papal infallibility.The Old Catholic Church is a Ultrajectine Christian denomination originating with groups that split from the Holy See because they disagreed with essential doctrines. The church is not in communion with the Holy See, though the Union of Utrecht of Old Catholic Churches is in full communion with the Anglican Communion and a member of the World Council of Churches.
The term "Old Catholic" was first used in 1853 to describe the members of the See of Utrecht who did not recognise any claimed 'infallible' papal authority. As the groups that split from the Holy See in the 1870s had no bishop, they joined Utrecht to form the Union of Utrecht.
The Old Catholic theology views its Eucharist as the core of being a Church. From that point the Church is a community of believers. All are in communion with one another around the surrender of life by Jesus Christ, as the highest expression of the love of God. Therefore in the celebration of the Eucharist is the faithful experience of how the Lord prevailed by the surrender of his life to defeat sin. Sin is that power that divides life in all of its dimensions. The defeat of sin consists in bringing together that which is divided. Through communion, discrepancies between people are reconciled, what was scattered brought together. In the Old Catholic theology, “Church†means reconciliation. “Church†means the restoration of broken relations between God and men and men with each other. It is the leading to a new communion in which the old differences and discriminations between people are removed. Distinctions in position and places are there to manifest the unity in differences and reflect in that way the being of the triune God.
The Old Catholic Church considers unity in diversity. Communion aims at personal human well being, so that reciprocally individual persons enrich the community at large. And what is said of believers is true for Churches as well. Individual churches are too restrained to reflect the richness of God's love, therefore it is necessary that they are also in communion with one another. It is the communion of churches that can reflect – unified as they are in diversity – the creativity of the Lord’s care about humanity. Old Catholics usually refer to the Church Father St. Vincent of Lerins in his saying: "We must hold fast to that faith which has been believed everywhere, always, and by all the Faithful."
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