Independent Catholicism
[3] It is difficult to determine the number of jurisdictions, communities, clergy and members who make up Independent Catholicism,[4] particularly since the movement "is growing and changing in every moment".
Beginning in 1724, Dominique Marie Varlet (1678–1742), the Roman Catholic Bishop of Babylon, consecrated four men successively as Archbishop of Utrecht without papal approval.
[9][10] The cathedral chapter of Utrecht, which elected these men, had previously obtained an opinion from Zeger Bernhard van Espen (1646–1728) and two other doctors of canon law at the University of Louvain, which said that the chapter had the right, in special circumstances, to elect its own archbishop and have him consecrated without the consent of the pope, and that, in the case of necessity, one bishop alone might validly consecrate another.
Two years later, in 1910, Mathew consecrated two priests to the episcopate, without clear reasons and without consulting the Archbishop of Utrecht, and, in response to the ensuing protest, declared his autonomy from the Old Catholic Church.
Plummer writes that, as a result, "we begin to see the small, endlessly multiplying groups, with a high percentage of the membership in holy orders, which came to characterize the independent movement.
During the following 28 years, Vilatte consecrated "a number of men who are the episcopal ancestors of an enormous variety of descendants" in North America.
Most possess a mediatory priesthood and an historic episcopate,[28] which are often the only constants amid diversity that ranges from extreme traditionalism to radical experimentation.
These include the Society of St. Pius X, founded by Marcel Lefebvre, as well as the Mount St. Michael's community in Spokane, Washington, and actor Mel Gibson's church in Malibu, California, which made headlines when he directed the movie, The Passion of the Christ in 2004.
[33] In Independent Catholicism, freelance ministries meeting the needs of a small number of persons are far more common than large parishes.
[39] Plummer suggests the following categories for Independent Catholic communities: clergy who primarily celebrate alone, traditionalists with conservative theological commitments, churches maintaining traditional liturgy but with a different social or theological vision (e.g., full inclusion), groups with a particular focus on women's issues (e.g., the ordination of women) or the recovery of the Divine Feminine in worship, groups seeking liberal, non-dogmatic approaches to being church with little, if any, standards of dogmatic beliefs, and fellowships with an esoteric spirituality.
At present, there is no single unifying structure for the many clergy and laity who make up Independent Catholicism, and no reliable, centralized record-keeping.
Plummer writes: "Many independent bishops have been consecrated multiple times, in an effort to ensure sacramental validity and consolidate claims to the historic episcopate.
[47] Independent Catholicism comprises a wide variety of clergy, many of whom are "primarily ritually focused"[48] and possess "a particularly strong attachment to the liturgical aspect of being Christian.
"[48] Many Independent Catholic clergy and their communities are "those who have felt themselves excluded from the mainstream liturgical churches due to gender, sexuality, race, culture, style of worship [...] or theology.
In the case of women and gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons, there is a redemptive reversal in which those who were denied a public role in the church's sacramental life have assumed the previously forbidden place at the altar.
Thus, we have those who have been excluded from the church's sacramental life, for whatever reasons, taking ownership of the liturgical traditions, and creatively innovating to form new communities.".
"[48] Independent Catholic clergy have been described as "often very attached to their individual views of theology, liturgy, and other matters [...] and would rather belong to minuscule groups which more closely approximate their vision of Christianity.
"[51] Plummer shares: "Many independent clergy, perhaps a majority, at least theoretically subscribe to fairly standard Catholic/Orthodox/Anglican theology, with few distinctive beyond, for instance, the rejection of papal infallibility.
Most spent many years within those mainstream jurisdictions [and now as independent Catholic clergy] they have often expended great energy in appearing 'real,' and 'just like' the larger liturgical churches, with only one or two adjustments.
"[52] Many Independent Catholic clergy are "essentially alone in their priestly practice"[53] and exercise a primarily solitary vocation, with many of their family members and friends not even knowing of their clerical status.
From such a perspective, even a mass said in one's living room unknown to any other soul, is still a radiant gift to the world, and a powerful prayer for those held in mind and heart.
On a less exalted level, private masses for those without a community enforce one's priestly identity, which may be outwardly expressed in less obvious ways.
"[57] Practically speaking, Plummer says, "viable independent communities are not always easily created, and these clergy would deprive themselves of the benefits of communion, and of the joining of themselves to Christ in his sacrifice, if they waited for the presence of others in order to approach the altar.
[...] Such radically different models of Christian priesthood raise questions of what sort of clergy training is needed, and offered within these communities.
Independent Catholic clergy have established a number of seminaries, most featuring distance learning or mentoring programs that vary considerably in quality,[62] but very few of which grant legitimate degrees possess meaningful accreditation or could lead to a paycheck or a reasonably well-assured career path.
"[65] The grace of God in the sacrament of Holy Orders is often freely shared within Independent Catholicism, thus leading to such characterizations as that of the young and ministerially-unprepared teenager whom poet Robert Kelly (b.
1935) says he once was: "A Unitarian I came into the world in Pride's Crossing, Massachusetts, and a Unitarian I shall leave it, notwithstanding my daily practice of certain Vedic sacrifices, my twenty-year long pursuit of ritual magic, the fact that I am technically a Muslim, and the more resplendent fact that I awoke from a teenage binge one day to find myself consecrated bishop of the Primitive Restored Old Catholic Church of North America.
