The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America (OCCA) is an independent and self-governing Christian syncretic (Eastern Orthodox/Oriental Orthodox/Western Catholic) jurisdiction based in the United States (including the territory of the US Virgin Islands), with clergy also in Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Africa, and Australia.
The ecclesial purpose of the OCCA is to be a loving, welcoming and inclusive community where all people can attain the fundamental goal of the Orthodox Catholic faith, summed up by St. Maximos the Confessor (580-662 CE) as "All that God is, except for an identity in being, one becomes when one is deified by grace".
According to a statement on the OCCA website: The relationship between the Church and the congregation, consisting of its priests, deacons and members, is based upon their shared beliefs.
[5]The Orthodox-Catholic Church of America was established in the United States in 1892 under the mandate of the Syriac Orthodox Patriarch, Ignatius Peter IV.
[6] Working in the Great Lakes area, predominantly in Wisconsin, Vilatte sought to bring about the return of a Western Rite of Orthodoxy.