The condition for membership is acceptance of, and agreement to abide by the agreed landmarks, which appear below.
(The Liberal Catholic Alliance leaves to its members, freedom in the interpretation of creeds, scriptures and tradition, and of its liturgy and Doctrine. While it may present certain doctrinal statements to its members, it does not exact from them acceptance of any dogmatic standards.)
BISHOP RICHARD PALMER'S INTRODUCTION
1. The Liberal Catholic faith is rooted in God and Christ, in terms of Trinity, and in sacrifice as an exemplification of the sustaining power of the divine nature in creation and mirrored in the passion drama of Jesus Christ, the realisation of this understanding being the way to grow into the unity the creator wills for creation.
2. The purpose of the Liberal Catholic Alliance is to draw together in a loose federation and perhaps a communion or communions, an ecclesial cohesion for the various communities that have arisen since the creation of The Liberal Catholic Church, then in continuity of The Old Catholic Church established in Gt.Britain in 1908.
3. The fragmentation and sectionalisation of the Wedgwood Movement, with its richly ordered liturgy, creative theology - drawing upon a depth of philosophical eclecticism - has enabled an adaptable form of Christian spirituality to be both modern and post modern in its outworking, and evolution.
4. The severing of ties from a single corporate structure has provided a creative opportunity and a determination to explore a revisitation of some of the originality of what Liberal Catholicism set out to be in a greater emphasis on freedom of thought and renewal of liturgy.
5. Throughout its history the Liberal Catholic Movement has remained faithful to its understanding of apostolicity and sacramentalism, grounded in a profound understanding of the Incarnation.
6. It has even wrestled with the difficult doctrines of Atonement and Redemption in an attempt to contextualise them within the wider dimensions of the plurality of all faiths.
7. It remains Christian, yet frees itself from dogmatic speculation, so as to enable its members to progress in an understanding of faith, both from a perspective of personal awareness and intuition
8. Some, though perhaps not all, will see in it a home for proponents of universalism and for those seeking a theosophic neo-platonic teaching, an understanding of faith, both from a perspective of personal awareness and intuition in the Jungian method of spirituality and a form of sacramental existentialism.
9. Some, too, may feel that the reality of what Liberal Catholicism has come to represent across the spectrum of religious systems is best suited to meet the questioning challenges presented by the scientific community in terms of a cosmic appreciation of the place of the solar system within the greater dimensions of existence.
10. An alliance of Liberal Catholic jurisdictions will further the cause of the Movement and rescue it from a centrality which many of the mainstream churches could now well do without.
PRACTICAL CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP.
11. The LCA is open not only to jurisdictions but also to individuals.
12. The condition for membership is acceptance of, and agreement to abide by the agreed landmarks.
13. Members recognise each other as being Liberal Catholics and as members of the Liberal Catholic Alliance.
14. Since the LCA is not a jurisdiction, but rather a directory of jurisdictions and individuals, there is no power of suspension or expulsion.
15. The Liberal Catholic Alliance is not a hierarchy, and we give no assurance as to the validity of members’ Orders or Sacraments, nor as to their fitness of character or qualification for office, and nor do we, by virtue of membership of the Alliance, accept any vicarious liability for the acts and omissions of any other member.
16. Members are not required to recognise the validity of other members’ orders and sacraments, but are free to do so. (This provision is intended to avoid disputes as to the validity of orders.)
17. Members undertake to use at their public services of the Eucharist, for at least 50 % of the time, the Liturgy of the LCC in one or more of the forms appearing in any edition of the Liturgy, or a liturgy closely modelled on it.
18. Members undertake to use at their Ordination services, the Liturgy of the LCC in one or more of the forms appearing in any edition of the Liturgy, or a liturgy closely modelled on it.
19. Members undertake to use at their public services other than of the Eucharist or Holy Orders, for at least 50 % of its time, the Liturgy of the LCC in one or more of the forms appearing in any edition of the Liturgy, or a liturgy closely modelled on it.
20. The form of ceremonies is to be based upon any edition of Cooper’s “Ceremonies of the Liberal Catholic Rite”, including the Young Rite edition, or Fortescue’s “The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described”.
21. Member jurisdictions are free to enter into agreements of inter-communion with such other jurisdictions as they chose, whether or not those other jurisdictions are members of the Alliance.
22. The LCA will maintain a list of members indicating whether they hold worship services.
23. That list will be publicly available so that enquirers may locate spiritual resources.
24. Information as to the existence of intercommunion agreements between members and other members should be made publicly available.
25. Ordained members must submit details and evidence of their Apostolic Succession.
26. Details and evidence of members succession are to be publicly available
27. We will marry same sex couples where local law permits.
28. We will bless same sex unions where local law does not permit marriage.
29. We allow but do not insist on belief in reincarnation.
MATTERS BASED UPON BISHOP WEDGWOOD’S STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES OF THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH
30. The Liberal Catholic Alliance aims at combining Catholic forms of worship, stately ritual, deep mysticism and witness to the reality of sacramental grace with the widest measure of intellectual liberty and respect for the individual conscience.
31. The Liberal Catholic Alliance recognizes seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, the Holy Eucharist, Absolution, Holy Unction, Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.
32. The Liberal Catholic Alliance regards the scriptures, the creeds and traditions of the church as the means by which the teachings of Christ have been handed down to his followers. It does not invest them with any idea of literal infallibility.
33. The Liberal Catholic Alliance recognizes a maternal aspect of divinity.
34. The Liberal Catholic Alliance believes that there is a body of doctrine and mystical experience common to all religions, which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. Moving within the orbit of Christianity and regarding itself as a distinctively Christian church it nevertheless holds that other religions are divinely inspired and that all proceed from a common source.
35. The Liberal Catholic Alliance accordingly does not seek to convert people from one religion to another. It has no wish to proselytize the adherents of any other church and, as an earnest of this, welcomes them to regular and full participation in its services without asking them to leave their own church.
36. The Liberal Catholic Alliance welcomes to its altars all who reverently and sincerely approach them.
37. The Liberal Catholic Alliance teaches that the scriptures are not verbally or uniformly inspired, but only in a general sense.
38. It would suggest that there are also evidences of the existence of the highest inspiration in other scriptures.
39. The Liberal Catholic Alliance leaves to its members, freedom in the interpretation of creeds, scriptures and tradition, and of its liturgy and Doctrine.
40. While it may present certain doctrinal statements to its members, it does not exact from them acceptance of any dogmatic standards.
41. It asks of them, as a working basis of fellowship, not a profession of common belief, but a willingness to worship corporately through a common ritual.
42. The Liberal Catholic Alliance neither forbids nor enjoins the marriage of its clergy.
43. Human ethical responsibilities embrace tolerance, love and brotherhood and sisterhood and must, because of the inherent oneness of all life, extend beyond nation and colour to fellow-beings of all religions, of no religion, and even to those who deny the existence of God.
44. Further, The Liberal Catholic Alliance believes that we have ethical duties towards all the realms of nature within which pulses God’s creative life; as elder brothers and sisters, we should, as a sacred trust, protect and nurture the plants and animal creation.
45. The Liberal Catholic Alliance does not refuse to marry divorced persons.
46. In the Blessed Sacrament Jesus Christ is present under the form of bread and wine. The Liberal Catholic Alliance affirms that the Holy Eucharist, far from being a mere commemoration of his life, death and resurrection, is Christ’s supreme gift of himself to his church.
47. The Liberal Catholic Alliance does not regard absolution as ridding us forever of sin or freeing us from the consequences of our wrong-doing.
48. Absolution should lead to a re-heartening, a restoration of nature’s inner harmony which has been disturbed, and a bringing of people once more into a fuller flow of that divine power of which they are to be a true expression.
49. Although phenomena of healing appear to have been frequent in the time of the Apostles we are not justified in assuming that an ability to heal is conferred at ordination, or that the gift of healing is other than a charismatic power.
50. The expression of beauty in acts of worship is most valuable in our technological and utilitarian age.
51. The Liberal Catholic Alliance does not, as a body, enter into politics or social work. It feels that it should rather make itself a motive power behind social and political progress by inspiring its members with the love of humanity and the desire to serve their fellows, while leaving them free to select their own suitable aims and methods.
52. The same principle applies to its member jurisdictions.
MATTERS BASED UPON BISHOP WEDGWOOD’S SUMMARY OF DOCTRINE.
53. The Liberal Catholic Alliance teaches the existence of God, infinite, eternal, transcendent and immanent.
54. God manifests in the universe as a Trinity,
55. We are each a complex of spirit, soul and body.
56. Our spirit, made in the image of God, is divine in essence. Therefore we cannot cease to exist, are eternal and our future is one whose glory and splendour have no limit.
57. Christ ever lives as a mighty spiritual presence in the world, guiding and sustaining his people.
58. The world is the theater of an ordered plan.
59. Humanity is a link in a vast chain of life extending from the highest to the lowest.
60. There is a communion of saints.
61. There is a ministry of angels.
62. We have ethical duties to ourselves and to others. Because we are children of God we are sisters and brothers and inseparably linked together.
63. Christ instituted various sacraments in which an inward and spiritual grace is given to us through an outward and visible sign.
(The Liberal Catholic Alliance leaves to its members, freedom in the interpretation of creeds, scriptures and tradition, and of its liturgy and Doctrine. While it may present certain doctrinal statements to its members, it does not exact from them acceptance of any dogmatic standards.)
BISHOP RICHARD PALMER'S INTRODUCTION
1. The Liberal Catholic faith is rooted in God and Christ, in terms of Trinity, and in sacrifice as an exemplification of the sustaining power of the divine nature in creation and mirrored in the passion drama of Jesus Christ, the realisation of this understanding being the way to grow into the unity the creator wills for creation.
2. The purpose of the Liberal Catholic Alliance is to draw together in a loose federation and perhaps a communion or communions, an ecclesial cohesion for the various communities that have arisen since the creation of The Liberal Catholic Church, then in continuity of The Old Catholic Church established in Gt.Britain in 1908.
3. The fragmentation and sectionalisation of the Wedgwood Movement, with its richly ordered liturgy, creative theology - drawing upon a depth of philosophical eclecticism - has enabled an adaptable form of Christian spirituality to be both modern and post modern in its outworking, and evolution.
4. The severing of ties from a single corporate structure has provided a creative opportunity and a determination to explore a revisitation of some of the originality of what Liberal Catholicism set out to be in a greater emphasis on freedom of thought and renewal of liturgy.
5. Throughout its history the Liberal Catholic Movement has remained faithful to its understanding of apostolicity and sacramentalism, grounded in a profound understanding of the Incarnation.
6. It has even wrestled with the difficult doctrines of Atonement and Redemption in an attempt to contextualise them within the wider dimensions of the plurality of all faiths.
7. It remains Christian, yet frees itself from dogmatic speculation, so as to enable its members to progress in an understanding of faith, both from a perspective of personal awareness and intuition
8. Some, though perhaps not all, will see in it a home for proponents of universalism and for those seeking a theosophic neo-platonic teaching, an understanding of faith, both from a perspective of personal awareness and intuition in the Jungian method of spirituality and a form of sacramental existentialism.
9. Some, too, may feel that the reality of what Liberal Catholicism has come to represent across the spectrum of religious systems is best suited to meet the questioning challenges presented by the scientific community in terms of a cosmic appreciation of the place of the solar system within the greater dimensions of existence.
10. An alliance of Liberal Catholic jurisdictions will further the cause of the Movement and rescue it from a centrality which many of the mainstream churches could now well do without.
PRACTICAL CONDITIONS OF MEMBERSHIP.
11. The LCA is open not only to jurisdictions but also to individuals.
12. The condition for membership is acceptance of, and agreement to abide by the agreed landmarks.
13. Members recognise each other as being Liberal Catholics and as members of the Liberal Catholic Alliance.
14. Since the LCA is not a jurisdiction, but rather a directory of jurisdictions and individuals, there is no power of suspension or expulsion.
15. The Liberal Catholic Alliance is not a hierarchy, and we give no assurance as to the validity of members’ Orders or Sacraments, nor as to their fitness of character or qualification for office, and nor do we, by virtue of membership of the Alliance, accept any vicarious liability for the acts and omissions of any other member.
16. Members are not required to recognise the validity of other members’ orders and sacraments, but are free to do so. (This provision is intended to avoid disputes as to the validity of orders.)
17. Members undertake to use at their public services of the Eucharist, for at least 50 % of the time, the Liturgy of the LCC in one or more of the forms appearing in any edition of the Liturgy, or a liturgy closely modelled on it.
18. Members undertake to use at their Ordination services, the Liturgy of the LCC in one or more of the forms appearing in any edition of the Liturgy, or a liturgy closely modelled on it.
19. Members undertake to use at their public services other than of the Eucharist or Holy Orders, for at least 50 % of its time, the Liturgy of the LCC in one or more of the forms appearing in any edition of the Liturgy, or a liturgy closely modelled on it.
20. The form of ceremonies is to be based upon any edition of Cooper’s “Ceremonies of the Liberal Catholic Rite”, including the Young Rite edition, or Fortescue’s “The Ceremonies of the Roman Rite Described”.
21. Member jurisdictions are free to enter into agreements of inter-communion with such other jurisdictions as they chose, whether or not those other jurisdictions are members of the Alliance.
22. The LCA will maintain a list of members indicating whether they hold worship services.
23. That list will be publicly available so that enquirers may locate spiritual resources.
24. Information as to the existence of intercommunion agreements between members and other members should be made publicly available.
25. Ordained members must submit details and evidence of their Apostolic Succession.
26. Details and evidence of members succession are to be publicly available
27. We will marry same sex couples where local law permits.
28. We will bless same sex unions where local law does not permit marriage.
29. We allow but do not insist on belief in reincarnation.
MATTERS BASED UPON BISHOP WEDGWOOD’S STATEMENT OF PRINCIPLES OF THE LIBERAL CATHOLIC CHURCH
30. The Liberal Catholic Alliance aims at combining Catholic forms of worship, stately ritual, deep mysticism and witness to the reality of sacramental grace with the widest measure of intellectual liberty and respect for the individual conscience.
31. The Liberal Catholic Alliance recognizes seven sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, the Holy Eucharist, Absolution, Holy Unction, Holy Matrimony and Holy Orders.
32. The Liberal Catholic Alliance regards the scriptures, the creeds and traditions of the church as the means by which the teachings of Christ have been handed down to his followers. It does not invest them with any idea of literal infallibility.
33. The Liberal Catholic Alliance recognizes a maternal aspect of divinity.
34. The Liberal Catholic Alliance believes that there is a body of doctrine and mystical experience common to all religions, which cannot be claimed as the exclusive possession of any. Moving within the orbit of Christianity and regarding itself as a distinctively Christian church it nevertheless holds that other religions are divinely inspired and that all proceed from a common source.
35. The Liberal Catholic Alliance accordingly does not seek to convert people from one religion to another. It has no wish to proselytize the adherents of any other church and, as an earnest of this, welcomes them to regular and full participation in its services without asking them to leave their own church.
36. The Liberal Catholic Alliance welcomes to its altars all who reverently and sincerely approach them.
37. The Liberal Catholic Alliance teaches that the scriptures are not verbally or uniformly inspired, but only in a general sense.
38. It would suggest that there are also evidences of the existence of the highest inspiration in other scriptures.
39. The Liberal Catholic Alliance leaves to its members, freedom in the interpretation of creeds, scriptures and tradition, and of its liturgy and Doctrine.
40. While it may present certain doctrinal statements to its members, it does not exact from them acceptance of any dogmatic standards.
41. It asks of them, as a working basis of fellowship, not a profession of common belief, but a willingness to worship corporately through a common ritual.
42. The Liberal Catholic Alliance neither forbids nor enjoins the marriage of its clergy.
43. Human ethical responsibilities embrace tolerance, love and brotherhood and sisterhood and must, because of the inherent oneness of all life, extend beyond nation and colour to fellow-beings of all religions, of no religion, and even to those who deny the existence of God.
44. Further, The Liberal Catholic Alliance believes that we have ethical duties towards all the realms of nature within which pulses God’s creative life; as elder brothers and sisters, we should, as a sacred trust, protect and nurture the plants and animal creation.
45. The Liberal Catholic Alliance does not refuse to marry divorced persons.
46. In the Blessed Sacrament Jesus Christ is present under the form of bread and wine. The Liberal Catholic Alliance affirms that the Holy Eucharist, far from being a mere commemoration of his life, death and resurrection, is Christ’s supreme gift of himself to his church.
47. The Liberal Catholic Alliance does not regard absolution as ridding us forever of sin or freeing us from the consequences of our wrong-doing.
48. Absolution should lead to a re-heartening, a restoration of nature’s inner harmony which has been disturbed, and a bringing of people once more into a fuller flow of that divine power of which they are to be a true expression.
49. Although phenomena of healing appear to have been frequent in the time of the Apostles we are not justified in assuming that an ability to heal is conferred at ordination, or that the gift of healing is other than a charismatic power.
50. The expression of beauty in acts of worship is most valuable in our technological and utilitarian age.
51. The Liberal Catholic Alliance does not, as a body, enter into politics or social work. It feels that it should rather make itself a motive power behind social and political progress by inspiring its members with the love of humanity and the desire to serve their fellows, while leaving them free to select their own suitable aims and methods.
52. The same principle applies to its member jurisdictions.
MATTERS BASED UPON BISHOP WEDGWOOD’S SUMMARY OF DOCTRINE.
53. The Liberal Catholic Alliance teaches the existence of God, infinite, eternal, transcendent and immanent.
54. God manifests in the universe as a Trinity,
55. We are each a complex of spirit, soul and body.
56. Our spirit, made in the image of God, is divine in essence. Therefore we cannot cease to exist, are eternal and our future is one whose glory and splendour have no limit.
57. Christ ever lives as a mighty spiritual presence in the world, guiding and sustaining his people.
58. The world is the theater of an ordered plan.
59. Humanity is a link in a vast chain of life extending from the highest to the lowest.
60. There is a communion of saints.
61. There is a ministry of angels.
62. We have ethical duties to ourselves and to others. Because we are children of God we are sisters and brothers and inseparably linked together.
63. Christ instituted various sacraments in which an inward and spiritual grace is given to us through an outward and visible sign.
