OUTLINE HISTORY

AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH .

BY

RT. REV. ODO A. BARRY, D. CHR.,

Bishop for Canada.

THE VALIDITY OF THE

SYRIAN SUCCESSION:

The validity of the Syrian Succession and therefore of the American Catholic Church, has repeatedly been recognized and acknowledged by the Roman Catholic Church which has admitted into its fold bishops of the Antiochean Succession without re-ordination or consecration; by the Old Catholic Church of Holland; by the Church of England, which

in 1870, welcomed the visiting Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Peter III---the same who ordered the consecration of Archbishop Vilatte and enthroned him in Canterbury Cathedral to bless the people; by the Armenian, Russian Orthodox, Greek and in fact, all branches of the Catholic Church which have undoubted Orders themselves.

Especially significant and conclusive was the experience of His Grace Archbishop Lloyd, the first married Archbishop of the American Catholic Church, during his visit to the Holy Land in 1923, when the Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem, the Antiochean Metropolitan of Jerusalem and the Archbishop of India, received and entertained him with all the honours due an Archbishop of the Holy Catholic Church.

The charge that the Consecration of Archbishop Vilatte was null and void, made by the Protestant Episcopal Church of America, because the Syrian Jacobite Church of Antioch, from which his Orders were derived, was "Unorthodox," is answered by the Church of England.

The Lambeth Conference of Pan-Anglican Bishops of 1920, in their Encyclical letter---pp. 150-151---to the Christian world, declared that the accusations of heresy against "the Jacobite or Western Syrian Churches are false. It is also the same for the Christians of St. Thomas of Malabar." Let it be recorded however that not all Episcopalians sympathized with the colossal blunder of their House of Bishops. The Reverend Doctor Ritchie, acknowledged chief among Catholic-minded Episcopalian theologians and scholars in the United States of America, wrote a forceful editorial in the "Catholic Champion" in which he asserted: "Vilatte is as true a Bishop as ever wore a mitre." And a member of the House of Bishops, Bishop Coxe, of Western New York, in a letter to Archbishop Vilatte declared February 24, 1896 --- "Whatever the House of Bishops may say to the contrary, no Roman prelate in the United States has an Episcopate as valid as yours."

If further evidence of the canonical and valid Consecration of Archbishop Vilatte were required, it is found in the invitation he received to go to France and found a non-Papal Catholic Church for France. After the separation of the Church and State in France by the laws of July 1, 1901, a League of Catholics of France was formed to establish a French Catholic Church independent of Rome, the National Committee of which was under the presidency of Henri des Hou (Kt. of Legion of Honour and decorated with the Royal and Imperial Orders of Spain and Russia ) and included such men of note as Senators Reveilland and Guiesse. But the one point of interest to us is the fact that these men of France, in their search for a non-Papal bishop who would give them the Apostolic Succession, sent to Ceylon and to Malabar through the French Consulate to verify Bishop Vilatte's Consecration, and to obtain official copies of the Acts of Consecration, the Edict of the Patriarch of Antioch sanctioning it, and the attestation of the United States Consul Morey of Ceylon, who was present at the consecration and one of the witnesses to the event. Through the influence of M. Briand, Minister of Public Instruction and Worship, these indubitable documents were obtained. Archbishop Vilatte was most earnestly invited to come to France and help establish an independent non-Papal Catholic Church; the rest is history which anyone can look up.

THE APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION OF THE

AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH:

Can be traced from Jerusalem where the Apostles, equally called, commissioned and inspired, and their sacred office perpetuated by the election and consecration of Matthias, went forth preaching, healing, baptizing, laying on of hands, ordaining and establishing churches, the first was the Syrian Church of Antioch, founded by St. Peter about A. D. 38 and over which he reigned as Bishop and Patriarch for six years before the time tradition says he became Bishop of Rome.

Antioch thus became the Mother-Church of Gentile Christendom, and consequently if any primacy or supremacy were possessed by Peter, and continued in his successors and the Church founded by him, then Antioch has a right to claim that supremacy. However not supremacy but priority and absolute equality with all other valid branches of the Apostolic Church, is our claim and glorious heritage.

St. Peter's successor as Bishop and Patriarch of Antioch was EVODIUS, who in turn was succeeded by ST. IGNATIUS the martyr, and so on down the Christian centuries until the present day. Without giving the names of all the Patriarchs who, as successors of St. Peter, have presided over the Antiochean Church, and kept alive the Apostolic Succession in that Church, we begin with the one from whom the:

AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH derives Canonical commission and Episcopate, the one hundred and forty-fourth in direct line from St. Peter, IGNATIUS PETER III.

IGNATIUS PETER III, Patriarch of Antioch and the East, assisted by two Bishops, consecrated Paul Athanasius in 1877 and appointed him his Legate. Metropolitan-Archbishop and Legate of Ignatius Peter III, Paul Athanasius, assisted by Metropolitan Archbishops George Gregorius and Paul Evanius, consecrated Francis Xavier Alvarez, Archbishop of Ceylon in 1899. Archbishop Alvarez, in accordance with the edict issued by His Holiness, Ignatius Peter III and assisted by the Syrian Metropolitan Archbishops, Gregorius and Athanasius, in his cathedral at Colombo, Ceylon, on May 29, 1892, consecrated Joseph Rene Vilatte as Metropolitan-Archbishop for the Old Catholics of America, viz. those adhering to the Orthodox Faith of the early undivided Church; thus antedating by twenty years all other Old or Non-Papal Catholic movements in America.

Metropolitan-Archbishop Vilatte, on December 29, 1915, consecrated Frederic E. J. Lloyd. D.D., first bishop of the AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, of which, in 1920, he was elected Archbishop and Primate. Archbishop Lloyd on July 1, 1923 consecrated Samuel Gregory Lines, who was made Archbishop of the Province of the Pacific on October 11, 1925, in the Armenian Church of Los Angeles, California, kindly loaned by the authority of the Armenian Bishop of America, and the kindness of the rector the Reverend Father Milikian. Archbishop Lloyd also consecrated Archbishop Hinton, who later became the second Primate. Archbishop Lines consecrated Bishop Boyle; and Archbishop Hinton consecrated Bishop Clarkson who became third Primate. Bishop Boyle consecrated Bishop L. P. Wadle. On the death of Archbishop Metropolitan Clarkson, Archbishop Wadle became Archbishop-Metropolitan and fifth Primate for he was co-adjutor and co-occupant of the See with the right of succession to Archbishop Clarkson.

Each Communion has its own philosophy of Orders. What is canonical in one is uncanonical in another. It is doubtful if any church could claim the episcopates if such claim would have to satisfy the Canons of every church. Take for example the ancient Canon of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church of the East, that demands from those in higher ecclesiastical Orders abstinence from animal food. (P. 968 Biblical Theological and Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia. )

The American Catholic Church looks upon Bishops ordained in other Rites, that do not follow the above discipline, as uncanonically ordained. That is their Orders may be "valid but not licit." If they wish to be associated with the AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH as now constituted, "re-imposition" of hands is necessary to confer regularity and to cover any contingency that might otherwise arise. Archbishop Wadle initiated a series of Concordats with other Bishops and Archbishops as the result of which the AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH is now not dependent upon a single line of Apostolic tradition. In view of these Concordats it happens that it shares in the Episcopal Successions of, ROME through the Old Catholic Church of Holland; Greek-Melchite through Cyrill VI; Orthodox through both Russian and Syrian sources; Syro-Chaldean through the Nestorian Church originally established by St. Thomas; Chaldean Uniate, a deflection of the Syro-Chaldean, through Emmanuel II; Armenian Uniate---established by S.S. Bartholomew, Jude and Thaddeus; Welsh Succession through Bishop of St. David's, Wales (Bp. Field ); the Succession possessed by the Non-Juring Bishops of England, (Bp. Laud); the Irish Succession through Christopher Hampton, 92nd Archbishop of Armagh, A.D. 1613, and so to St. Patrick the first Archbishop of Armagh; and the Anglican Succession through Bp. Richardson; ("Bp. A. Richardson whose orders were those of the English Church," The Church Times April 28, 1922.)

Archbishop Vilatte, during his life time, headed four ecclesiastical organizations: The American Old Roman Catholic Church, the continuation of the Swiss Christian-Catholic movement in which Vilatte had been ordained Priest and to which was added the word "North" when this Church deflected from the Vilatte movement. The African Orthodox Church (Colored): The Order of the Crown of Thorns and the American Catholic Church. The latter had its inception with the consecration of Frederic E. J. Lloyd in 1915. The American Catholic Synod of April 10, 1920 named Archbishop Vilatte, Exarch, in respect to the American Catholic Church. This office Archbishop Lloyd was himself to assume in the latter part of his life.

THE FAITH OF THE

AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

While holding the Orthodox Faith of the Early Undivided Church, and the underlying truths of the Christian Religion, the American Catholic Church explains that Faith, and interprets those truths, in the light of modern scholarship, scientific discovery, and the ever enlarging intelligence and spiritual consc-iousness of mankind---loyal to things that are really fundamental, liberal in all else.

THE WORSHIP OF THE

AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

is that of the Universal Church in all ages, enshrined in a Liturgy compiled from the treasures of devotion of all branches of the Christian Church. The less desirable features of these Liturgies have been eliminated.

THE TEACHING OF

AMERICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH

is Catholic in scope. There are three immutable and fundamental truths of Christian Theosophy (1st Cor. Ch. 2 v. 6 and 7).

1. That our ignorance of God and Nature is the result of the want of the Spirit and Life of God in us.

2. The only way to the Divine Knowledge is the way of the Gospel, which calls and leads us to a new birth of the Divine Nature brought forth in us.

3. The Way of the New Birth lies wholly in man's will to it, and every step of it consists in a continual dying to the selfish, corrupt will, which man has in flesh and blood.

This teaching of the Church can be summarized as follows: First---The Words of Christ. Second---The Words of the Apostles. Third---The teaching of the Catholic Church. Any teaching that is contrary to the first two cannot be deemed to be the teaching of the True and Catholic Church.

All of this teaching can be summarized in the Beatitudes. (There are twelve. Matt. 5, v. 3-11; 11, v. 6; 13, v. 16 and 25, v. 34.)

THE APOSTLES CREED AND

THE NICENE CREED

The Church maintains, that the Catholic Faith, The Communion of the Faithful, has always and everywhere worked for the salvation and redemption of man. St. Augustine alluded to this when he said that Christianity had always been in the world; and to which the New Testament also alludes when referring

to "the LAMB slain from the foundation of the World." This Religion which always was "and in all ages entering into HOLY SOULS maketh them friends of GOD, began with the coming of Christ to be called Christian."

So the American Catholic Church is a religious corporation established to perpetuate the ancient traditional marks of the complete, whole Catholic and Universal Church. The Church throughout the world has suffered in its expression of this completeness. When only two or three of these marks or characteristics find expression that portion of the Church ceases to express its Catholicity, and separation or denominationalism is manifest, instead of universality and brotherly communion. The American Catholic Church maintains a Christian Theosophical Lyceum or Church School (not connected with any lay Theosophical Society) for the education of its clergy. The term Theosophy is used as meaning a system of mysticism, such as a Psychology of the Superconscious, which proposes the attainment of direct knowledge of God, as contrasted with the Theologic, especially if the latter be conceived as a science of religion rather than a science of God, as Theology is maintained to be by many Theologians, "because they disbelieve that there is any direct knowledge of God to be attained."

And thus has come down to us the most direct, unquestionable and provable line of Apostolic Succession to be found in any branch of the Western Church today, and in all its original authority and power, that old commission and command of Jesus Christ: "As my Father bath sent Me, even so send I you."

The American Catholic Church therefore possesses and presents to a bewildered world a rallying point and refuge for all earnest and hungry souls who are longing for a non-Papal Church of Apostolic origin and with a valid Ministry, Grace giving Sacraments, an inspiring and satisfying Ceremonial, and a Teaching which harmonizes Catholic Tradition and modern intelligence.

To the services of this American Catholic Church all persons are cordially invited; for whatever our differences upon minor matters, we can all meet upon the common ground of faith in and love for Jesus Christ, the Divine Son of God and the Saviour of the World and together worship Him.

APPENDIX I.

Stephen Hobhouse in his book "Selected Mystical Writings of William Law," (Foreword by Aldous Huxley) tells us that when a Mystical System attempts to go beyond the traditional Catholic Theology, it often takes the name Theosophy, Divine Wisdom, in its old and rightful Christian sense, for Theosophy unlike Philosophy as a rule, starts with God, as the most certain and constant of all things, and endeavours to explain and deduce the universe of phenomena and of personal spirits from the play of forces within the Divine Essence. Jacob Boehme and the Rev. William Law are prominent examples of Theosophical Mystical Philosophers.

It may be noted that "All Ancient Religions were essentially systems of natural magic, theosophical, theological, philosophical and astrological. These systems of magic were inculcated by Initiations classified broadly as the Greater and Lesser Mysteries." (Masonic Compendium to the Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, by George W. Plummer, 32°, Bishop of the Holy Orthodox Church. It will be remembered that it was the "Magi from the East," (Math 2, v. 1.), Astrologers, who were first of the Gentile world to accept the Lord Jesus Christ and to make sacrifices for Him.

APPENDIX II.

On July 26, 1946, at the Serbian Orthodox Church of St. John the Baptist in San Francisco, California, U.S.A., The Reverend Father Odo A. Barry was conditionally re-Ordained by Archbishop Aneed assisted by the Serbian Orthodox Pastor and in the presence of Archbishop Wadle, American Catholic Church, The Regionary Bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church, Charles Hampton, and a congregation of the faithful of the Greek Church. He had been for twenty-five years in Orders in the Liberal Catholic Church, and their Vicar General in Canada. On Sunday the 29th of July in thy Church of the Holy Spirit, Berkeley, he was Consecrated as Bishop of Canada by, Regionary Bishop Hampton of the Liberal Catholic Church, Archbishop L. P. Wadle and Bishop Michael Strange of the American Catholic Church, Bishop H. J. Kleefisch who had been Consecrated in the Russian Orthodox Church and Archbishop Aneed of the Greek Melchite or Byzantine Church. The Liturgy of the Liberal Catholic Church being used and the actual Consecration being in English, Slavonic and Greek by all five Bishops. The Gospel being read in both Greek and English. Bishop Odo A. Barry (Archbishop Elect) was appointed by Archbishop Wadle to membership in the Consistory and Synod of the American Catholic Church on June 26, 1948, and is working as a Missionary Bishop within the British Commonwealth of Nations.

APPENDIX III.

On the 27th of February, 1950 His Eminence the Most Reverend J. G. Peters, D.Litt., D. D., Archbishop-Exarch of the Apostolic Church of the Indies, Colombo, Ceylon, affected communion with the American Catholic Church.

The Apostolic Church of the Indies, commonly called the Syrian Orthodox Church of India, was incorporated as the Church of India, Ceylon, and Malaya, by Government of India Act, XXI of 1860. This Church is the remnant of the Independent Catholic Church of India and Ceylon, of which Archbishop F. X. Alvarez was head when he Consecrated Archbishop Vilatte, in 1892.

In August, 1950, His Grace the Metropolitan of the American Catholic Church received the degree of "Doctor of Christian Theosophy" through His Eminence, from the Eastern Orthodox University.

EPILOG

The author of this monograph Odo Acheson Barry was originally a Liberal Catholic Priest. On July 26, 1946 he was reordained a priest by Antoine Joseph Aneed of the Byzantine American Church. He was consecrated to the episcopate on July 29th, 1946 by Charles H. Hampton, who had been regionary bishop of the Liberal Catholic Church, assisted by Lowell Paul Wadle, Antoine Joseph Aneed, Hugh Michael Strange and Henry J. Kleefisch. In 1948 he was again consecrated sub conditione by Lowell Paul Wadle of the American Catholic Church and his jurisdiction was designated as the Canadian Catholic Church, which for a time was to have been independent but affiliated with Wadle's American Catholic Church. However, Barry moved to New Zealand where he lived for a time and in 1953 is found in Ceylon only later to move to England. He did not return to Canada until 1960 and died in 1968.

While Barry traveled the globe another candidate was raised to the episcopate by Wadle, Hampton and Aneed. In 1957 Herman Adrian Spruit was consecrated, assisted by Harold Francis Marshall. In 1960 Spruit was consecrated by Paulos Aphostratus assisted by Michael Strange of the American Catholic Church and in 1965 consecrated by Justin Boyle (Robert Raleigh) of the Apostolic Christian Church.

Prior to Bishop Hampton's death in 1958 arrangements were made to leave all his earthly writings, radio talks, titles, ecclesiastical garments and crozier to Herman A. Spruit who had befriended him and remained loyal during and after Bishop Hampton's trouble with the Liberal Catholic hierarchy. Similarly, Bishop Aneed on passing left in his last will and testament his ecclesiastical titles, garments and crozier. This included the title of Patriarch over the Byzantine American Catholic Church, (Greek Melkite Succession).

Prior to his passing in 1994, Herman Adrian Spruit had turned over the reigns of his Church of Antioch- Malabar Rite to his Matriarch Meri Louise and today she alone holds the primacy of the numerous successions.

An interesting side note is that after the death of George W. Plummer (See page 14) in 1944, his widow married Theodotus Stanislaus De Witow who became head of the Holy Orthodox Church, while she as Mother Serena succeeded Plummer as Imperator of the Societas Rosicruciana in America. When bishop De Witow in turn died in 1969 the church was run by three deaconesses and in dire need of someone to consecrate the hosts. On November 8, 1980 Herman A. Spruit learning of their need, ordained Mother Serena to the priesthood and on November 10, 1980 consecrated her to the episcopate, being assisted by Meri Louise Spruit. Thus the circle remained unbroken. Favors and respect freely given were repaid to the heirs apparent. Thus is the legacy of the present Church of Antioch.