English information

Old-catholic Church St. Theresia
Dear Visitors,
Old Catholic, what‘s that?
Perhaps you asked yourself that question, when you entered this church. Many suspect, that the Old Catholic Church is an extremely conservative form of Catholicism. That is not true.
True is:
- that we share Holy Communion with all Christians, although we are Catholic.
- members of our Church are able to participate widely in its affairs including the election of their parish priest and bishop.
- women may be admitted to all orders of ministry.
Fraternal fellowship is fundamental for us. That means proclaiming the good news of Jesus and following him in the Spirit. Attitudes such as commanding, ruling, excommunica-ting, threatening with ecclesiastical or divine punishments are alien to us. For in a Church based on fraternal love there is no place for fear. We feel under an obligation to the ancient Church - that‘s the significance of the word »old« in our name. Therefore we have not formulated any new Creed of our own. The foundation is the faith of the whole Church, as expressed in the creeds of the ancient Church and nowadays in both the confessions of faith (Nicene and Apostles‘ Creed) which all the christian Churches have in common, as well as the acceptance of those councils of the first millenium, recognized by all, when the Church was still undivided. That also includes our acceptance of the articles of faith (dogmas) of these councils, although an argument about things such as whether the virgin birth of Jesus is to be understood theologically or biologically, would be inconceivable in our Church. For it is self-evident for us that our faith and its dogmas, which are rooted in a particular age, must be translated into the language and concepts of today.
The spirit of freedom and responsibility are also fundamental in our Church. From that result practical consequences:
For us it is unthinkable that someone who has failed in their marriage be separated from the fellowship of the Church. He still enjoys all rights and privilegies just take anyone else. But he experiences forgiveness, including the possibility of a second church wedding, and thereby the experience that God‘s blessing with his new partner is not denied him by virtue of church rules.
For us it is unthinkable that people should be forced to confess their guilt publicly or privately before a priest on the grounds that they can only then experience forgiveness - or that the desired forgiveness be denied him. They take their own decisions of conscience and responsibility seriously and celebrate God‘s forgiveness at the beginning of the service.
We do not permit people to be exclude from ministry in the Church on the basis of skin colour or gender, eg. women in the ministry. Since May 1994 the orders of priest and bishop have been open to women. For us it is unthinkable that people should be excluded from Holy Communion because they are not members of our Church. It is Jesus alone who invites us to this meal, not a particular Church or Confession. Neither do we try to persuade spouses or family members who do not belong to our Church to change their membership. We respect the free decision of every individual even at the risk of our own Church remaining numerically small.
It is for us unthinkable to impose celibacy on anyone in the ministry of the Church. That is why most of our priests are married.
It is for us unthinkable that our Church be governed from above. The concerns of all are discussed and decided by all. That includes responsibility for the parish, for the election of a parish priest, as well as for the life of the whole Church, exercised by the election of representatives for our synod in which the guidelines for our church life and activity are decided and which also elects the bishop.
Our origin goes back to 1870 when the First Vatican Council in Rome promulgated two new dogmas:
1. The Pope is infallible when he officially proclaims new teachings on faith and morals.
2. The Pope has direct authority over all Christians.

Many, including fifty bishops, regarded this new dogma as irreconcilable with the witness of scripture and the faith of the ancient Church. Anyone who voiced their doubts publicly was excommuni-cated from the Roman Catholic Church. Numerous catholic bishops left the council before the vote was taken, because their conscience did not permit them to assent to these new articles of faith. Later they submitted to the Pope because otherwise they were threatened with excommunication. Many catholic Christians could not reconcile the acceptance of these new dogmas with their conscience or their knowledge of church history. Their spiritual leaders were, amongst others, the Munich Professor of Church History, Ignaz von Döllinger, and the theology professors Josef Hubert Reinkens from Breslau and Eduard Herzog from Lucerne. All those who opposed the new articles of faith were excommuni-cated. They considered that onjust. They knew that these new teachings were unknown in the ancient Church. Therefore those excluded established by virtue of necessity their own catholic parishes. That is how the Old Catholic Church began, whose name refers to the ancient original Church of the first centuries.
Even in the early years the Old Catholics introduced extensive reforms, always having recourse to the traditions of the ancient Church. Special emphases was placed on synodical structure in what all church members have a full voice. Also the vernacular was introduced into services.
From the beginning the Old Catholic Church was also engaged in the ecumenical movement. As early as 1873 and 1874 there were conferences on the theme of church unity in which Anglican, Protestant and Orthodox representatives took part. The Old Catholic Church is one of the founder members of the World Council of Churches; since 1931 there has been full communion with the Anglicans. In 1985 an agreement was reached with the Evangelical Church in Germany regarding a mutual invitation to share in Holy Communion.
Since 1920 there has been an Old Catholic Church on Nordstrand. Its beginnings go back to the year 1652 with the arrival of Dutch catholic dike builders who came to surround the island with dikes after the damage in the storm of 1634. In 1662 they build this church and in 1684 the vicarage was added. In 1887 the church underwent a thoroughgoing restoration. Because of a theological dispute between the Archdiocese of Utrecht and the Pope a schism arose in 1723. The catholic parish on Nordstrand remained with the Archdiocese of Utrecht. Close church relations between Utrecht and the German Old Catholics meant that the parish was handed over to the German diocese in 1920.
Here on Nordstrand we celebrate Holy Communion every Sunday. Our parish takes in the whole of Schleswig-Holstein and has about 500 members. In the Federal Republic of Germany today there are about 20.000 Old Catholics in 50 parishes.
If you would like to know more, please contact the Episcopal Administrative Centre, GregorMendel-Str. 28, D-53115 Bonn
www.alt-katholisch.de
(Thanks to Rev. J.K. Newsome for translation)
Old-Catholic Church Nordstrand
Reverend Georg Reynders
Osterdeich 1, D-25845 Nordstrand, Tel. +49 4842 - 409, Fax: +49 4842 - 1511, Internet:
www.Nordstrand-Insel-fuer-die-Seele.de, E-Mail: Alt-Katholiken @ nordstrand-insel-fuerdie-
seele.de,
http://www.cofe.anglican.org