Union of Scranton

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The Scranton Union is an Old Catholic church fellowship. It is named after the city of Scranton in Pennsylvania , the place of origin of its largest member church, the Polish National Catholic Church of America .

history

In 2003, the left Polish National Catholic Church ( Polish National Catholic Church , PNCC) in North America , the Union of Utrecht of the Old Catholic Churches . This was preceded by the decision of the Western European churches of the Union of Utrecht to ordain women to the sacramental priesthood even without the consent of the International Bishops' Conference of the Union of Utrecht ; This was followed by a year-long suspension of the communion of the sacraments with these churches by the PNCC.

In 2008, the PNCC bishops passed the Scranton Declaration . On the one hand, this confirms the Utrecht Declaration of 1889 and in particular rejects the doctrines of papal infallibility and the papal jurisdiction primacy as well as (with regard to the form of their dogmatization) also the modern dogmas of Mary ( Immaculata , Assumpta ) of the Roman Catholic Church. On the other hand, the ordination of women and the church blessing of same-sex partnerships are rejected as contrary to scripture and tradition.

When in 2010 the Nordic Catholic Church became a largely self-governing church through the election and consecration of its own bishop (Roald Nikolai Flemestad) from the PNCC, the Union of Scranton emerged as a church fellowship between the PNCC and the Nordic Catholic Church. The degree of independence of the Nordic Catholic Church roughly corresponds to that of the autonomous churches in the Byzantine Orthodox Church and is therefore less than autocephaly . The consecration of its bishops is incumbent on the PNCC-dominated Bishops' Conference of the Union of Scranton.

The Scranton Union as a community of self-governing churches is basically open to other member churches. The Scranton Union is currently in dialogue with various churches of the Anglo-Catholic tradition, e. B. The Anglican Catholic Church and the Anglican Church in America . There were similar talks between the Scranton Union and the Free Church of England between 2013 and 2015 , but without result.

theology

The basic documents of the Scranton Union include, firstly, the Scranton Declaration described above, which is based on the Utrecht Declaration. Secondly, this includes the consensus document Koinonia , which emerged from the Orthodox- Old Catholic Dialogue in 1987, on an early church basis , which the PNCC ratified at its general synod in 1990 and which the Nordic Catholic Church included in its document of faith ( Trus document ) in 2009 .

organization

The Statute of the Union of Scranton is modeled on that of the Union of Utrecht. The Scranton Union is episcopal - conciliar . The highest decision-making body is the International Catholic Conference of Bishops ( International Catholic Bishops' Conference , ICBC). An honorary primacy - as chairman of the International Catholic Bishops' Conference - enjoys the Prime Bishop of the PNCC; currently this is Bishop Anthony Mikovsky .

The total membership of the member churches of the Scranton Union is well over 25,000. (This is the membership in North America.) The Scranton Union is represented in seven European countries through the Nordic Catholic Church. The Nordic Catholic Church has had an administration in Germany since 2012.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Declaration of Scranton . Declaration by the bishops of the Polish National Catholic Church dated April 28, 2008.
  2. ^ Statutes of the Union of Scranton , Art. 8 and 9.
  3. ↑ Anglican Churches and Polish National Catholic Church begin dialogue in Atlanta , press release on the Anglican Catholic Church website dated January 28, 2019. Retrieved February 25, 2019.
  4. ↑ In: Internationale Kirchliche Zeitschrift , Vol. 79, Issue 4, 1989. doi : 10.5169 / seals-404765
  5. ↑ Den nordisk-katolske kyrkja: Trusdokument (Norwegian), 2009, pp. 14–58.
  6. ^ Polish National Catholic Church - Who We Are (Eng.). Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  7. ^ Nordic Catholic Church - Clergy Directory . Retrieved March 19, 2016.