The North American Old Catholic Church is an Independent Catholic denomination in the United States. Although not a member of the Union of Utrecht, the denomination adheres to Old Catholic teachings and polity in their governance.
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The North American Old Catholic Church (NAOCC) was founded in January 2007 at a meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. The church's focus is currently on vocations and training men and women to be Old Catholic priests and planting churches and parish ministries.
As of July 2011 the church operates parishes in Houston AR; Bear, DE; Kissimmiee, Port St. Lucie, and Pembroke Pines, FL; Warner Robins, GA; New Orleans, LA; Baltimore, MD (2); New York, NY; Providence, RI; Athens, TN; Dallas, El Campo, and Kilgore, TX; Richmond, VA and Washington, DC (2).
The denomination operates a primary care center and free medical clinic in Chattanooga, TN, Baltimore MD, Macon, GA, and Washington, DC.
The North American Old Catholic Church recognizes the Old Catholic Mass as its official liturgy, but it allows local parishes to use traditional Western liturgies that are regularized in other churches, such as the Tridentine Mass, versions of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, and the Novus Ordo from the Roman Catholic tradition.
Theologically, the church stresses the inclusive character of the Gospel and welcomes the disabled, gays and lesbians, and people of all classes and political affiliations as adherents. Those who are married, women, and gays and lesbians are admitted to holy orders at all levels.
Leadership of the church is vested in the General Episcopal Synod and a Corporate Board of Directors.
The General Episcopal Synod, which consists of all bishops (both active and retired), the rector of St Wolbodo Seminary and the superiors of the denominations various religious orders, meets every three years.
The Corporate Board of Directors, which is composed of both clergy and laity, meets annually as required by law and has administrative over site on business and financial matters, as well as other corporate entity responsibilities as required by law.
In the period between meetings of the synod, the executive committee of the denomination meets a total of six times per year, once face-to-face and other times via teleconference. The executive committee is composed of clergy who exercise "ordinary jurisdiction" over a variety of church bodies.
The chief executive of the church is the Presiding Bishop, Archbishop Michael Seneco, who was elected to the post in January 2007 in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Presiding Bishop works as a full time employee of the church.
The NAOCC has no objection to the Roman Catholic Church or to the Bishop of Rome. The Pope is held to be one of the great patriarchs of Christianity, who is to be respected but not submitted to, and decisions made by Rome without consultation with the church catholic are not accepted. According to the NAOCC, the most recent ecumenical council was at the Second Council of Nicaea in the year 787.
The NAOCC maintains that the Roman Catholic Code of Canon Law, specifically Canon 844 §2 (which allows Roman Catholics to receive the sacraments from non-Catholic ministers in cases of "necessity or [when] genuine spiritual advantage commends it")[1] permits Roman Catholics to receive the sacraments from NAOCC clergy.
However, some Roman Catholics counter that this interpretation of Roman canon law has not been endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church (the author and sole competent interpreter of its own canon law). Their argument, in part, is that Canon 844 §3 relating to Roman Catholic clergy administering the sacraments to non-Roman Christians specifically refers to Eastern churches and "members of other Churches which the Apostolic See judges to be in the same position as the aforesaid eastern Churches so far as the sacraments are concerned". They additionally argue that the application of Canon 844 §2 to the NAOCC depends, also, upon demonstration of the "necessity" or "genuine spiritual advantage" which NAOCC cites. Those who question NAOCC's interpretation of the Canon point out that given the wide availability of Roman Catholic Churches in North America, and the relative paucity of NAOCC Churches, making the "necessity" or "genuine spiritual advantage" argument is difficult.
The NAOCC and most contemporary Old Catholic bodies usually respond to this criticism by pointing out that the official teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and the validity of Old Catholic clergy and sacraments were addressed by the late Pope John Paul II issued the document "Dominus Iesus", which was also signed by then Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, (now pope Benedict XVI) on 6 August 2000, which states:
"Therefore, there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the [Roman] Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in Communion with him. The Churches which, while not existing in perfect communion with the [Roman] Catholic Church remain united to her by means of closest bonds, that is, by Apostolic Succession and a valid Eucharist, are true in particular Churches. Therefore, the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack full communion with the [Roman] Catholic Church, since they do not accept the [Roman] Catholic doctrine of the Primacy, which, according to the will of God, the Bishop of Rome objectively has and exercises over the entire Church."