Project Canterbury
From The Works of the Rt. Rev. Charles C. Grafton
(Volume 4),
edited by B. Talbot Rogers, New York: Longmans, Green, 1914, pp. 271-290
A Journey Godward
of a Servant of Jesus Christ
CHAPTER XIV
THE POLISH OLD CATHOLIC MOVEMENT"Co-workers with Christ"
DURING my Episcopate, working for union within our own body and also with all baptized Christians, especially with those belonging to Apostolic Churches, I became interested in the Old Catholic Movement. This movement had extended in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Belgium, France. It is under the jurisdiction of the Old Catholic Bishops in Holland and the three Bishops of Germany and Switzerland. Some time since it was reported to have in Holland twenty-three parishes, with a Theological Seminary at Ammersfoort; in Germany some ninety parishes and associations; in Switzerland fifty parishes and a third Theological Seminary; in Austria some twenty-three parishes and fifteen thousand adherents.
In America there were one Bishop, twenty-one priests, thirty-two congregations, twenty-two churches and chapels. In connection with the Bishop's church in Chicago there is a large yet uncompleted hospital, and there are seven sisters. Between the years 1898 and 1901 the Bishop confirmed sixty-two hundred and ninety-nine persons.
I had inherited from my predecessor two or three congregations composed chiefly of Belgians, who had broken with Rome and placed themselves under our jurisdiction. These were, of course, of French descent and spoke that language. Later there arose in America a considerable anti-Roman movement among the Poles. The principal leader among them, and one recognized by the Old Catholic Bishops in Europe, was the Right Reverend Anthony Kozlowski. He was educated in Bulgaria, among the Slavic people, and on account of the eminence of his family was regarded as one likely to be a prelate. As an only son he ranked as a baron and bore the title. His family, for generations, had been Polish patriots. He studied theology in Bulgaria. Here he began to acquire the many languages which he spoke. He made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, sojourning in Constantinople and Greece. He did away with some of his early prejudices as an anti-Russian, seeing the Orthodox Church now under its religious aspect and other than as an ally to the Russian Government. Having a deep spiritual nature, he determined to leave the world and enter the Trappist Monastery, to devote his life to religion. The discipline, however, was so severe that he became seriously ill, causing the doctors to order him to leave the monastery to preserve his life. Upon this he was appointed rector of the Theological College in Taranto, Italy, from which he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity and where he served some years. He became personally acquainted with many of the theologians of the Roman Church, including the late Pope Leo XIII. He became interested in the work of his fellow-Slav, Bishop Strosmeyer, of Croatia, who struggled so courageously against the Vatican decrees of 1870, secured a restoration of the vernacular liturgy for his own people, and who never published the decrees of the Vatican Council in his own diocese. Strosmeyer's noble protest against papacy undoubtedly sowed seeds in the mind of Kozlowski. He became acquainted with those old Catholic leaders Döllinger and Reinkens, and while not then prepared to follow, he sympathized with them.
He was sent to America and became assistant of St. Hedwig's Polish church, Chicago. It was here that the conditions of the Polish people and their relation to the Roman Catholic hierarchy moved him to the final step that separated him from the Roman Communion. "The Polish people," we quote from a letter of the Rev. E. M. Frank, his chaplain, "needed a leader." For years many of the Polish laity had been restive under the Romish yoke, but they lacked a leader and priests to supply their spiritual wants. In 1895 Dr. Kozlowski was elected Bishop by All Saints' Polish Congregation, Chicago, and a few other congregations. He was consecrated by Bishop Herzog of Berne, Bishop Weber of Bonn, and Archbishop Gul of Utrecht at a council held at Berne, Switzerland, November 13, 1896, and has been a resident of Chicago ever since his return.
During the ten years of his Episcopate, by personal effort, he organized twenty-three parishes: in New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Canada. He erected, but never completed, St. Anthony's Hospital, Orphanage, and Home for the Aged, a large stone and brick building, upon which he expended one hundred and fifteen thousand dollars.
Few men had more missionary zeal and a better knowledge of Catholic affairs than had Bishop Kozlowski. He attended all the Old Catholic synods in Europe, and always spoke of his brethren in the Episcopal Church in America in the highest manner.
My acquaintance with Bishop Kozlowski had begun early in my Episcopate. He had acquired a number of languages, was a ripe theological scholar, of marked intellectual ability, a leader of men, and, above all, a devoted Christian. He lived in most humble quarters, as poverty like as those of any day laborer. A marked characteristic of his piety was his deep humility. He had a great love for his own people, and nothing was more dear to him than their deliverance from Roman oppression and the advancement of the Catholic Faith. He was broad and generous in his sympathies and action. Let me give an incident confirming this.
When Dr. Weller was about to be consecrated as our Coadjutor Bishop of Fond du Lac, Bishop Kozlowski was ready, he said, to join in the laying on of hands at his consecration. He agreed to do so and came to our cathedral with that intent. It would have been a great blessing to the cause of Christian unity. It would have been a complete answer to Romans, who said no other religious body recognized our orders. It would have been what a number of our most devoted Bishops have desired. I humbly thanked God for bringing this great blessing to our communion. But it was not to be. On the day of consecration a Bishop appointed to be a co-consecrator remonstrated with me. He said that if Bishop Kozlowski was going to take part and lay on hands with the other Bishops present, he would withdraw from the Church. He said he protested against it, and if done would present me for trial to the House of Bishops. Rather than have any scandal on so important and serious an occasion, I yielded to his protest. He was a high churchman, and I have sorrowfully to say that the opposition to union with the Old Catholics has come largely from members of this school.
In October, 1901, the General Convention met at San Francisco. Bishop Kozlowski addressed a Memorial to the House of Bishops, accepting the terms of the so-called Quadrilateral, as put forth at Lambeth and Chicago, and asking recognition. It was an honest and straightforward acceptance of the terms of union which our Church had proposed. It was made by one who had a large number of clergy and churches under him. He gave a full list of the clergy and of the churches. At my request Dr. Potter, the Bishop of New York, presented the Memorial. It was from this broad, statesmanlike Bishop that I received the most encouragement in my endeavors for the union of these two bodies.
The Committee (Bishop Whitehead being chairman), on October 16, 1901, offered in response the following resolution:
"That the Memorial of Bishop Kozlowski be referred to a Committee of three Bishops to confer with the Polish Catholic Bishop and to make a report to this House at its next meeting."
In his Memorial, Bishop Kozlowski referred to the official letter put forth by the Bishops assembled at Lambeth in 1878. "We gladly welcome," the Bishops had said, "every effort for reform upon the model of the Primitive Church. We do not demand a rigid uniformity; we deprecate needless divisions; but to those who are drawn to us in the endeavor to free themselves from the yoke of error and superstition, we are ready to offer all help and such privileges as may be acceptable to them and are consistent with the maintenance of our own principles."
Bishop Kozlowski also cited in full the extended Declaration of our Bishops in 1886, beginning:
"Whereas, in the year 1880, the Bishops of the American Church, assembled in Council, moved by the appeals from Christians in foreign countries who were struggling to free themselves from the usurpations of the Bishop of Rome, set forth a declaration to the effect that, in virtue of the solidarity of the Catholic Episcopate, in which we have a part, it was the right and duty of the Episcopates of all National Churches holding the primitive Faith and Order, and of the several Bishops of the same, to protect in the holding of that Faith and the recovering of that Order those who have been wrongfully deprived of both; and this without demanding a rigid uniformity, or the sacrifice of the national traditions of worship and discipline, or of their rightful autonomy, . . . we, . . ., in Council assembled as Bishops of the Church of God, do solemnly declare . . . our earnest desire that the Saviour's prayer, 'that they all may be one,' may in its deepest and truest sense, be speedily fulfilled." Furthermore they affirmed that unity "can be restored only by the return of all Christian communities to the principles of unity exemplified by the undivided Catholic Church during the first ages of its existence; which principles we believe to be the substantial deposit of Christian Faith and Order committed by Christ and His Apostles to the Church unto the end of the world, and therefore incapable of compromise or surrender. . . . As inherent parts of this sacred deposit, and therefore as essential to the restoration of unity, we account" the Holy Scriptures as the revealed Word of God, the Nicene Creed, the two Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper of the Lord, and the Historic Episcopate. [We quote above in a condensed form the statements of the Quadrilateral.]
Bishop Kozlowski cited also the action of the Lambeth Conferences of 1878 and 1888, which affirmed the same proposition for Christian unity:
"First of all it is due to the ancient Church of Holland, which in practice accepts its title of Old Catholic, . . . it is to this Church that the Community termed Old Catholic in the German Empire owes, in the Providence of God, the Episcopal Succession. . . . We cannot consider that it is in schism as regards the Roman Church, because to do so would be to concede the lawfulness of the imposition of new terms of Communion. . . . We regard it as a duty to promote friendly relations with the Old Catholics of Germany. . . . We see no reason why we should not admit their clergy and faithful laity to Holy Communion on the same conditions as our own communicants, and we also acknowledge the readiness which they have shown to offer spiritual privileges to members of our own Church. . . .
"Moved by the desire for Christian unity, we, Anthony Stanislaus Kozlowski, Bishop of the Polish Catholic Church in America, in response to your proposals, humbly and respectfully approach you, Beloved in the Lord, submitting ourselves to your godly wisdom, and ask, according to the terms you have offered at Lambeth and Chicago, which we sincerely and heartily accept, to be admitted to your Christian fellowship and communion."
Bishop Kozlowski gave the dates of his ordination and consecration and the names of his consecrators to the Episcopate. In respect of the Liturgy he said:
"We feel that it is necessary, and in accord with the principles of your own Reformation, that the service books should be in a language understood by the people and freed from modern Roman errors. . . . Believing that our Lord Jesus Christ has established His Church to be the Guardian and Keeper of the Faith and the Expositor of Holy Scripture, we believe all that the Church has set forth in the Catholic Creeds and is witnessed by the consent of undivided Christendom."
The Bishop reported that at that time there were under his care twenty-five churches, twenty-six priests, ten sisters, twenty-five schools, eighty thousand members, thirteen thousand school children, thirty-one buildings, and particularly the large one in Chicago.
In April, 1902, a special meeting of the House of Bishops was held in Cincinnati. I do not find a report of this committee in the "Journal." It may have been made to the Bishops in Council. The Committee seems to have been discharged. Whereupon the Bishop of Vermont offered the following resolution:
"Resolved, that in reply to a communication addressed to the House of Bishops by Bishop Kozlowski, the House would communicate to him in reply, with the friendly greetings of the Bishops, that a Committee has been appointed, with the Bishop of Chicago as chairman, to consider the whole subject of intercommunion between the Polish Old Catholics and the Protestant Episcopal Church"; which was adopted.
In a private letter, September 22, 1902, Bishop Anderson, Coadjutor of Chicago, suggested that it would be well for Bishop Kozlowski to lay before the Committee of the House of Bishops a general statement to the effect that the theological position of the Polish Old Catholics in America was practically the same as that of the Old Catholics in Europe, and added: "For Bishop Kozlowski I have a constantly increasing admiration. He is proving himself to be a hero."
It may be well here to give some extracts made in consequence of the above suggestion, from Bishop Kozlowski's communications:
TO THE RIGHT REVEREND THE COMMITTEE OF THE
HOUSE OF BISHOPS (DR. MCLAREN, CHAIRMAN):"RIGHT REVEREND BRETHREN:
"My earnest desire is to be in union with all the Catholic Church, that we may fulfil Christ's prayer and build up His Kingdom.
"As the same spirit seemed to animate the Right Reverend Bishops of the American Episcopal Church, I applied to the House of Bishops at San Francisco and at Cincinnati for intercommunion. This intercommunion would be gladly accepted by the priests and religious under my jurisdiction, and would strengthen the faith of many who have lost their faith, while rejecting the papal yoke, and would show that I am not the only Catholic Bishop independent of Rome, but that the large body of Bishops of the Episcopal Church are likewise independent, and are true Catholic Bishops.
"I only wish to be the helper, assistant, and servant of the Bishops of Jesus Christ, and would confine my jurisdiction to people of the Polish and other kindred nationalities of the Slavonic races, among whom the Anglican Church has never attempted any evangelistic work. I would never encroach on any rights or jurisdiction of any Bishop over work among the English or any other kindred people, and would try to bring my people into even closer relationship with the Episcopal Church. It is my desire to be in communion with this Church, in which I recognize the validity of its holy Orders and the right administration of the sacraments. I appeal again, that intercommunion with me may be established by your Right Reverend body. If this application is informal, I am willing to conform myself to every suggestion of your committee and to state my theological position. Our services have been translated into the Polish language. I hold the faith of the undivided Catholic Church as expressed in the Catholic Creeds and propounded by the Catholic Councils which have been recognized as ecumenical by both the East and West alike.
"I believe the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God, and that, rightly understood, they contain all things necessary to salvation.
"I believe that the grace of God is necessary for salvation; that our justification is only through Jesus Christ, and that the visible Church is a congregation of faithful believers, where the Word of God is preached and the Sacraments duly administered."
"I believe that the Roman Church has erred in propounding the supremacy and infallibility of the Pope. I believe in the intermediate state of purification after this life, but that the Roman Church has erred in her doctrine of Purgatory and indulgences, as also in the adoration of images and relics.
"The Polish race is very numerous. Multitudes of them are leaving their faith, and unless something is done they will, revolting from Romanism, go into infidelity. I would succor them, and for this end I desire intercommunion with the Episcopal Church. The cause of God moves me to ask this. Will you do as I ask? Then help me now. If anything needs to be explained, I will do it. If any condition is required from me I am ready to fulfil it. My confidence in God and in the power of His Gospel is unlimited.
With great respect, I am
Yours in the Catholic Faith,
ANTHONY KOZLOWSKI."A similar statement on behalf of the clergy and laity under Bishop Kozlowski, and signed by a committee of five from their number, was also issued. It was printed in full in "The Living Church" of September 27, 1902.
The Memorial had naturally created some interest, and on the part of a few some alarm. The original proposals of the Quadrilateral had primarily in mind a method by which the outlying sectarian bodies could be united or brought into communion with ourselves. They had not responded to it. Some had officially rejected it. They did not believe in or want an historical Episcopate; historical, that is, which came down from the Apostles. Now we were confronted with the fact that a large and respectable body of Christians who had an apostolically derived Episcopate accepted our terms. The House of Bishops was then in this dilemma: To reject the Memorial was, in fact, to repudiate the Quadrilateral. To accept it would not help the hoped-for Protestantizing of the Church. They treated the Bishop with scant courtesy. He had come a long journey to San Francisco to present his first Memorial. The Bishops did not even ask him, as they were wont to do in other cases, to be presented to them and state his case. So they again put the matter off, referring it to another meeting.
About this time some antagonistic feeling was expressed because the Old Catholic Bishops in Europe had proceeded to consecrate a Bishop for America without informing those of our Bishops who were present at the Bonn Conference. This feeling found expression in rather strong language by a high church Bishop. But it was subsequently explained that the Old Catholics in Europe had no intention of passing a slight upon the American Episcopate. The facts were that Bishop Kozlowski, having been elected by the Poles in America to the Episcopate, arrived in Europe after the Bonn Conference was over, and then, presenting his credentials, was consecrated. The Old Catholics in Europe had no knowledge of his election until the Conference had adjourned and the American Bishops had departed. This satisfactorily explained the matter.
In April, 1902, at the special meeting of the House of Bishops, held at Cincinnati, the Bishop of Albany had offered the following resolution:
"Resolved, that the Bishop of New York and any other of the Bishops of this Church who may attend the Synod of the Old Catholics at Bonn in August next, be requested to communicate to the Synod the warm and brotherly greetings of the Bishops of this Church"; which was adopted.
A question having arisen about the mode of administering the Blessed Sacrament, Bishop Kozlowski's chaplain wrote to me that at present the ordinary mode was concomitance, which practice they held in common with the Eastern communions. But it had begun to be given in manner like our own.
"On St. John's Day it is a custom amongst Slavic peoples to administer a Chalice containing wine. In these churches, which are under the Roman obedience, the wine is unconsecrated. They are thus deprived of the privilege which they think they possess of receiving in both kinds. They use the phraseology, however, that applies to a communion in two kinds, and speak of the Cup as conveying the grace of gladness. In the Polish Old Catholic Churches the Cup was of consecrated, not merely blessed, wine."
This custom Bishop Kozlowski was willing to make general.
Commenting on Bishop Kozlowski's proposal, the Rev. Dr. W. R. Huntington, of well esteemed memory, publicly stated that "the present advance is sincere, and I do not see how the Church can do other than meet it cordially. I can say that there is no constitutional difficulty in the way of recognition of the Polish movement." Bishop Potter said before the Church Club in New York: "Bishop Kozlowski's consecration is unimpeachable. The movement of which he is the head, the Old Catholic Movement, is one of great interest and importance. I think it would be a wise move for this Church to recognize Bishop Kozlowski. I have a great hope in our relation to the Old Catholic Movement. It is of wider importance than any other which has so far appeared on the horizon."
In October, 1902, a special meeting of the House was held at Philadelphia, when the following resolution was adopted:
"Whereas, The Right Reverend Anthony Kozlowski, a Polish Catholic Bishop, consecrated by the Old Catholic Bishops of Europe and presiding over congregations of his own nationality in this country, has accepted the terms of the Chicago-Lambeth proposals for unity, and has further assured us of his repudiation of Roman errors, and has applied to us on these terms for recognition and intercommunion: therefore,
Resolved, That the Bishops, not assuming to recognize the organization of the Church of which he is a Bishop, extend to him their Christian salutations and assurances of affectionate sympathy and interest in his work.
Resolved, That a Committee of five Bishops be appointed to consider and propose the terms of intercommunion and jurisdiction and report to the next meeting of the House of Bishops.
The members of this Committee were the Bishop of Albany, the Bishop of Chicago, the Bishop of Western New York, the Bishop of Maryland, and the Bishop of Central Pennsylvania.
It will be seen that the Memorial of Bishop Kozlowski was thus postponed again, though in courteous terms. It will recall to some the way Bishop Seabury was treated by the English Bishops. Bishop Seabury's cause was postponed again and again until he was made heartsick. But then, he had not appeared before the English Bishops, as Kozlowski had done, in response to their own invitation. The charitable disposition of the American Church had been heralded far and wide. She did not ask a rigid uniformity with herself, but only the acceptance of four great leading and, as she claimed, essential principles. Fully, loyally, humbly, and asking for further counsel, Bishop Kozlowski had accepted them. It is a sad, sad story to see how this acceptance was received. There were those, like the late Bishop of Chicago,in whose diocese Bishop Kozlowski's personal work was situated, who did not sympathize with any persons leaving the Roman Communion. There were others who thought the Old Catholics should conform in all matters of worship to our own communion. Neither of these positions agrees with the proposals made in the Quadrilateral. We append below the Constitution of the Polish Old Catholic Body; its theological acumen and Catholic spirit should be acceptable to all Anglican conservative churchmen.
But alas! This great, noble-hearted, humble-minded, self-sacrificing Bishop at last broke down under the accumulative weight of financial burdens, Roman malignities, and Episcopal neglect. May his soul rest in peace and advancing felicity! The work of intercommunion with the Old Catholics in America has been frustrated. It can only be taken up by renewed, loving advances on our side.
CONSTITUTION OF THE OLD CATHOLIC CHURCH
IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICAWhereas, A great number of people are coming to America who are members of the Old Catholic Church abroad, and whereas there are many in this country who are unable to comply with the unlawful terms of communion enforced by the Latin Bishops, therefore it has become necessary for the Old Catholics to establish in this country hierarchical jurisdiction over those priests who followed their people hither, and over the other clergy who are unable to abide under the jurisdiction of the Latin Bishops in America, and who applied to the Old Catholic Bishops for episcopal supervision.
ARTICLE I
FAITHThe Old Catholic Church accepts the Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian Creeds and the doctrinal decisions of the undisputed Ecumenical Councils, and whatever was the faith of the undivided Church; the Old Catholic Church accepts the twenty-two (22) books of the Old, and twenty-seven (27) of the New Testament as the Word of God, and the other books (known as the Apocrypha), as declared by St. Jerome and St. Athanasius, the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners.
ARTICLE II
MINISTRYThe Old Catholics hold it to be necessary to preserve the three orders of the Apostolic Ministry, namely, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, and consider it advisable to preserve minor orders in which the laity aid the practical work of the Church.
ARTICLE III
MEANS OF GRACEThe Old Catholics retain and hold the seven Ecumenical Mysteries instituted mediately and immediately by Jesus Christ for the salvation of men, and among them recognize Baptism and the Holy Eucharist as having pre-eminent dignity from the fact that they were immediately instituted by our Lord and that they are necessary to the salvation of all men where they may be had.
ARTICLE IV
BAPTISMThe Sacraments are by the Holy Ghost effectual signs of Grace. Baptism is a sign of Regeneration or New Birth. By it as by an instrument they that receive it rightly are grafted into the Church, receive remission of sins, are adopted as the Sons of God, and are made members of Christ, Children of God, and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven.
The conditions of rightful reception by adults are faith and repentance.
Infants, according to our Lord's command, to suffer them to be brought to Him, are regarded as proper subjects of Baptism.
ARTICLE V
THE HOLY EUCHARISTThe Holy Eucharist is the chief Gospel Rite whereby the Church worships God, and maintains her communion with Him. As a transaction within the spiritual Body of Christ, it is governed by its own spiritual law. It is at once a Sacrifice and a Holy Communion or Feast upon it. It is the unbloody Sacrifice of the Gospel, and sets forth and pleads Christ's death until He comes. It is a Sacrament by which, in virtue of the Priest's consecration of the elements, the thing signified is the Body and Blood of Christ, which are thereby really present under the forms of bread and wine. Those who receive devoutly and with faith are alone partakers of Christ. The wicked and unfaithful receive to their harm.
ARTICLE VI
JUSTIFICATIONNo man can be accounted just before God apart from Christ. The remote cause of our justification is the free Grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; the proximate and instrumental cause is the washing of Regeneration in Baptism, whereby we receive remission of sins and have put on Christ; the subjective and receptive cause is faith. This faith is the joint action of man's whole intellectual and moral nature, believing, trusting, loving, self-surrendering of itself to God. It can only be ideally and not practically separated from good works. It is faith working by love.
ARTICLE VII
LITURGIESThe Old Catholics deem it unwise for the present to alter or interfere with the national uses and rites of those Christians who came into communion with them, and desire to be under their hierarchical jurisdiction.
ARTICLE VIII
CHANGES OF LITURGIESThe Ecclesiastical Authority reserves to itself the right to modify these uses and rites in any point which they may consider contrary to sound doctrine, and to supervise and give their imprimatur to any translations which may seem necessary that the people who so desire may worship in the vernacular. Such uses, rites, Liturgies, and translations of Liturgies become lawful only when licensed by the Ecclesiastical Authority.
ARTICLE IX
MISSIONThe object of the Old Catholic Hierarchy in this country is to supply the needs of those persons who do not understand the English language and who cannot intelligently and devoutly take part in services conducted in that language. The Old Catholics desire to work in harmony with those Christians holding the same faith and having the same Apostolic orders as themselves.
ARTICLE X
SYNODThe Bishops of the Old Catholic Church in America owe their obedience to the Old Catholic Synod of Europe, from which they have received episcopal orders.
ARTICLE XI
UNITYThe Old Catholic Church desires union with the American Church, and to this end they have accepted the Quadrilateral decrees put forth by the American Church as being necessary for intercommunion with that body. The Old Catholic Bishops do not desire to exercise an independent jurisdiction, but they desire to exercise the same jurisdiction over their people as is exercised by the Anglican Bishops as members of the American Episcopate. They desire to exercise the same rights and discipline without interference or reversal of their disciplinary decisions as is exercised by the members of the American Episcopate, and they bind themselves not to interfere with or reverse the disciplinary decisions of the American Episcopate.
ARTICLE XII
CANDIDATES FOR EPISCOPATECandidates for the Episcopate elected in America must have their election confirmed by the Old Catholic Synod in Europe, and no one is to be consecrated Bishop without at least three Consecrators in Episcopal Orders of undoubted Apostolic Succession.
ARTICLE XIII
TRIAL OF A BISHOPA Bishop in the Old Catholic Church in America is now liable for any offence concerning his doctrine or morals before a court composed of his ecclesiastical peers convened by the Old Catholic Synod of Europe, or acting for and representing them.
ARTICLE XIV
CANON LAWThe Old Catholic Church in America accepts as binding upon them the Canons of the Old Catholic Synod of Europe, alterations being made to meet local circumstances.
PROVISO IN CASE OF UNITY WITH AMERICAN CHURCH
The Old Catholic Church in America reserves to itself the right, however, in case it is accepted by the American Church, to render to the House of Bishops that obedience and allegiance which is now vested in the Old Catholic Synod of Europe, provided, however, that the American Church extends to the Old Catholic Church in this country and to its Bishops the same representation which they now enjoy in the Old Catholic Synod of Europe.
[Articles XV. to XX. cover "Trial of a Priest" and other matters of detail, and for lack of space are omitted.]
ARTICLE XXI
AMERICAN SYNODThe Old Catholic Churches in this country are to be governed by a Synod in which the Senior Bishop is to be President ex officio. The Bishop or Bishops present shall vote as a separate order. The clergy in good standing are entitled to a seat and vote. The laity are to be represented by one representative for every five hundred adults. The Bishops and clergy alone have a right to vote in matters of doctrine and worship. The laity have a right to vote with the Bishops and clergy in all affairs that concern the temporal welfare of the Church. All votes to be counted by orders and a majority of each order is required to affirm a measure.
ARTICLE XXII
ACCEPTANCE OF CONSTITUTIONAll congregations coming under the jurisdiction of the Old Catholic hierarchy in America must accept and sign through their representative.
Transcribed by David Donnell, A.D. 2001