The Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church
An independent Catholic church in the liberal tradition

The Church stands in a long tradition of educational outreach through its antecedents the Catholic Apostolic Church (Catholicate of the West), the Free Protestant Episcopal Church and the Pre-Nicene Gnostic Catholic Church, each of which had its own universities or academies operated for the benefit both of ordinands and the general public, primarily via correspondence-based learning.

The Catholic Apostolic Church under Mar Georgius chartered the Western Orthodox Academy on 1 August 1945 in succession to the former University of Sulgrave, and this was incorporated along with the CAC as the Western Orthodox University in India under Act XXI of 1860 on 20 February 1950, with its degrees being known as "Glastonbury degrees" after Mar Georgius' see. Mar Georgius also chartered the Universite Philotechnique Internationale, founded under Primate Heard and later under the charge of Richard, Duc de Palatine, and the St John University in India was also part of his Catholicate. He was Chancellor of The International University.

The Free Protestant Episcopal University was founded in 1897 under Bishop Primus Leon Checkemian and until 1967 was based in Tottenham, north London, under Bishop Primus Charles Boltwood. This institution was also associated with St Andrew's Ecumenical Research Foundation, which sponsored theological and other enquiry.

Two Nazarene Colleges have existed from a common foundation in 1890 by Archbishop James Martin, one allied to the FPEC, and the other chartered de novo in 1953 by Mar Georgius (who mistakenly believed he had inherited the original body) in favour of Richard, Duc de Palatine, of the Pre-Nicene Gnostic Catholic Church.

Archbishop Bertil Persson of the Apostolic Episcopal Church, from whom the LCAC descends in Apostolic Succession, was co-founder in 1974 of St. Ephrem's Institute for Eastern Church Studies in Sweden, which has recognised achievement principally at the postgraduate level in theology and related disciplines.

St David's Oecumenical Institute of Divinity was founded in 1985 by Archbishops Viktor Schoonbroodt of the Religious Society of the Good Shepherd of the Catholic Orthodox Patriarchate of Vienna and Illtyd Thomas of the Celtic Catholic Church of the Utrecht Succession. It continues as the seminary of the CCC.

It should also be mentioned that at one point the Theosophical Society had its own Theosophical University at its community in Point Loma, California  (Lomaland), which was founded in 1919 and graduated students whose degrees were accepted by UCLA and Berkeley, among others. Its former site was sold and is now occupied by Point Loma Nazarene University.

In 2008, the work of the Society for Humanistic Potential, an ecumenical interfaith body that had developed from the former English Liberal Free Church in 2006, was placed under the auspices of the LCAC. The SHP is today responsible for the educational outreach of the church in the form of European-American University.

The Society for Humanistic Potential

The Society for Humanistic Potential (SHP) is a religious organization without borders and the parent organization of European-American University. SHP had its beginnings in the late 1990s and acquired its present form in 2007. It is now a dependent religious society of the Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church and its membership includes both clergy and laity of the church. Clergy commit to its own ministerial creed additionally to their existing requirements of ministry.

SHP defines all learning and the degrees, diplomas and certificates that may result from it as both religious and spiritual in nature, within a context where "religious" is defined as "a cause, principle or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith" and "spiritual" is defined as "of religion, sacred, devotional, or ecclesiastical; not lay or temporal." In terms of its formal structure, SHP is an international corporation registered in the Commonwealth of Dominica, and operates on a strictly non-profit basis.

The key principle underlying SHP is that of the honoring of human diversity. SHP is a credal association with its own creed, but is in no way dogmatic, instead honoring the right of the individual to determine truth and belief as he or she sees fit. As a non-sectarian and non-denominational organization, SHP does not discriminate on any basis, including sex, age, national origin and theology. Students at European-American University are automatically admitted as Student Members of SHP when they matriculate; they retain this status until they graduate, when they cease to be members of SHP.

SHP is strongly influenced by the ideas and example of Carl G. Jung, Alfred North Whitehead, Carl R. Rogers, Maria Montessori, Melvin Maier Suhd, Raymond Chasse, the Association for the Integration of the Whole Person, Mustard Seed Ministries, the University Without Walls project and others who have established a framework for humanistic potential that rests on a firm philosophical and practical basis. Our creed is based on that used by both AIWP and MSM; however, SHP is worldwide in its scope and not restricted to the United States. Ideas from these sources establish the potential of human development as central to any appreciation of human life and place lifelong learning at the heart of the human experience when lived to the full.

Further information and link to the SHP official blog (opens in a new window)

European-American University

European-American University (EAU) is an independent online global university without walls and international non-governmental organization that exists to serve the world citizen through highly innovative and individualized educational programs. Structured to meet the needs of the Information Age and incorporated in the Commonwealth of Dominica, the University acts as a holistic academy wherein constituent divisions and diverse assessment styles are effectively blended to create a flexible center of academic excellence with the learner at the heart.

The University is accredited by the International States Parliament for Safety and Peace, an intergovernmental organisation based in Italy.

Divisions of the University include the European-American University Press, the Arnold Harris Mathew Center for the Study of the Independent Sacramental Movement (see below), the Henselt Library, the David Ricardo School of Business, the Libertarian Library Online Project and the Amos Bronson Alcott Center for Educational Research. Romantic Discoveries Recordings operates as an associate research center of the University.

Visit European-American University
LCAC Charter to the European-American University

The Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church is active in promoting scholarship concerning the independent Apostolic churches, and through European-American University Press a number of original works and new editions of classic works are currently available in hardcover print.

The Arnold Harris Mathew Center for the Study of the Independent Sacramental Movement at European-American University exists to further research in these areas, and makes available online for the first time a number of relevant monographs and archival documents. The Church also houses a valuable physical archive of books, documents and vestments, of which the written material is in the process of digitisation.

This website contains a number of online resources on esoteric, Liberal Catholic and spiritual matters, all of which are accessible via the resources page.