The Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church

The history of the Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church is in one sense the history of Christian liberalism throughout the ages, from the earliest pre-Constantinian times, through the Unitarianism advanced by Ferenc Dávid (c.1510-79), to the major liberal resurgence in nineteenth-century hermeneutics and the twentieth-century independent liberal churches. It embraces men and women who have not been able to reconcile their consciences to the teachings of the mainstream churches, and who have sought a deeper expression of their relationship with God through the establishment of new religious movements and a free Christianity. Often marginalised and misunderstood, Christian liberals stand for the unity of the church not through the restricting influence of dogma but through the embracing and reconcilation of diverse approaches to faith.

The present-day Liberal Catholic Apostolic Church came into being through the union of the Ancient Catholic Church (founded 1950) and The Liberal Rite (founded 1999) in March 2008. That same year, the Metropolitan of the LCAC was enthroned, and its bishops consecrated, by the Emeritus Primate of the Apostolic Episcopal Church, the same church whose 1943 mandate had provided the impetus for the establishment of the Catholic Apostolic Church (Catholicate of the West) and thus in turn for the Ancient Catholic Church.

In the modern era, there are six main historical strands that exert a direct influence on the LCAC today, each of which is profiled below. As will be seen, these strands are all closely interrelated.

>>The Apostolic Episcopal Church and Mar John Emmanuel (Arthur Wolfort Brooks)
>>The Catholic Apostolic Church (Catholicate of the West) and Mar Georgius (Hugh George de Willmott Newman)
>>The Ancient Catholic Church and Mar Joannes I (Harold Percival Nicholson)
>>The Liberal Catholic movement
>>The Order of Corporate Reunion
>>The Liberal Rite