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

Spiritual Learning
The Hamblin Trust
The Wrekin Trust
The Prometheus Trust
The Universal Order
Shrine of Wisdom
The Fintry Trust
Temenos Academy
Fellowship of Contemplative Prayer
Small Pilgrim Places
The Scientific and Medical Network
The Phiroz Mehta Trust

Liberal Catholicism

St Alban Press, operated by the Universal Catholic Church in California, is the place to go to purchase works of Liberal Catholic liturgy and much more. Included among the available items are the complete works of Bishop Edward Murray Matthews, from whom the bishops of the LCAC are in succession. In addition, their incense is among the most distinctive we have used.

The new synod (liberal) wing of the LCC operates Albanus Press, which supplies some books that are not available elsewhere, but is not willing to do so to other Liberal Catholic communities. The old synod (conservative) wing of the LCC operates its own St Alban Press from Ojai, California, but this does not have a website at present. Again, it does not supply books to other Liberal Catholic communities.

A number of key works of theology and philosophy related to Liberal Catholicism are available as free e-books to read online. For this we have the kind folks at the kingsgarden.org website and Bishops Wynn Wagner and Rob Angus Jones of The Eternal Christ to thank, along with the members of their respective communities.

• LibCath Sacraments; also many works by +Leadbeater, +Wedgwood  and other Liberal Catholic writers at The Global Library
• Writings on Theosophy, including those of Mrs Besant, at The Global Library
• Online bibliography of writings by and on +Leadbeater, from the Blavatsky Study Center
• Helena P. Blavatsky Texts online, from the Blavatsky Net Foundation
• Liberal Catholic Digital Library at the kingsgarden.org site
• Collected Christian Writings from kingsgarden.org - including Theosophy, Gnosticism and other traditions
• Liberal Catholic Calendars and Liturgy, including the complete "Blue Book" of ceremonial online from kingsgarden.org
• The Theosophical Society in England

Some other Liberal Catholic clergy and communities in the UK:

• The LCCI Province of Great Britain and Ireland
• Old and New Synod LCC clergy in the UK (from the kingsgarden.org website)

Disclaimer: The LCAC has no organisational connexion with the LCCI or the LCC.

Independent Catholicism

The literature of Independent Catholicism is rich. As well as key works from mainstream Christianity that are considered by Independent Catholics as essential, which for reasons of space we will not discuss here, there are works that are specifically Independent Catholic in nature, ranging from the liturgical and historical to the discursive. 

The Apocryphile Press in the U.S.A. has reprinted many useful texts, though a word of warning is necessary regarding some of them, which are written from a Roman Catholic or Anglican perspective with the intention of disparaging the Independent Catholic movement. Fr. Kurt Messick, an Old Catholic priest, has said "The bias is understandable in many respects – again, largely political rather than theological, but designed to protect the Anglican/Episcopal institutions. Its is unfortunate that there are few histories available of a similar scope written from an Old Catholic perspective". 

Such discursive histories as those of Anson, Moss and Brandreth are wanting in this respect, thus meaning that the tremendous amount of useful information they contain has to be sifted carefully by the reader. Father Gregory Tillett of the British Orthodox Church writes,

"Such approaches are manifest in the two standard works dealing with the subject: Brandreth’s Episcopi Vagantes and the Anglican Church and Anson’s Bishops at Large. Brandreth’s book is further flawed by an enthusiastic and bitter hostility towards any Orthodox “invasion” of the West, and needs to be understood in the historical context of desperate, but ultimately unsuccessful, attempts by the Anglican authorities (in which Brandreth was involved) to gain approval from the Orthodox Churches as some sort of British equivalent to the Orthodox national churches. This necessitated the preservation of the ethnic mission model of Orthodoxy in the West, and opposition to any alternatives.

Anson’s work was flawed, if made highly entertaining, by his strong sense of irony and sarcasm, but also by his zealous commitment (perhaps more zealous because he was a convert from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism) to the view that the Roman Catholic Church solely represented the entirety of true Christianity. Those he described as seeking to promote an Orthodoxy for the West could thus simply be written off as “failed” Roman Catholics."

First steps
An accessible book for those beginning to explore Independent Catholicism for the first time is 'Who are the Independent Catholics?' by Bishop John Plummer and John R. Mabry. Bishop John Plummer's 'The Many Paths of the Independent Sacramental Movement' is an excellent survey of the diversity, practice and beliefs of many of the communities to be found in the United States today.

Theology and liturgy
Here is a further short list of useful general books, with links to purchase them, that will aid a closer understanding of Independent Catholic belief and practice, illustrating the diversity from highly traditional to liberal viewpoints represented within the movement. Fr. Kurt Messick discusses many of these books in greater detail on his page at Amazon.com.

• Archbishop Arnold Harris Mathew: 'Old Catholic Missal and Ritual'
• Bishop Elijah: 'Commons of the Divine Liturgies: Service Book of the Old Catholic Church (Old Catholic Studies)'
• Bishop Andre J. Queen: 'Old Catholic: History, Ministry, Faith & Mission'
• Bishop Andre J. Queen: 'Oremus : A Prayerbook for the Old Catholic Priest'
• Old Catholic Church of the United States: 'Credo : The Catechism Of The Old Catholic Church'

A personal favourite should also be mentioned which discusses independent ministry in a liberal context: 'For God's Sake, Don't Go to Church', by Bishop Jonathan Blake, which is available both in print and online here.

Also see The Free Priesthood.

Independent movement history and forefathers

Other works include:

• Bishop Serge Thériault: 'Msgr. René Vilatte, Community Organiser of Religion'
• Abba Seraphim: Flesh of our Brethren (deals with the connexions between the Syrian Orthodox Church and several independent Orthodox bishops)
• Bishop Karl Pruter: 'The Old Catholic Church: A History and Chronology (The Autocephalous Orthodox Churches, No. 3)'
• John M. Neale: 'A History of the So-called Jansenist Church of Holland'
• Bishop Karl Pruter: 'The Old Catholic Sourcebook (Garland Reference Library of Social Science)'
• Bishop Elijah: 'Pilgrimages: The Pilgrim's Guide to the Old Catholic Church'
• The Apostolic Succession
• Bishop Rob Angus Jones has undertaken extensive research into the Apostolic Succession. The results of this work can be read in the Apostolic Succession of Bishop Wynn Wagner, downloadable here.

Directories and databases

There are several directories on the web. The Eternal Christ by Bishops Rob Angus Jones and Wynn Wagner is one of the most user-friendly, with an excellent introduction by Bishop John Plummer. It also links to The Global Library, a thorough collection of written resources. The Database of Autocephalous Bishops maintained by the Old Roman Catholic Church in North America (Wexford Jurisdiction) contains useful information on consecrations and their dates, though it has not been updated for some years now and contains some errors. Fr. Chris Tessone has also set up a good informational site on the Independent Catholic movement as a whole here.

Podcasts

from St Mychal Judge Old Catholic Church are available here.

Blogs

+John Plummer has an interesting blog at Priestcraft.

Christian Libertarianism

Some useful articles:

• How I became a Christian Libertarian by Steven Yates (LewRockwell.com)
• Christian Libertarians by Roy Halliday (Libertarian Nation Foundation)
• Can a Christian be a Libertarian? by Tom Rawles (Liberalia.org)
• Religion, Politics and Liberty by Simon Birch (Libertarian Alliance)
• Catholic Socialism: Christianity without God, Society without Man by Antoine Clarke (Libertarian Alliance)
• The History of Freedom in Christianity by Lord Acton