The Apostolic Catholic Church (ACC) (

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

: ''Apostolika't Katolikang Simbahan'' or ''Simbahang Apostolika Katolika'';

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

: ''iglesia católica apostólica'') is an

Independent Catholic Independent Catholicism is an independent sacramental movement of clergy and laity who self-identify as Catholic (most often as Old Catholic or as Independent Catholic) and form "micro-churches claiming apostolic succession and valid sacrament ...

denomination established in 1992 by John Florentine L. Teruel. The ACC has its origin as a Catholic organisation founded in the 1970s in Hermosa,

Bataan Bataan (), officially the Province of Bataan ( fil, Lalawigan ng Bataan ), is a province in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Its capital is the city of Balanga while Mariveles is the largest town in the province. Occupying the entir ...

History

Origin and establishment

The Apostolic Catholic Church started as a mainstream

Catholic lay organization A Catholic lay association, also referred to as Catholic Congress, is an association of lay Catholics aiming to discuss certain political or social issues from a Catholic perspective. The Pontifical Council for the Laity is the body responsib ...

that was founded in Hermosa, Bataan in the early 1970s by Maria Virginia P. Leonzon Vda. De Teruel. In 1991 the organisation and the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

had a

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

; due to varying issues, it formally separated itself from the Roman Catholic Church, when John Florentine Teruel was consecrated as a patriarch and registered the church as a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

and

denomination. But by that time, the movement had already spread throughout the Philippines, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada and the United States of America. John Florentine Teruel was consecrated as

Patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certai ...

by the National Conference of Old Catholic and Orthodox Archbishops, on July 13, 1991, at St. Paul's German Old Catholic Church. John Florentine,

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform va ...

several men throughout the

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and

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to become

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in p ...

and

deacons A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

. Teruel died on 19 January 2021.

Present day

Today, the Apostolic Catholic Church states it teaches the doctrines of the

Holy Spirit In Judaism, the Holy Spirit is the divine force, quality, and influence of God over the Universe or over his creatures. In Nicene Christianity, the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost is the third person of the Trinity. In Islam, the Holy Spirit acts as ...

, the message of salvation in

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

, and the devotion to the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

, through prayer meetings and

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...

devotion. The church believes that by

divine revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

, the third

person A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of property, ...

of the

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called himself with the name ''Ingkong'' and manifested himself in the Philippines through Maria De Teruel. Members are referred to as ''apo'' or ''tinatakan.''

Church governance and congregations

The Apostolic Catholic Church is

autocephalous Autocephaly (; from el, αὐτοκεφαλία, meaning "property of being self-headed") is the status of a hierarchical Christian church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop. The term is primarily used in Eastern Ort ...

and headed by a patriarch. The church's two ecclesiastical centers, the National Shrine of Ina Poon Bato and the Shrine of the Queen of Patriarchs, are located in Quezon City. According to the church, one of its goal was to unite the

Western Rite Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...

or the

and the Eastern Rite or the

Orthodox Church Orthodox Church may refer to: * Eastern Orthodox Church * Oriental Orthodox Churches * Orthodox Presbyterian Church * Orthodox Presbyterian Church of New Zealand * State church of the Roman Empire * True Orthodox church See also * Orthodox (di ...

to form a single

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

Church. The Apostolic Catholic Church currently has three main

religious orders A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practi ...

and congregations: the Order of the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, the Order of the Missionaries of John Florentine, and the Congregation of St. Maria Virginia. The members of the congregations are the

archbishops In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

, priests, deacons, subdeacons,

nuns A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

, and third order members, bound by their evangelical vows of chastity, poverty, obedience, acceptance of their immediate superiors to the patriarch and to God the Holy Spirit, whom adherents address as ''Ingkong'' (an archaic Tagalog honorific often glossed as "grandfather", used to refer to any elderly man). The church currently has 32

dioceses In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associat ...

worldwide located all over the Philippines as well as in various key cities of the

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and the Pacific Islands. The Apostolic Catholic Church is estimated to have more than 5 million members and has 192 congregations, all over the world.

Juan Almario E.M. Calampiano

Patriarch Juan Almario (born as Elvis Mitra Calampiano) is the second and current Patriarch of the Apostolic Catholic Church. He was consecrated as Patriarch through ceremonies held on 31 January 2021. Before his appointment as head of the church, he served as long-time senior archbishop and chancellor to the Patriarch at the National Shrine of Ina Poon Bato in Quezon City, Philippines.

National Shrine of Ina Poon Bato

The National Shrine of Ina Poon Bato (

: ''Pambansang Dambana ng Ina Poon Bato'') is one of the main cathedrals of the Apostolic Catholic Church and serves as the pontifical seat of Patriarch Juan Almario E.M. Calampiano. The shrine also houses multiple administrative offices of the church. The shrine was preceded by a chapel built in the 1980s at the northern end of the

EDSA Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, commonly referred to by its acronym EDSA, is a limited-access circumferential highway around Manila, the capital city of the Philippines. It passes through 6 of Metro Manila's 17 local government units or cities, ...

dedicated to Our Lady of Ina Poon Bato. The chapel was demolished during the construction of the MRT-3 and its last train station, but a shrine was constructed as a replacement. Although the shrine was initially intended only as a temporary replacement, it became the national shrine and headquarters of the Apostolic Catholic Church in the subsequent years. The canonization of Patriarch John Florentine occurred at the shrine on 1 August 2021.

Doctrines and beliefs

Holy Sealing

The Apostolic Catholic Church treats the Sacrament of Holy Sealing as the Baptism of Fire and Spirit. All members of the church undergoes this sealing in order for them to be recognized as a full-fledged member.

Ecumenical relations

The ACC is part of the

National Council of Churches in the Philippines The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP; tl, Sangguniáng Pambansâ ng mga Simbahan sa Pilipinas) is a fellowship of ten Protestant and non Roman Catholic Churches in the Philippines denominations, and ten service-oriented organ ...

and the Canadian Council of Churches.

References

External links

Official websites

Website of the Apostolic Catholic ChurchWebsite of the Apostolic Catholic Church in CanadaACC Ingkong
{{Christianity in the Philippines Independent Catholic denominations Christian denominations in Asia Christian denominations founded in the Philippines Christian organizations established in 1992 1992 establishments in the Philippines