The Canonical Old Roman Catholic Church is a small

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

founded in the 1960s. It was formed in reaction to some of the changes instituted by 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 ...

as a result of the

Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...

.{{cite book , last= Melton, first=J. Gordon , author-link=J. Gordon Melton , title=The Encyclopedia of American Religions , year=1987 , edition= 2nd, publisher=Gale Research Company , location=Detroit , isbn=0-8103-2133-5

Description

In 1966, Anthony Girandola, a Roman Catholic

priest 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 deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

, announced that he was married, had been married for some time, and intended to remain both a married man and a Roman Catholic priest. After making his statement regarding his lack of adherence to the

clerical celibacy Clerical celibacy is the requirement in certain religions that some or all members of the clergy be unmarried. Clerical celibacy also requires abstention from deliberately indulging in sexual thoughts and behavior outside of marriage, because the ...

rule of the Roman Catholic Church, he found that he could not find a Roman Catholic church to function in. He then started to organize his own church in

Saint Petersburg, Florida St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 258,308, making it the fifth-most populous city in Florida and the second-largest city in the Tampa Bay Area, after Tampa, Florida, T ...

. Girandola became a celebrity, and found that the demands on his time as such increased, limiting the amount of pastoral work he could perform. He thus ordained one of his church members, John J. Humphreys, as a priest to help deal with his pastoral duties. Humphreys left the new church shortly thereafter, forming Our Lady of Good Hope Old Roman Catholic Church under the jurisdiction of Archbishop Richard Arthur Marchenna of the Old Roman Catholic Church. Humphreys served as that group's

vicar general A vicar general (previously, archdeacon) is the principal deputy of the bishop of a diocese for the exercise of administrative authority and possesses the title of local ordinary. As vicar of the bishop, the vicar general exercises the bishop's ...

for several years, until Marchenna ordained Robert Clement as a bishop of the

Eucharistic Catholic Church The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was institu ...

, a church perceived as having a pro-homosexual orientation. Marchenna was then excommunicated by

Gerard George Shelley George Frankham Shell known as George Gerard Shelley (Sidcup, Kent 1891 – 24 August 1980) was a British linguist, author and translator who travelled in Imperial Russia before and during the Russian Revolution. He became a priest and lived i ...

, who, as primate of the Old Catholic Church in England and America, saw himself as Marchenna's superior. Father Humphreys was then himself consecrated as a bishop by Shelley, and formed the Historical and Canonical Old Roman Catholic Church to be Shelley's North American jurisdiction. After Shelley's death in 1980, Michael Farrell, whom Humphrey's had made a bishop in 1981, succeeded Shelley, only to resign himself shortly thereafter, to be replaced by

Emile Rodriguez y Fairfield Emil or Emile may refer to: Literature *'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau * ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life *'' Emil and the Detecti ...

, the pastor of a small church in

East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...

who had been ordained by the

Mexican National Catholic Church The Mexican Catholic Apostolic Church ( es, Iglesia Católica Apostólica Mexicana (ICAM)) is an Independent Catholic denomination founded in 1925, by separating from the Catholic Church. It was created to bolster revolution with the support of ...

. Fairfield himself left the position in 1983. He was one of three bishops of the Mexican National Catholic Church line and left to become the leader of that church. The following year, in 1984, Humphreys himself was elected primate of the church.

References

External links

Official website
Old Catholicism in the United States Christian organizations established in 1966 Old Catholic denominations Christian denominations established in the 20th century 1966 establishments in the United States