Old Catholic Church of America Feast Day: a lesson to be learned

Bishop Francis Xavier Resch

Bishop Carfora consecrated Francis Resch as bishop on December 8, 1940 who eventually became the archbishop of the Old Catholic Church of America (not a member or in communion with the Union of Utrecht).

Francis Resch qualified for the priesthood under Bishop Paul Francis Cope who ordained him March 5, 1939. Bishop Cope was consecrated by Archbishop James Bartholomew Banks of London who came specifically for that purpose to America and thus the Old Catholic Church of America was officially launched in May 1925. Bishop Banks was consecrated in 1922 by Bishop Willoughby and Willoughby in 1914 by Bishop Arnold Harris Mathew. 

As an Old Catholic priest, Father Resch was anxious to promote the growth and impact of the Church. Bishop Cope was, in the new priest's opinion, too conservative and deliberate, so yielding to the influences brought to bear upon him by Carforian clergy, withdrew from Cope's jurisdiction to that of Bishop Carfora. He describes this in a letter dated August 19, 1942 to Father Charles Bauer of Chicago:

"The growth of the church was very slow because of the Archbishop's great care and solicitude against taking in men who were not worthy of the trust. He hesitated taking men into the church until I came along . . . but because his hesitancy to expand and reach out, I withdrew and went over to the North American Old Roman Catholic Church. I was consecrated a bishop in that church by Carfora. I soon learned that I had made a great mistake in joining that church. I went back to Archbishop Cope, to bask again in the sunshine of a saintly man, a man of whom anyone could be proud, After coming back, he told me that he had intended to consecrate me to the bishopric and prevailed upon me to accept the office of auxiliary bishop, which I did. The Archbishop is very conscientious, and he has kept the church free from all evil influences."

Accepting Carfora's consecration of Resch as valid, Cope appointed Resch his auxiliary on June 15, 1941. He was insistent that the church distinguish itself as legitimately and theologically Old Catholic: 

"There are at the present time so many of the independent churches that it is hard to distinguish one from the other. There is only one way to know the Old Catholic Church of America and to distinguish it from the others, and that is by its purity of purpose, it honesty and its upright Christian polity." 

And again 

"We want to guard against Carforism. Our Church is clean and pure. Every man is a gentleman. Every man is a priest, a shepherd of souls. The Church is young and small but it is holy and without spot. The size of the church is less important than the nature and kind of clergy it possesses. We teach and believe all that ancient and historic Catholic Christendom teaches."

The Carforism which Bishop Cope wrote about was Carfora's policy of ordaining and consecrating clergy without formation, seminary, or laity who are calling for the ordination.  Fr. Henry Carfora had originally come from Italy as a Roman priest to work with the poor in America but found his work hampered by undue restrictions from his superiors and so left the Roman communion. He established several parishes in the United States and, being a volatile man, often embroiled himself in quarrels and squabbles concerning jurisdiction and church polity with his clergy. It seems that instead of taking the time and patience to work out difficulties, he would discover men with whom he thought he could work better and so would ordain or consecrate them bishops to supply clergy to his latest endeavors, often ignoring earlier efforts and the men he had ordained. Bishop Carfora was never averse to doing publicly that which tact would require be done privately and as a result the whole world would be a bemused spectator. This gave rise to many speculations about his work and the Old Catholic Church here in the United States which no doubt contributed to many of the problems encountered by Old Catholicism in its efforts to establish itself in the new country.

Today in America, there are still too many bishops following the spirit of Carfora versus the vision and practices of Bishops Cope and Resch. May all good souls find the courage to associate themselves with apostolic faiths which seek holiness and truth versus numbers and self promotion.