Old Catholic Church is Growing!

Netherlands
In the past three months, the Old Catholic Church in the Netherlands (OKKN) bought two church buildings in Eindhoven (in February) and Groningen (last Thursday). Each parish of the diocese now has its own church building.

Groningen and Eindhoven purchased former Roman Catholic and Apostolic Catholic churches. The Eindhoven community are now in a former Roman Catholic building: St. Paul's, build in 1995. In Groningen, the building was purchased from the Catholic Apostolic Church.


The Catholic Apostolic Church used the building for some time and looked forward to a more suitable destination. The sale to a sister church in the faith was preferable and it was therefore agreed to a very reasonable price. The coming months will now be spent on renovating the upstairs rooms to make it ready for occupancy by the family of the pastoral workers.The parish now has a home in the city.

The Groningen parish has about 150 members in Eindhoven there are slightly more Old Catholics. The parishes are so small, but in the last few years they have seen growth. Still, the management and maintenance of their own church building for small parishes is difficult and time consuming. The national church would therefore represent an overall property management setup. It must provide relief for small parishes, particularly those where there is a  lack of time and knowledge. The national administration is not mandatory.

The OKKN has a total of 27  parishes in the process of being established. These parishes do not have their own church building. The denomination has about 5500 members in the Netherlands.

Germany
Augsburg 
The 117 year old Old Catholic Community of Augsburg broke ground for their new church building on March 25th 2011. Germany also created a norther Deanery this year because of their expansion.

United States
New Jersey
The parish council of the Community of St. John the Baptist, a parish whose doors were closed by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Trenton, has requested to join the American National Catholic Church, an independent Catholic denomination in America. 

As the parish embraces a new identity, they have adopted a new name: Our Lady of Guadalupe American National Catholic Church. Since their building was taken by the Diocese of Trenton, they have been gathering in local halls. The hundreds of members of the community are very excited over the donation of land that they are working to acquire and which will allow them to soon begin construction of a new church building. OLG will be the first brick and mortar church constructed from the ground up in the American National Catholic Church. 


This parish community is vibrant, full of energy and is growing. We ask your prayers for the community of Our Lady of Guadalupe as well as for their priest. May the good works we see here continue to inspire others who feel called by God to embrace this new and exciting journey within this branch of Christ's Church!

Rhode Island
The Church of the Holy Paraclete in Providence Rhode Island is about to open it's doors as it finishes its restoration of a 101 year old building. This Mission Style Church has a chapel, kitchen, gathering space, and an outreach center. Presently, Fr. Jakob Lazarus and Fr. John Reardon lead the parish as an independent parish without a bishop or denomination, but with the hope of greater Catholic unity.