Hi All, I appreciate this forum very much. I’m a PNCC member by conviction who, unfortunately, lives far from a parish. Because of our distance, we’ve been instructed to commune in the local Roman parish. I wanted to join this forum because I love and appreciate Anglicanism and hope to learn more from you all.
Welcome! I'm a cradle Roman Catholic and have been considering becoming Anglican, but the Old Catholic Church has my attention too. There's an Old Catholic church about 30 minutes from me, and I'd of course have the option of going to my local Episcopal Church when circumstances don't allow me the farther drive. I look forward to talking with you and finding out more about Old Catholicism.
I am a former RC but am being received into the Anglican church on 12 December by our Bishop. When I said to my priest that officially I wouldn't be a 'Catholic' anymore, she said, 'Yes you will, just not a Roman Catholic.' I realise that my understanding of being catholic has always been limited to Roman Catholicism (because that's how the RCC sees itself) so now I am broadening my understanding of the word catholic to its real meaning. And yes, my priest is a woman - apologies to anyone who has a problem with that.
Welcome. Does that work? Do the Roman parishes commune Old Catholics? I'm sure there are many that do, many will commune anyone a couple of times as long as you don't stand out horribly during the liturgy (like a low-church Protestant who is never on time with the stand up, sit-down rythm and doesn't kneel) but when they see your face over and over they begin to question why you haven't joined the parish.
Yes, they are happy to commune members of the Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox, Assyrian Church of the East, and Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC). At this time, they do not admit any other Old Catholic group to communion.
I very much appreciate the Continuum and have received great spiritual advice from the local ACC priest. We almost joined that parish, but ultimately Anglicanism wasn’t for me; I’m much better as a supportive friend than an actual member! I do pray that the G-3 decide to join the Union of Scranton in the near future!
Thank you for the welcome! I’d love to hear more about your journey some time; which Old Catholic group do you have close by?
I don’t know much about them, but it looks like they have some sort of partnership with the Anglican Communion. It also looks like an Episcopal bishop in PA has some sort of administrative role with the group.
Could you tell us the difference between the PNCC and groups like the APA and the ACC? Also how does the PNCC do confession? From what I read it is like us Anglicans that is mainly done in the general form.
1) Yes, I could. PNCC is very much a Roman tradition for liturgy. IMO, PNCC Mass is better than most Roman parishes in that many PNCC priests will face ad orientem and sing parts of the ordinary. The Roman Canon is also used most of the time. You’ll also find devotions, like the Rosary and Stations, take a much more prominent place than in ACC parishes, which I’ve noticed offer the Office much more readily. Personally, I appreciate the much more overtly sacrificial language in the PNCC Mass versus the 1928 BCP Mass. Caveat: I’m far from a PNCC parish, so I commune at a good, local Latin parish. 2) With confession, penance is required. General absolution and confession is offered at every Mass. The faithful are encouraged to make use of auricular confession as needed and it’s always available in parish churches. Unfortunately, not enough take advantage, much like in the Roman Church.
Yes. This is also true of the Armenians who actually don’t even practice private, auricular confession. It’s never been a part of their tradition as far as I’m aware.
Very, VERY late to this conversation, but how did you go about becoming PNCC if you live far from a parish? We've pondered the question of having our kids baptized so they could do all the "Catholic stuff" at their parochial school, but I can't agree to some dogmatic and policy aspects of the RCC.