We are rooted Catholics!

Holy Spirit Ecumenical Catholic Church was founded in June 2003 by a group of concerned Catholics.  They discerned that there was a great need for an expression of authentic Catholic spirituality and community life, strengthened by commitment to justice, compassion and full-inclusion of all people.  They sought to provide a necessary alternative for the many people who are being excluded from the life and ministry of the Church.

Our parish community is “Old Catholic” because through our Ecumenical Catholic Communion we share in the apostolic succession from the historic Old Catholic Church.  The Old Catholic Church is an ecclesial body that descends from the Roman Catholic Communion.  Becoming independent of the Roman Communion over conflicts with ever-expanding papal authority, the Old Catholic Church of Utrecht, Netherlands, maintains an authentic Catholic identity and apostolic succession since the early eighteenth century.  When the dogma of papal infallibility was proclaimed in 1870, Old Catholic Churches were formed in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland.  These Catholic Churches opposed what they regarded as an inauthentic and “new” Catholic dogma.  Deriving their apostolic succession from the Catholic Church in the Netherlands, Old Catholic Churches continue to this day.

Since that time, other independent Catholic Churches have come into being; many of whom derive their apostolic succession from the Old Catholic Church.  The Ecumenical Catholic Communion, to which our parish community belongs, not only shares in genuine apostolic succession through the Old Catholic Church, but also shares with that body a commitment to the foundational document known as the Declaration of Utrecht.

We are concerned Catholics!

We pray for the reform and renewal of the universal Church.  We support such necessary and just changes as:

• Giving priests the freedom to embrace intimate relationships through marriage and holy union and the opportunity to establish families of their own
• Giving women the opportunity to serve God’s people as ordained deacons, priests and bishops
• Inviting the divorced and remarried back to the sacraments and full life of the Church without subjecting them to ecclesiastical annulments
• Entrusting couples with the responsibility of following their own consciences in regard to the use of artificial contraception
• Including all the baptized, whether Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox, in the celebration of the sacraments
• Recognizing the dignity and beauty of all human beings regardless of their race, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation, or economic status
• Striving for Gospel justice and compassion within the Church as well as throughout the world

We welcome you among us!