Theos-Talk Archives (November 2006 Message tt00003)

One most has to be clear of that there exist several different LCC-
groups. Some of those are "friendly" whit the Adyar-society, and 
some are not. They are not always even friendly whit each other.

Carl

The following are from Wikipedia.

About the Schisms in LCC


First Schism

In 1941, there was a schism in the Liberal Catholic Church in the 
United States, surrounding a controversy involving Bishop Charles 
Hampton, who, while he was himself a theosophist, wished to keep 
adherence to theosophical tenets optional for the clergy. This was 
in keeping with what was taken to be the original intent of the 
church's founders, who, although they were theosophists, wanted the 
church to remain primarily Catholic and to be open to everyone. 
While some branches of the church place more esoteric, lifestyle and 
dietary restrictions on the clergy, the church as a whole did not, 
and still does not, require membership in the Theosophical Society.

Legal battle

The controversy surrounding Bishop Hampton led to a legal battle in 
the United States which eventually split into two different 
divsions, both of which claimed to be the Liberal Catholic Church. 
Frank W. Pigott, the church's 3rd Presiding Bishop in England, who 
held to a more theosophical ideal for the church, removed Hampton 
and then ordered the confiscation of certain church property at the 
Regionary headquarters in California and forced the resignation of 
those clergy under Hampton who refused to support his new episcopal 
replacement. At the time, the majority of Liberal Catholics in the 
United States supported Hampton and saw his removal from the office 
of Regionary and the other subsequent precedings as a breach of 
canon law and a violation of some of the laws of California under 
which the church had been incorporated in America. These clergy 
continued on their own and won the right to be called the Liberal 
Catholic Church in the U.S. (while being called the Liberal Catholic 
Church International in the rest of the world). Those who followed 
Bishop Pigott in England became known in America as The Liberal 
Catholic Church, Province of the United States of America. Both 
divisions have similar structures of government and administration.
After Frank W. Pigott retired as the Presiding Bishop, and after 
attempts at a reconcilation, some of the clergy in the LCCI returned 
to The Liberal Catholic Church, Province of the United States of 
America. Bishop Hampton died before the litigation was settled. 
While some clergy wish for more cooperation between the two 
Divisions, they still exist independently.

Second Schism?

In 2003 there was another schism in the Liberal Catholic Church 
worldwide. The main issues in this split was the ordination of women 
to the Holy Orders. Again, as in the case of the first schism, it is 
difficult to say who continues the tradition and who is the 
schismatic. What is certain is that some parishes in the Dutch, 
Belgium and Canada provinces who represented the "liberal" wing of 
the Liberal Catholic Church worldwide broke away from the "mother 
church" still using the name The Liberal Catholic Church even though 
they left the church. The "mother church" opened "The Order of Our 
Lady" for women seeking ordinations in 2000. Since both groups call 
themselves The Liberal Catholic Church, distinguishing between the 
two can be confusing. Significantly, in 2004 Regionary Bishop for 
Sweden, Sten-Bertil Jakobson declared for the right of women to be 
ordained, and he joined the newly formed movement in the Netherlands 
and Belgium. He was followed by the Liberal Catholic Congregations 
in Austria, Demnark, Germany, Cameroon, and both Congos. Several new 
congregations have been formed in England and the USA. The 
membership of this movement is estimated to exceed 50,000 members.
At their General Episcopal Synod in 2004, the Liberal Catholic 
Church International also began the ordination of women up to and 
including the Order of Bishop.
In 1982 Ernest W. Jackson had resigned from Province of Canada and 
started a group called The Liberal Catholic Church - Theosophia 
Synod. The group was always very small, but on May 15, 2005, under 
the leadership of John Schwarz III, they joined with the progressive 
Dutch, Belgium and Canada branch of the LCC. The Theosophia Synod no 
longer maintains a separate existence.

Differences of the Divisions

The General Episcopal Synod of The Liberal Catholic Church worldwide 
requires its clergy to believe in such theosophical tenets as 
reincarnation and the ascended masters. It encourages its priests 
and its bishops to have a vegetarian diet and to refrain from using 
tobacco as well as alcohol. Significantly it also continues to 
require deacons, priests and bishops to be male. In this regard, The 
Liberal Catholic Church follows the same practise as the Roman 
Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Liberal 
Catholic Church International does not as a group require any belief 
in theosophical tenets, while it continues to accept them if they 
are the personal choice of the individual. Since 2004, the Liberal 
Catholic Church International opens the ordination of women to all 
Holy Orders up to and including bishop. The Liberal Catholic Church 
(Dutch, Belgium, Britain and Canada), retains the emphasis on the 
theosophical tenets, but practices ordination of women to Holy 
Orders and requires its clergy to hold the ordination of women as a 
matter of church belief


--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, "Gary Barnhart" <gbarnhart@...> 
wrote:
>
> The Church of St. Francis ,The Liberal Catholic Church in Villa 
Park, Illinois, USA is about 5 miles or 7km from Wheaton, 
Illinois,USA where the headquarters of 
> the Theosophical Society In America {with International 
Headquarters Adyar, (Madras), India] is located. 
>        
> It is worthwhile to look at the Links on the church's web site 
http://www.liberalcatholic.com/ as they link to the Adyar website 
of  http://www.anandgholap.net  writings of Besant and Leadbeater.  
Also the link to Besant's "THE ANCIENT WRITINGS"  the first 
paragraph in the Preface says:
> This book is intended to place in the hands of the general reader 
an epitome of theosophical teachings, sufficiently plain to serve 
the elementary student, and sufficiently full to lay a sound 
foundation for further knowledge. It is hoped that it may serve as 
an introduction to the profounder works of H.P.Blavatsky, and be a 
convenient steppingstone to their study.
> 
> 
> One may also note that the church website has a link to Quest 
Books, the publishing arm of The T.S. in America w/ headquarters 
Adaro. 
> 
> Now, is there any question remaining of the intertwining of The 
Liberal Catholic Church  and The T.S. In America-Adyar ???
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>