T
tomhuth
Guest
I attended a funeral service at a cemetery chapel in Cincinnati yesterday and had an experience I’m curious about - hoping some of you will have thoughts and insights on whether I’m putting this puzzle together properly.
The deceased was a lapsed Catholic (one of the seven brothers of my sister’s husband). When I pulled in I noticed what I thought was a Franciscan priest or brother very busy chatting up the other visitors outside. I asked my sister who was going to preside at the service and she said a priest from the church where her husband’s family attended when the brothers were all little. I said, is it the Franciscan I saw outside? She said no, that guy is “Fr. Chuck” from some church that one of her other brothers-in-law (Marty) attends. Marty wanted “Fr. Chuck” to do the service, but some others in the family had a conniption so they passed on the idea. Still, “Fr. Chuck” showed up anyway.
She said, “Fr. Chuck” seems very nice but we can’t quite figure him out. He says he’s both Orthodox and Catholic, and that he’s a bishop. I said, hmm, is he trying to say he’s Byzantine rite? But he looks like a Franciscan. And a “bishop”? That makes no sense.
She said, I don’t know, why don’t you go ask him? So that’s exactly what I did. And it took me less than thirty seconds to realize I was dealing with a live one.
I said, hi Father, I’m Tom and I’m curious about this Orthodox *and *Catholic thing. Without missing a beat he says, well, my church is called the OhioOrthodoxCatholic Church and is a branch of the Catholic church founded about a hundred years ago. We have apostolic succession from both Catholic and Orthodox bishops. We don’t recognize the authority of the Pope and we don’t force a lot of rules and regulations on people. We have the seven sacraments, our Eucharist is open to all regardless of your background and Confession is optional. We don’t judge anyone and we welcome everyone into our church just where they are. Celibacy is optional for our priests and we ordain women. We are happy to help divorced Catholics remarry without the rigamarole of annulment.
He said it all pretty much just like that as though it’s a practiced sales pitch, which I realized later it probably is. I didn’t think it would be good form to challenge him on any of this in the middle of a funeral calling with the service about to begin, so I said, nice to meet you and went to my seat. But I did grab my sister’s elbow and say, wow, this guy is way out there, it’s a darn good thing somebody had enough sense to put the kibosh on him doing this funeral service for a roomful of mostly Catholics. And Marty cannot possibly understand what he’s gotten into.
Later on, a little googling turned up “Fr. Chuck’s” website - wwwohiooccorg - and apparently, he is not just a “bishop”, he’s an “archbishop”!! Of course, I’m not sure he was quite straight up with me about his “church” being a hundred years old - it seems to me it’s maybe ten years old or less, judging by the fact that his clergy page says that the ten names on this list are the entirety of the clergy in his church in the whole nation, yet he also appears on the list of “orthodox catholic clergy” for this bunch in Austin Texas that was only founded in the 1980’s. As best I can tell, he started his teeny little micro-“church” (there are 140 members in the whole country) as an offshoot of a remote offshoot of one of the Old Catholic Church offshoots.
I’m not sure where the Franciscan connection comes from, unless maybe he actually was one for a period of his life. But when he’s not archbishoping, apparently he’s a computer programmer according to this article from when he “ordained” a female “archmandrite” bishop (whatever that is - some eastern Orthodox reference apparently) last December. Oh, and he reviews computer games too.
I’ll be charitable and assume he is sincere. But I imagine his little spiel is calculated to appeal to under-catechized disaffected Catholics (like Marty) who wish they could find a “Catholic” church that’s a little easier on the conscience.
So what do you think - have I got this figured out?
The deceased was a lapsed Catholic (one of the seven brothers of my sister’s husband). When I pulled in I noticed what I thought was a Franciscan priest or brother very busy chatting up the other visitors outside. I asked my sister who was going to preside at the service and she said a priest from the church where her husband’s family attended when the brothers were all little. I said, is it the Franciscan I saw outside? She said no, that guy is “Fr. Chuck” from some church that one of her other brothers-in-law (Marty) attends. Marty wanted “Fr. Chuck” to do the service, but some others in the family had a conniption so they passed on the idea. Still, “Fr. Chuck” showed up anyway.
She said, “Fr. Chuck” seems very nice but we can’t quite figure him out. He says he’s both Orthodox and Catholic, and that he’s a bishop. I said, hmm, is he trying to say he’s Byzantine rite? But he looks like a Franciscan. And a “bishop”? That makes no sense.
She said, I don’t know, why don’t you go ask him? So that’s exactly what I did. And it took me less than thirty seconds to realize I was dealing with a live one.
I said, hi Father, I’m Tom and I’m curious about this Orthodox *and *Catholic thing. Without missing a beat he says, well, my church is called the OhioOrthodoxCatholic Church and is a branch of the Catholic church founded about a hundred years ago. We have apostolic succession from both Catholic and Orthodox bishops. We don’t recognize the authority of the Pope and we don’t force a lot of rules and regulations on people. We have the seven sacraments, our Eucharist is open to all regardless of your background and Confession is optional. We don’t judge anyone and we welcome everyone into our church just where they are. Celibacy is optional for our priests and we ordain women. We are happy to help divorced Catholics remarry without the rigamarole of annulment.
He said it all pretty much just like that as though it’s a practiced sales pitch, which I realized later it probably is. I didn’t think it would be good form to challenge him on any of this in the middle of a funeral calling with the service about to begin, so I said, nice to meet you and went to my seat. But I did grab my sister’s elbow and say, wow, this guy is way out there, it’s a darn good thing somebody had enough sense to put the kibosh on him doing this funeral service for a roomful of mostly Catholics. And Marty cannot possibly understand what he’s gotten into.
Later on, a little googling turned up “Fr. Chuck’s” website - wwwohiooccorg - and apparently, he is not just a “bishop”, he’s an “archbishop”!! Of course, I’m not sure he was quite straight up with me about his “church” being a hundred years old - it seems to me it’s maybe ten years old or less, judging by the fact that his clergy page says that the ten names on this list are the entirety of the clergy in his church in the whole nation, yet he also appears on the list of “orthodox catholic clergy” for this bunch in Austin Texas that was only founded in the 1980’s. As best I can tell, he started his teeny little micro-“church” (there are 140 members in the whole country) as an offshoot of a remote offshoot of one of the Old Catholic Church offshoots.
I’m not sure where the Franciscan connection comes from, unless maybe he actually was one for a period of his life. But when he’s not archbishoping, apparently he’s a computer programmer according to this article from when he “ordained” a female “archmandrite” bishop (whatever that is - some eastern Orthodox reference apparently) last December. Oh, and he reviews computer games too.
I’ll be charitable and assume he is sincere. But I imagine his little spiel is calculated to appeal to under-catechized disaffected Catholics (like Marty) who wish they could find a “Catholic” church that’s a little easier on the conscience.
So what do you think - have I got this figured out?
