St. Francis and St. Taricicus Old Catholic Church

Website: http://www.oldcatholic.com/francis.html

Church Review
Scriptural View: 2/5
Beliefs: 2/5
Community: 2/5
Preaching: Liturgical
Worship: None
Service Times: 4pm

Website Review
Site Usability: 3/5
Site Design: 1/5
Site Content: 4/5

Review: I must confess, I am not a Catholic and do not agree with much of their doctrine. For the Catholic Church to believe their traditions (the Magisterium, Papal Infalability) can be equal to God’s Word is the crux of the problem. There are many things I cannot see in the Bible that are held by the Catholic Church. These include Transubstantiation, Purgatory, Indulgences, Papal Infallibility, the Immaculate Conception of Mary, Venial and Mortal Sins, and a host of others. The Protestant Church cites the Bible alone as the source of doctrinal knowledge. The Catholic church, on the other hand, cites the Bible and Tradition. Consider the following:

“. . .the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is entrusted, ‘does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honored with equal sentiments of devotion and reverence’.” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 82.)

Apparently, it is Tradition that is the source of doctrines which are clearly not taught in the Bible but which the Catholic Church still says are implicit within its text and elucidated through Apostolic Tradition. The issue is whether or not these teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are credible. For more information on the Roman Catholic Church (as opposed to the Old Catholic Church) please visit Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry.

St. Francis and St. Taricicus as an Old Catholic Church does dispel some of the dogma of the Roman Catholic Church. The Old Catholic Church separated from the Roman Catholic Church over religious politics after the Reformation.

I spoke to Father Kwasek about issues like Papal Infallibility and the Immaculate Conception. These are issues that differentiate the Old Catholic Church from the Roman Catholic Church. Yet when I spoke to Father Kwasek he did not pick a side, saying, “Even with these differences, they can easily be resolved and bring both Churches into communion with each other. I can accept (the Papal Infallibility) because the Roman, Protestant and Orthodox theologians have been going back and forth on this issue for 2,000 years with no clear outcome. In the meantime, citing Mark Twain, ‘I can’t prove nor disprove these claims’, so I’ll go along with them just in case. As for Mary, who would want to upset a Jewish mother in heaven in the first place? There was a time when only Catholics believed in the Immaculate Conception. Now it seems today that Americans believe they are all immaculately conceived, considering that people seem to take less and less responsibility for their failings and blame them on their upbringing and grade B milk they drank.”

I asked Father Kwasek what happens to people after they die. He answered, “In Hebrews it tells us, ‘It is appointed a person once to die, and after this comes judgment’. There are three places people go after they die. The first is heaven, with God, for those who believe in Jesus. It is because Jesus is God and through his redemption we have an antidote (to sin). The second place people go is purgatory. When people are going through the judgment for their sin after death, there will be a temporary period of time of sorrow. This period may be short or it may be thousands of years. This is a period of purging. Lastly, God sends no one to hell. God gives everyone 70 years to figure out that He loves them and He is God. Hell is for those who decide to rebel and reject God.”

For many of my friends that were Catholic, religion became nothing more than traditions. I attended Catholic school for many years growing up, and most of my friends would say they are Catholic not Christian. After a 10-year High School reunion I asked my friend, “Do you believe Jesus was literally God?” He replied that Christ lived the example life for us but was not God. This was a typical belief. In all fairness, I have met many wonderful Catholics who are evangelical Christians. In my neighborhood I am friends with a Catholic who also leads a Young Life. His desire is to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to a lost world.

From my conversation with Father Kwasek it appeared he wanted to gather those who are lost to Jesus Christ. “There are two groups of people who attend Old Catholic Churches. The first are those who are not happy with the Roman Catholic Church and the second group of people were not attending any church previously,” Father Jerome Kwasek commented.

St. Francis and St. Taricicus is a good church for Catholic followers, but because of the many disagreements I have with the Catholic Church, I cannot recommend this for Evangelical Protestants.