What is the Ecumenical Catholic Communion (ECC)?
The ECC is a community of parish communities in the Old Catholic tradition. Old Catholics separated from Rome after the First Vatican Council of 1870. The issue was the new (at that time) pronouncements of that council about papal infallibility and universal papal jurisdiction. Since these bishops did not agree with these new pronouncements, they were dubbed “Old Catholics.” (Old Catholics in Europe since that time have become quite progressive, e.g., pioneering in Ecumenical relations and ordaining women priests. So they are not “old” in a tradition-bound sense.) For more information on the current Old Catholic Church, known officially as the Union of Utrecht, see http://www.utrechter-union.org/english/start.htm . The ECC formed around a bishop in the Old Catholic tradition, Bishop Peter Hickman. (See the separate History information.) The ECC is governed in the Old Catholic way, i.e., by a bi-annual synod or congress, where decisions are worked out by representatives of all the bapti
