Intercommunion | CelticChurchSite

Intercommunion with the Celtic Christian Church

Intercommunion is based upon a mutual acknowledgement of valid apostolic orders and sacraments, as well as a common belief in the first seven ecumenical councils and the Nicene Creed.

Churches and religious orders who have concordats of intercommunion with the Celtic Christian Church make their worship services available to one another's members as needed. Clergy from each Church may celebrate the sacraments together and for either congregation as needed or desired. Particular rites are honored and may be celebrated for one another as well.

The following are "formal" agreements. While these have been entered into to allow our members a wider range of choice for worship and fellowship, they are not exclusive. We acknowledge the sacramental life of Independent Catholic and Old Catholic communities in union with bishops in valid apostolic succession around the world, and we recognize our unity in Faith.

Concordat of Intercommunion

We, [Name of Official Representative and the Church], and Bishop Cait Finnegan, Presiding Bishop of the Celtic Christian Church, do hereby enter into a Concordat of Intercommunion between our two faith communities, each a part of the Mystical Body of Christ.

We share a common Faith in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church founded by Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and a common sacramental system consistent with traditional Catholic belief, recognizing particularly the preeminence of the Eucharistic Liturgy (Mass) as the core and center of Catholic life.

We accept the validity of each other’s Apostolic Succession and Sacramental Orders, and we recognize at the same time the diversity of our separate jurisdictional disciplines and devotional practices.

Therefore we do hereby sanction. approve and encourage joint participation of our church memberships at the Eucharistic table, and we foster and encourage joint celebration of the Eucharist by those in Holy Orders, preserving the discretion of the local authority.

Further, we hereby affirm that each Church will work with the other in a Christ-centered relationship, characterized by mutual love, collaboration in ministry, prudence and the observance of the highest ethical and moral standards.

And we affirm that each Church will honor unity with diversity and the primacy of conscience, always based on respectful and prayerful dialogue.

Given this [date of signing]