THE PRINCIPLES OF CATHOLICITY IN THE CHRISTIAN UNITED CHURCH
1. First and foremost, we are a people for whom the celebration of Holy Eucharist is the center of our community life of worship and the primary reason we gather weekly to express our communion in life of the Trinity. This is the gift that Christ gives to the Church. It belongs to the church, which is why we never celebrate the Eucharist without the presence of the laity.
2. Baptism is our entry into Eucharist, the base from which we experience our call to ministry whether clergy and laity and gives each of us with different roles to share in the leadership of the Church. One is always baptized into the Body of Christ, not to your own spiritual experience.
3. Scripture and Tradition form an inseparable bond that transmits the faith of the apostles.
4. We believe that Baptism and Eucharist are the principal sacraments because they were instituted directly by Christ and the other “ five flows from and locate their power in the principal two sacraments.” Robert V. Caruso (The Old Catholic Church.)
5. We accept that the Nicene and Apostle’s Creed are a testament of our faith as they have been accepted as the statement of faith for Christian Church ecumenically and handed down from the early church.
6. The Local Universal Church is fully expressed when the Bishop is gathered with Clergy and Laity in synodal gathering( conference) to worship and to discern our calling and make decisions regarding our common life in the Church. The Church is the place where the “Equality before God of all people” is recognized
7. We recognized a historic four -fold ministry and recognized that the ordained ministry is expressed by the ministry of Bishop, Elder/Presbyter/Priest, Deacon and the fourth is expressed in the ministry of the laity.
8. The Gift of Apostolic Succession belongs to the whole church, not one individual. It has a local expression when the clergy and laity electing the Bishop of the local church and its universal expression is demonstrated when the election is confirmed from a college of bishops by consecrating the person selected by the local church. It is further guaranteed by our living the teachings of the apostles in the life of our church.
9. In church with a Eucharistic Ecclesiology, the church is fully recognized when it gathers in assembly to worship at the Altar with the Bishop, Presbyters, Deacons and Laity celebrating our life in Christ together. It is further recognized when we gather in (Synod) Conference as we share authority for the mission and ministry of the church. Each ministry has their own unique role in expressing that authority in the life of the Church.
