From December 6th to December 8th 2010, the third meeting between the Old Catholic Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Old Catholic Mariavite Church took place. The meeting was held in the Old Catholic presbytery of the Czech city of Warnsdorf and divine services were held in the historic Cathedral of Christ’s Configuration.
Participants representing the Union of Utrecht were Mgr. Dr. D.J. Schoon, Bishop of Harlem (Co-chairman of the IBC), Canon Drs. W:B. Van der Velde (Netherlands), Father Georg Blase (Germany), Father Mag. Roland Solloch (Czech Republic)
The Mariavites were represented by Mgr. W. Jaworski, Bishop of Lodz (Mariavite co-chairman), Father A. Wojtowjcz.
Following fruitful discussions, the following communiqué was issued:
– Even though the Old Catholic Mariavite Church has not been a member of the Bishop’s Conference of the Union of Utrecht for a long time, the Commission established the following points:
– The Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Old Catholic Mariavite Church have in particular matters maintained an association.
– The Churches of the Union of Utrecht and the Old Catholic Mariavite Church have developed independently of each other during this period.
– For the Churches of the Union of Utrecht, this process resulted in the Statute of the International Old Catholic Bishop’s Conference (IBC) of the year 2000. In this statute, the ecclesiology of the local Church is central. Because of its particular development, the Old Catholic Mariavite Church differs on this point.
- The Commission is aware of this difficulty. It sees good possibilities of overcoming this difficulty and proposes further dialogue in this direction.
- Wietse van der Velde