American Catholic Church (1915)

{{Further|American Catholic Church (1894)|topic=the 1894 – {{circa|1895}} independent confederation of churches, composed of congregations which individually separated from the Catholic Church, founded by Anton Francis Kolaszewski and Alfons Mieczyslaw Chrostowski in the United States}}

Joseph René Vilatte founded his independent Christian denomination, American Catholic Church (ACC), soon after he was consecrated. According to The New York Times, Edward Randall Knowles was Vilatte's first ordination. The 1892 article called the two, Vilatte and Knowles, the hierarchy of the {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}}.{{cite news|location=New York|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|date=1892-09-11|title=The Old Catholic Church|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/09/11/104099514.pdf|access-date=2013-04-24}} That {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} had a schism when Knowles desired to be consecrated a bishop. Vilatte wrote to The New York Times, that he had "been pestered with applications from clergymen of other churches for episcopal consecration." He says he "would render [him]self ridiculous," wrote Vilatte, "were I to proceed to consecrate Bishops in a hurry." Vilatte rejected Knowles' request and Knowles resigned. Vilatte explained that three canonical conditions were not met:

• Vilatte was alone, "and the law of the Church is that there should be at least three Bishops to consecrate another"
• Knowles was married, "whereas in all the Eastern churches a Bishop must be a monk"
• Knowles was too young, he "has not attained the canonical age"

Vilatte complained against attempts to force him "to act against" his "better judgment" and declared: "I am, and intend to remain, faithful to the laws of our orthodox Church."{{cite news|location=New York|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|date=1892-10-01|title=The Old Catholic Church|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1892/10/01/104147799.pdf|access-date=2013-04-24}}

Vilatte was mocked, in The Sacred Heart Review, as being the "sole proprietor and General Manager of the new Old Catholic Church in America" confronted by a schism. While the "great 'neatness and despatch{{'"}} of Knowles' ordination was ridiculed and his judgment, for "resigning from his church because he can't be a bishop all at once", was questioned. "Knowles may ask, [what] is the use of having a [...] church of your own if you are going to let the rules stand in your way?".{{cite news |location=Boston, MA |newspaper=The Sacred Heart Review |issn=0271-7271 |date=1892-10-08 |title=Editorial Notes |page=8 |url=http://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/bostonsh?a=d&d=BOSTONSH18921008-01.2.29# |access-date=2013-05-15 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6Ge19flPR?url=http://newspapers.bc.edu/cgi-bin/imageserver/imageserver.pl?oid=BOSTONSH18921008-01&key=&getpdf=true |archive-date=2013-05-15 |url-status=live }}

Knowles was a Baptist convert to the {{abbr|RCC|Roman Catholic Church}}, he graduated from Princeton University, studied Christian Science for a time, interviewed Joseph Leycester Lyne, corresponded with Antonio Francisco Xavier Alvarez, Pedro Manoel Lisboa Pinto, Eduard Herzog and others. He was prepared to sail to Europe to consult with Hyacinthe Loyson, Herzog, and the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (OKKN) {{abbr|OKKN|Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland)}} about the feasibility or desirability of starting missions in America. He abandoned his trip and waited for Vilatte. They met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Knowles was ordained in West Sutton, Massachusetts.

On June 20, 1893, The New York Times published that Knowles had received a letter from Loyson. "The letter shows that the Old Catholic Episcopate in Europe have sided with [...] Knowles as against [...] Vilatte, and have entirely repudiated him."{{cite news|location=New York|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|date=1893-06-20|title=Has Not Returned to the Roman Church|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1893/06/20/109701188.pdf|access-date=2013-04-12}}

The name "American Catholic Church" was also used, from 1894, by a group of Polish parishes, at first associated with Vilatte, which were organized at Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Cleveland, Ohio.{{cite journal|location=Chicago, IL|publisher=University of Illinois Press|journal=Polish American Studies|issn=0032-2806|year=1998|volume=55|issue=2|last1=Kaczynski|first1=Charles R|title={{'}}What Mean Ye By These Stones?{{'}} Cleveland's Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish and the Construction of a Polish American Rhetoric|jstor=20148543|pages=25–54}}{{rp|page=51}}

On February 11, 1895, The New York Times reported that Knowles was a guest at Holland House, London and was "a priest of the Old Catholic or Syrian Church" who will in Egypt "study the Coptic and Greek systems". It further reported that, "There is a feeling among the Old Catholics and others who sympathize with them that the present administration of the Church is not vigorous or progressive enough. Hardly any advance has been made since the consecration of Archbishop Vilatte [...] Negotiations were carried on with disaffected Polish Catholics [...] but they failed [...] through a lack of discretion and tact." It went on to report that the "facts will be laid before the Patriarch by Knowles" and that reforms will be suggested.{{cite news|location=New York|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|date=1895-02-11|title=Going to see the Patriarch|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1895/02/11/102507267.pdf|access-date=2013-04-12}} "In point of fact", Orzell wrote, "most Polish dissidents proved more willing to make use of Vilatte's episcopal services at blessings and confirmations than to accept his leadership and embrace his curious blend of Eastern and Western Christian theology."{{cite journal|location=Champaign, IL|publisher=University of Illinois Press|journal=Polish American Studies|issn=0032-2806|volume=40|issue=2|date=Autumn 1983|last=Orzell|first=Laurence J|title=Curious Allies: Bishop Antoni Kozlowski and the Episcopalians|pages=36–58|jstor=20148132}}{{rp|page=42}} Margrander wrote that Poles did not accept Vilatte's doctrinal reforms so he withdrew his approval of their movement; he also wrote that Vilatte was convinced that their motive was a "deliberate defiance of the canonical authority" of their bishops, rather than reform, so he "advised them either to accept fully and freely the Old Catholic principles, or to return to the Roman Church."{{Schaff-Herzog|last=Margrander|first=Ernest C|title=Vilatte, Joseph René (Archbishop Mar Timotheus)|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc12/Page_187.html|accessdate=2012-11-08|volume=12|pages=187–189}}{{rp|page=188}}

Statistics about Vilatte's Old Catholic Church (OCC) sect showed its tiny size. Henry Carroll's The Religious Forces of the United States Enumerated, Classified, and Described, summarized United States census data from 1890 to 1910. It showed the {{abbr|OCC|Old Catholic Church (Vilatte)}} had at most three minister, five edifices and 700 members;{{cite book|location=New York|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|last=Carroll|first=Henry K|title=The religious forces of the United States enumerated, classified, and described: returns for 1900 and 1910 compared with the government census of 1890: condition and characteristics of Christianity in the United States|year=1912|hdl=2027/nyp.33433068188105?urlappend=%3Bseq=78|orig-year=first ©1893|lccn=12025100|edition=Rev. to 1910|at=lxxiv, pp82, 428–429, 468|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433068188105?urlappend=%3Bseq=78|access-date=2013-08-14}}{{rp|pages=82, 428–429, 468}}{{cite book|location=New York|publisher=Christian Literature|series=The American Church History Series|volume=1|last=Carroll|first=Henry K|title=The religious forces of the United States, enumerated, classified, and described on the basis of the government census of 1890; with an introduction on the condition and character of American Christianity|lccn=04004646|edition=Rev. 1 January 1896|pages=82, 382–383, 396, 444–445|year=c. 1896|hdl=2027/uva.x002419105?urlappend=%3Bseq=156|orig-year=first ©1893|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/uva.x002419105?urlappend=%3Bseq=156|access-date=2013-04-22}}{{rp|pages=382–383}} Moreover, the 1910 United States census data showed that prior to 1910, the {{abbr|OCC|Old Catholic Church (Vilatte)}} disintegrated and ceased to exist;{{rp|pages=428–429, 468}} Carroll wrote that "a number of denominations, all quite small, have disappeared, including [...] the Old Catholic Church, and other insignificant bodies."{{rp|at=lxxiv}} Carroll's summaries did not list a sect named "American Catholic Church".

File:American Catholic Church.jpg

{{citation needed span|text=In 1910, Vilatte founded the American Catholic Church in Buffalo. The council of oversight included Vilatte, Kaminski, and Miraglia who agreed:|date=May 2013}}

• a council of churches open to all persons having their residence in this country, whatever may be their nationality;
• united in the fidelity to the true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the sole Head of the Universal Church and our High Priest;
• imbued with the American Spirit of democracy and liberty;
• a branch or section of the true (Christian) Catholic Church of God, with its own Synod and Conference of Bishops.

Partially self-reported statistics about Vilatte's denominations were included in the United States Census Bureau's Religious Bodies, 1916 edition.{{cite encyclopedia|location=Washington, DC|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|author=United States. Bureau of the Census|title=Religious bodies: 1916|author-link=United States Census Bureau|encyclopedia=Religious bodies|edition=1916|year=1919|volume=2|lccn=20026045|oclc=644719921|pages=10, 533–535, 546–548|hdl=2027/uiug.30112104110793}}{{rp|page=10}} They show two denominations associated with Vilatte were grouped under the name "Old Catholic Churches".{{rp|page=534}} The report also compiled statistics about similar types of denominations, though not ecclesiastically connected, which the report identified as the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) and the Lithuanian National Catholic Church (LNCC).{{rp|pages=347, 534, 546}}{{efn|name=PNCCnames|The "Polish National Catholic Church" is also known as the "Polish National Catholic Church of America" and formerly known as the "Polish National Church of America",{{rp|page=546}}}}

Of the two denominations under Vilatte's leadership, the first was the Old Roman Catholic Church (ORCC) with an episcopal see in Chicago, Illinois.{{efn|name=ORCCnames|The "Old Roman Catholic Church" is also known as the "Old Roman Catholic Church of America".{{cite encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America|encyclopedia=Year book of the churches|edition=covering the year 1918|year=1919|lccn=sn87022857|editor-last=Armitage|editor-first=Clyde F|title=Old Catholic Churches|series=Year book of the churches|pages=47, 78|hdl=2027/wu.89059494211?urlappend=%3Bseq=92|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89059494211?urlappend=%3Bseq=92|access-date=2013-04-11}}{{rp|page=47}}}} Miraglia was associated with this organization and had special charge of Italian services. It was in close fellowship with the {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} but a distinct organization. No report was made of this denomination in 1906, although some churches had been registered previous to that time. It claimed 12 organizations, with a membership of 4,700 with 11 church edifices. There were four organizations reporting parsonages. Of the 12 organizations, two, with 850 members, reported the use of English only in church services, and 10, with 3,850 members, the use of foreign languages only. The principal language reported was Polish, reported by three organizations, with 1,700 members; Lithuanian by one organization, with 325 members; Russian, used by one church, with 1,000 members; and, Portuguese, reported by three organizations, with 550 members. The number of ministers identified with the church was 14.{{rp|page=534}}

Of the two denominations under Vilatte's leadership, the second was the {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} with an episcopal see in Chicago. It was incorporated in 1915 in Illinois.{{cite web |author= |author-link=Illinois Secretary of State |title=File number: 13386871 |url=http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController |access-date=2013-06-07 |website=State of Illinois. Office of the Secretary of State. Department of Business Services |publisher=State of Illinois. Office of the Secretary of State |type=database record |location=Springfield}} Old corporate names officially used by the corporation were "American Catholic Church", "Mercian Rite Catholic Church", and "The Orthodox Catholic Church of America". The current corporate name, in 2013, is "The American Catholic Church". Lloyd was associated with this organization. The denomination was formed for the special purpose of bringing Roman Catholics into the Old Catholic movement. It was in close fellowship with the {{abbr|ORCC|Old Roman Catholic Church}} but a distinct organization. This denomination was reported for the first time in 1916. It claimed three organizations, with a membership of 475 with one church edifice. There was one organization reporting a parsonage. English was reported as the only language used in church services in this denomination. The number of ministers identified with the church was seven.{{rp|page=535}}

After Vilatte retired as head of the {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} in 1920, Lloyd was chosen by a synod of that church to replace him; that synod gave Vilatte the honorary title of Exarch.{{cite book|location=San Bernardino, CA|publisher=Borgo Press|last=Brandreth|first=Henry R. T.|title=Episcopi vagantes and the Anglican Church|year=1987|orig-year=First published in 1947|isbn=0-89370-558-6}}{{rp|page=36}} According to the Year Book of the Churches, 1923 edition, Vilatte continued as head of the {{abbr|ORCC|Old Roman Catholic Church}}.{{cite encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America|encyclopedia=Year book of the churches|year=1923|edition=1923|lccn=sn87022857|title=American Catholic Church|pages=12–13|url=https://archive.org/download/yearbookofthechu029034mbp/yearbookofthechu029034mbp.pdf|access-date=2013-07-15|archive-url=https://archive.org/details/yearbookofthechu029034mbp|archive-date=2004-05-21|url-status=live}} Also {{cite encyclopedia|title=Old Roman Catholic Church|pages=13–14}}

A third denomination grouped under the name "Old Catholic Churches" was the Catholic Church of North America (CCoNA).{{efn|name=CCoNAnames|Formerly known as the "Catholic Church of North America", the "Old Catholic Church in America" was later known as the "Orthodox Old Catholic Church in America".{{cite book|location=Berkeley|publisher=Apocryphile Press|series=Independent Catholic Heritage series|last=Anson|first=Peter F|author-link=Peter Anson|title=Bishops at large|year=2006|orig-year=©1964|edition=1st Apocryphile|isbn=0-9771461-8-9}}{{rp|pages=413–427}}}} was not under Vilatte's leadership but under Bishop William Henry Francis Brothers' with an episcopal see in Waukegan, Illinois. This church was also reported for the first time in 1916. It claimed six organizations; 9,025 members with five church edifices. There were two organizations reporting parsonages. Of the six organizations one, with 725 members, reported the use of English only in church services; one, with 600 members, reported Slavic and English; and four, with 7,700 members, the use of foreign languages only. The principal language reported was Italian, reported by three organizations, with 7,400 members; Polish by one organization, with 300 members. The number of ministers identified with the church was 12.{{rp|pages=535–536}}{{efn|For Catholic Church of North America 1916 statistics compiled by United States Census Bureau see "Organizations, members, places of worship, and value of church property, by states: 1916" table.{{rp|page=536}}}}

The {{abbr|LNCC|Lithuanian National Catholic Church}} was organized by Bishop Stanislaus B. Mickiewicz with an episcopal see in Lawrence, Massachusetts.{{cite journal|location=Champaign, IL|publisher=University of Illinois Press|journal=Polish American Studies|issn=0032-2806|volume=24|issue=1|date=January–June 1967|last=Sadlowski|first=Ronald|title=The Activities of Polish-American Old Catholic Bishops|pages=44–46|jstor=20147744}}{{rp|page=47}}{{efn|He was previously a {{abbr|PNCC|Polish National Catholic Church}} priest. He was consecrated by Rudolph de Landas Berghes in 1917 and deposed by both de Landas and Carmel Henry Carfora in 1918. Mickiewicz's consecration was derived from Mathew; therefore not recognised by the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}}.{{rp|at=xvi, pp16, 24}} Smit explained that in 1913, "ties of the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} with Mathew were formally severed",{{cite book|location=Leiden|series=Brill's Series in Church History|issn=1572-4107|volume=52|last=Smit|first=Peter-Ben|title=Old Catholic and Philippine Independent Ecclesiologies in History: The Catholic Church in every place|year=2011|isbn=978-9004206472|pages=50, 180–285|publisher=Brill European History and Culture E-Books Online, Collection 2011|doi=10.1163/9789004214989_004|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rE3HEeoXJNsC&pg=PA197}}{{rp|page=197}} and after World War I, the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} "distanced itself more from the {{'}}{{lang|la|episcopus vagans}}{{'}} Mathew and those ordained and consecrated by him."{{rp|page=213}} Consecrations derived from Mathew were not recognised by the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}}.{{rp|at=xvi}} After Mathew died in 1919, the {{abbr|IBC|International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference}} declared in 1920 that Mathew's "consecration was obtained {{lang|la|mala fide}} and that consequently it is null and void."{{rp|at=xvi, pp14–15}}}} It was in some type of connection, though not ecclesiastically, with the {{abbr|ORCC|Old Roman Catholic Church}}. This church was reported for the first time in 1916. It claimed seven organizations; 7,343 members with six church edifices. There was one organization reporting a parsonage. The only language reported in the conduct of church services in this denomination was Lithuanian. The number of ministers identified with the church was three.{{rp|page=347}}{{efn|For {{abbr|LNCC|Lithuanian National Catholic Church}} 1916 statistics compiled by United States Census Bureau see "Organizations, members, places of worship, and value of church property, by states: 1916" table.{{rp|page=347}}}}

The {{abbr|PNCC|Polish National Catholic Church}} was organized by Bishop Franciszek Hodur with an episcopal see in Scranton, Pennsylvania.{{efn|name=PNCCnames}} This church was reported for the first time in 1906. In 1916, it claimed 34 organizations; 28,245 members with 37 church edifices. There were 21 organizations reporting a parsonage. Of the 34 organizations, two, with 586 members, reported the use of English only in church services, and 32, with 27,659 members, the use of Polish only. The number of ministers identified with the church was 45.{{rp|page=547}}{{efn|For {{abbr|PNCC|Polish National Catholic Church}} 1916 statistics compiled by United States Census Bureau see "Organizations, members, places of worship, and value of church property, by states: 1916" table;{{rp|page=548}} for a comparative summary of 1906 and 1916 see unnamed table.{{rp|page=547}}}} A movement similar to that started by Hodur and his associates was the one started by Bishop {{Interlanguage link multi|Antoni Kozlowski|pl|3=Antoni Kozłowski}} in Chicago. One or two churches in Chicago, together with churches in Indiana and Wisconsin, and several in the East, organized another independent diocese, known as the Polish Independent Catholic Church, of which Kozlowski was eventually made bishop. Subsequently, these two organizations united to form the {{abbr|PNCC|Polish National Catholic Church}},{{efn|name=PNCCnames}} which by 1916 included all the Polish Independent Catholic Church parishes in the United States, except one in Buffalo.{{rp|page=547}}

By 1929, about four years after Vilatte's death, only one denomination derived from Vilatte was included in Religious Bodies, 1926 edition. The report explained that, by then, "none of these American bodies or leaders are connected with or recognized by the Old Catholic Churches of any part of continental Europe, nor are their Orders or Apostolic Successions derived directly, if at all, from European Old Catholic Churches" and added a "caution against misinterpretation" of the term "Old Catholic Churches". It identified three subsets of denominations in the Old Catholic Churches group in the US:

1. {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} and "its numerous derivatives"
2. Old Catholic Church in America{{efn|name=CCoNAnames}}
3. North American Old Roman Catholic Church and the "numerous separated personal leaders derived from its establishment"

According to the report, these entities are no longer either connected with Old Catholic Churches of continental Europe, which "repudiated all responsibility for or connection with" bishops who derived their consecrations from the consecration of Mathew, or with the Syriac Orthodox Church of Antioch. "Of the many bishops that have been consecrated in this group, [...] most have assumed other names and titles and founded separate churches for themselves by civil incorporation. For most of these no statistics are published, for the reason that the Census Bureau collects its statistics directly from congregations rather than from the officers of corporations." So, "direct comparisons between the bodies as reported at the two censuses are impossible, [...] because of numerous organic changes," according to the United States Census Bureau.{{cite encyclopedia|location=Washington, DC|publisher=United States Government Printing Office|author=United States. Bureau of the Census|title=Religious bodies: 1926|author-link=United States Census Bureau|encyclopedia=Religious bodies|edition=1926|year=1929|volume=2|oclc=628203882|pages=45–49, 1069–1081|hdl=2027/mdp.39015002601345?urlappend=%3Bseq=1087|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015002601345?urlappend=%3Bseq=1087|access-date=2013-04-24}}{{rp|page=1070}} Which also stated "a reorganization since the census of 1916 makes it impossible to identify the whole group with any of the bodies formerly presented," in the 1916 data, under the name "Old Catholic Churches";{{rp|page=1073}} the reorganized {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} claimed 11 organizations, with a membership of 1,367 with two church edifices. There was one organization reporting a parsonage. The number of ministers identified with the church was not reported.{{rp|page=1072}}

Religious Bodies, 1926 edition, named one denomination "which now has a thriving organization of congregations" derived from Vilatte, that "aspires to ultimate association with Eastern Orthodox Churches as a racial or national unit" and "does not desire any association with Old Catholic Churches"—the African Orthodox Church (AOC).{{rp|page=1070}} It had its episcopal see in New York City but incorporated in Florida. This denomination was reported for the first time in 1926. It claimed 13 organizations, with a membership of 1,508 without a church edifice. There was no organization reporting a parsonage. The number of ministers identified with the church was 30.{{rp|pages=46–47}}

Another denomination, named the African Orthodox Church of New York (AOCoNY) also had its episcopal see in New York City and incorporated in New York. The {{abbr|AOCoNY|African Orthodox Church of New York}} was in a fellowship "strictly one of spiritual communion" with the {{abbr|AOC|African Orthodox Church}} and a distinct organization with "absolute independence." This denomination was also reported for the first time in 1926. It claimed three organizations, with a membership of 717 with one church edifice. There was one organization reporting a parsonage. The number of ministers identified with the church was not reported.{{rp|page=49}}

A notice from the Syrian Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East concerning schismatic bodies and {{lang|la|episcopi vagantes}}, dated December 10, 1938, states that "after direct expulsion from official Christian communities" some schismatic bodies exist, including "all the sects claiming succession through Vilatte," that claim "without truth to derive their origin and apostolic succession from some ancient Apostolic Church of the East" and

{{blockquote|[...] some of these schismatic bodies have with effrontery published statements which are untrue as to an alleged relation "in succession and ordination" to our Holy Apostolic Church and her forefathers, We find it necessary to announce to all whom it may concern that we deny any and every relation whatsoever with these schismatic bodies and repudiate them and their claims absolutely. Furthermore, our Church forbids any and every relationship, and above all, intercommunion with all and any of these schismatic sects and warns the public that their statements and pretensions [...] are altogether without truth.{{rp|page=70}}}}

The notice named both the {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} and the {{abbr|AOC|African Orthodox Church}} specifically as examples of such schismatic bodies.{{rp|page=70}}

According to James R. Lewis, in The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions, the {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} "was taken over by bishops with theosophical leanings" after Vilatte's death.{{cite encyclopedia|location=Amherst, NY|publisher=Prometheus Books|encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Cults, Sects, and New Religions|year=2002|edition=2nd|isbn=1-61592-738-7|last=Lewis|first=James R|author-link=James R. Lewis (scholar)|title=Old Catholic Movement|pages=542–545|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lk8_ARNz-dYC&pg=PA543}}{{rp|page=544}}

Lloyd and John Churchill Sibley together operated a parallel business entity, called the Intercollegiate University (IU), in which Lloyd was president and Sibley was chancellor.{{rp|at=xix}}{{cite encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America|encyclopedia=Year book of the churches|year=1924|lccn=sn87022857|editor-last=Watson|editor-first=E. O|title=Old Catholic Churches|pages=12–13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d_7QAAAAMAAJ&q=%22College+of+Church+Musicians%22}}

According to the 1924 Year Book of the Churches, "in order to establish a legal bond with the American Catholic Church", the College of Church Musicians (CoCM) was reorganized and incorporated as {{abbr|IU|Intercollegiate University}} in Illinois. Previously, Year Book of the Churches listed a "Theological Department" associated with the {{abbr|ORCC|Old Roman Catholic Church}} once, only in the 1919 edition, and no school was associated with the {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} that year.{{rp|page=78}} The next year, the 1920 edition listed an "American Catholic Seminary" associated with the {{abbr|ACC|American Catholic Church}} and no school associated with the {{abbr|ORCC|Old Roman Catholic Church}}.{{cite encyclopedia|location=New York|publisher=The Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America|encyclopedia=Year book of the churches|year=1920|lccn=sn87022857|editor-last=Warburton|editor-first=Stacy R|title=Old Catholic Churches|series=Year book of the churches|pages=94–95|hdl=2027/wu.89059494278?urlappend=%3Bseq=100|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/wu.89059494278?urlappend=%3Bseq=100|access-date=2013-04-11}} {{abbr|IU|Intercollegiate University}} was "the university and seminary of the American Catholic Communion".

{{abbr|CoCM|College of Church Musicians}} was incorporated in Kansas in 1892.

According to The Spectator, after Sibley died, "the Intercollegian accomplished a remarkable feat by publishing an obituary notice of him without mentioning his name."{{cite journal|location=London|publisher=F.C. Westley|journal=The Spectator|issn=0038-6952|issue=5969|date=1942-11-19|title=I.U. and Sulgrave|pages=7–8|url=http://archive.spectator.co.uk/article/20th-november-1942/7/iu-and-sulgrave|access-date=2013-07-30}} The Intercollegian was an {{abbr|IU|Intercollegiate University}} periodical.

In Chicago, Joseph Rene Vilatte was established on Fullerton Ave.{{clarify|date=July 2012|post-text=people aren't established}}{{When|date=July 2012}} There with the leaders of the Polish and the Italian constituencies, he made the American Catholic Church evolve into a Council of Oversight.{{clarify|date=September 2013|post-text=oversight of what}} The concept of such a council appeared in his booklet Apostolic Reunion in America, published in 1909.{{clarify|date=September 2013|post-text=describe the concept}} The following protocol was signed: We, Joseph Rene Archbishop Vilatte, Stephen Bishop Kaminski, and Paul Bishop Miraglia, by the grace of God and the suffrage of the faithful, assembled in the Cathedral of Buffalo, on this the feast of the Circumcision of Christ in the year 1910, do hereby declare that we are {{cite quote|date=August 2013}}

• a council of churches open to all persons having their residence in this country, whatever may be their nationality;
• united in the fidelity to the true faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the sole Head of the Universal Church and our High Priest;
• imbued with the American Spirit of democracy and liberty;
• a branch or section of the true (Christian) Catholic Church of God, with its own Synod and Conference of Bishops.

{{citation needed span|text=Another bishop was added to the Council of Oversight on April 27, 1913,|reason=There was no mention of a connection between Kubinyi's church and the ACC in newspapers.|date=January 2014}} when Vilatte consecrated Victor von Kubinyi in South Bend, Indiana.

{{cite news|location=Fort Wayne|newspaper=Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel|lccn=sn84027377|date=1913-04-29|page=3|title=The new bishop in South Bend|url=https://www.newspaperarchive.com/fort-wayne-weekly-sentinel/1913-04-29/page-3|access-date=2013-12-14}}

Kubinyi immigrated to the USA {{Circa|1906}}.

He functioned as a priest in Newark, New Jersey.

Dissidents in a schism from St. Stephen Church for Hungarians in South Bend, a parish of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne, arranged for Kubinyi to come from Newark to South Bend and elected him pastor of their separatist congregation, Sacred Heart Independent Hungarian Catholic Church.

{{cite book|location=Fort Wayne|publisher=Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend|last=White|first=Joseph M|title=Worthy of the Gospel of Christ: a history of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend: commemorating the 150th anniversary of the diocese and Catholic life in Northern Indiana|year=2007|isbn=9781592762293|page=210|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EGuVYySOT80C&pg=PT224}}

Tensions flared in June at a cemetery during a funeral officiated by Kubinyi, the South Bend Tribune printed that, "it is said, an attempt was made to prevent the [...] burial because the mother attends the new independent church" but she owned the lot and "interment took place despite the protests of cemetery attaches who refuse to lend their aid to the ceremonies."

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1912-06-03|page=5|title=Two church factions clash at boy's grave

}}

Kubinyi then dedicated a {{convert|20|acre|ha}} parish cemetery in July.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1912-07-22|page=5|title=Cemetery is dedicated

}}

In August, the congregation joined the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC); according to the South Bend Tribune, Kubinyi said the congregation was only independent financially and was dependent on Bishop Franciszek Hodur's "direction in all matters of religion, morals and discipline."

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1912-08-05|page=5|title=Parish in diocese of Polish bishop

}}

In September, Hodur dedicated the church. The parish was financially sound and without debt.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1912-10-14|page=7|title=Parish in good shape

}}

In December, when factional differences were being resolved,{{efn|"Members of the Sacred Heart church, with the exception of the leaders [...] will be received back into the church, according to the announcement of [...] Varlaky, pastor of the St. Stephen's. Officers of the congregation and men who were instrumental in bringing [...] Kubinyi will be compelled to settle their differences with" Alerding. "Kubinyi will be received into the fold again only after serving a term of penance," according to Varlaky.}} Kubinyi deserted the parish and left South Bend.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1912-12-28|page=5|title=Rev. Father Kubinyi to leave South Bend

}} He said:{{blockquote|I could not help coming to the conclusion the best service I could render [...] this community [...] was to leave here. I was told my work was disturbing business. [...] I am leaving town as the victim of a mistake; a mistake of those who meant well, but who not much of their own fault, were not quite up to the level of the task.}} In February, 1913, Hodur assigned a Polish priest who fluently spoke Hungarian, Father Basil Sychta, as Kubinyi's replacement.

{{cite encyclopedia|location=Dayton, OH|publisher=Dayton Historical Publishing|encyclopedia=An account of St. Joseph county from its organization|series=History of Indiana|volume=3|year=1923|oclc=609197432|editor-last=Stoll|editor-first=John B|title=Rev. Basil Sychta|page=392|hdl=2027/inu.30000080780202?urlappend=%3Bseq=424|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/inu.30000080780202?urlappend=%3Bseq=424|access-date=2014-01-08}}

Kubinyi returned from Chicago to South Bend in April and announced that Vilatte will consecrate him as a bishop for a proposed new sect for Hungarians.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1913-04-14|page=1|title=Kubinyi will become bishop}}

Kubinyi said in his announcement:{{blockquote|I am not coming back to South Bend to organize a new or a dissenting parish. I am coming here to found a new church for which South Bend will be the national headquarters. Additional churches will be established in all parts of the country.}}

The South Bend Tribune reported that it was "not improbable that the independent congregation of the Sacred Heart" would transfer to Kubinyi's jurisdiction. On April 16, Hungarian National Church in America (HNCiA) was incorporated by Kubinyi in Indiana.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1913-04-16|page=20|title=Charter granted for new church

}}

Kubinyi alleged, in an affidavit, that the 1913 election of officers in the {{abbr|PNCC|Polish National Catholic Church}} parish was false and fraudulent. He stated that according to records Sychta was the priest but according to the church constitution Kubinyi was the perpetual priest. He stated that he resigned "but that his resignation, tendered in duress was never accepted." He also listed a different group of officers in his affidavit than those listed in County records.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1913-04-23|page=1|title=Church election alleged to be false

}}

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1913-04-25|page=1|title=Archbishop comes to conduct consecration

}}

When Vilatte arrived in South Bend for the consecration, no place for the holding of the ceremonies had been selected. Although police were present because "Kubinyi feared that trouble might ensue at the services from members of the old church and therefore requested police protection," they were not needed at his consecration.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1913-04-28|page=4|title=Kubinyi consecrated

}}

The Fort Wayne Weekly Sentinel reported that Vilatte consecrated Kubinyi as bishop and founder of the {{abbr|HNCiA|Hungarian National Church in America}}. It noted that no arrangements were made for a location where Kubinyi's faction of adherents would hold services. After his consecration, Kubinyi filed three lawsuits in May for damages against the chairman of the church, Syctha and the officers of the church.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1913-05-01|page=16|title=Kubinyi asks $20,000

}}

He lost the case. He also filed a lawsuit for malicious prosecution against the chairman of the church in city court which stated the chairman had charged Kubinyi with stealing church records, which Kubinyi had sent to Varlaky and later recovered, and although the chairman's charge was withdrawn. A few weeks later, he declared that if a conciliation with the {{abbr|PNCC|Polish National Catholic Church}} parish was reached then he would not attempt to organize a new {{abbr|HNCiA|Hungarian National Church in America}} congregation.

{{cite news|location=South Bend|newspaper=South Bend tribune|lccn=sn82014542|date=1913-05-19|page=5|title=Kubinyi has services

}}

Kubinyi and his adherents were accepted into the {{abbr|PECUSA|Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America}}. In December, 1913, Kubinyi renounced his Roman Catholic faith as well as his title as bishop and was ordained as a {{abbr|PECUSA|Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America}} rector, a cleric in charge of a parish,{{Wiktionary-inline|rector}} by Bishop John Hazen White, of Michigan City.

{{cite news|location=Fort Wayne, IN|newspaper=The Fort Wayne sentinel|lccn=sn87055966|date=1913-12-08|page=1|title=Quits church he organized|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/fort-wayne-sentinel/1913-12-08/|access-date=2014-01-08}}

Soon thereafter he founded Holy Trinity First Hungarian Episcopal Church in South Bend. On November 15, 1918, he was deposed by White.

{{cite conference|location=s.l.|publisher=s.n.|author=Episcopal Church. Diocese of Western Massachusetts|title=Journal of the eighteenth annual meeting of the convention|year=1919|conference=18th Annual Convention. Worcester. May 14, 1919|lccn=sn77011164|page=67|hdl=2027/nyp.33433070790203?urlappend=%3Bseq=79|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433070790203?urlappend=%3Bseq=79|access-date=2013-10-18}}

{{citation needed span|text=Kubinyi resumed overseeing the Hungarian constituency on November 15, 1918, this time from New York City. He was installed as Ordinary of Eastern Atlantic States six years later, on October 16, in the Armenian Cathedral, NYC. In November 1924, he was also installed as a member of the cathedral chapter of the African Orthodox Church, invited by McGuire. He retired from the ministry in 1925 and went to live in Washington, DC dedicating the rest of his life to arts and literature.

His involvement in the church after 1925 was through Vilatte's Order of the Crown of Thorns into which he was invested as prelate commander by Vilatte in 1913.|date=January 2014}}

Although a Central Press Association supplied article described him as "a scholar and a linguist", in 1927, Kubinyi was an amateur painter who lived meagerly in "his tiny studio in New York City" and worked as a secretary.

{{cite news|agency=Central Press Association|location=Ogden, UT|newspaper=The Ogden Standard-Examiner|date=1927-09-25|page=28|title='Crazy' paintings that make people sane|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/27080207/|access-date=2014-01-08}}

He began painting while employed as a farmworker. According to the Central Press Association, Kubinyi's artwork hung in William Henry Holmes' "exhibition rooms for five weeks."{{Clarify|reason=Holmes was director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. It is unclear from the article if Kubinyi's artwork hung in the National Gallery of Art or in Holmes' own gallery.|date=January 2014}}

By the 1930s he was known as the "Hungarian Bluebeard" in New York, an "ex-priest, ex-bishop, now fugitive from justice, under criminal indictment for forgery and embezzlement" found on wanted posters.

{{cite sign|location=New York, NY|publisher=s.n.|others=Committee of One Hundred Seventeen for Victims|title=Wanted: fugitive from justice: Victor de Kubinyi, alias, "Hungarian Bluebeard" [...]|type=wanted poster|year=c. 1937|oclc=61068448}}

Kubinyi was arrested for extradition to New York from California in 1938 where he was working as a teacher of Latin and Psychology in Lake Elsinore, California, using the alias "Dr. Felix Renatus".

{{cite news|location=San Bernardino|newspaper=The San Bernardino County Sun|lccn=sn85066524|date=1938-02-27|page=10|title=School instructor held for New York|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/47285713/|access-date=2014-01-08}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://www.netministries.org/churches.aspx/?ch=ch04614&frame=N History of the Eucharistic Catholic Church]
• [http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.aspx?ID=97 Robert Mary Clement]

Category:Christian organizations established in 1915

Category:1915 establishments in Indiana

Category:Independent Catholic denominations

Category:Christian denominations established in the 20th century