08/29/2025
CLARIFICATION AND RESPONSE TO COOL CATHOLIC’S RECENT POST ON THE CATHOLICITY OF THE IFI | IFI Page Gallery
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⚠️ CLAIM 1: “Founded in 1902 by Gregorio Aglipay after the Philippine Revolution, it broke away from Rome as a nationalist, anti-colonial movement rather than a true continuation of the Catholic Church.”
👉 Answer:
It is not correct to say Gregorio Aglipay “founded” the IFI. The Church was established in 1902 through the efforts of Don Isabelo de los Reyes, Sr., together with the Unión Obrera Democrática (UOD), the first labor federation in the Philippines. They called for a church that embodied both Catholic faith and Filipino independence. In response, they chose Gregorio Aglipay as the first Obispo Maximo (Supreme Bishop), not as its founder but as its first leader.
The IFI was indeed born in a nationalist context, but it was not simply a political protest. It was the continuation of the faith of the Filipino people, reclaiming their dignity in the face of colonial discrimination while preserving the creeds, sacraments, and catholic tradition of the undivided Church.
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⚠️ CLAIM 2: “They call themselves Catholic and use liturgy, vestments, and terminology similar to the Catholic Church of the Latin Rite. But they reject papal authority, papal infallibility, and many Catholic dogmas.”
👉 Answer:
The IFI calls itself Catholic because it confesses the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in the Nicene Creed. “Catholic” is not the same as “Roman Catholic” — the Eastern Orthodox, Old Catholics, and other apostolic churches are also catholic without papal jurisdiction.
The IFI does not reject Catholic faith but only papal supremacy and papal infallibility, which it believes are later innovations not essential to the catholicity of the Church. Authority in the IFI is understood in a more conciliar and collegial way, closer to the practice of the early Church.
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⚠️ CLAIM 3: “The IFI ordains women and allows married clergy, which the Catholic Church does not recognize as valid priesthood.”
👉 Answer:
Yes, the IFI ordains women and allows married clergy, reflecting its understanding of equality and the tradition of the early Church. Married clergy were common in the first centuries of Christianity, and even today the Eastern Catholic Churches in communion with Rome allow married priests.
Women’s ordination is a later development of the IFI’s theology, rooted in its conviction of equal dignity in Christ. Apostolic succession in the IFI ensures that its priesthood is not a mere “invention,” but a continuation of historic episcopal ordination.
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⚠️ CLAIM 4: “Doctrinally, they’ve drifted toward Protestantism in some areas, while still keeping certain Catholic externals.”
👉 Answer:
The IFI has been open to ecumenical dialogue with Protestant churches, but it has not abandoned Catholic tradition. It continues to celebrate the Eucharist, uphold the episcopate, honor Mary and the saints, and follow the historic liturgy.
Its reforms (vernacular liturgy, social justice orientation, ecumenism) may look “Protestant,” but they are actually efforts to return to the life of the early Church, when worship and theology were closer to the people.
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⚠️ CLAIM 5: “They are a schismatic body — Catholic in appearance but not in apostolic succession or communion with the one true Catholic Church.”
👉 Answer:
The IFI most certainly maintains apostolic succession.
This was historically reinforced on April 7, 1948, in a service at St. Luke’s Pro-Cathedral in Manila, where three IFI bishops — Isabelo de los Reyes, Jr., Gerardo Bayaca, and Manuel Aguilar — received the gift of apostolic succession from the hands of Norman Binsted, Bishop of the Missionary District of the Philippines, acting for the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the USA, together with Robert Franklin Wilner, Suffragan Bishop of the Missionary District of the Philippines, and Harry Scherbourne Kennedy, Bishop of the Missionary District of Honolulu.
Since then, IFI bishops have been consecrated within this historic succession, which is mutually recognized by the Anglican Communion and other Old Catholic Churches. Thus, IFI clergy are not “self-made,” but stand firmly within apostolic continuity.
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⚠️ CLAIM 6: “There is only one true Catholic Church… in communion with the Pope in Rome.”
👉 Answer:
This is the Roman Catholic claim, but it is not the only understanding of catholicity. The Nicene Creed speaks of “one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church,” not “one, holy, Roman Catholic Church.”
The IFI affirms it is part of that catholic Church, even if not under papal jurisdiction.
Like the Eastern Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches, the IFI participates in the same apostolic faith, sacraments, and catholic tradition. Unity in Christ is not based solely on submission to one central figure, but on the shared confession of the Gospel and the life of the sacraments.
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✊️ Final Summary:
The Iglesia Filipina Independiente was not simply “founded” by Aglipay as a protest group. It was the fruit of Filipino faith and struggle for dignity, led by Don Isabelo de los Reyes and the UOD, with Aglipay chosen as its first Obispo Maximo.
It remains catholic, apostolic, and truly Filipino. It maintains valid apostolic succession (strengthened in 1948), celebrates the sacraments, and stands in communion with the wider family of catholic and apostolic churches.
