Parish of Saint Oscar Romero - United Free Catholic Church of Canada

Parish of Saint Oscar Romero - United Free Catholic Church of Canada Welcome to the page of the Parish of Saint Oscar Romero of the United Free Catholic Church of Canada. Most importantly, we welcome everyone!

We are a community of Catholics (Old Catholics) who are free to express our faith without many of the traditional "restrictions" that may hinder some from experiencing the fullness of Christ and the life of grace He brings to us. Our mission is to seek out and restore those who have left the Church, providing an opportunity to rediscover their Catholic faith with no questions asked. As Free Catholics, we believe in the Holy Bible as God's Word and that salvation comes through faith in Jesus Christ. We embrace the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds as statements of our faith and celebrate the seven historic sacraments of the Church. Our Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, of either gender, are allowed to be married and have their own families. All are welcome to worship and partake in the sacraments and participate in the life of the Church. ALL Christians are invited to share in the Holy Communion. So, even if you are married to a member of another Christian denomination, they can participate fully with you at Church without any pressure to "convert." Jesus didn't turn anyone away from His Table... and neither do we. Old-Catholic churches
Old-Catholics are a group of national churches which at various times separated from Rome. The term "Old-Catholic" was adopted to mean original Catholicism. Old-Catholic Christians are composed of three sections: (1) the Church of Utrecht which originated in 1724 when its chapter maintained its ancient right to elect the Archbishop of Utrecht, against opposition from Rome; (2) the German, Austrian and Swiss Old-Catholic churches which refused to accept the dogmas of the infallibility and the universal ordinary jurisdiction of the pope, as defined by the Vatican Council of 1870; (3) smaller groups of Slav origin. National church movements among the Poles in the USA (1987) and the Croats (1924) have resulted in the establishment of the National Polish Church in America and in Poland, and of the Old-Catholic Church of Croatia. Unfortunately, the Polish National Church of America and Canada left the Union of Utrecht in 2003. Their bishops could not agree with the majority in the International Bishops' Conference which was in favour of the opening of the apostolic ministry to women. The Philippine Independent Church established sacramental communion with Old-Catholics in 1965. The doctrinal basis of the Old-Catholic churches is the Declaration of Utrecht (1889). The Old-Catholics recognize the same seven ecumenical councils as the Eastern Orthodox churches, and those doctrines accepted by the church before the Great Schism of 1054. They admit seven sacraments and recognize apostolic succession. They also believe in the real presence in the eucharist, but deny transubstantiation, forbid private masses, and permit the reception of the eucharist under one or both elements. The Old-Catholic churches have an episcopal-synodal structure. Bishops, as well as the rest of the clergy, are permitted to marry. All services are in the vernacular. Since 1996 the threefold apostolic ministry is open to women. From the start, Anglicans have been close to Old-Catholics. They participated in an international conference of theologians, convened at Bonn by Old-Catholics in 1874, to discuss the reunion of churches outside Rome. Old-Catholics recognized Anglican ordinations in 1925. Since 1931 they have been in full communion with the Church of England first and later on with all the churches of the Anglican Communion. The Archbishop of Canterbury has a permanent representative with the International Old-Catholic Bishops' Conference. Old-Catholic-Orthodox dialogues have taken place since 1931. An agreement on all-important theological and ecclesiological issues was reached in 1987. A joint commission with the Ecumenical Patriarchate looks after the implementation of that agreement within the churches. Since the second Vatican Council the Old-Catholic churches have been in conversation with the Roman Catholic Church. Both on the national and the international level various initiatives were taken in order to discuss the main ecclesiological issues on which the two catholic ecclesiastical families have different views.

08/23/2026

Bishop Robinson’s observation points to an uncomfortable truth about the way religion can sometimes be used. The negative gives us something the loving God does not: a justification for our own prejudices. When we believe God is angry with those who are different from us, it becomes easier to turn our own fear, discomfort or dislike into something that feels righteous. We can condemn others while convincing ourselves that we are defending God.
This has been particularly damaging for LGBTQ people. It creates a strange kind of faith in which people can feel more comfortable defending a God who excludes than following a Jesus who consistently reached towards those whom society had rejected. Love cannot become conditional simply because someone is different from us. LGBTQ people do not need to become acceptable to God; they need to be recognized as already possessing the same inherent dignity and divine worth as everyone else.
Perhaps the real challenge is not accepting that God loves people we struggle to understand, but allowing that love to change us, to surrender the desire to judge, exclude and condemn, and instead learn to see the person before us as someone equally made in the image of God.

08/22/2026
Let's do it!
08/22/2026

Let's do it!

Let us, truly, accept Christ's teachings!
08/22/2026

Let us, truly, accept Christ's teachings!

Hosanna!
08/22/2026

Hosanna!

The Bible is a remarkable mixture of history, poetry, wisdom, allegory, parable, human experience, and the spiritual understanding of people who lived in very different times and cultures. Recognizing this mixture can affect how we read it. For some, the apparent contradictions, impossible events, or historical inaccuracies make the Bible difficult to believe and may even lead them away from faith. For others, the human limitations within its pages do not hide its deeper truth; instead, the Spirit of love can still be found shining through the stories, even when the stories themselves are not literally true.
Sadly, the Bible can also be used in another way: as an apparently infallible authority for controlling, judging, or excluding other people. Verses can be selected to defend prejudice or establish rules for others while conveniently being interpreted differently when they challenge our own behaviour. In this way, the Bible can become less a source of spiritual wisdom and more a weapon of religious certainty.
Perhaps the best way to approach Scripture is neither to dismiss it because everything cannot be taken literally, nor to insist that every word must be infallible. Instead, we can read it with an intention of discovering the Spirit of love within it. Jesus gave us a simple measure: love of God and love of neighbor. If our interpretation of Scripture leads us towards greater compassion, mercy, forgiveness, justice and inclusion, we may be closer to its spiritual purpose. If it leads us towards hatred, exclusion, condemnation or superiority over others, we should be willing to question our interpretation. The question is not only, “What does the Bible say?” but also, “What is the Spirit of love asking me to become?”

Well worth reposting.
08/22/2026

Well worth reposting.

Christianity is not meant to feel like living under threat, constantly afraid that we might “screw up” and be punished. God gave us the freedom to choose whether to follow the way of Jesus or to go our own way. A choice made under fear is hardly a free choice. What guides our choice is often how we experience life. When we choose the way of love that Jesus taught, fear can begin to give way to freedom, and anxiety to peace. Jesus did not call us to live chained by guilt and fear, but to be released from them; to discover the peace he promised through a life grounded in love.

I have nothing to add...
08/22/2026

I have nothing to add...

I can only imagine God saying this very thing!
08/22/2026

I can only imagine God saying this very thing!

We don’t really know how to describe God. At best, we can search for an understanding through the complexity and wonder of the life and universe we experience. Reason may lead us to believe that such complexity points beyond itself to a Creator. And if our own experience of love reveals something profound about what it means to be human, perhaps it is reasonable to believe that the Creator is not merely capable of love, but is the very source and essence of the love woven into creation.
Yet throughout history, patriarchal religious traditions have often depicted God in their own image: an angry, powerful old man who judges, condemns and demands obedience. Such an image can then be used to justify our own judgments, exclusions and even hatred of others.
But perhaps we should listen more carefully to the biblical images that point in another direction. In 1 Kings 19:12, God is not found in the earthquake, wind or fire, but in a “still, small voice.” Jesus likewise pointed us towards the openness, trust and humility of a child, teaching that we must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Perhaps God is less like the angry old man we have created and more like the gentle child in this image: vulnerable, open, innocent and full of love. We may never be able to adequately describe God, but we can seek to recognize the divine wherever love, compassion, humility and kindness are found.

Amen!
08/22/2026

Amen!

08/22/2026

Australia has a popular song, “I Am Australian”, that celebrates its multicultural society with the words, “We are one, but we are many.” It is a beautiful reminder that differences do not have to divide; they can enrich the shared oneness.
God’s children come from every culture, language, nation and background, yet within each person is the divine image of God. Diversity is therefore not something to fear or merely tolerate, but something to celebrate. Because each of us reflects something of the Creator in our own unique way.
Perhaps our greatest point of unity is not that we look alike, think alike or believe alike, but that we share the capacity to love and to be loved. When we celebrate our differences while recognizing the divine image within every person, we celebrate both the diversity of humanity and the unity of God’s love.

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Kanata, ON

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