Pilgrimages: The Pilgrim's Guide to the Old Catholic Church

Rating:
Summary: Pilgrim's progress...
Review: There are several problems with being an Old Catholic. First, one has to explain that it does not simply mean a Roman Catholic of advanced or advancing years. The name can be misleading in some cases, for a host of historical reasons that I cannot go into in great detail here, but will be covered in later reviews (stay tuned!). Another problem is the fractured nature of the Old Catholic movement -- one cannot even speak of a 'communion', as some Old Catholics refuse to be in formal communion with each other for a host of dogmatic and personality reasons.

Given this lack of central organisation, for the travelling Old Catholic to find another on the journey can be problematic. Must one always forego a service of one's own? There are always Roman Catholic, Episcopal and Orthodox churches around in major cities. But how does one find Old Catholics? Likewise, how does one find out if there are other Old Catholics nearby? A perennial problem for Old Catholics, Independent Catholics and Anglicans, and other fellow travellers is lack of knowledge of who might be nearby. Isolation is typical.

Bishop Elijah, an Old Catholic bishop of San Francisco, has, through his Dry Bones Press, taken a first step in print with his compilation entitled Pilgrimages. It is produced through a lightning-press process -- the book does not sit in warehouses waiting to be ordered, but rather exists electronically, and is printed on demand when someone orders it. As a result, there is a certain polish lacking in the final text; not that the binding, trimming or any such is found wanting, but there is a certain character that speaks of this being a lower-cost production. This, of course, can be a virtue, particularly as this book is intended for audiences who typically do not have a large surplus of funds (most Old Catholics have very little by way of institutional church support, and are often called 'tent-maker priests', after St. Paul, who worked as a tent-maker for primary support during his ministry), and this book is meant to be used, as a directory and guide.

In the front of the book, Bishop Elijah gives a brief definitional statement of what Old Catholic means. Taking the lead from the creeds of the church, he spells out the core teachings of the early councils in a simple and brief manner. By and large, the people who find and use this book will know at least this much of the history already, and history is not the point of this text, save as a snapshot for history of some of the diversity of Old Catholicism in the year 2000.

The largest section of the book by far is the directory of those churches and organisations in Full Sacrament designation -- those being defined in the introductory pages and conforming to a fairly standard catholic sense of sacramental theology and practice. Those churches which vary in practice to some degree are listed as Welcoming. The listings include as much information as was available, but unfortunately varies widely from listing to listing. A few pieces of information that would be most valuable, which are missing, are phone numbers, email addresses, and URLs. The information works primarily if one is intending to catalog for mailing purposes the lists, or if one wants to get a sense of the liturgical and dogmatic stances of the places listed.

This directory is not comprehensive, nor is it portrayed as such. Churches and organisations are only listed with permission, and given the history of dissension among Old Catholics, this means there are a good number of people and places left out by their own choice.

Bishop Elijah also provides a basic outline of ritual for baptism, confirmation, and communion for the curious. There are also general statements about theosophical and other issues that often raise interests of those in and out of Old Catholic circles. These are not weighty discourses, but rather brief statements of issues and Bishop Elijah's feeling or decision regarding them with attention to the purpose of this directory.

Like many economy books, this one suffers several editorial difficulties. Typographical errors are not uncommon, as is true of general formatting errors, at least in the early copy that has made its way into my hands for review. Perhaps the average reader will not detect that which I, who have spent two decades doing publications, would notice as a tab alignment gone astray. Because it is a lightning press kind of book, such errors can be easily corrected along the way. The wording of the directory hopes for subsequent versions; one hopes this will take place.

If I would be granted one wish with regard to book publishing, it would be to make it illegal to publish a book without an index. Pilgrimages does not have an index. It could use several; an index by Old Catholic jurisdiction, an index by name, and an index by subject matter. This would facilitate cross-referencing tremendously.

There are directories on-line that are more up-to-date; however, every directory of Old Catholics, Independent Catholics, and continuing Anglicans tends to be different in many regards. Still, there is nothing like holding a book in one's own hands.

I hope Pilgrimages will find a home with these groups, as well as in reference libraries. I hope it will continue to be updated and revised.

It is indeed hard to review a directory. Perhaps for all the minor faults of the text, there should be great praise that it exists at all, given the difficulties many have had at trying to compile, verify (insofar as possible), and actually produce such a volume.

This will appeal to a fairly narrow audience, but for that audience, it is a necessity.