Liturgical Questions
The Old Catholic Churches International uses a variety of liturgies in our churches. You will find that most of our parishes use the Novus Ordo (the Mass used in the Roman Catholic Church from 1969 to 2011). However, there are parishes in our church that use Eastern Rite liturgies, the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, the Third Roman Missal, and the Tridentine Liturgy. We do not mandate that parishes use a certain liturgy, we only ask that they use the liturgy their congregation is most comfortable with.
A “Liturgical” church is a church that practices worship using a form known as a liturgy. This is a set and consistent program of prayers and supplications with scriptural readings from both the Old and New Testament, using Psalms, Lessons, readings from the epistles of the Apostles, and from the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It also includes the Great Liturgy known as the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, or the Holy Eucharist. It is not the freeform worship practiced in the Protestant denominations.
Our clergy do wear vestments and at Special Celebrations of the Great Liturgy we do use incense and Sanctus bells. Our worship is a Glorification of God, where we pay homage to Him for the Divine Grace he bestows on us through the sacrifice of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. We worship God who knows our needs rather than supplicating Him for our own purposes.