# Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland

Part of a series on :
Christianity :
JesusChrist
Nativity
Baptism
Ministry
Crucifixion
Resurrection
Ascension :
BibleFoundations
Old Testament
New Testament
Gospel
Canon
Church
Creed
New Covenant :
Theology
God
Trinity
Father
Son
Holy Spirit
Apologetics
Baptism
Christology
History of theology
Mission
Salvation
Universalism :
HistoryTradition
Apostles
Peter
Paul
Mary
Early Christianity
Church Fathers
Constantine
Councils
Augustine
Ignatius
East–West Schism
Crusades
Aquinas
Reformation
Luther :
Denominations(full list)
Nicene
Catholic
Latin
Eastern
Old Catholic
Independent Catholic
Sedevacantism
Eastern Orthodox
Oriental Orthodox
Church of the East
Protestant
Adventist
Anabaptist
Anglican
Baptist
Free Evangelical
Lutheran
Methodist
Moravian [Hussite]
Pentecostal
Plymouth Brethren
Quaker
Reformed
United Protestant
Waldensian
Nondenominational Christianity
Restorationist
Christadelphians
Iglesia ni Cristo
Irvingians
Jehovah's Witnesses
Latter Day Saints
Members Church of God International
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The New Church (Swedenborgian)
Unitarians and Universalists :
Related topics
Civilization
Criticism
Culture
Ecumenism
Glossary
Index
Liturgy
Other religions
Outline
Prayer
Sermon
Symbolism
Worship :
Glossary
Index
Outline
 Christianity portal :
vte :
The Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is an Old Catholic denomination in Switzerland. This denomination is part of the Union of Utrecht.

## History

In 1871 the Zürich Catholic community planned to build a church to commemorate the 1270s Augustinian abbey church. As the whole community was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for refusing to accept the First Vatican Council, the Augustinerkirche at the Münzplatz became its present parish church. Ferdinand Stadler (1813–1870), an architect born in Zürich, was charged with the construction of a new church building.
In February 2000, Denise Wyss was ordained within the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland, as the first female Old Catholic priest of Switzerland.
Between 1970 and 1990, the membership of the Christian Catholic Church decreased from 20,268 to only 11,748 members. Data from the last censuses show that the aging of the population is a much greater problem for the Christian Catholic Church than for the other national churches. However, contrary to the trend of church departures from the two large national churches, the Christian Catholic Church has again recorded a constant increase in membership since 1990. Between 1990 and 2000, the number of members grew by over 13% from 11,748 to 13,312.
In 2009, Bishop Harald Rein was elected as the head of the church. Prior to this, he served as a parish priest and as vicar general of the church. On September 12, 2009, he was consecrated in Zurich by Archbishop Joris Vercammen of Utrecht. In August 2020, same-sex marriages were allowed in Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland.

## Ecumenism

In ecumenism, the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland is a member at the national level of the Association of Christian Churches in Switzerland, and at the international level of the Conference of European Churches and the World Council of Churches. At the national level, the Dialogue Commission of the Christian Catholic and Roman Catholic Churches in Switzerland (CRGK) has existed since 1966.
At the international level, within the framework of the ecumenical dialogues of the Union of Utrecht, the Christian Catholic Church was represented in the E. Orthodox-Old Catholic Dialogue at all meetings from 1975 to 1987; in the International Roman Catholic-Old Catholic Dialogue Commission (IRAD), the Christian Catholic bishop exercised the function of co-president from 2004 to 2009.
Christian Catholic theologians are also significantly involved in the current (international) dialogue commissions of the Union of Utrecht for Dialogue with Rome, with the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Church of Sweden, and the Mar Thoma Church of India.

## Church buildings

The episcopal see of the denomination has been the Church of St. Peter and Paul in Bern since 1875. Another significant church is the Augustinerkirche Zürich.