Old (Roman) Catholic Church of America
The Old Roman Catholic Church of America is an autocephalous Old Catholic church founded in the United States in 1925 by Bishop Paul Kim. It was incorporated in 1941 by Francis Xavier Resch. Previously called the Archdiocese of the Old Catholic Church in America the name was subsequently changed to the Old (Roman) Catholic Church in America. The Old Roman Catholic Church of America retains pre-Vatican II liturgical and doctrinal traditions, including the use of the pre-1955 Roman Calendar of St. Pius X and unrevised Roman Missal, in Latin or vernacular. History. Resch  separated from the North American Old Roman Catholic Church, after being made a bishop of that church by its leader Carmel Henry Carfora. He started his own church, the Diocese of Kankakee, which was centered on the site of his parish in Kankakee, Illinois. The new church quickly grew to establish other parishes in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. These parishes, largely consisting of first generation immigrants from Eastern Europe, became inactive as the children of the congregants adjusted to life in America. In 1963, Resch made Walter X. Brown a bishop. Brown would later succeed Resch as the archbishop  of the church. He was responsible for moving the church's headquarters to Milwaukee, where it now has a seminary and maintains a number of charitable organizations. It also maintains a monastery in the Franciscan tradition in Chicago, and two monastic communities in Milwaukee, one following the Eastern tradition and one following the Western tradition. The Archdiocese accepts the traditions of Christianity as transmitted by the seven ecumenical councils through the Second Council of Nicaea and the Church Fathers. It practices the seven sacraments, and their official statement of faith, the "Statement of Faith of the Old Catholic Church in  America", closely resembles the Nicene Creed. The Church has in recent years entered into communion with the Old Roman Catholic Church in Europe. The 1917 Pio-Benedictine Code of Canon Law with some amendments is used as the law regulating the Church. Congregations. In 1984, the church reported total membership of 2,300 in 14 congregations with 26 clergy. It has churches in Dallas and Brownsville, Texas; Erie, Pennsylvania; Chicago; Racine, Madison, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Brooklyn, New York; Phoenix, Arizona; Glendale, Arizona; Kingman, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Louisiana and Ottawa. It has affiliated branches operating in Germany, Belgium, and England. The  church at one point provided care to those with substance abuse issues.