St. Cecelia's Orthodox Catholic Church

Orthodox Catholic Church of the New Age: organisation

St. Cecelia's Orthodox Catholic Church Home Page
Orthodox Catholic Church of the New Age: organisation
Forthcoming & Recent Events
 
 
churchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpg 
 
St. Cecelia's is part of the Orthodox Catholic Church of the New Age - an association of groups and individuals that is dedicated to the preparation of the world for the Coming of Christ and the promotion of the New Age Christianity. The Orthodox Catholic Church of the New Age originated with the work of the great modern mystics John S. M. Ward and his wife Jessie Ward. It exists in many countries and in various forms, but all are dedicated to the same twin purposes. 
 
Such groups consist of small churches and their congregations, such as St Cecelia's, family home chapels, in which families worship together with a few friends, and selected individuals, who whilst not directly connected with one of the above groups, usually worship with them whenever possible. 
 
The Orthodox Catholic Church of the New Age sees itself as based on the original Apostolic Church at Jerusalem and has particular affinity with the Essenes and the small Judaeo-Christian communities that took their place after the Destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Roman general Titus in 70 A.D.
 
Early Christian communities followed a similar pattern all over the Ancient world, and at least during the Apostolic Age, there was no monolithic Christian "CHURCH" as such, but rather a large number of individual churches, each with its own "overseer" or bishop. (The word bishop means overseer)
 
It was only in later centuries that the bishops of the larger towns began to assume a degree of oversight of their colleagues in lesser centres and later still that the major cities of the Roman Empire, Antioch, Rome, Alexandria and Constantinople came to be ascribed a formal position of authority over churches in other cities.
The Orthodox Catholic Church of the New Age is organised on the same basis as the Church of the First Century, with each community bound together by similar aims and teachings, but not controlled by any central authority. Instead each church community is self-governing under its own chosen leaders. Members regard each other as brothers and sisters, which means that collectively they form a Confraternity, dedicated to preparing the world for the return of Christ and the New Age that is coming.
 
The leaders of each Confraternity will have received Valid Orders and in fact all members are encouraged to study for and receive ordination in the priesthood of Jesus Christ, by virtue of which our members form part of the Royal Priesthood that St Peter envisaged in 1 Peter 2; 9. In token of this commitment to His Service, each member wears the Badge that appears on this web-page.
 
This Badge is the emblem chosen for our Founders by Christ Himself, and we hold it in the highest esteem. As can be seen it consists of a White Shield emblematic of purity, on which is emblazoned the Red Cross of Sacrifice. The whole shield is surmounted by a golden Crown - symbolizing both the Golden Crown of our Master, Christ the King,  and the "Crown of Victory" which all His faithful servants may hope to receive from His hands. They hope to receive it either when they welcome Him to this Physical Plane, or if they die before He comes, when they meet Him after death . For obviously, as St Paul tells us (1 Thesssalonians 4; 16) those who have passed from earth life before He comes, will receive their reward even before we who welcome Him when He reaches earth.
 
Ideally each confraternity is led by a married couple who, in the smaller  communities will normally be a priest and deaconess and play a role equivalent to that of prior and/or prioress in traditional religous communities. In the larger communities, the male leader is a bishop, who upon being chosen as Abbot by the members is responsible for Installing his wife as Abbess, and they two are the joint leaders of such communities.  (In St Cecelia's Church these roles are filled by the Right Rev. John Cuffe, who has formally installed his wife, the Very Rev. Jill Cuffe as Abbess)
 
Furthermore, like Christian communities in the first few centuries of the Christian Era, every individual group is free to organise itself in a manner that is best suited for its own individual situation. Ethnic, social, legal and other differences may all affect the actual form of individual confraternities, but as long as each goup adheres to the basic aims of the Work, it is permitted to use the Badge which is shown below.
churchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpgchurchbadge.jpg


For Further information
Contact: Rt. Rev. John Cuffe
St Cecelia's Orthdox Catholic Church
Caboolture Qld 4510 Australia.
email orthcathcab@yahoo.com.au
Telephone 61 7 5495 3393