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.
