THE RULE

In order to ensure and preserve the Spiritual integrity of The Society of Traditional Old Catholics, there is set out for the Member a simple Rule, but with a high calling: a Rule which is made up of five individual rules. These five rules represent the Five Wounds of Our Lord, through which we receive our salvation: and so by faithfully keeping these five rules we not only honour those Five Wounds whereby we are redeemed, but the keeping of them helps to secure our own place in the eternal Kingdom as children of the Father and heirs with the Son. Semper Fidelis!

1. To fully embrace, and to demonstrate within the Member’s life, the Society’s beliefs, traditions, and structures; and for them to develop a lifestyle which demonstrates the high moral and ethical standards of the Society as contained within this Rule, and also the Society’s Code of Conduct; both of which are modelled upon the Gospel. To cherish, promote and have an unwavering fidelity towards, the Original (Old) Catholicism of the first millennium, as was defined by St. Vincent of Lerin and handed down to us by Archbishop Arnold Harris Mathew; and to conform to Archbishop Mathew’s Declaration of Autonomy and Independence of 1915.

 

All Members of this Society must understand the responsibility that each one has incumbent upon them to fulfil their role within the Society as a whole. Each Member must be absolutely sure that they wish to join the Society, whether as a Cleric or as laity. Before the candidate for membership may be enrolled as a full Member of the Society, they must be very clear about what they are agreeing to, and what will be expected of them. In order to facilitate this, a period of discernment will be prescribed by the Leadership Team, and during that discernment period they will be given an existing Member as a guide and mentor with whom they must keep in regular contact. During this period, they will also be required to attend prescribed liturgical functions as decided by their mentor and the Leadership Team.

 

In order to become a full Member of the Society, each candidate will be expected to fully embrace the Society’s Rule. All of the Society’s beliefs, traditions, structures and the high moral standards of the Society, as contained within the Rule, will be used as the pattern for a Member’s lifestyle. Each new Member will be expected to accept this Rule, and to demonstrate a fidelity to the Rule by how they live and with their bearing. No matter what the candidate’s history may have been like, knowing that all Saints have a past, and all sinners have a future, and that forgiveness is available to the penitent, their behaviour from the time of accepting the Rule must reflect clearly the beliefs of the Society, and they must be competent at being a representative of the Society in the world at large. Should the Rule be broken by a Member, they will need to face a discipline, which will be decided upon by the Leadership Team and also by the nature of the offence. Whilst the Rule may be added-to or amended by the Leadership Team, the Rule will never be altered in order to accommodate Member’s lifestyles, preferences or abilities. Failure to keep the Rule may result in dismissal. Should any Member experience particular difficulties in keeping the Rule, they will be counselled regarding their particular difficulty by their mentor.

 

The most important part of the candidate’s discernment process, prior to their full membership, will be in their eventual ability, or inability, to definitively answer the following question: ‘For the greater glory of God, will you keep this Rule?’

 

2. To use, to attend, to promote and to love, the ‘Immemorial Mass of the Ages’, as was faithfully translated into the vernacular by Archbishop Mathew; and also, to adhere to the Canonical Hours of the Society, together with all other liturgies and devotions as authorised and commended by the Society.

 

Members shall foster daily devotions which include the Angelus, the Rosary and Litanies; to pray for departed members of the Society, and for its Bishops and Priests to offer Holy Mass for them. To devoutly take part in the Holy Mass on all the principal Feasts of the Church and all the major Saint’s days. To engage in pastoral and apostolic work according to available opportunities under the guidance of the local Chapter Officers and the General Council.

3. To attend the Society’s annual retreat, to attend the special Feasts which are chosen by the Society        as having special importance or significance, to endeavour to attend Society’s Holy Week Triduum liturgy.

 

4.   To develop and nurture a deep spirituality and to bind themselves to a disciplined prayer life, whatever the member’s role, function or station in life is. To foster a life of ‘Sacramental Living’,            and to demonstrate to the world what it means to be a Christian who is faithful to the Church of the Apostles.

 

SACRAMENTAL LIVING

To live a life of complete allegiance to Jesus Christ, and in total fidelity to the teachings of His Apostles; to be pure in mind and heart, and stout of conscience: thus, must the Member be in their unwavering service of the Master, and all for the greater glory of God. This is why it is crucially important that our spirituality must not be seen as a separate compartment marked ‘sacred’, and with everything else in our life marked ‘secular’ : rather, everything in our life must be marked ‘sacred’, and in this wise do we answer the question: How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? (Psalm 137:4). Sacramental Living means demonstrating to the people in this ‘strange land’, a land without God, what the definition of a sacrament truly is: an outward sign of inward grace; and to achieve this, everything that we think, everything that we say, everything that we do, and what we avoid doing, and every relationship that we have, is done in the light of the Gospel of Christ. This means having an open and continuous dialogue with God, it means setting aside time for prayer throughout the day, and every day; it means reading the Word of God every day, so that ‘his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night’, (Psalm 1:2); it means offering, or attending, Holy Mass every day is possible, and by so doing, purifying ourselves of all traces of evil. It means not being blinded by this ‘strange land’ and grasping at everything that it has to offer, but rather living frugally and without constantly trying to ‘fill our barns’ (Luke 12:16). Sacramental Living means to bind oneself to a life of prayer and charity to all peoples; to read daily, and meditate upon, the Word of God, and to live as a child of God.

Sacramental Living means having one’s loins girt with chastity, the breast fortified by prayer and holy meditations, since without prayer we cannot expect salvation: it means putting-on holiness as a breastplate, which will enable us to love the Lord our God with all the heart and soul and strength, and our neighbour as oneself. Faith must be our shield on all occasions, and with it will we be able to quench all the flaming darts of the wicked one.

On the head must be set the helmet of salvation, and to be confident in our faith of our salvation which comes through our Saviour, Jesus Christ.

As regards the Superiors of the Society, and all the clergy, and anyone holding office, the direction of the Apostle Paul must be borne in mind at all times: ‘The greatest among you shall be your servant’, (Matthew 23:11). ‘Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, ‘If anyone wants to be first, he must be the last of all and the servant of all’, (Mark 9:35). ‘But it shall not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant’, (Mark 10:43). ‘But you shall not be like them. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves’, (Luke 22:26).

5. To live a life of holy Chastity, whatever one’s role, position and station in life is; and to model marriage upon the Covenant relationship between Christ and His Church.

Members of the Society can be married, single or voluntarily celibate, in all cases, however, all members are to remain Chaste. Chastity, as a core, Christian virtue, must be practiced at all times by every member, as our Lord Jesus Christ commands and as the Apostles taught.

Chastity means abstaining from any sexual relationship outside of a valid and lawful marriage: it means abstaining from any sexual behaviour, or sexual act, or impure behaviour, or impure engagement with another person, or any sexual conversation or jokes, or any other sexual, impure or lewd act, behaviour or experience, in any form.

An intimately sexual relationship is reserved for the married persons alone: and this marriage must be one of fidelity between one husband and one wife throughout the marriage. Anything at all of a sexual or erotic nature has no place in the life of the Christian outside of marriage.

In Catholic morality, chastity is placed opposite the deadly sin of lust, and is classified as one of seven virtues. The moderation of sexual desires is required in order to be virtuous. Every member of the Society must model this virtue to an increasingly faithless and amoral world.