Fr. Chuck.................?

Question

What is the 'Unity' Catholic Church?

Is it in union with Rome?

Answer 1

From their website:
We are an Independent Orthodox Catholic Anglican Communion within One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.

The Servants of the Good Shepherd traces it start and its roots back to the Church of Rome through Brazil and from 1973 here in the US where we reformed in 2004. The Servants of the Good Shepherd has a goal to bring the word of Jesus to as many people as they can.

We are Orthodox in our historical belief of the church and the fullness of the Gospel, we are Catholic in that we believe all Christians are truly one body of Christ.

We stand firm in our Apostolic Succession. But above all we are Christians standing for the Glory of God!
We look to renew out relationship with all those of Catholic faith.
At this time we have no formal relationship with Rome although we have the deepest respect and honor for the Holy See. We have co-celebrated or assisted Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican and Methodist Churches. We have numberous intercommunion agreements with Anglican, Independent Orthodox and Catholic denominations.

The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the Word of God;

The Creeds (as the standard of faith) mean exactly what they say;

Christian morality of the New Testament is the guide for the Church;

The Sacraments convey Grace and through them Christ is known and present;

The Apostolic ministry of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons was instituted by Christ's Apostles.

We do not compromise on matters of faith, doctrine, or morality;

The Servants of the Good Shepherd is part of the historic Holy Catholic Church, tracing its teaching and ministry to the early Apostolic Church.

Our ministry is to create a Christian Community, where God's Word is proclaimed as truth, where He is worshiped and praised as Lord and where each member is prepared for ministry and challenged to grow in the knowledge of Him so we may live our faith in love and a personal witness towards each others and the community at large.

To look at the history of The Servants of the Good Shepherd we will go back to July 25, 1945 and Bishop Duarte Costa started the Igreja Catolica Apostolica Brasileira and registered with the Brazilian government. On August 15, 1945 Salomao Ferraz consecrated by Bishop Duarte Costa united the two Brazilian churches. On Jan 23, 1949 Stephen Meyer Corradi-Scarella was consecrated for a Brazilian mission to Panama. During 1949, no month and date available, Bishop Corradi-Scarella arrives in the United States and starts the Catholic Apostolic Church in North America (later called the Old Catholic Church in America.
On June 30 1973 C.David Luther ordained as deacon and on Nov 25, 1973 was ordained a priest by Bishop Corradi-Scarella.
In 1973 C David Luther founded the Community of the Good Shepherd and in 1977 it changed its name to The Servants of the Good Shepherd.
In May of 1980 the National Catholic Apostolic Church of America changes its name to the Western Orthodox Church in America. On June of 1983 Bishop C David Luther also was the leader of the Western Orthodox Church in America and continued to lead the two groups together for many years.
Two years prior to his death, Bishop Luther retired from the Council of Bishops of the Western Orthodox Church in America (WOCA) leaving the leadership to Bishop Paul Diederich and Bishop Nickolas Careone. By amicable agreement with the other bishops, Bishop Luther retained his position as ordinary of the religious order known as the Servants of the Good Shepherd (SGS). From that time until his passing, the SGS and WOCA operated as separate ecclesiastical entities.
During the next years, the actual existence of the SGS was in limbo basically. The name SGS would have continued with the WOCA in California since it remained connected to them.
Because of my desire to see the SGS continue in its original mission, I meet and spoke to several prior SGS members during the Winter 2003-2004. We found that most of the Bishops had left the SGS and many had been left with no contact with a national SGS office. Due to an error on our part, where we were informed that Bishop Careone had passed away. ( This was given to us from a Orthodox group in MN ) Those SGS and new inquirers meet and decided to reform the original SGS. It was only after we had finished forming our group we found out that Bishop Careone, presiding Bishop of the WOCA ( California ) was actually still alive.
The decision made at that time was to ask for use of the SGS name and continue our group as a separate group no longer under the WOCA, but still tied historically to the original SGS group.

Answer 2

Who's Fr. Chuck?

Answer 3

strongly recommend not using peoples names in questions, i see my name in a question once a day, not nice at all