Catholics not in communion with Rome or Breakaway Catholics are those religious groups that while consciously embracing Catholic tradition, have chosen to separate from the Roman Catholic Church. They differ from Protestantism in that they practice rites, rituals and devotions specific to Catholicism and do not reject a Catholic identity. Their decision to follow a separate hierarchy most often stems from a perception on their part of a need to do so caused by a failure in the institution of the church. These groups can be grouped into a number of categories:
A number of Traditionalist Catholic groups who have advocated for a restoration of many or all of the liturgical forms, public and private devotions and presentations of Catholic teachings which prevailed in the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council have left the Roman Catholic Church and begun their own religious organizations such as the Society of Pius X. Most of these schismatic Traditionalist Catholics belong to the Latin Church, although some groups such as the Priestly Society of Saint Josaphat in Ukraine are part of the Byzantine Rite.
The Old Catholic Church is a Christian denomination that split from the Holy See in the 1870s because they disagreed with the solemn declaration of the doctrine of papal infallibility promulgated by the First Vatican Council (1869–1870). The Old Catholic Church holds close to ideas of ecclesiastical liberalism (Liberal Christianity).[citation needed] The Church is not in communion with the Holy See, though the Union of Utrecht of Old Catholic Churches is in full communion with the Anglican Communion.
- Groups that broke with Rome over perceived injustice and/ or hierarchical abuses
Some groups such as the Polish National Catholic Church arose as a result of grievances relating to the second-class status of immigrant Polish Catholics by the American Irish and German dominated church hierarchy. Ethnic grievances still play a role in the church today as in the case of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in St. Louis, Missouri.
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Category:History of Catholicism in the United States Category:Catholics not in communion with Rome