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Sant Issa Sangham
Written by Very Rev Msgr Tony Guagliardo Monday, 07 February 2011 16:20
What is the Liberal Catholic Church and how is it different from the Roman Catholic or Orthodox Churches? The quick answer is that all three religious bodies share direct Apostolic Succession and a common two thousand years of history. But just as the Eastern Orthodox Churches broke away from Rome for theological and political reasons involving freedom of conscience and claims of Rome's infallibility in 1066, So, too did the Liberal Catholic Church (then known as the Old Catholic Catholic Church) break away from Rome in the 17th century for the same reasons.
In the case of the Liberal Catholic Church, the issue of freedom of conscience is paramount. They have also shown a more keen interest in returning as close as possible to the early Christian Community's way of life and belief.
Today with a scattering of congregations on five continents, the Liberal Catholic Church is the smallest of these three religious bodies, however our numbers are growing as modern humanity seeks a liberation of conscience and true succession of the teachings of Our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also apparently important to the modern mind that the distrust and animosity between Christians and members of other religions is pointless and must come to an end.
In that regard, the Liberal Catholic Church is quite open to the acceptance of ALL people and ALL beliefs, so long as they are peaceful in the practice of their faith and feel no compunction to harm others because of their beliefs. This is why we open our arms in peace to our brothers and sisters from the communities of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, Daoism, Baha'i, Sufism, Judaism and many other nearly decimated pre-Christian era indigenous peoples of the earth, whose religion honors and respects our Mother Earth as a Goddess worthy of our love.
Our collective Christian past has shown that we have been willing to kill in the millions, those who do not join their cause of belief. But as the blessed Gandhiji once said, "There are many causes for which I am willing to die, but my friends, there is no cause for which I am willing to kill."
In the first century of its existence, the Liberal Catholic Church followed a form of the pre-Vatican II form of worship, but in recent years we have made attempts to revive some of the oldest of the Eastern Rites, including the original Saint Thomas Christians, or Sant Issa Sangham, literally "Fellowship of Saint Jesus" in Sanskrit, which is the oldest form of liturgical Christian worship known to us. It was founded by Mar Addai at the urging of his master Saint Thomas in 56C.E.
The fact that this earliest and most successful Christian community thrived (and still thrives today) in India is the fact that India, the Motherland of Religion, as Mark Twain puts it, warmly welcomed them, not to mention the fact that there is a strong tradition that Issa (Sanskrit for Jesus) lived, learned and taught in the foothills of the Himalayas in North India for many years before taking up his ministry in Palestine.
The unearthly beauty of his teachings echoes the most ancient scriptures known to man, the Vedas, Upanishads, Brahmanas and especially the Bhagavad Gita (Song of God). For us to come to such an understanding at a time when globalization has taken hold of our world cannot be a coincidence. We believe it to be providential, showing the Will of God in our continued existence for two millennia, despite persecution by our fellow Christians and our survival despite our small numbers.
But we believe that will change in the coming years. And we hope you will join us in this most exciting time when the peace and glory of God returns full force upon the earth. We do not preach the doom of the end of days; rather, we teach the glorious return of our Lord, bringing peace, love and understanding to a world that has nearly driven itself to the brink of destruction and insanity by ignoring his true teachings.
There are many in this world through the centuries that have understood and accepted these beliefs. Great people like Saint Origen, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Mahatma Gandhi, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Neville Chamberlain, Reverend Thomas Starr King, and Buckminster Fuller.
Our Lord has never left us. Did he not say in the Gospel of Matthew,"Lo, I will be with you until the end of the world." Over 2000 years ago? And 5000 years ago Lord Krishna told us "Yada ada hi dharmasya, glamir bhavati bhata. Adyth-thanam adarmasya, Tadat manam srijamyaham, sambhawany yugay yugay " meaning "Whenever evil increases and righteous declines in the world, I will incarnate myself again and again for the sake of humanity."
We invite you, and all people, to come together in peace, in understanding and in mutual respect, to return to the Golden Age during which God gave us stewardship of this Earth. We do not seek your membership in our Church though we would certainly welcome you. All we seek is for all humankind to understand and join in common cause. We care not what you name God or how you worship Him.
For as it is written in the very first of the ancient Vedas, the Rg Veda, "Ekam sat viprah bahuda vadanti" which means, "The wise know that God is One, yet known by many names and perceived in many forms and worshipped in many ways." And over 3000 years ago, the holy Sages in the jungles of India proclaimed in the Upanishads, "satyam nasti paro dharma" "There is no religion higher than Truth." Walk that Truth with us. Our paths may not take the same steps, but we will nevertheless be walking side by side, together towards the same goal.