User:Mar elias spruit/sandbox

Foundation
The Australian Church of Antioch (ACOA) is a registered religious organization under the Government of Australia as a recognized religion. The ACOA is indebted to its founding bishops namely Frank Bugge and his wife Chearle Bugge. The duo were ordained as bishop by Herman Adrian Spruit, who was the Patriarch of the worldwide Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch, Malabar Rite (CACOA) during his visit to Melbourne, Australia in the year 1987.

Patriarch Spruit together with his wife, Archbishop Meri Louise Spruit, traveled to Australia with the sole purpose of ordaining and establishing the Australian branch of the CACOA. The Bugges were trained in pastoral and liturgical ministry with the Sophia Divinity School under the tutelage of the Patriarch Spruit.

The Revs. Frank and Chearle Bugge were consecrated to the episcopacy at the consent of the Patriarch and deemed it necessary to continue the charisms of the CACOA in the Asia-Pacific region. The then priests, Rev. Frank and Rev. Chearle, were consecrated as bishop during the public Eucharistic celebration in the St. Michael's Chapel, Alphington Melbourne in December 1987. The Archbishop Chearle Bugge, was the first Australian female clergy consecrated into the apostolic successions by the Patriarch Spruit.

During the historical ordination for the Australian branch, the Patriarch decreed an autocephaly status to the church headed by the Archbishop Frank as a independent(self-governing) jurisdiction within the worldwide Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch, Malabar Rite.

To this day, Patriarch Spruit remain an important and prominent figure in the establishment of the Australian branch. Archbishop Frank regarded the late Eternal Memories of the Patriarch and Matriarch Spruit as his mentor, teacher turned best friend, colleague, and spiritual master.

Ecclesiastical Polity
The Australian Church of Antioch is governed by the "Governing Synod", which consists of Archbishops from all provinces with voting rights to elect and enthrone the Presiding Archbishop and decide policies on all ecclesiastical matters. The member of clergies in the Australian Church of Antioch consists of female and male clergies, licensed by the Presiding Bishop to function in the Ecclesiastical Office. The current Presiding Archbishop is the Most Rev. Archbishop Frank Bugge.

While the Presiding Archbishop is regarded as the Primus inter pares among the members of the Governing Synod, s/he reserves the right to overrule any decisions that will serve the best interest for the Church.

Each Parish is independently governed by its own council or vestry officers to administer the managerial of properties and assets. Each Province may have several parishes and is governed by the primatial archbishop who may appoint bishop(s) to serve as assistants.

Clergies within the ACOA may freely receive stipends from the Parish vestry upon the council's approval. However each clergy is responsible for his/her own financial compensation thus many are actively pursue their own secular career and serve their parish voluntarily.

The Australian Church of Antioch established her own religious seminary, The St. Michael's Divinity School, for the purpose of training and preparing the candidates for Holy Orders as well as its existing clergies and lay people. The Divinity School is governed by the Board of Governors and is currently headed by The Most Rev. Glenn Clark, as its Dean of Seminary. The Presiding Archbishop reserves the full rights to award religious and divinity degrees in conjunction with the Sacramental Religious Theology and Independent Catholic Ministry for the purpose of ordination within the Australian Church of Antioch. The seminary requires its clergy to have a minimum of its Associate of Divinity for the diaconate and the Bachelor of Divinity for the priesthood as the partial fulfillment to ordination.

Spiritual Principles
The Australian Church of Antioch (ACOA) regards herself as the continuation of the ancient Church foundation prior to the established Christendom. Through the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch - Malabar Rite, she express her ancient Christianity in the unbroken lineages of the Apostolic Succession.

The Australian Church of Antioch is Christic, in that she acknowledge that Christ as the Founder and Supreme Head of her establishment thus serve the world at large as the member of the Mystical Body of Christ and seeing herself as the movement within the undivided Christian Church.

The ACOA retained her historic role within the Independent Sacramental Movement, embracing the truest sense of the "unity in diversity" that is preserving her Catholic heritage through the Holy Orders under the eternal grace of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church tracing her apostolic successions through the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the Old Catholic Church of the Union of Utrecht.

The ACOA is committed to the pursuits of the universal spirituality. Its ministry celebrate the work of the Holy Spirit by embracing the manifestation of divinity within all people regardless of their age, gender, sexual orientation, race, creed, and/or cultural background.

The ACOA understand that the Oneness of God is expressed in many forms thus open to serve all people regardless of their beliefs. It is the understanding of the Church that her mystical devotion to Christ requires her to embrace the truth in all religions as The Mysteries that God has revealed to the world. Being disciples of the Christ in ACOA means to live in the mystery of Christ in the real world. Thus, her statement of purpose according to the Constitution of the Australian Church of Antioch says that:

Sacramental Ministry
As a sacramental Church, the ACOA preserves the universal sacraments of the Church, namely the Eucharist, Reconciliation, Holy Unction, and Holy Matrimony. The sacrament of Baptism is the formal initiation into the universal Christ's Church. Confirmation is the seal of commitment to the Christian way of life and the Holy Orders (ordination) is an initiation into the consecrated life of service. In accord with the ancient practices of the Church of antiquity, the ACOA understand sacraments as the Mystery of outward visible expression of the inward invisible grace, thus embrace other spiritual practices of the Church as the sacraments.

The ACOA understand that the charism and the life of the Church belongs to everyone who seeks deeper relation with God. She practices open communion and minister the sacraments to all who sincerely seeks a meaningful spiritual life.

Any person who wishes to pursue the consecrated life of service may enquire to enrol as candidate for ordinations. The ACOA, following her predecessors in the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch - Malabar Rite, honours the universal policy of the Church for "open holy orders". Candidates for priesthood are ordained on the basis of merit and successful completion of the academic rigour and spiritual formative program. A qualified candidate will be brought to the Governing Synod for consideration as ordained clergy without prejudice to his/her gender, sexual orientation, race, colour, creed, social background, or marital status.

The Rite of the Church
The Australian Church of Antioch since her foundation in 1987 has used the Liberal Rite in her Divine Service. The uses of the Liberal Rite shows a distinctive commitment of spiritual expression of the Church Liturgical practices.

The Australian Church of Antioch acknowledged that she is part of the sacramental movement started by the Bishops C. W. Leadbeater and James I. Wedgwood to what is known today as the Liberal Catholic Church. The principal consecrator of the Presiding Archbishop Frank Bugge was consecrated by Bishop Charles Hampton, the Liberal Catholic Reqionary Bishop for the United States, in 1957. Bishop Charles Hampton was a prominent person who introduces Herman A. Spruit to Catholic Sacraments and Christian Mysticism.

The Australian Church of Antioch uses "The Science of Sacraments" by Charles Webster Leadbeater as a compulsory curriculum in her seminary studies. The Governing Synod decided to apply minor modification to the Liberal Rite by Leadbeater to re-align the previous sacramental proper of the "Piscean science" of his time to the present "Aquarian science". The ACOA also found that the sacramental science by Leadbeater adopted from the Old Catholic Missal & Ritual was specifically designed to support masculine energetical current and it appears problematic to support the energetical current of the female clergy during the Mass. The minor changes approved by the Governing Synod, however, allows the energetical science to work with the female clergy to channel the energetical current to the Eucharistic substance and to her surroundings. The major part of the ACOA's missal remains identical to the Liberal Rite as the Church acknowledges the mystical and spiritual contribution of Leadbeater and Wedgwood in restoring the ancient rite instituted by the Christ to the present age.

The ACOA describes her spiritual vocation within (and not limited to) the scope of mysticism, esoteric, and metaphysical charism while exemplify the ancient rites of the Universal Church (i.e. Catholic) in her ecclesiastical life. In the outset of the Church, she may look like the descendants of the Liberal Catholic Movement but since she identify herself more towards the lineages of the oriental eastern Churches, she therefore has her own distinctive charism.

ACOA mystical charism requires her to honour wisdom in all religious traditions while being devoted to her call as the Follower of Christ.