Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church

History

Costa was an outspoken critic of the regime of Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas (1930–1945) and of the Vatican's alleged relationship with fascist regimes. He also publicly criticized the dogma of papal infallibility and Roman Catholic doctrines on divorce and clerical celibacy. As a result of his outspoken views, Costa resigned from his office of bishop of Botucatu in 1937 and was appointed to a titular see.

In 1940 Cardinal Sebastião da Silveira Cintra, archbishop of Rio de Janeiro, permitted Costa, as titular bishop of Maura, to co-consecrate Bishop Eliseu Maria Coroli. Costa continued to criticize the government and the Roman Catholic Church, advocating policies that were regarded by the authorities as Communist. In 1944 the Brazilian government imprisoned him, but later freed him under political pressure from the United States and Great Britain.

In May 1945 Costa gave newspaper interviews accusing Brazil's Papal nuncio of Nazi-Fascist spying, and accused the Vatican of having aided and abetted Hitler. In addition, he announced plans to set up his own Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church, in which priests would be permitted to marry (and hold regular jobs in the lay world), and bishops would be elected by popular vote.

On June 1945, Costa established the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church (ICAB). Costa's act of schism resulted in his automatic excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church, later Costa was declared a vitandus – a person to be avoided by Roman Catholics – and those Roman Catholics who became adherents of ICAB were excommunicated also. According to Peter Anson, Costa was excommunicated "for attacks against the papacy,".

In 1949, the Brazilian government temporarily suppressed all public worship by ICAB, because its liturgy and its clerical attire would result in confusion by being indistinguishable from those of the Roman Catholic Church and were tantamount to deception of the public. However, a few months later ICAB churches were permitted to reopen, provided that their liturgy would not duplicate the Roman Catholic liturgy, and their clergy would wear gray clerical attire in contrast to the black attire worn by Roman Catholic clergy.

Costa implemented reforms in ICAB of what he saw as problems in the Roman Catholic Church. Clerical celibacy was abolished, though he himself never married and remained celibate. Rules for the reconciliation of divorced and remarried persons were implemented. The liturgy was translated into the vernacular, clergy were expected to live and work among the people, and support themselves and their ministries, by holding secular employment.

Shortly after founding ICAB Costa consecrated two bishops, Salomão Barbosa Ferraz in 1945 and Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez in 1948. Costa, Ferraz, and Mendez established similar autonomous National Catholic Apostolic Churches in several other Latin American countries. Costa was consecrator or co-consecrator of 11 additional bishops, each of whom took a leadership role in either ICAB or one of the other National Churches.

Ferraz left ICAB in 1958. Ferraz reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church in 1960 and his episcopal consecration was recognized as valid. Shortly thereafter, in 1961, Costa died and ICAB underwent several years of tumult as dissensions, schisms, and multiple claimants to the patriarchal throne threw the church into disarray. After this short period, the church found stability and growth under Mendez, Costa's successor.

Some sources indicate that Mendez assumed leadership of ICAB upon Costa's death in 1961, In 1982 Mendez was elected president of the Episcopal Council, and was designated as Patriarch of ICAB in 1988 and as Patriarch of Iglesias Católicas Apostólicas Nacionales (ICAN) the international communion in 1990. Mendez was in private talks with Pope John Paul II about permitting ICAB to rejoin the Roman Catholic Church. However the Council of Bishops had voted against rejoining the Roman Catholic Church. The bishops claimed that much suffering and torture had been inflicted largely at the urging of the Roman Catholic Church. Mendez served as Patriarch until his death. As of 2013 the head of the church was Pereira, the head of the Episcopal Council.

In 1997 Mendez agreed to intercommunion between ICAB and the International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church (ICCEC).

Beliefs and organization

The ICAB accepts the Nicene, Athanasian, and Apostles' creeds and observes seven sacraments (baptism, Eucharist, confirmation, penance, unction, matrimony and ordination). The ICAB practices open communion for all Christians who acknowledge the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The church acknowledges divorce as a reality of life and permitted in Holy Scripture and will marry divorced persons after an ecclesiastical process of investigation and baptize the children of divorced or single parents. The church also does not recognize the use of rosaries or personal confession.

ICAB teaches that birth control is acceptable in certain circumstances (such as for disease prevention). It opposes abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and any other taking of human life. The church has three administrative branches, in line with the conception of a nation state: executive (episcopal council), legislative (national council), and judicial (superior ecclesiastical court). There are currently 52 bishops and 39 dioceses within Brazil. The official motto is Deus, Terra e Liberdade ("God, Land and Freedom").

According to Roger Bastide, "...since 1945 its priests have been attending Umbanda spiritism séances, blessing statues of the Virgin identified with Yemanjá, saying mass in macumba sanctuaries..."

Apostolic succession

The ICAB holds that apostolic succession is maintained through the consecration of its bishops in an unbroken succession back to the Apostles. All ICAB bishops trace their apostolic succession back to Costa, a former bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. Every consecration strictly follows the Tridentine rite in the vernacular Pontifical.

The ICAB cites the case of Ferraz as evidence that its apostolic succession is valid, even by Roman Catholic standards. Just over a month after the church's foundation, in 1945, Costa consecrated Ferraz as bishop. Thirteen years later (in 1958 under Pope John XXIII) Ferraz reconciled with the Roman Catholic Church and was fully recognized as a bishop, even though he was married at the time. Ferraz was not ordained or consecrated again, even conditionally; however he was not appointed to a diocese immediately. He did pastoral work in the Archdiocese of São Paulo until May 12, 1963, when he was appointed titular bishop of Eleutherna by Pope John XXIII. Ferraz participated in all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council, and Pope Paul VI appointed him to serve on one of Vatican II's working commissions. Upon his death in 1969, Ferraz was buried with full honors accorded a bishop of the Roman Catholic Church. In 2012, the Vatican declared the ICAB schismatic and does not recognize their ordinations as being valid.

International communion

Costa, Ferraz, and Mendez consecrated, or assisted in the consecrations, of dozens of bishops in various countries from the 1940s to the 1990s. Some bishops in the Costa line maintained formal ties with ICAB, but the majority appear to have gone their separate ways to found or participate in independent Catholic bodies without ties to ICAB. Such bishops have been declared as doubtful at best by the new regime, citing the claim that a defect in proper intention exists in all bishops who have strayed from ICAB. Churches in full communion with ICAB are members of WCCAC. There has been a fluctuating number of partner churches in WCCAC and a current list of official WCCAC members is not available. The last world conference was held in 2009 in Guatemala. Since that meeting there has been a reorganization in the works of WCCAC of those who have remained true to the teachings of Costa. Those churches who have obtained consecrations at the hands of Mendez or Pereira, with false intentions, as in lies and simony, are considered to be in grave sin and are not considered validly consecrated or ordained. Mendez created the Canadian Catholic Apostolic Church in 1988 and ordained to the episcopate Claude R. Baron as the first Canadian bishop.

List of bishops and dioceses

As of 2007, the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church has 39 registered dioceses, along with missions in other countries.

Province of Acre: Bishop José Geraldo da Silva

Province of Alagoas

Province of Amazonas

Province of Amapa

Province of Bahia

Province of Ceará

Province of Districto Federal

Province of Espirito Santo

Province of Goias

Province of Maranhão

Province of Mato Grosso

Province of Mato Grosso do Sul

Province of Minas Gerais

Province of Pará

Province of Paraiba

Province of Parana

Province of Pernambuco

Province of Piaui

Province of Rio de Janeiro

Province of Rio Grande do Norte

Province of Rio Grande do Sul

Province of Rondonia

Province of Roraima

Province of Santa Catarina

Province of Sergipe

Province of São Paulo

Province of Tocantins

Congregation of Saint Charles of Brazil (Philippines)

ICAB-UK founded by HH Patriarch Dom. Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez. Cardinal James Atkinson-Wake.