Welcome to St. Francis Liberal Rite Catholic Church.

 

We're glad you stopped by. We further hope that you find something that is appealing to you as well as something traditional. Here at St. Francis, we offer all Catholic Sacraments combined with the widest measure of intellectual liberty and respect for individual conscience.

 

If being Catholic is important to you, yet you want less guilt and fewer restrictions, then St. Francis is for you!

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We are an independent and self-governing body, neither Roman Catholic nor Protestant, but Catholic. We trace our Apostolic Succession to the Old Catholic Church of Holland, through a complete reorganization in 1916 of the Old Catholic movement in Great Britain. We draw our central inspiration from our faith in the Eternal Christ, who lives now and forever and is a mighty spiritual presence in the world, guiding and sustaining all his children.

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We've had many families come to us over the years with various horror stories of how they were denied the Sacraments at other Catholic churches (predominately Roman Catholic). Families come to us to have their children baptized, because one or more church wouldn't do it. Whether it be because the parents were not married; the parents were married in a civil ceremony; or one member of the parents was not Catholic; the parents were not members of the church or were new members; the parents have not donated enough money to the church; or the children were born out of wedlock; the godparents were either too young or too old or because the godparents were not both Catholic; or the godparents are not married to each other. We do not deny children being baptized for any of these reasons.

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We've had many couples come to us asking us to perform their marriage ceremony. Why? Because, like the children who've come to us to be baptized, these couples have been denied a marriage ceremony for various reasons. Whether they have been living together prior to marriage or one or both of them have been divorced, generally will not be an impediment to our church performing a marriage. 

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We welcome those who have been marginalized by other churches or treated like second-class citizens. When they have been denied the Body and Blood of Christ elsewhere, we welcome the divorced and remarried back to the altar of Holy Communion. We welcome diverse people who felt unwelcome in other churches for reasons of race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, economic status, age, disability, theological viewpoint, familial status, or issues of individual conscience. When other churches have said “no” to God's children, we said “yes”! Yes! to being welcome in God's house. Yes! to being loved, not for who you might be someday, but for who you are now. Yes! to participating in the most precious gift of our Lord; the gift of his Holy Body and Blood - the consecrated Bread and Wine of the Holy Eucharist.

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In the Liberal Rite Catholic Church, we focus on common worship, not common belief. People who want to be welcome to receive the Body and Blood of Christ, are welcome just the way they are in our churches.