With regard to Mr. Ted Ott's commentary on the Immaculate Conception, armchair theology has been one of the biggest downfalls of Old Catholics who seem to think that limiting their theological education to a ethnocentric anthology of Old Catholic documents (e.g. the Quadrilateral Treaty of Chicago Lambeth, the Treatise of Bonn, the 14 Theses of the Old Catholic Union etc.) make them theological experts. There are FEW (if any) Old Catholic clergy who have more than a "Readers Digest" education in Church History, Theology or Hermeneutics. Most could not make it past Book IV of the Baltimore Catechism. The majority are disenfranchised, disgruntled Catholics who were rejected by Roman Catholic Religious Communities because they felt they new better than 2000 years of Church teaching. And a good many have been labled the "last angry man" as is the case with Mr. Ott. If Mr. Ott (who asserts that he is not on ly an Old Catholic but also a priest AND a Bishop of the Old Catholic movement) was adequately and legitimately educated beyond the Baltimore Catechism, then perhaps he would not have engaged in such things as baptizing dead infants solely to placate parents who failed to baptize their child before the child died. And perhaps if Mr. Ott spent more of his time doing legitimate ministry instead of inventing Religious orders and "playing church" along with his life-long hatred of and preoccupation with pointing out the errors of the Roman Catholic Church, he might actually make a difference in people's lives. Then again, what can you expect from a man who abandoned his ministry and congregation, left his former Bishop and jurisdiciton holding the bag for space he rented and walked away from and decided that he was single-handedly going to destroy the Roman Catholic Church. Shades of Pope Leo XIII and the dialogue between Christ and satan.

Archbishop Michael Stephen, C.Ss.C., PhD (both doctrates earned, not "purchased")
Presiding Bishop
Tradtional Old Roman Catholic Church
Ultrajectine Tradition

With regard to Mr. Ted Ott's commentary on the Immaculate Conception, armchair theology has been one of the biggest downfalls of Old Catholics who seem to think that limiting their theological education to a ethnocentric anthology of Old Catholic documents (e.g. the Quadrilateral Treaty of Chicago Lambeth, the Treatise of Bonn, the 14 Theses of the Old Catholic Union etc.) make them theological experts. There are FEW (if any) Old Catholic clergy who have more than a "Readers Digest" education in Church History, Theology or Hermeneutics. Most could not make it past Book IV of the Baltimore Catechism. The majority are disenfranchised, disgruntled Catholics who were rejected by Roman Catholic Religious Communities because they felt they new better than 2000 years of Church teaching. And a good many have been labled the "last angry man" as is the case with Mr. Ott. If Mr. Ott (who asserts that he is not on ly an Old Catholic but also a priest AND a Bishop of the Old Catholic movement) was adequately and legitimately educated beyond the Baltimore Catechism, then perhaps he would not have engaged in such things as baptizing dead infants solely to placate parents who failed to baptize their child before the child died. And perhaps if Mr. Ott spent more of his time doing legitimate ministry instead of inventing Religious orders and "playing church" along with his life-long hatred of and preoccupation with pointing out the errors of the Roman Catholic Church, he might actually make a difference in people's lives. Then again, what can you expect from a man who abandoned his ministry and congregation, left his former Bishop and jurisdiciton holding the bag for space he rented and walked away from and decided that he was single-handedly going to destroy the Roman Catholic Church. Shades of Pope Leo XIII and the dialogue between Christ and satan.

Archbishop Michael Stephen, C.Ss.C., PhD (both doctrates earned, not "purchased")
Presiding Bishop
Tradtional Old Roman Catholic Church
Ultrajectine Tradition