Our Faith & Our Parish

Mary, Haven of Grace Old Catholic Church is a parish of the Old Catholic Diocese of Mary-by-the-Haven, serving Roseto and the surrounding Slate Belt.

Our life centres on the Eucharist, prayer, and care for our neighbours. We draw on the historic Western Catholic tradition, with reverent worship in English and Latin, chant, silence, and a particular devotion to the Blessed Mother.

This shared Catholic inheritance is also acknowledged in Roman Catholic–Old Catholic dialogue. The 2009 report, Church and Ecclesial Communion, recalls the Roman Catholic recognition that the Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht “possess true sacraments”, particularly priesthood and the Eucharist through apostolic succession. The joint commission describes the historical separation between the two traditions as an “inner-Catholic problem”, reflecting the Catholic inheritance they continue to share.

Our newly established diocese traces its apostolic succession through Utrecht and is pursuing admission to the Union of Utrecht as part of the development of its ecclesial life and relationships.

We welcome people across backgrounds, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Women’s ordination is part of our diocesan life. You do not need to have every question settled before you visit.

Old Catholic churches belong to the historic Catholic tradition while remaining distinct from the Roman Catholic Church because of disagreements over the scope and exercise of papal authority. These disagreements do not amount to a rejection of every distinctive role for the Bishop of Rome: the Roman Catholic–Old Catholic Dialogue Commission states that “The Old Catholic churches have however never questioned the special position of the pope in the church as a whole.”

The name is associated especially with the Church of Utrecht and with Catholic movements that rejected the definitions of papal infallibility and universal papal jurisdiction at the First Vatican Council.

Old Catholic communities are diverse. In our diocese, we maintain apostolic succession, the seven sacraments, and belief in the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Our high-church liturgical life preserves the reverence and richness of historic Catholic worship while rejecting exclusion based on gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity. We affirm Christ’s Real Presence without requiring a single theological explanation of how Christ is present in the Eucharist. Episcopal ministry is exercised within the life of the local Church.

For us, continuity with the Church’s sacramental inheritance and a welcome to those marginalised by religious institutions belong together.