Incardination into the North American Old Catholic Church

What Incardination Is

When a member of the clergy makes such a move (and if he/she in­tends to con­tinue as a mini­ster), the word to use is in­cardi­nation. The word cames from the Latin in­cardi­natus, meaning to ap­point. The Ro­man rite also uses the term as a rank: cardi­nal. The earliest use of in­cardi­natus was be­tween the year 1600 and 1610.

This is where you want to be if you wish to be in­cardinated into the Old Catholic Church. this is where you should start if you were--

• or­dained and/or consecrated by a li­cit bi­shop with legi­timate Appo­stolic Suc­cession;
• trained in a seminary or are currently enrolled in a seminary; and,
• can pass a criminal background check and do not oppose random drug screenings.

The Application

For incardination, please down­load the incardination form, print, com­plete it and mail to —

We look forward to hearing from you. Please remember that few of us are full-time church workers, so you probably won't get a response instantly. We will answer you however!

Diversity Promise

Incardination is solely at the discretion of the bishop, who acts with the dis­cern­ment of the Holy Spirit, plus the ad­vice and con­sent of the Pre­si­ding Bi­shop and other mem­bers of the cler­gy. If you are ask­ing to join an exist­ing par­ish, the bi­shop will also ask for input from that pa­rish's congre­gation. Our bishops only consider incardination applicants who have passed the in­cardi­nation process at the US Administrative Office in Wash­ington, DC. (See the incardination form, above.)

Women and people of color are encouraged to apply.

Incardination decisions are not be based on age, citizenship, color, creed, physi­cal or men­tal dis­ability (inclu­ding HIV sta­tus), ethni­city, family re­sponsi­bili­ties, gen­der iden­tity and expres­sion, marital status, national origin, physi­cal ap­pear­ance, race, poli­tical af­fil­ia­tion, gen­der, sex­ual orien­ta­tion, union mem­ber­ship or ve­teran sta­tus.