Christianity: Details about 'Utrecht Union'
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The Union of Utrecht consists of the Dutch Church of Utrecht, the Old Catholic Church in Germany, the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland, and similar movements in Austria, the Czech Republic, and elsewhere, organized into the Utrecht Union. The Utrecht Union is in full communion with the Anglican Communion, as per the Bonn Agreement of 1931. The Polish National Catholic Church in the United States was in a state of "impaired communion" with the Utrecht Union from 1997–2003, since they do not accept the validity of ordaining women to the priesthood, which both the Anglicans and the European Old Catholics (and some US Old Catholic groups not in communion with Utrecht) have been doing for the last several years. Because of this refusal to ordain women, the 2003 International Old Catholic Bishops' Conference stated that "…full communion, as determined in the statute of the IBC, could not be restored and that therefore, as a consequence, the separation of our Churches follows." In effect, the PNCC was expelled from the Union of Utrecht not because it refused to ordain women, but because it continued to refuse full communion with those Churches in the Union which do ordain women. However, in 2004, St. John's Cathedral in Toronto was reconciled with the Union. At present, there are no Old Catholic Jurisdictions in the United States that are considered to be in communion with the churches of the Utrecht Union. Utrechter Union der Altkatholischen Kirchen Unie van Utrecht (kerkelijk) Unia Utrechcka Kościołów Starokatolickich
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