Christian, Ecumenical, and Fraternal Order of Corporate Reunion | |
 | |
| Abbreviation |
|
|---|---|
| Established | 1877 |
| Founder | Frederick George Lee |
| Type | Ecumenical association |
| Headquarters | Disputed |
Primate | Disputed |
Key people |
|
The Order of Corporate Reunion (OCR), officially the Christian, Ecumenical, and Fraternal Order of Corporate Reunion, is an ecumenical association of clergy and laity of Anglican origin. The OCR was founded by Frederick George Lee, Thomas Wimberley Mossman, and John Thomas Seccombe between 1874-1877 in London.[1]: 23 Established as an Anglo-Papalist society to continue the work of the Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom,[2] its founders sought to restore an apostolic succession recognized by the Catholic Church through reordinations as a means for reunion.[3]
The founders of the Order of Corporate Reunion claimed to have been consecrated as bishops by Roman Catholic bishops. However, they did not state in public the names of their consecrators; over a century after their deaths it was revealed that cardinals Luigi Nazari di Calabiana, Domenico Agostini, and Vincenzo Moretti allegedly consecrated Lee and Mossman.[1]: 22
Following the deaths of its founders, the order fell dormant with its apostolic succession maintained, and initially revived in 1912.[1]: 24–26 Prominent members and leaders of the revived order were believed to have included Arnold Harris Mathew, Hugh George de Willmott Newman, and Peter Paul Brennan.[4] This revived Order of Corporate Reunion, upon the death of Brennan, schismed into at least three separate bodies, though the organization incorporated by Brennan and others included Michael Kline as the disputed successive primate.[5]
- ^ a b c Persson, Bertil (2000). "Order of Corporate Reunion". Pennsylvania State University. St. Ephrem’s Institute, The Vilatte Guild Extension Academy of The Peoples University of the Americas Inc.
- ^ Chapman, Mark D. (2007). "The Fantasy of Reunion: The Rise and Fall of the Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom". The Journal of Ecclesiastical History. 58 (1): 49–74. doi:10.1017/S0022046905004331. ISSN 1469-7637. S2CID 161504856.
- ^ Henry R. T. Brandreth, Dr Lee of Lambeth: A Chapter in Parenthesis in the History of the Oxford Movement, London, 1951.
- ^ Kersey, John (2016-08-08). "Death of Archbishop Peter Paul Brennan". The Abbey-Principality of San Luigi. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 2021-09-11.
- ^ "The Order of Corporate Reunion - Notice". Order of Corporate Reunion. Archived from the original on 4 June 2022. Retrieved 2022-06-04.
The following points are a matter of record: (1) all claimants recognize that Peter Paul Brennan was the Prime Bishop or Universal Primate; (2) the corporation formed by Peter Paul Brennan, Bertil Persson, Francis Spataro, and Michael Kline in 2010 has clearly defined protocols for succession outlined in Article VIII of the Articles of Agreement filed with the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri; (3) in accordance with the protocols set forth in Article VIII of the Articles of Agreement filed with the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, upon the death of Peter Paul Brennan, Michael Kline was appointed Prime Bishop of the Order of Corporate Reunion by the administrators and executors of the corporation identified by name in Article VIII.