The Independent Sacramental Movement stands at an important moment. Across many communities, jurisdictions, and ministries, there is a sincere desire to preserve sacramental worship, apostolic faith, pastoral care, and the beauty of the Christian tradition. There are bishops, priests, deacons, religious, lay leaders, and faithful communities serving quietly and generously, often with limited resources and little recognition.

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This work matters.

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At the same time, the movement faces real challenges. Too often, we are fragmented. Too often, clergy and communities are isolated. Too often, bishops lack meaningful collegial relationships. Too often, formation is uneven. Too often, laity are not given the catechesis, transparency, or participation they deserve. Too often, independence becomes a habit of separation rather than a path toward faithful mission.

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For this reason, we believe it is time to call the Independent Sacramental Movement toward a more intradependent future.

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This is not a call for every jurisdiction to merge. It is not a call for one centralized authority. It is not a call to erase differences of rite, theology, spirituality, language, culture, pastoral emphasis, or local mission. Legitimate diversity is a gift to the Church. The sacramental tradition has always made room for many expressions of one faith.

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But diversity without communion becomes fragmentation. Freedom without accountability becomes instability.

 

Apostolic succession without shared ecclesial life becomes too easily reduced to lineage. Ministry without formation becomes dangerous. Authority without humility becomes control.

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An intradependent sacramental future asks us to become more connected, more transparent, more accountable, more collaborative, and more deeply rooted in Christ.

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A Call to Jurisdictions

To jurisdictions, we offer a call to relationship.

 

No jurisdiction needs to surrender its identity in order to seek greater communion. Old Catholic, Independent Catholic, Orthodox-influenced, Anglican-influenced, Liberal Catholic, Celtic, Franciscan, Benedictine, charismatic, inclusive, contemplative, and other sacramental communities can remain distinct while still learning from one another.

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Jurisdictions are invited to ask: How can we share resources? How can we strengthen formation? How can we be more transparent about our governance, theology, sacramental practice, and pastoral expectations? How can we protect the vulnerable? How can we support clergy and laity more faithfully? How can we build relationships with other communities without fear of being absorbed or controlled?

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An intradependent jurisdiction does not hide behind independence. It recognizes that the Church is larger than itself. It knows that its own gifts are meant to be shared, and its own weaknesses may be helped by the wisdom of others.

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Jurisdictions can begin with modest steps: shared study, clergy formation partnerships, common safeguarding expectations, retreats, mutual referrals, conversations among bishops, collaborative resources, and honest public information about who they are and how they serve.

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The goal is not institutional expansion for its own sake. The goal is greater faithfulness.

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A Call to Bishops and Clergy

To bishops, priests, and deacons, we offer a call to humility, formation, and service.

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Holy Orders are not personal credentials. They are not symbols of spiritual superiority. They are not decorations for religious identity. They are gifts entrusted to the Church for the sake of the Gospel, the sacraments, and the people of God.

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A bishop is called to be a servant of apostolic communion, not an isolated center of power. A priest is called to gather, teach, sanctify, and shepherd, not to function as a private sacramental provider. A deacon is called to embody the Church’s service, not merely to occupy a transitional role or liturgical function.

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Clergy in the Independent Sacramental Movement often serve in difficult and unusual contexts. Many are bi-vocational. Many serve small communities. Many minister to people who have been wounded, excluded, or ignored elsewhere. This requires deep pastoral maturity.

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It also requires accountability.

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Clergy are invited to seek continuing formation, spiritual direction, peer relationships, mentoring, pastoral supervision, and honest self-examination. They are invited to resist isolation, clericalism, rivalry, and the temptation to confuse ordination with personal validation.

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An intradependent sacramental future needs clergy who are prayerful, teachable, emotionally mature, theologically grounded, liturgically reverent, pastorally safe, and willing to work with others.

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It needs clergy who can say, “I am called to serve,” not simply, “I have authority.”

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A Call to Laity

To the laity, we offer a call to active discipleship.

 

The Independent Sacramental Movement will not become healthy if it is built only around bishops and clergy. The baptized faithful are not spectators. They are members of Christ’s Body. They share in the life, worship, mission, and discernment of the Church.

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Laity have the right to good teaching, reverent worship, safe pastoral care, transparent leadership, and meaningful participation in the life of their communities. They also have responsibilities: to pray, learn, serve, discern, support healthy ministry, ask wise questions, and live the Gospel in daily life.

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An intradependent sacramental future needs well-formed laity. It needs people who understand the sacraments, Scripture, tradition, prayer, Christian ethics, and the mission of the Church. It needs laity who are able to recognize both the gifts and the warning signs within communities. It needs laity who can help build stable, prayerful, loving, and mission-minded communities.

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When laity are formed and engaged, communities become less dependent on clerical personality. They become more resilient. They become more discerning. They become more truly ecclesial.

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The Church is not the clergy alone. The Church is the whole people of God gathered in Christ.

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A Call to Shared Responsibility

The future of the Independent Sacramental Movement cannot depend on one website, one bishop, one jurisdiction, one author, one school, or one program. It must be a shared work.

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Some will write catechetical resources. Some will develop formation programs. Some will build safer governance structures. Some will offer retreats. Some will mentor clergy. Some will teach theology. Some will serve in chapels, homes, prisons, hospitals, online communities, and places of hidden need. Some will quietly pray for the renewal of the movement.

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All of this matters.

 

An intradependent sacramental future will be built by many faithful contributions, not by one controlling center.

We need shared resources without possession.

We need accountability without domination.

We need freedom without isolation.

We need diversity without fragmentation.

We need bishops without episcopal isolation.

We need clergy without clericalism.

We need laity without passivity.

We need communities that are small enough to be personal, but connected enough to be supported.

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A Call to Conversion

Ultimately, intradependence is not only a structural idea. It is a spiritual call.

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It asks us to repent of pride, suspicion, rivalry, self-protection, and the desire to build personal kingdoms. It asks us to become more honest about our weaknesses and more generous with our gifts. It asks us to seek communion not as a strategy, but as a fruit of the Gospel.

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Christ does not gather us into isolated projects. He gathers us into his Body. He does not give gifts so that we may possess them privately. He gives gifts for the building up of the Church. He does not call leaders to dominate, but to wash feet. He does not call communities to hide, but to bear witness.

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The Independent Sacramental Movement has real gifts to offer: sacramental worship, pastoral flexibility, liturgical beauty, inclusive ministry, apostolic memory, and the ability to serve in places larger institutions may not reach.

But these gifts will bear greater fruit if they are joined to communion, formation, transparency, humility, and shared mission.

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This is the call before us.

To jurisdictions: seek relationship.

To bishops and clergy: serve with humility and accountability.

To laity: embrace your baptismal dignity and responsibility.

To all of us: let us move beyond mere independence toward a more faithful, mature, and intradependent sacramental future.

For the sake of Christ, his Church, the sacraments, and those we are called to serve, let us begin.