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- THE WORLDWIDE
COMMUNION OF CATHOLIC APOSTOLIC CHURCHES (WCCAC) consists of Catholic Apostolic Churches that, standing in the apostolic succession
going back to Carlos Duarte Costa (Saint Charles of Brazil) or in other apostolic successions whose validity is recognized
by the majority of apostolic sees, share the ideals and principles of Saint Charles of Brazil concerning the nature, organization
and operation of the Church, as he expressed them in the introduction to his “Manifesto to the Nation” of August
18, 1945. (Art. 1.1)
- The ideals
that WCCAC pursues take on definite form in the commitment to rediscover, enter into and implement the genuine Apostolic Tradition
with respect to the mission, organization and operation of the churches, as one finds it witnessed to in the Holy Scriptures,
in the Creeds of Faith and in the tradition and doctrine of the undivided church. (Art. 1.2)
- WCCAC is a communion of Catholic Apostolic Churches, in which all the member churches are recognized as equals. (Art 11.1)
- The reference
to the Church is to be understood as referring to the Local Church,
presided over and represented by a bishop or by one who on a temporary basis exercises his functions, in accord with what
is laid out in the present Constitution (Art. 12.1, cf. Articles 3 and 4)
- Each member
Local Church is in communion with other
Local Churches, being joined together in an Ecclesiastical Province, and, in certain cases, also in a Higher Body, constituted in a legitimate,
public, binding and permanent form.
(Art. 12,2)
- All the
bishops that preside over Local Churches have to belong to the College of Bishops of the Ecclesiastical Province
and also of the Higher Body, if there is one, to which the Local
Church would be linked. (Art. 12.3)
- WCCAC acknowledges a precedence of honor
to the Brazilian Catholic
Apostolic Church (Igreja Catolica
Apostolica Brasileira, ICAB). As result, both the President and Chancellor of its Episcopal Council are members of its Honorary
Advisory Committee. The President at the same time is President of the Honorary Committee of WCCAC and is, as such, recognized
as the symbol of unity by WCCAC (if ICAB has a Patriarch, he is the one to be recognized as the symbol of unity). Also the
measures promulgated by the General Councils of ICAB, although they are not binding for WCCAC, will be items taken into serious
consideration.
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