St. Mychal Judge Old Catholic Church has moved and beginning Sunday, April 25, the church will hold weekly services at Resource Center Dallas, 2701 Reagan St., the church’s pastor, Bishop Thomas H. Hooker Jr. announced this week.
Hooker noted that while the church has been serving Oak Lawn for several years, it has been unable to publish its address due to city zoning restrictions. Those restrictions do not affect Resource Center Dallas, he said.
The church will hold eucharist services each Sunday at 3 p.m.
Hooker said that St. Mychal Judge is part of the North American Old Catholic Church, "which is 100 percent Catholic but 0 percent Roman Catholic." He explained that the Old Catholic Church is not a Protestant denomination. Because it never broke away from any other religious group, the Old Catholic Church can trace its lineage to the primitive Christian church in the Netherlands, which has been independent since its inception in the year 692 AD.
Hooker said that St. Mychal Judge, like most Old Catholic churches, has modern and progressive teachings within ancient liturgies. The church has worship services in English or Latin and the newest revision occurred 500 years ago.
Hooker said that his church encourages diversity and does not discriminate in an sacrament or ministry on the basis of citizenship, race, physical disability including HIV status, ethnicity, family responsibilities, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, national origin, physical appearance, political affiliation, sexual orientation union membership or veteran status.
This principle of unity in diversity, he said, is illustrated by a common saying in the church: "They made room in the church for someone like me, so I will make room for someone like you."
St. Mychal Judge Old Catholic Church was named after the openly gay New York fire department chaplain who was killed on Sept. 11, 2001. The church’s website is www.MychalJudge.com.
This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition April 23, 2010.