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Beliefs
The American Catholic Church in the United States affirms traditional Catholic beliefs of faith and love, spirituality, community and prayer. It celebrates the seven sacraments and adheres to the essential Catholic doctrine and practice as expressed and implied in the statements of Vatican Council II, and in the light of the best contemporary thought.
We proclaim the unconditional love and compassion of God, which embraces every human person regardless of their state or condition in life. We acknowledge the primacy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit to speak in our day through the "sensus fidelium" ("sense of the faithful") of the Catholic Church, leading to a world of justice and peace.
We seek to reach those who may have felt alienated by their prior church experiences. We believe that who a person is and how a person has chosen to live, does not separate them from the love and compassion of God; thus, The American Catholic Church rejects artificial barriers to the reception of the Sacraments based on marital status, sexuality or orientation. In particular, we place no artificial barriers in the way of the reception of Baptism, when a parent sincerely desires that their child be received into the Mystical Body of Christ.
We are a compassionate church. The difficult decisions in one's life are always harder to make alone. At such times, the compassionate support of a community of faith can be crucial. Yet such support can be difficult to find the face of "legalistic" moral pronouncement regarding the issues of divorce and remarriage, birth control, sexual orientation and complex medical issues.
Morality ought to be our response to the life of the spirit within each human person, and a loving way of life for the whole community. The American Catholic Church in the United States believes that an informed conscience, molded on Gospel values of truth, justice, compassion and love, should be the ultimate motivating force in a person's life. We teach these values with the individual person in mind and with respect for the individual human freedom and dignity. We trust that, if people are living in the spirit of truth, they will be able to decide what is just and right, both in their own lives and within society.
If these qualities speak to you, then we invite you to consider The American Catholic Church in the United States as your community of faith.
Mission
Our Mission is to follow the example of its Patron Saint, St. Francis of Assisi, in his prayer of peace:
Lord; make the people of this Church an instrument of your peace;
Where there is hatred, let us so love
Where there is injury, let us pardon
Where there is doubt, let us show faith
Where there is despair, let us offer hope
Where there is darkness, let us bring light
And where there is sadness, let us bring joy.
We ask the Divine Master, to grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console others;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love;
for it is in giving that we will receive, it is in pardoning, that we will be pardoned, and it is in dying that we will be born to eternal life.
The ACCUS and its affiliated Worldwide jurisdictions are not under the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church and are therefore not subject to the same rules and regulations. Therefore, The Community of St. Francis Pastoral Center is not associated with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Seattle.
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