About Our Diocesan Family

Our diocese is made up of a family of Catholic parishes, ministries, and people who work, worship, and serve within a variety of settings. As with any Christian jurisdiction our hearts, worship, and spiritual focus remain closely attuned to the Gospel and teachings of our Lord, Jesus.

Our Church

We are a jurisdiction of the Catholic Apostolic National Church. The CANC is the American (including Canada) component of the larger International Communion of Catholic Apostolic National Churches, which reports a worldwide population of around 4 million active communicants in 15 nations. The worldwide communion we see today is the result of Carlos Duarte Costa, a former Roman Catholic Bishop in Brazil, and the missionary work he began in 1945 with his Manifesto to the Nation and formation of the Brazilian Catholic Apostolic Church . The Church has grown steadily, by the grace of God, and currently receives leadership from it's Patriarch, Dom Luis Fernando Castillo Mendez.

The Catholic Apostolic National Church is a community of Christians committed to Jesus Christ and His teaching. We accept and believe the testimony of His Apostles, eyewitnesses of His life, death and resurrection from among the dead. They passed on, to succeeding generations, their own testimony about Jesus Christ and His life. By the proclaiming of His Gospel, and the giving of their own testimony (called the Apostolic Tradition), the Church, which the Lord instituted, was built up. The Catholic Apostolic National Church is a historic part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

More About Our History, Dom Carlos, and Dom Luis

Our Faith

Our church is a Catholic Christian family of faith. This means that we hold as part of our religious expression all the things one might expect of a traditional Christian including devotion to the normal liturgies and sacraments of the Church, acknowledgement of the communion of Saints, the use and veneration of iconography in our personal and public practice, and the continuous sacramental priesthood. We are a sacramental church, embracing the fullness of Christianity as expressed within Catholic understanding. We stand, holding fast to the teachings of the ancient faith, and choose to obey the timeless message of Christ rather than yield to the "Spirit of the Age". We are very much Orthodox Catholics in the sense that we are Traditional Catholics.

We are not however part of the Roman Catholic Church. Our parishes use pre-Vatican II liturgies, and express Catholic worship and practice in a conservative, traditional manner. Does this mean we don't respect or acknowledge the papacy? No! We acknowledge the Holy Father as "First Among Equals", Bishop of Rome, and Patriarch of the West. We pray for the Pope at every Mass, and have a good relationship with our Roman Catholic counterparts.

Our Leadership and Jurisdiction

Archbishop Randolph Brown, D.D. is the currently seated bishop of the diocese, and the first since its creation in 1995. Abp. Brown is a member of the National Council of Bishops for the Catholic Apostolic National Church, headed by Archbishop Robert Matthew Gubala, SCR.

The Bishop's throne is located in St. Paul Minnesota and his See extends throughout the states of the Upper Midwest. Our diocese has also been blessed by the opportunity to undertake missionary activities in Arizona and British Columbia, Canada. Please see the links below for more information.

Ministries

Our diocese is involved in a wide range of activities serving the people of Christ and their communities. From serving the sacraments at a nursing home to working with people with dissabilities, our clergy and people believe that their service is a means of expressing their faith and preaching Christ's gospel through action.

List of Ministries and Contact Information