Liberal Catholic Church – Jim Voirol and Robert Ellwood

The Liberal Catholic Church … Originating in England around 1916, the LCC emerged from a dispute in the Old Catholic Church (OCC) in England, a branch of the OCC in the Netherlands.

In 1920, Charles Leadbeater, a Theosophist, published “The Science of the Sacraments.” Within it he details the ways the liturgy not only brings the energy of the Christ to the people through the Eucharist, but also the way the ceremony affects the astral plane. He claims that the Eucharist creates a thought-form that, in the astral, builds a basilica similar to Hagia Sophia in Istanbul. The completed Eucharist form looks like a church or basilica, with a central structure and four spires or corner columns. Throughout the book, Leadbeater does a detailed analysis of how each part of the liturgy erects a portion of the thought-form. Each part is visually depicted according to Leadbeater’s description, made while clairvoyantly observing the liturgy. Similarly, Leadbeater details the way the vestments channel energetic flow.