Diocese of the Southwest

Released by St. George Seminary Press in 2023, Journey of Faith: The Apostolic See of Saints Stephen and Mark, by Rutherford I is a history of the present See and its people - those who went before us, laying the groundwork over the last decades and past centuries, and those who keep the faith today.

The Diocese of the Southwest was originally part of the "continuing Anglican" movement off of the Episcopal Church of the USA, though now it has long ago left that movement and professes Orthodox Old Catholicism. In 2011, it was renamed the See of St. Stephen, and in 2022, merging with the Anglo-Roman Metropolitan See of Aquileia, became the Apostolic See of Sts. Stephen and Mark since 2023, the Apostolic See of the Orthodox Old Catholic Imperial Roman Church, Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate, and the Anglican Patriarchate of Rome.

The first Bishop of the Diocese of the Southwest was the Right Reverend Robert C. Harvey. The diocese left the Anglican Catholic Church in 1982 and was incorporated as a separate entity in 1983. (That corporation was dissolved in 1989, and a new corporation was formed in 2008.) They first went to the American Episopal Church, which was separate from the Episcopal Church of the USA, but predated the "St. Louis movement continuing Anglicans." Saint Edwin Caudill (Rt. Rev. Howard Edwin Caudill, canonised in 2023) succeeded Bishop Harvey as the Bishop Ordinary. In the late 1980s, Saint Edwin withdrew his diocese from the American Episcopal Church into the Anglican Church, Inc. In 1993, Bishop Caudill was consecrated sub-conditione by Macario Ga, Supreme Pontiff of the Philippine Independent Catholic Church in diverse Orthodox and Catholic apostolic succession, thereby beginning the convergence of apostolic heritage and tradition that the Imperial Roman Catholic Church maintains today. (It is for this reason that Saint Edwin, even though he was the second bishop of the diocese, is the Apostolic Founder of the Apostolic See of Saint Stephen and Mark.) This apostolic succession included, among many others, Damian I, Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem, and Pope Cyril VI, Coptic Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria.

Damian I, Patriarch of Jerusalem
(Greek Orthodox)

Cyril VI, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria
(Coptic Orthodox)

See more history of the Apostolic See of Sts. Stephen and Mark here and here.

Historically the Diocese of the Southwest comprised the greater part of Texas, New Mexico, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. Despite the best efforts of Saint Edwin and others, the diocese went into a schism in the 1990s. The remnants of the Diocese soon became part of the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches in 2008. This included the Very Rev. Dean John Mark Vornholt, who returned in 2009, recognizing it as the authentic continuation of the Diocese of the Southwest in which he had previously served under Bishop Caudill. The new Bishop of the Southwest was the Vicar-General of the Apostolic Communion of Anglican Churches. He was subsequently succeeded by the Ivy League educated H.H. Papa Rutherford I (Johnson) of Rome-Ruthenia (then-Archbishop Rutherford Johnson), at which point it was named a Metropolitan See. Archbishop Johnson was confirmed in the Roman Catholic (Vatican) Church before taking Holy Orders in the Diocese of the Southwest.

Papa Rutherford I then as Bishop of the Southwest
after officiating at a liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Philip

The seminary of the Diocese of the Southwest, St. George Theological Seminary (now Pontifical Georgian College), which had been led by Bishop Caudill, was also re-activated during that time. And, from this time forward, the diocese was no longer part of the "continuing Anglican" movement. It was principally orthodox and catholic, merely using the Romanized Anglican liturgical rite as a matter of history.

Diploma for a Master of Arts degree in religion issued by St. George School of Theology/St. George Theological Seminary (now Pontifical Georgian College) jointly with Wolsey Hall at Oxford, signed by Saint Edwin Caudill, Bishop of the Southwest, and Bishop Francis Benning (American Episcopal Church).

Ink Seal of Archbishop Rutherford Johnson
as Bishop and then Metropolitan of the Southwest

Very Rev. Dean John Mark Vornholt

From 2008 under the leadership of then-Archbishop Johnson, the Archdiocese of the Southwest became an international jurisdiction, with presence, affiliation, and collaboration not only in North America, but also in South America, Europe, and Asia. This global Apostolic work continued, with Archbishop Johnson also representing the Archdiocese at the G20 meeting in 2010. This period also saw a massive publications programme, with the archdiocese publishing virtually all of its own liturgical books. Theological and other books were published as well.

Papa Rutherford (then-Archbishop Johnson) representing
the Archdiocese at the G20 Seoul Summit, 2010.

Archbishop Johnson visiting the Demilitarised Zone
between North and South Korea.

L-R: Papa Rutherford, journalist Dan Rather, and Explorers' Club President
Daniel Bennett at the annual Explorer's Club Dinner
at the Waldorf Astoria, New York.

With the establishment of the Anglican Patriarchate of Rome, an Old Catholic patriarchate with, following the example of Saint Edwin Caudill, Orthodox and Catholic apostolic succession that used the Anglo-Roman liturgical rite, the Archdiocese of the Southwest was renamed after its patron, Saint Stephen the Apostle and Archdeacon. The See of St. Stephen was then a Patriarchal See and recognised as the Coadjutorship of Rome. It was also known as the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church and the Imperial Patriarchate (based on its spiritual and temporal patrimony from the Roman Empire and Holy Roman Empire). This global autocephalous church was accredited to the United Nations Economic and Social Council as an organisation in special consultative status in 2019 under the name of its foundation, the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church, Inc.

Papa Rutherford (then-Archbishop Johnson) meets
with Cardinal You, Vatican Prefect of the Dicastery
for the Clergy (then Bishop of Daejeon) in 2010

Papa Rutherford with the Rt. Rev. Philip Duncan,
Bishop of the Central Gulf Coast (Episcopal Church of the USA)

During a liturgy according to the Anglo-Roman Rite, Papa Rutherford is
assisted by a priest of the former Cathedral of the Diocese of
the Southwest, First Chair of the Catholicate and Patriarchate

In 2022, the Gallo-Russo-Byzantine Catholicate was formally established, following the restoration of the Gallican Rite of the Catholic Church under the authority of the Merovingian dynasty. The Catholicate became the principal jurisdiction of the church and primarily represented the Eastern-based rites and heritage of the church. (The Gallican Rite, though associated with Spain and France, in fact had its origins in the Greek church. The Anglican Rite is a derivative of both the Gallican and Roman Rites.) In recognition of the multiple rites of the heritage of the Patriarchate and Catholicate now being fully represented, the Anglican Rite Roman Catholic Church was renamed the Imperial Roman church. Then, in 2023, the See of St. Stephen formally merged with the Patriarchate and Catholicate's Metropolitan See, the Anglo-Roman See of Aquileia. It is formally known as the Orthodox Old Catholic Apostolic See of Saint Stephen and Mark. Thus the old Diocese of the Southwest of Saint Edwin Caudill evolved over the course of over 40 years into an autocephalous Apostolic See that represents several historic rites and is the temporal successor to St. Peter the Apostle. Indeed, the Apostolic See is the single and sole continuation of the original Diocese of the Southwest of Saint Edwin Caudill, and the records of the old Diocese of the Southwest are maintained in the Stephenian Archives. The coat of arms of Bishop Caudill's See, the Diocese of the Southwest, later became the coat of arms of the Roman Coadjutorship and the Most Holy Patriarchal Basilica of Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome.

Papa Rutherford Johnson visiting the Cathedral of St. Chad in San Antonio, Texas, USA as a guest of church clergy and staff. The church of St. Chad houses the throne that is recognised as the historic First Chair of the Catholicate (see above). It is also the cathedral of his predecessor, Bishop Edwin Caudill, as Bishop of the Southwest, later renamed the See of St. Stephen and subsequently became the Apostolic See of Sts. Stephen and Mark. The cathedral itself after the schism of the Diocese of the Southwest returned to the "continuing Anglican movement" and reportedly went into the Anglican Church of America and then was under Bishop Ebeneezer Manuagwu of the Nigerian Diocese of the Good Shepherd, and later under the Anglican Province of America. It is no longer affiliated with the Apostolic See or the Imperial Roman Church.

A liturgy according to the Anglo-Roman Rite celebrated
at a mission chapel in Asia under the Archdiocese of the Southwest.

From the Stephenian Archives (the archives of the Apostolic See of the Imperial Roman Church) and the Pontifical Apostolic Library, several important documents pertaining to Bishop Caudill and the Diocese of the Southwest are shared below in the interest of preservation of history and legacy.

Attestation of communion with the Anglican Communion
via the First Chair of the Catholicate.

Letter acknowledging affiliation with the Episcopal Synod of America
on the Diocese of the Southwest (later the Coadjutorship of Rome in the Imperial Roman Church) under Bishop H. Edwin Caudill

Letter from the Very Reverend John Vornholt, here as Curate of
the Parish of the Nativity, later as Dean to Rutherford Johnson, Metropolitan
Archbishop of the Southwest (later H.H. Rutherford I)