The homilies in this volume were all delivered by Fr. Robert Mitchell Jr., a priest in the Old Catholic tradition, during Masses at St. Barachiel Old Catholic Church during the 2023 liturgical year. They reflect his Old Catholic stance on matters of faith and his deep appreciation for the "quadriga" -- the four most ancient senses of interpreting scripture -- the literal, allegorical, moral, and mystical.
What is an Old Catholic? Old Catholics are not Roman Catholics. They are a small, loosely-associated group of sister churches who split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1871 over various doctrinal and administrative disputes, primarily papal infallibility, the valid appointment of bishops, and particularities of Marian devotion. Because of their similarities to both the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, Old Catholics often describe themselves as "catholic but not Roman, orthodox but not Eastern."
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Robert Mitchell is a priest in the Old Catholic tradition from Richmond, VA. He is the founder of Heritage Arts Inc., a 501(c)(3) federally-recognized non-profit educational charity providing free instruction in martial arts, fitness, outdoor skills, and spiritual development (www.heritageartsinc.com). A martial artist for over thirty-five years, in 2011 he was awarded the rank of Master by the Combat Martial Arts Practitioners Association, and in 2019 became an authorized instructor of Mark Hatmaker's Frontier Rough & Tumble Martial arts program.
His writing credits include two books of homilies -- "Lift up Your Heads: A Year of Old Catholic Homilies" and "Seek His Face: Another Year of Old Catholic Homilies" -- the martial arts book "Martial Grit: Real Fighting Fitness on a Budget," the fitness bestseller "The Calisthenics Codex" (which has been in Smashword's Top 10 fitness books since its publication in 2015) and "The Wildwood Workbook: Nature Appreciation and Survival." His fiction work includes novels, poems, 'zines, comic books, and short pieces which have appeared in the Journal of Asian Martial Arts, Hulltown 360 Literary Journal, and others.
He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1983 with a B.A. in English. He and his wife are the proud parents of four children and five grandchildren.