Apparently on the 8th of last month (Virgin de La Inmaculada Concepción) this ‘bishop’ went ahead and celebrate a church service in this decommissioned church, which is now a privately owned building, as are most of the ruined houses in this tiny hamlet that lies within the Municipality of El Pinar.

The hamlet is easy enough to find as it is at the beginning of the Alpujarra access road on the first junction after coming off the autovía at Béznar.

Now, not only does this ‘bishop’ not belong to the archdiocese but apparently he doesn’t even belong to the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Archbishop of Granada told churchgoers not to be fooled into attending these Mass services.

Well, that’s the Archbishop’s take on it, but what do the faithful who attended this Mass think about it?

Well, news of the upcoming Mass was sent out on the Whatsapp account of the Asociación Tablate Histórico, which is led by Ibán Guardiola. The Mass would be given by Bishop Antonio Jiménez, who would afterwards bless the houses and fields of Tablate followed by a community lunch.

And that’s what happened.

So, who is, exactly, the bishop who isn’t a bishop? Bishop Jiménez belongs to the Iglesia Veterocatólica de Santa Filomena, which is an order that exists outside the Catholic Church and is based in Valencia.

If you look up Antonio Jiménez on his social-media accounts you will see that he describes himself as an expert in exorcism. Dig out your trusty Tubular Bells LP before continuing!

Now, this has turned into a 3-way conflict: Vicar General, the ex-monk (Guardiola ) who bought the church building from the archdioceses and the Asociación Tablate Histórico.

Ex-monk Guardiola, who organised the Mass, says that if the building has been decommissioned (its holy status withdrawn) then they can hold whatever sort of gathering they want there, be they religious or not. He said they are perfectly entitled to hold a rock concert there if they wish. He insists that the church building is no longer a church as the whole project is aconfessional as opposed to being confessional.

The Asociación Tablate Histórico, whose members go to the abandoned village virtually every Sunday to restore the buildings there as volunteers, are not happy with Guardiola, and says that if he carries on like this they will cease to do volunteer work there on Sundays.

The Vicar General is basically unhappy that having sold the church, somebody is holding alternation (competition) church ceremonies there, Roman Catholicism being the one true faith sort of thing.

Lastly, who are the La Iglesia católica antigua or veterocatólica? The Old Catholic movement refers to any of the groups of Western Christians who believe themselves to maintain in complete loyalty the doctrine and traditions of the undivided church but who separated from the See of Rome after the First Vatican council of 1869–70.

Quoting from good-old Wikipedia: “Two groups of Old Catholic Churches currently exist: the Union of Utrecht (UU) and the Union of Scranton (US). Neither group is in full communion with the Holy See. Member churches of the Union of Utrecht are in full communion with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden and the Anglican Communion; and many UU churches are members of the World Council of Churches.”

So, does this bishop Jiménez belong to a sect? Not really; just because the Vatican doesn’t recognise them, it doesn’t mean that they are not established christian churches

Amen

(News/Noticias: Tablate, El Pinar, Valle de Lecrin, Granada, Andalucia)