The homilies in this volume were all delivered by Fr. Robert Mitchell Jr., a priest in the Old Catholic tradition, during Holy Eucharist services 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."