Before beginning with Roman Catholicism, I need to make a clarifying statement. I am not giving a pass to Old Catholicism in its eastern forms, such as divided, evolved, and came to be known as Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodoxy or any any of its other Orthodox subdivisions – and there are many! They share many false doctrines with Old Catholicism in its western form that came to be known as Roman Catholicism.
Roman Catholicism is treated separately because of its unique standing. Unlike other deviations from the Kingdom of God and the Word of God, it is the only standing organization which goes back to ancient and Imperial Rome. In fact, it draws much of its standing on this very fact, and the self-determined inferences that it gleans from such a standing. While modern Gnosticism, which finds its current embodiment in the New Age Movement, might make this claim, the New Age Movement is a regathering phenomena. It is a regrouping of mystic tendencies which find parallels with certain characteristics of Ancient Gnosticism, which was preeminent among the first onslaughts against the Apostolic Assemblies of Jesus. Being a regathering of old tendencies, it cannot lay out a pedigree of union and, more importantly, a pedigree of authority like those of Roman Catholicism.
Gnosticism, both ancient and modern, claims a “higher” level of interpretation of God’s revelation. Old Catholicism and its evolved Roman Catholicism claims “the only proper” interpretation of God’s revelation. The former makes its case in “additional” understanding. The latter does the same in its supposed “orthodox” understanding.
In reality, Gnosticism is older, while Catholicism began its nascent rise in the second century. John and Paul wrote explicitly against Gnosticism. No apostle dealt with Catholicism, strictly speaking. The closest any such writing comes to dealing with the errors of Catholicism are found in Paul writing against the Mosaic Jews of his days who sought to merge the Law of Moses with the grace of Jesus. This group came to be known as Judaizers, a title not found in Scripture. Catholicism in its primal form embodied the exact same fatal error of the Judaizers; salvation from sin was taught as an essential combination of faith and works.
Having laid out this starting place, I will deal right away, which is only proper, with the false interpretation of the place and function of Peter, who was the supposed head and “bedrock” (pun intended) of Catholicism. Then I will examine the extremely nebulous starting position of Old Catholicism evolving into its Roman Catholic entity.