Still Running Off at the Keyboard

As the occult explosion of the late 19th century began to unfold, a strong link was forged between the denizens of the metaphysical universe and the then burgeoning Gnostic Catholicism that experienced a new birth in the West among those disaffected by the heavy-handed centralist tendencies emanating from Rome in the wake of the first Vatican Council. Unlike its successor council in the 1960's which was presided over by taratively liberal Pope John XXIII, the First Vatican Council inaugurated an era of Roman Catholic Conservatism - the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, etc., was presented. Apostolic dissent created a generation of what came to be scurrilously called "Wandering Bishops". Many of these bishops were cast afloat by various schools of apostolic succession, including Bishop Villatte (of the aforementioned Syrian Orthodox line), the occultist Bishop Doinel, and the national Catholic Archbishop, Bishop Matthews.