Dissident Church Leader Preaches in L.A. : Religion: Ex-priest seeks to expand independent African-American Catholic congregation.

Former Roman Catholic priest George A. Stallings, who created a furor last summer when he founded an independent African-American Catholic congregation in Washington, brought his fiery revival-style preaching to Los Angeles this week during well-received appearances in two black Protestant churches.

On Thursday night at the First African Methodist Episcopal Church on Harvard Boulevard, Stallings repeatedly brought a crowd of 800 to its feet, cheering and clapping, as he shouted out a challenge for them to develop faith “that can move mountains.”

As he danced about the stage behind the pulpit, a choir of 100 swayed to the rhythm of drums and an electric organ, belting out gospel hymns.

Stallings, who is seeking to expand branches of his Imani Temple to other major U.S. cities, announced that he will be consecrated a bishop next month by an archbishop of an “Old Catholic” order that traces its lineage to Utrecht, Holland, during the 1870s.

In February, a spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Stallings had “excommunicated himself” by establishing the 1,400-member Imani Temple in defiance of Washington Cardinal James Hickey and by publicly disagreeing with a number of church teachings, including its ban on ordaining women.

Old Catholic Archbishop Richard Bridges of Highland said in an interview at Faith United Methodist Church--where Stallings spoke to about 150 people Wednesday night--that he would consecrate Stallings during ceremonies in Washington on May 12. The Old Catholic Church represents about 2,000 parishes scattered throughout the United States, Bridges said.

The Old Catholic movement dates to a dispute among Dutch Catholics who reacted against the declaration of papal infallibility made at the First Vatican Council of 1869-70.

The Old Catholics have retained most Roman Catholic doctrines but rejected ecclesiastical unity under the Pope, Bridges said.

Father Gregory Coiro, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, said that although the Roman Catholic Church recognizes Old Catholic (Utrecht) ordinations as being in the historic line of succession originating with the Apostle Peter, it considers the actions of Old Catholic clergy illegal.

“They lack the apostolic mandate which can come only from the Pope,” Coiro explained.

Stallings’ ecclesiastical status seemed unimportant to the congregants who responded to the Bible-quoting preacher by clapping, raising their arms and shouting encouragements.

Alternating between humor and good-natured scolding, Stallings told the United Methodist gathering that “too many church folk are sitting on the premises rather than standing on the promises” of God.

“We need to give our people a sense of ownership and empowerment,” Stallings said later, “so they can worship in their own way. Churches thriving in the black community are those where they hear the Gospel in a tangible cultural and ethnic context.”

Methodist seminarian Jeff Sanders of the School of Theology at Claremont said Stallings’ preaching was “very similar to (that of) successful black preachers, regardless of denomination. It’s the identity question, the cultural black tradition. . . . Successful black churches are reclaiming their roots.”

Earlier during his current preaching circuit, Stallings spoke to a crowd of 1,100 packed into a rented hall in Philadelphia. He is scheduled to speak in churches in Oakland and Tacoma, Wash., before returning home next week.

Eventually, he said, he hopes to establish a branch of his African-American Catholic Church in Los Angeles. He has two congregations in the Washington area and one in Norfolk, Va.