The North American Old Roman Catholic Church (Utrecht Succession) (NAORC), Archdiocese of California, was incorporated in the State of California by the Most Rev. Edgar Ramon Verostek in 1940, shortly after being consecrated Regionary Bishop of California by the Most Rev. Carmel Henry Carfora, founder and Supreme Primate of the NAORC.

The NAORC is a valid Roman Catholic entity not currently in communion with the Holy See.  The technical term employed by the Holy See for this type of Church is "valid Roman Catholic, but canonically independent," which means "sacramentally real, but legally out of communion with Rome."  (See "Why We Are What We Are" and "A Statement of Basic Belief" for more detailed information.)  What this amounts to, in practical terms, is that the NAORC, and other Churches like it, are able to offer purely valid Catholic sacraments to individuals who for a variety of reasons do not feel comfortable receiving them from mainline Roman Catholic churches.

The NAORC Archdiocese of California, under the episcopal leadership of Archbishop Vellone, is unique in the world of Old Roman Catholicism for being at great pains to identify as much as possible with the Universal Church, though "canonically independent" of it.  Another way to view this fact is to consider the Archdiocese of California as "non-Papal," although we feel we are part of the Pope's flock and in spiritual union with Rome through Christ.  With this in mind, Presiding Archbishop Vellone (consecrated by Archbishop Verostek as his successor in 1985) has actively sought throughout the years to establish and retain mutually satisfying working relationships with the local ordinary and clergy of the mainline Roman diocese.  The Archbishop also seeks to remind those who come to him and his clergy for the various forms of sacramental ministry that if they are Roman Catholics, their membership in the mainline Church is their first obligation, and that they should only seek him out if their consciences so dictate.

This also means that the NAORC Archdiocese of California is small in numbers -- essentially a "wayfarers' Church."  But a Church with its heart and arms open to those who come to it to receive Christ's sacramental grace.