Union of Utrecht (Old Catholic) in the context of "Church of Sweden"

In the history of Christianity, the first seven ecumenical councils are as follows: the First Council of Nicaea in 325, the First Council of Constantinople in 381, the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the Second Council of Constantinople in 553, the Third Council of Constantinople from 680 to 681 and finally, the Second Council of Nicaea in 787.

These seven events represented an attempt by Church leaders to reach an orthodox consensus, restore peace and develop a unified Christendom. Among Eastern Christians the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Church of the East (Assyrian) churches and among Western Christians the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Utrecht and Polish National Old Catholic, and some Scandinavian Lutheran churches all trace the legitimacy of their clergy by apostolic succession back to this period and beyond, to the earlier period referred to as the Early Church.

The Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC; Polish: Polski Narodowy Kościół Katolicki, PNKK) is an independent Old Catholic church based in the United States and founded by Polish Americans that is part of the Union of Scranton.

The PNCC is not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. Since 2004, the PNCC is no longer in communion with the Union of Utrecht.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, most jurisdictions of the Eastern Orthodox Church (including the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople), the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Union of Utrecht, the Lutheran World Federation, the Anglican Communion, the Mennonite churches, the World Methodist Council, the Baptist World Alliance, the World Communion of Reformed Churches, several Pentecostal churches, the Moravian Church, and the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church. Notably, the Catholic Church is not a full member, although it sends delegates who have observer status to meetings.

The WCC describes itself as "a worldwide fellowship of 352 global, regional and sub-regional, national and local churches seeking unity, a common witness and Christian service". It has no head office as such, but its administrative centre is at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The organization's members include denominations which claim to collectively represent over 600 million people across the world in more than 110 countries.

The Bonn Agreement of July 2, 1931 is a formal affirmation which established full communion between the Church of England and the Old Catholic churches of the Union of Utrecht, including the Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands. While it allowed bilateral participation in sacraments, it does not require from either the acceptance of all doctrinal opinions. This communion has since been extended to all churches of the Anglican Communion through their synods.

The Union of Scranton is a communion of Old Catholic churches established in 2008 by the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC) of the United States, due to the fact the Union of Utrecht began ordaining women and blessing same-sex unions.

The Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands (Dutch: Oud-Katholieke Kerk van Nederland), sometimes Jansenist Church of Holland, is an Old Catholic jurisdiction originating from the Archdiocese of Utrecht (695–1580). The Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands is the mother church of the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht.

With approximately 10,000 members, the jurisdiction is currently led by Archbishop Metropolitan Bernd Wallet.