Dear FJ290,
I don't know if you may have missed #76, which relates the validity of Old Catholic Holy Orders to that of the Polish National Catholic Church.
sitetest
No, I did not miss it. Interesting comment I found by a priest, Father Robert Auman, on Ask Father.net
He said that no Bishop can be validly ordained that is outside the communion of the Catholic Church.
Another priest stated, Father John T. Zuhlsdorf, that if the Old Catholics orders were valid at one time, they certainly aren't now because the Bishops that were validly ordained in the Roman Catholic Church that broke with Rome and went over to the OCC, had now all died off, therefore making null and void apostolic succession.
I am aware that in May of 2006 there was some progress for unity with the Polish National Church. One of their demands is that we recognize the validity of their orders.
Here's my question to you, layman to layman. The Polish National Church is actually not as splintered as the Old Catholics churches. Many of the Old Catholic churches are independents. Neither church entity recognizes the Papacy, the Polish National Church says that original sin is not passsed on to succeeding generations and they reject the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Old Catholic church is known for admitting unrepentant homosexuals into their "priesthood" and accepting homosexuals into their laity without repentance. The OCC doesn't reject divorce or contraception.
With those points in mind, how could any of their clergy be validly ordained?
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia on Holy Orders:
"For lawful ordination the bishop must be a Catholic, in communion with the Holy See, free from censures, and must observe the laws prescribed for ordination. He cannot lawfully ordain any except his own subjects without authorization.
Therefore, any subject outside the Church, rejecting her teachings, wouldn't be a lawful ordination. Do you see my point?