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Why not just become a branch of th Anglican Church for all practical purposes? Well, they may have recognized Anglican orders but the Roman Catholics didn't. However, the Roman Catholics DID recognize Old Catholics as validly ordained (starte with real bishops and used a valid rite).

This was their big distinguishing feature, recognized valid orders. This was very widely used until there were a ridiculously large number of priests and bishops relative to their congregations.

In recent years, most of the Old Catholics allow ordination of women, which the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize. The Polish National Church separated from the Old Catholics over the issue. As far as I know the Polish National Catholic Church separated because the U.S. Poles were sick of getting Irish pastors who did not accommodate the customs or meet the needs of the Polish congregations.