Editing Independent Catholicism (section)

==Appeal==

Upon encountering Independent Catholicism for the first time, the questions of many individuals "are often historical: 'Where did this come from? Who ordained you? Did you invent this?{{'"}}{{sfn|Plummer|2004|p=13}} Many Independent Catholics respond by emphasizing their tie to the larger [[Christian tradition]] of which they form part, the heritage they have received from larger, historic, mainstream churches, like the [[Catholic Church]] or [[Lutheran Church]]es, and their continuity of faith and ministry with those churches.{{sfn|Plummer|2004|p=15}}<ref name="Melton2018"/> Like Christians of the [[Early Church]], many see their efforts as "the seeds of a new kind of ministry that can adapt itself to the time and place of its exercise, the needs of the moment, and the people who are actually present in that particular place at that particular time. And yet is it so new? Is it not perhaps the very way that [[St. Paul]] set about spreading the [[Gospel]] and building the Church?"<ref>Bain, p. 16.</ref>

Many Independent Catholic communities look to the past, seeking to create communities according to models provided by the [[New Testament]] (e.g., home-based fellowships led by volunteer clergy{{sfn|Plummer|2004|p= 77}}) and restoring various practices of the primitive Church.{{sfn|Plummer|2004|p=70}}