Editing Independent Catholicism (section)

===Conditional consecrations and ordinations===

[[Conditional sacrament|Conditional consecrations and ordinations]] complicate conversations on the historical origins of the Independent Catholic movement and its communities. Plummer writes: "Many independent bishops have been consecrated multiple times, in an effort to ensure sacramental validity and consolidate claims to the historic [[episcopate]]. Such consecrations, in which literally dozens of 'lineages' can be transmitted from one bishop to another, only increase the difficulty of accurately describing the ancestry of any given group."{{sfn|Plummer|2004|p=14}} He says that this "crossbreeding of ecclesiastical lineage" has reached such a point that most Independent Catholic clergy share most or all of their heritage in common, even if this shared heritage has not contributed in any way toward jurisdictional unity.{{sfn|Plummer|2004|p=127}}