The Liberal Catholic Church came into existence as a result of a complete re-organisation of the British Province of the Old Catholic Church, See of Utrecht, by its then Presiding Bishop, Bishop James Ingall Wedgwood and his associates in 1916. The Old Catholic movement was a result of the refusal by several Church communities in Europe to accept the authoritarian decrees of the Vatican Council of 1870, including the doctrine of Papal Infallibility. Independent Dutch Catholics, in conflict with Rome, who refused them Bishops, were helped by Bishop Dominique Marie Varlet who had left Paris to take up a new post in Babylon. On his way through Holland he confirmed 604 Catholics before moving on. Deposed by Rome for this act of insubordination he returned to Holland and consecrated several Bishops, thereby establishing what is called the Old Catholic Church of Holland.