diff --git a/WHATSNEW b/WHATSNEW
index 89df3984f..e5a220f4c 100644
--- a/WHATSNEW
+++ b/WHATSNEW
@@ -248,6 +248,9 @@ Fixed bugs:
 * <splash> could fail on JVMs that use null to indicate the system classloader.
   Bugzilla Report 23320.
 
+* <xmlcatalog>s only worked when defined inside of tasks.  Bugzilla
+  Report 20965.
+
 Other changes:
 --------------
 * All tasks can be used outside of <target>s.  Note that some tasks
diff --git a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/xmlvalidate.xml b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/xmlvalidate.xml
index 76c26fcce..7dcd5af19 100644
--- a/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/xmlvalidate.xml
+++ b/src/etc/testcases/taskdefs/optional/xmlvalidate.xml
@@ -25,6 +25,16 @@
     </xmlvalidate>
   </target>
 
+  <target name="xmlcatalogViaRefid">
+    <xmlcatalog classpath="xml" id="cat">
+      <dtd publicID="-//stevo//DTD doc 1.0//EN" location="doc.dtd"/>
+    </xmlcatalog>
+    <xmlvalidate warn="false">
+      <xmlcatalog refid="cat"/>
+      <fileset dir="xml" includes="**/about.xml"/>
+    </xmlvalidate>
+  </target>
+
   <target name="xmlcatalognested">
     <xmlvalidate warn="false">
       <fileset dir="xml" includes="**/about.xml"/>
diff --git a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/XMLCatalog.java b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/XMLCatalog.java
index ac4002432..39cb4ddf5 100644
--- a/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/XMLCatalog.java
+++ b/src/main/org/apache/tools/ant/types/XMLCatalog.java
@@ -208,7 +208,7 @@ public class XMLCatalog extends DataType
      * @return the elements of the catalog - ResourceLocation objects
      */
     private Vector getElements() {
-        return elements;
+        return getRef().elements;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -217,7 +217,7 @@ public class XMLCatalog extends DataType
      * @return the classpath
      */
     private Path getClasspath() {
-        return classpath;
+        return getRef().classpath;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ public class XMLCatalog extends DataType
      * @return the catalog path
      */
     public Path getCatalogPath() {
-        return this.catalogPath;
+        return getRef().catalogPath;
     }
 
 
@@ -421,17 +421,6 @@ public class XMLCatalog extends DataType
         if (!elements.isEmpty()) {
             throw tooManyAttributes();
         }
-        // change this to get the objects from the other reference
-        Object o = r.getReferencedObject(getProject());
-        // we only support references to other XMLCatalogs
-        if (o instanceof XMLCatalog) {
-            // set all elements from referenced catalog to this one
-            XMLCatalog catalog = (XMLCatalog) o;
-            setElements(catalog.getElements());
-        } else {
-            String msg = r.getRefId() + " does not refer to an XMLCatalog";
-            throw new BuildException(msg);
-        }
         super.setRefid(r);
     }
 
@@ -443,6 +432,10 @@ public class XMLCatalog extends DataType
     public InputSource resolveEntity(String publicId, String systemId)
         throws SAXException, IOException {
 
+        if (isReference()) {
+            return getRef().resolveEntity(publicId, systemId);
+        }
+
         if (!isChecked()) {
             // make sure we don't have a circular reference here
             Stack stk = new Stack();
@@ -472,6 +465,10 @@ public class XMLCatalog extends DataType
     public Source resolve(String href, String base)
         throws TransformerException {
 
+        if (isReference()) {
+            return getRef().resolve(href, base);
+        }
+
         if (!isChecked()) {
             // make sure we don't have a circular reference here
             Stack stk = new Stack();
@@ -515,6 +512,16 @@ public class XMLCatalog extends DataType
         return source;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @since Ant 1.6
+     */
+    private XMLCatalog getRef() {
+        if (!isReference()) {
+            return this;
+        }
+        return (XMLCatalog) getCheckedRef(XMLCatalog.class, "xmlcatalog");
+    }
+
     /**
      * The instance of the CatalogResolver strategy to use.
      */
@@ -576,9 +583,8 @@ public class XMLCatalog extends DataType
                     && getCatalogPath().list().length != 0) {
                         log("Warning: catalogpath listing external catalogs"
                             + " will be ignored", Project.MSG_WARN);
-                        log("Failed to load Apache resolver: "
-                            + ex, Project.MSG_DEBUG);
                     }
+                log("Failed to load Apache resolver: " + ex, Project.MSG_DEBUG);
             }
         }
         return catalogResolver;
diff --git a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XmlValidateTest.java b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XmlValidateTest.java
index 80799ce2a..ce287e1e8 100644
--- a/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XmlValidateTest.java
+++ b/src/testcases/org/apache/tools/ant/taskdefs/optional/XmlValidateTest.java
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 /*
  *  The Apache Software License, Version 1.1
  *
- *  Copyright (c) 2002 The Apache Software Foundation.  All rights
+ *  Copyright (c) 2002-2003 The Apache Software Foundation.  All rights
  *  reserved.
  *
  *  Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -125,6 +125,13 @@ public class XmlValidateTest extends BuildFileTest {
         executeTarget("xmlcatalog");
     }
 
+    /**
+     *
+     */
+    public void testXmlCatalogViaRefid() {
+        executeTarget("xmlcatalogViaRefid");
+    }
+
     /**
      * Test that the nested dtd element is used when resolver.jar is not
      * present.  This test should pass either way.