Archbishop John Hepworth makes plea for Christian Unity at ACCC Synod
Here's a link to the story I wrote for Catholic papers after the General Synod of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC), which was held between July 12 and July 16 in a Roman Catholic retreat centre in the Archdiocese of Vancouver. This is a shorter version now up on the Catholic Register's website.
SURREY, B.C. – At the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada’s triennial synod July 12-16, bishops, clergy and lay delegates from across Canada passed a resolution to endorse the March 12 letter its bishops sent to the Holy See seeking an Anglican ordinariate in Canada.
The synod also passed a resolution enabling the bishop and the provincial council to make all adjustments to the diocese’s canonical legislation for the formation of the ordinariate.
The ordinariates will allow Anglicans who accept the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Petrine Ministry to become Catholics while retaining their Anglican liturgy and other aspects of their patrimony.
When the resolutions came to a vote, only two lay delegates voted against, while three abstained. Among clergy, support was unanimous.
“The only thing that has puzzled me is the intensity of the opposition to us doing this from those who have no intention of doing it themselves and seem desperate that no one else does it,” said Archbishop John Hepworth, the primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), a worldwide communion that includes the ACCC.
“We are not leaving a body and going into another one. Corporate reunion means a corporate body goes into communion and in the process becomes the ordinariate.”
There's more at the Catholic Register.
The Catholic News Agency published this account, based on a letter from the dean of our Victoria cathedral that somehow got published on David Virtue's site. Here's a chunk taken from the middle of the report:
The meeting was attended by four ACCC bishops, including Bishop Peter Wilkinson, the communion’s Metropolitan and Ordinary. Archbishop John Hepworth, the Australia-based Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), was also present.
The discussion included the House of Clergy and the House of Laity and focused on the implementation of a proposed Canadian Anglican Catholic Ordinariate under the Apostolic Constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus.”
Support for the Ordinariate was unanimous in the House of Clergy and received 25 of 30 votes from lay delegates, with two members opposing the proposal and three abstaining.
The synod then passed a resolution enabling Bishop Wilkinson, with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council, to enact the necessary canonical ordinances and rules to establish the Ordinariate.
The House of Clergy elected members of the Interim Governing Council, which nominated and elected Bishop Wilkinson as the first Bishop Ordinary of the proposed Ordinariate.
Here's a link to Dean Shane Janzen's letter via David Virtue's site, but it is my understanding the dean posted it on the Victoria cathedral's website. I rather doubt he sent it off to another blog. I love the way Dean Shane closes off his report.
In closing, may I say that the focus of this Synod, as with that of previous Synods, was the worship and praise of Almighty God (made even more beautiful by the presence at this Synod of our own Cathedral Choir, Choirmaster and Organist); the proclamation of Christ's saving Truth; and faithful witness to the faith, order and discipline to Christ's one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. Those in attendance came away from Synod 2010 with a renewed sense of optimism for the future and a clear vision for the present. With the overwhelming support of clergy and laity for unity with the See of Peter and the establishment of a Canadian Anglican Catholic Ordinariate, our Diocese is now able to move forward united, renewed, and hopeful.
May we continue to be one in proclaiming the truth in Christ Jesus our Saviour, and pass the same on unimpaired to future Anglican Catholics here and around the world.
Amen to that!
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The ACCA (Anglican Catholic Church in Australia) is holding its Synod right about now, isn't it? Any coverage?
What about the Diocese of the West? It's Synod ended early July. Did they vote to move forward, refuse or want more information?
Just trying to get a handle on the movement of the ordinariate in the States.
Fr. Mark,
A report in on:
http://www.anglicanwest.org/
The "vote" was:
"Eleven (11) delegates expressed the desire to move forward toward the Ordinariate, Nineteen (19) declared a need for greater clarification of the text of the Apostolic Constitution, and Thirteen (13) delegates indicated their desire not to participate in a movement toward communion with the Roman Catholic Church."
In other words, a mess. Why is it that the Canadians have their act together and the Americans don't?
The Continuing Church in Canada has a very different history than that in America. It was always more uniformly Anglo-Catholic and had a clearer vision of a future in union with Rome. Given that history, Canadians seem more likely to see the Apostolic Constitution as an answer to years of prayer.
The American Continuing Churches have always included a wider spectrum of churchmanship, some of it vigorously anti-Roman. Let's not be too hasty to beat people up when many of those in the US who are lukewarm to the Ordinariate are only expressing reservations that would have been common in America's more Prayer Book Catholic, branch theory ethos.
Let's be grateful for what we seen in Canada and hope that it encourages people south of the border.
I continue to watch the developments around the apostolic constitution with delight. The joy and enthusiasm of those in TAC at their impending "homecoming" are positively contagious.
A quick reference to the http://www.anglicanwest.org/ website indicates about 21 Parishes. I know this is very speculative at this time but…
What if the Diocese of the West splits into two roughly equal halves? Would the half that want the Ordinariate be able to "join" the Ordinariate that is being formed by the ACCoC? Or would it be preferable to have two Ordinaraites, one in Canada and one in the USA?
One question I still have. Would Roman Catholics be able to join an Ordinariate parish, if one was close by. I know that Roman Rite Catholics can become members of Byzantine Rite Catholic parishes.
YES!