Christian Campbell
Christian Campbell is the Senior Warden of the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Orlando, FL) and a member of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Church in America’s Diocese of the Eastern United States. He is also the CEO of Three Fish Consulting, LLC, an Information Technology consultancy based in Orlando, FL. He can be reached via email at ccampbell at threefishgroup dot com.
Homepage: http://www.theanglocatholic.com/
Posts by Christian Campbell
Virtual Tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Mar 11th
The web site 360tr.com has produced an awesome virtual tour of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. As we approach Holy Week and Good Friday, perhaps the glorious images of this venerable church, which contains both the tomb in which the body of Our Lord lain before the Resurrection and the Mount of Calvary itself, will prove an aid to meditation.
In 325/326, Constantine the Great ordered that a temple of Aphrodite raised by the emperor Hadrian over the site of Our Lord’s Crucifixion and Burial (presumably in his reconstruction of Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina) be demolished and that a basilica be built on the site. His mother, the Empress Helena, was present at the construction of the church on the site, and involved herself in the excavations and construction. According to tradition, Helena rediscovered the True Cross and a rock-hewn tomb that exhibited “clear and visible proof” that it was the tomb of Jesus.
The Constantinian basilica was destroyed on October 18, 1009, under Fatimid caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah. In wide ranging negotiations between the Fatimids and the Byzantine Empire in 1027-8, an agreement was reached whereby the new Caliph Ali az-Zahir (Al-Hakim’s son) agreed to allow the rebuilding and redecoration of the Church. The rebuilding was finally completed — at great expense — by Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos and Patriarch Nicephorus of Constantinople in 1048.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is maintained under a status quo made permanent in 1852. The primary custodians are the Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, and Roman Catholic Churches, with the Greek Orthodox Church having the largest share. In the 19th century, the Coptic Orthodox, the Ethiopian Orthodox and the Syriac Orthodox acquired lesser responsibilities, which include shrines and other structures within and around the building. Times and places of worship for each community are strictly regulated in common areas.
Theologian Says Married Priests Will Always Be Exceptional
Mar 10th
Zenit is carrying an interview with Fr. Laurent Touze, spiritual theology professor at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, who spoke at a two-day conference held last week entitled, “Priestly Celibacy: Theology and Life,” and sponsored by the Congregation for the Clergy as an event for the Year for Priests.
The interview is especially interesting inasmuch as the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus and its Complementary Norms clearly foresee not only the reception of married Anglican bishops, priests, and deacons coming into full communion with the Catholic Church, but also the possibility of the promotion of married men (from within the personal ordinariates) as candidates for Holy Orders in the future (AC VI. § 2; CN 6. § 1.); far from the Church becoming more permissive of non-celibate clergy, Fr. Touze suggests that an ever-deepening understanding of priestly celibacy portends just the opposite. Most astonishingly, Fr. Touze claims that priestly celibacy ranks somewhere between a discipline and a dogma, intimating that what was once considered disciplinary could one day be regarded as revealed truth. According to Fr. Touze, the practice of a married parish clergy in the Eastern Churches is a corruption based on a manipulation of texts, is contrary to Holy Tradition, and is permitted only by way of exception to the universal norm.
ZENIT: Is celibacy a dogma of faith or a discipline?
Father Touze: Neither one nor the other. It isn’t a dogma of faith because we see married priests in the Church today such as, for example, some [priests] of the Eastern Catholic Church. Not all but some admit married priests. Or as has been reminded recently in the Holy Father’s motu propio “Anglicanorum coetibus,” published last Nov. 4: Among the ex-Anglicans who want to return to communion with the Catholic Church, there will be married priests admitted.
ZENIT: With this measure, do you think that one day, celibacy might become voluntary also for priests of the Latin rite?
Father Touze: No, because the Church is understanding more and more the relation between priesthood, episcopate and celibacy. It is something that could be likened to the revelation of a dogma, though it isn’t so at this time; one tends increasingly to understand that a practice must be promoted among all priests and also among Eastern Catholic priests which is truly similar to the one lived in the first centuries.
ZENIT: But in the first centuries there were many married priests, including the Apostles?
Father Touze: Studies have convincingly shown that this must be questioned: Celibacy of all clerics wasn’t lived, but from the moment of inclusion in the priestly order these men had to live continence with the permission of their wives, because this was a commitment of the couple.
ZENIT: Why, then, are exceptions made?
Father Touze: Historically because there has been a manipulation of texts and I believe a bad translation that the Eastern Church, which has separated from Rome and has recognized that what they had declared contrary to tradition, could be accepted. In this connection there truly are some exceptions. The Church discovered that she had the possibility of admitting exceptions but that these should be understood as such. Respectably, as the Second Vatican Council stressed, there are very holy married priests in the Eastern Catholic Churches who have contributed much to the history of the Church and to the faith in times of persecution, but they are truly exceptions and must be understood as such.
ZENIT: However, these exceptions are not made with bishops. Does episcopal celibacy have a special meaning?
Father Touze: Undoubtedly. It is very different, both theologically as well as historically. What’s more, with the constitution “Lumen Gentium,” Vatican II defined that the episcopate is the fullness of the sacrament of Holy Orders. It is necessary to discover the specificity of the episcopate and, hence, episcopal celibacy. And it can be demonstrated with the fact that for the celibacy or continence of a bishop an exception has never been made.
This is something studied by the Church on which the Roman pontificate has had to reflect more recently in contemporary history on two occasions: after the French Revolution, where some bishops, or better, former bishops, asked to marry.
This has been studied and it has been said that it is impossible, that this had never been done, that at stake was the dogmatic issue. Or still recently with the ordination of married men and married bishops that were effected in former Czechoslovakia by imposition or with the pressure of the Communist Party in power. There also the Church affirmed on the fact that the bishop must always be celibate or if he had married before his ordination because he would have to live continence from the moment of his episcopal ordination.
[Translation by ZENIT]
What do you think about Fr. Touze’s thinking and what ramifications might it have for the life of the personal ordinariates in the future?
+Hepworth on Witholding Communion from Pro-Abortion Politicians
Mar 9th
In Part II of the LifeSiteNews.com interview with Archbishop Hepworth, the TAC Primate addresses the issue of barring pro-abortion politicians from Holy Communion.
“Anybody publicly espousing an anti-life stand against the clear teaching of the Church and the commandments would be immediately removed from any office, and certainly would be told they can’t receive Communion,” he explained.
Archbishop Hepworth further notes the challenges faced by Catholic bishops in maintaining the Church’s discipline in the public sphere.
“Since Vatican II, the Church has been squeamish about its ability to discipline its laity,” he continued. “This has been a moment at which the Church has tried to rediscover collegiality, the role of the laity, the ministry of the laity, and it causes some mental conflict to then have to say to somebody, quite publicly, ‘you’ve abandoned the teaching of the Church and you are now being disciplined.’”
The Archbishop opined that it was the fear of a public rupture, where priests may side with the layperson being admonished, that has caused many Catholic bishops to hesitate in applying discipline to notorious dissenters from the Church’s teaching. Interestingly, he suggests that the greater historic role for laity found the Anglican tradition may make it easier for Anglican bishops to admonish the erring faithful.
But Anglicans are more accustomed to “disciplining their laity,” he opined, “because we’re more used to lay roles.”
Unofficial Text of Cardinal Levada’s Address
Mar 8th
The Salt + Light blog has an unofficial transcription of the talk (“Five Hundred Years After St. John Fisher: Benedict’s Ecumenical Initiatives to Anglicans”) which Cardinal Levada delivered on Saturday evening at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. Here are some excerpts. My emphases.
The recent Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, establishing—I don’t need to translate this, I suppose, it won’t come out so well in translation: “groups of Anglicans”—establishing personal ordinariates for groups of Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church, was not created in a vacuum. For many Anglicans, the possibility opened by this initiative has seemed to be a logical development of the official dialogues between the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church during the 45 year period since the end of the Second Vatican Council. Any discussion of Pope Benedict’s initiatives regarding Anglicans might therefore begin with a glance at this important history.
Cardinal Levada presents the Apostolic Constitution as the natural outgrowth of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) dialogue, of which he proceeds to provide a general outline. He recounts the several stages of the ARCIC process, set against the backdrop of the collapse of Catholic Faith and Apostolic Order in the Anglican Communion, of which women’s ordination and the homosexual movement are perhaps the most notable symptoms.
For Catholic Anglicans, he hits the nail squarely on the head.
The fundamental issue here, as many have noted, is the question of authority. This may be briefly summed up in the following two points. Does the revelation of God in Jesus Christ and in Scripture intend to let us know God’s will in a way that requires our obedience (for example, the imitation of Christ, the Ten Commandments)? And secondly, has God, in Christ, left His Church, founded on the Apostles, an authority by which it can assure that can know the correct meaning of the revelation, amidst sometimes varying human interpretations (for example, the sensus fidei, the ecumenical councils, the Magisterium of the Pope and bishops)?
The bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion have found the expression of the Church’s Magisterium in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “the most complete and authentic expression and application of the catholic faith in this moment of time” (as they put it in their original petition for corporate reunion).
Pope John Paul’s Apostolic Constitution Fidei depositum promulgating the Catechism, points out that, “It is meant to support ecumenical efforts that are moved by the holy desire for the unity of all Christians, showing carefully the content and wondrous harmony of the catholic faith.”
As we met with Anglican consultants in the preparation of Anglicanorum coetibus, these bishops and theologians themselves proposed the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the norm of faith for the corporate groups of Anglicans who might avail themselves this new instrument for full corporate union with the Catholic Church. Thus, I would also characterize the Catechism as an ecumenical initiative of Pope Benedict XVI and of his predecessor.
As Cardinal Levada notes, far from the Catholic Church imposing the Catechism on incoming Anglicans, it was the Anglican inquirers themselves, chief among them the bishops of the TAC, that suggested the text as a doctrinal standard for any future reunion. In Anglicanorum Coetibus, the Holy See is simply echoing the words of the Portsmouth Letter of the TAC College of Bishops.
Turning to the Anglican Communion, we can see the many elements that impel toward full unity: regard for the unifying role of the episcopate, an esteem for the sacramental life, a similar sense of catholicity as a mark of the Church, and a vibrant missionary impulse, to name but a few. These are by no means absent from the Catholic Church, but the particular manner in which they are found in Anglicanism adds to the Catholic understanding of a common gift. These considerations help us appreciate the Catholic Church’s insistence that there is no opposition between ecumenical action and the preparation of people for full reception into Catholic communion.
I like this! As Anglicanorum Coetibus itself states, the “liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion [soon to reside] within the Catholic Church” are “a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared.” The particular gift of the Anglican tradition will serve to enhance the common gift of revealed truth already subsisting in the Catholic Church– but imperfectly or incompletely expressed so long as brethren are separated from the One Fold.
Indeed, the first ecumenical action logically leads to the second: reception into full communion. Unitatis Redintegratio, that is, the decree on ecumenism, asserts that almost all people long for the one visible church of God, that truly Universal Church whose mission is to convert the whole world to the Gospel so that the world may be saved to the glory of God.
The Apostolic Constitution is the consummation of the Anglican-Roman Catholic conversation. The end of genuine ecumenical dialogue is reincorporation into the fullness of communion with the Successor of St. Peter and the bishops in communion with him.
This is the first time that the Catholic Church has reached out in response to men and women of Western Christianity who desire full communion and accorded them not just a place among many, but a distinctive place. This is not surprising. Twenty-eight years ago, the great historian of ecumenism, Fr. Yves Congar, wrote that if we take seriously that the Holy Spirit has been working among our fellow Christians, we have to take seriously the ways they express their beliefs. When their particular expression of faith adds harmony to ours, and ours add harmony to theirs, the logical step is to pass from talking longingly about unity to living in unity, a unity whose essence is revealed in harmonious diversity. The unity Christ desires is visible; it is not elusive or even unreachable. Likewise, the totality that Christ desires is visible. These assertions lie behind the famous teachings of Lumen gentium that the Church of Christ subsists in the Catholic Church, but it is equally true to say that the unity Christ desires for His Church can always be added to, just as there is room for another instrument in the orchestra. The totality that Christ desires does exist in terms of the elements of sanctification and truth that the Church possesses, but the sharing of those elements, then the manner of celebrating them, is still far from complete. We sometimes do not know the value of what we possess and we need the spirit-filled insights of others to recognize the treasures we have.
While taking care to disabuse his audience of too strict a comparison between the Eastern Catholic Churches and the Anglican personal ordinariates (which are situated firmly in the tradition and law of the Latin Rite), Cardinal Levada makes it clear that the new structures are revolutionary in the life of the Catholic Church. The personal ordinariates facilitate the reunion of Anglican groups which will retain their distinctive gifts and corporate identity, sharing the elements of sanctification and truth in ways that will strengthen the witness of the Church in the world.
Salt + Light on Cardinal Levada’s Talk
Mar 8th
The blog of Canada’s Salt + Light Catholic Media Foundation has the following excerpt from Cardinal Levada’s address, “Five Hundred Years After St. John Fisher: Benedict’s Ecumenical Initiatives to Anglicans”:
Visible union with the Catholic Church does not mean absorption into a monolith, with the absorbed body being lost to the greater whole, the way a teaspoon of sugar would be lost if dissolved in a gallon of coffee. Rather, visible union with the Catholic Church can be compared to an orchestral ensemble. Some instruments can play all the notes, like a piano. There is no note that a piano has that a violin or a harp or a flute or a tuba does not have. But when all these instruments play the notes that the piano has, the notes are enriched and enhanced. The result is symphonic, full communion. One can perhaps say that the ecumenical movement wishes to move from cacophony to symphony, with all playing the same notes of doctrinal clarity, the same euphonic chords of sanctifying activity, observing the rhythm of Christian conduct in charity, and filling the world with the beautiful and inviting sound of the Word of God. While the other instruments may tune themselves according to the piano, when playing in concert there is no mistaking them for the piano. It is God’s will that those to whom the Word of God is addressed, the world, that is, should hear one pleasing melody made splendid by the contributions of many different instruments.
Unity Service Correction
Mar 8th
The upcoming Christian Unity Evensong in the Diocese of Orange will begin this evening at 7:00 PM. Fr. David Baumann of the Episcopal Church of the Blessed Sacrament (which is associated with ACNA’s Church of the Resurrection) will co-officiate the service with Bishop Tod Brown of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange. Both Fr. Baumann and Bishop Brown will preach.
God Giveth the Increase
Mar 5th
The following piece appears on the web site of the London Oratory. The emphases are mine.
While the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus provides our separated communities with the means to achieve corporate reunion with the Universal Church, each individual Anglican — bishop, priest, deacon, religious, and layman — is also called to personal conversion. It is incumbent upon us to respect the fact that, for any number of contingent human reasons, it is often difficult to pursue the right path. Our Anglican people — Forward in Faith, TAC, and others — are embarking upon this journey from different points of departure. With God’s grace, may they all find themselves ultimately at the same destination.
* * *
Anglicanorum Coetibus
Thou art Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.
On 22nd February we celebrate the feast of the Chair of St.Peter. This feastday is our opportunity to thank God again for the primacy of the Pope as chief shepherd of Christ’s flock. It is our opportunity to affirm our belief in the full, supreme, universal and immediate jurisdiction of His Holiness the Pope over each and every single one of the faithful. Christ Himself is the Head of the Church, and He chose St.Peter and his successors to share and mediate that headship and its primacy, as servant of the servants of God.
We are told that a number of Anglicans are in the process of considering their position in the light of the Holy Father’s extraordinarily generous offer to them in his recent Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, which makes canonical provision for personal ordinariates for Anglicans who leave the Church of England and enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. It has also been said that a number of them are hoping to make a decision by the feast of the Chair of St.Peter this year. We must pray for the Holy Spirit to guide them in their response to the Holy Father. We should remember that Pope Benedict’s Apostolic Constitution is itself a response to numerous and repeated petitions made to the Holy See by various Anglican groups over a number of years. The Pope is offering them what they asked for. Now it is up to them, by the grace of God, to respond. The ball is now in their court.
It is well to recall the Lord’s words to St.Peter: “… I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” This commissioning of Peter follows a question by Jesus, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” to which the reply is uncertain and varied: some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah, and so on. People were confused. They wanted a Messiah, and were looking for someone of unambiguous majesty and overt political power. Instead, they were confronted with a disconcertingly humble itinerant rabbi-preacher, of whom many were perhaps understandably suspicious. By divine revelation, Peter was given the grace to answer correctly, to acknowledge and proclaim Christ as the Son of God. It is important for all of us, Catholics and potential converts alike, to understand clearly that the proper transmission of the Christian faith is inextricably bound up with the primacy of the Pope, Peter’s successor. St.Peter was given the primacy not as an honour or as a reward, but in order to equip him with those gifts necessary for his task of transmitting the faith to subsequent generations, after Christ’s visible presence had left the earth.
Peter was given the primacy to enable him to become the servant of the servants of God. Equally important is this: the transmission and practice of the faith are inextricably bound up with being in full and visible communion with Peter and his successors. When Christians separate themselves from Peter, the faith is always impaired, sometimes even destroyed. When we unite ourselves with Peter, we find the proper context of our faith, and the authentic means to live it. This is the plain truth. Like all the truths of Catholicism, it is not comprehended merely by argument or ratiocination or negotiation. Study and discussion can certainly help, but they are never enough.
Faith is a supernatural gift from God. So non-Catholics who are considering their position in relation to the Catholic Church must do so, not in the spirit of simply “reaching a decision” as if this were just like any other human decision, weighing the arguments and assessing the probabilities. They should rather be praying with might and main for God to give them the fullness of His gift of faith, a supernatural gift from the Almighty which enables us to believe without doubting all that He has revealed. The fullness of that faith includes the doctrines of the primacy of St.Peter, the necessity of being in communion with his successor the Bishop of Rome, the indefectibility of the Catholic Church as guaranteed by papal infallibility, and all else that flows from those truths.
We Catholics are in no position to be smug and complacent about all this. Yes, we have been given the gift of faith. Yes, we are in full communion with the Holy Father. Such undeserved privileges carry with them grave responsibilities, not least the imperative to give the best possible witness to the truths of the faith by what we say and do, and by what we are. We are also bound in charity to pray fervently for our separated brethren and to give them every possible encouragement and assistance, as brethren, as friends, as fellow disciples of the Lord Jesus. Those of us who at different times and in varying circumstances left the Church of England in order to become Catholics, we know that for any number of contingent human reasons it is often difficult to pursue the right path. How deep the difficulties can be is seen in the long journey made by John Henry Newman. He thought, and studied, and prayed. The most efficacious of these activities was, and always is, prayer. It is also worth remembering that ultimately the decision belongs to God and not to us. Dominus dat incrementum.
If any Anglicans would like to talk to us about all this, please get in touch. We are here to help.
Cardinal Levada on Anglicanorum Coetibus
Mar 3rd
William Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, preached at the consecration, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, of the seminary church of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) in Nebraska, USA:
Liturgical diversity is not inconsistent with the unity of the Catholic faith. This has been clear through the centuries in the diversity of rites, East and West. And it is clear with special relevance to your priestly fraternity in Summorum Pontificum. It is also the same principal that is operative in the new Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, establishing Ordinariates for former Anglicans who desire full communion with the Catholic Church, whilst at the same time preserving some of the richness of their liturgical and spiritual patrimony.
The full homily can be heard here.
TAC Formally Requests Personal Ordinariate for USA
Mar 3rd
The House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America, the American Province of the Traditional Anglican Communion, have issued the following press release.
Orlando, FL – 1 pm EST – Bp. George Langberg
Released by the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America, Traditional Anglican Communion 3 March 2010
We, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America of the Traditional Anglican Communion have met in Orlando, Florida, together with our Primate and the Reverend Christopher Phillips of the “Anglican Use” Parish of Our Lady of the Atonement (San Antonio, Texas) and others.
At this meeting, the decision was made formally to request the implementation of the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum cœtibus in the United States of America by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
ACA HOB Meeting Day 2
Mar 2nd
As I write this, the bishops have successfully concluded Day 2 of the conference. Due to the nature of the deliberations, there is little that can be reported except to say that things are developing very positively and that an official statement should be published on The Anglo-Catholic as soon as tomorrow evening. Please continue to pray for the bishops as they continue to meet on Wednesday.
Audio of Fr. Fessio’s Anglicanorum Coetibus Talk
Mar 2nd
The Institute of Catholic Culture has just posted audio of a presentation entitled “The Pope, The Anglicans, & The Mass” recently given by Fr. Joseph Fessio. Having just returned from Day 1 of the ACA HOB meeting here in Orlando, I have not yet gotten the chance to listen, but perhaps our readers could review the talk and post their reflections in the comment box? The presentation can be found here.
ACA House of Bishops Meeting Begins Today
Mar 1st
Beginning later today, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America (TAC) will assemble in Orlando, Florida for discussions expected to last several days. The ACA HOB is to be joined by Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, along with representatives of Forward in Faith UK and the Anglican Use/Pastoral Provision in the USA. This House of Bishops meeting is an important step toward the implementation of Anglicanorum Coetibus in the USA. Please pray the the Holy Spirit will guide the bishops in everything they do!
St. Oswald of Worcester
Feb 28th
Today is the feast of St. Oswald of York (d. February 29, 992). Of Danish parentage, Oswald was raised by his uncle Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, and received his education under the tutelage of the Frankish scholar, Fridegode of Canterbury. For a time, he was the dean of the house of secular canons at Winchester, but seeking a stricter rule of life, he entered the Benedictine Monastery of Fleury, where Odo himself received the monastic habit. At the request of his uncle, he returned to England. By the time Oswald arrived, Archbishop Odo had died, and he turned to his kinsman, Oskytel, then Archbishop of York, for patronage. His service to the Archbishop of York caught the attention of St. Dunstan, who procured his appointment to the See of Worcester and consecrated him bishop in 962. Oswald was an ardent supporter of St. Dunstan in his campaign to purify the Church from abuses; he was one of the leading proponents of reform along with St. Dunstan and St. Æthelwold of Winchester. Aided by King Edgar, he carried out his policy of replacing by communities the canons who held monastic possessions. Edgar gave the monasteries of St. Albans, Ely, and Benfleet to Oswald, who established monks at Westbury (983), Pershore (984), at Winchelcumbe (985), and at Worcester, and re-established Ripon. But his most famous foundation was that of Ramsey Abbey in Huntingdonshire, the church of which was dedicated in 974, and again after an accident in 991. In 972 by the joint action of St. Dunstan and Edgar, Oswald was made Archbishop of York, and journeyed to Rome to receive the pallium from John XIII. Interestingly, with the sanction of the pope, Oswald retained jurisdiction over the diocese of Worcester where he frequently resided in order to foster his monastic reforms. Though contrary to canons, the simultaneous possession of the sees Worcester and York became traditional for nearly fifty years. On Edgar’s death, Elfhere, King of Mercia, broke up many monastic houses, and some of Oswald’s foundations, but Ramsey was not disturbed due to the patronage of Ethelwin, Earl of East Anglia. Whilst Archbishop of York, Oswald collected from the ruins of Ripon the relics of the saints, some of which were conveyed to Worcester. He died in the act of washing the feet of the poor, as was his daily custom during Lent, and was buried in the Church of St. Mary at Worcester.
Saturday Recap
Feb 27th
The Anglo-Catholic staff have been quite busy today. Here’s a recap of stories you don’t want to miss:
- The first instinct of the Church in Wales is to sue faithful Catholics.
- Sign the petition to support the Holy Father’s Apostolic Journey to England and Scotland later this year.
- Fr. Chadwick explores the vital distinction between morality and legality in a thoughtful post.
- Fr. Phillips shares a report from one of his former classmates on the aftermath of the PEVs’ Day of Prayer.
- Deborah Gyapong considers the nostalgia and romance of a simpler, rural past.
- Bishop Edwin reflects on broken communion and the consequent defect in Anglican orders.
- Charles Wilson of the St. Joseph Foundation sets the record straight on parish property issues.
- James Bradley visited A.W.N. Pugin’s St. Osmund’s Church in Salisbury and we have photos here and here.
More Photos from St. Osmund’s Church, Salisbury
Feb 27th
Here are several more photographs from James Bradley’s visit to St. Osmund’s Church, Salisbury. For the entire set, go to Flickr.
St. Osmund's Church, Salisbury
St. Osmund’s Church, Salisbury
Feb 27th
James Bradley, seminarian at St. Stephen’s House, has written to share a set of delightful photos that he took earlier today at St. Osmund’s Church, Salisbury. St. Osmund’s Church was designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and consecrated in 1848.
The Salisbury Journal described the whole composition as ’small and unpretending’, but it: ‘bespeaks itself as the production of one thoroughly conversant with the principles of Christian art; and we may add, that amongst the many beautiful edifices with which the skill and ability of Pugin has adorned our country, none more sustains his deserved celebrity than does the church of St Osmund, at Salisbury.’
Many additions and alterations have occurred to the church since — most notably the removal of the oak rood screen, Pugin’s original pulpit, the erection of a wooden altar at the eastern end of the nave, the relocation of the font, and the whitewashing of the walls in the 1960s (which were repainted in the 1980s largely as a copy of the original work) — but the building remains, on the whole, sympathetic to the architect’s original vision.
High Altar with riddels and tabernacle in St. Osmund's Church, Salisbury
St. Osmund's Church, Salisbury by A.W.N. Pugin
Sign the Petition of Support for Papal Visit
Feb 27th
Fr. John Henley, SSC, writes to ask that The Anglo-Catholic advertise a petition in support of the Holy Father’s September visit to the United Kingdom. Please note that the petition is open to UK citizens only.
According to the web site of the National Secular Society, in just three weeks, over 22,000 people have signed the organization’s “Make the Pope Pay” petition. The demonic forces of the Culture of Death have now launched a new web site called “Protest the Pope” on which they denounce Pope Benedict XVI for supposed intolerance and other crimes. They’re promoting a new petition that already has over 5,000 supposed signatures.
If you are in the UK, please take a moment to sign this petition in support of the Holy Father’s upcoming Apostolic Journey to England and Scotland and show the secularists, homosexual activists, proponents of abortion and euthanasia, and other enemies of Holy Church that there is overwhelming support for the Pope in the country!
Dare Any of You? I Speak to Your Shame.
Feb 27th
The operator of the Friends of the Ordinariate (FOTO) web site has received the following communication from a lawyer representing the Church in Wales:
Dear Sirs
I introduce myself as the solicitor for the Representative Body of the Church in Wales. It has been drawn to my attention that you have added the Church in Wales logo to your website. This use is unauthorised and we require you to remove our logo from your website immediately. Failure to do so will leave us no alternative than to seek the assistance of the Courts.
Yours faithfully…
Perhaps the Representative Body of the Church in Wales has excised 1 Corinthians 6 from Holy Scripture?
The Anglo-Catholic Welcomes Bishop Edwin Barnes!
Feb 25th
The Anglo-Catholic is honored to welcome to its staff Bishop Edwin Barnes, formerly Bishop of Richborough, one of the provincial episcopal visitors in the Province of Canterbury.
Bishop Barnes read theology for three years at Oxford before finishing his studies at Cuddesdon College (at the time a theological college with a rather monastic character). He subsequently served two urban curacies in Portsmouth and Woking. During his first curacy, and after the statutory three years of celibacy, he married his wife Jane (with whom he has two children, Nicola and Matthew). In 1967, Bishop Barnes received his first incumbency as Rector of Farncombe in the Diocese of Guildford. After eleven years, the family moved to Hessle, in the Diocese of York, for another nine years as vicar. In 1987, he became Principal of St Stephen’s House, Oxford. In 1995, he was asked by then Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, to become the second PEV for the Province. He was based in St. Alban’s and charged with ministering to faithful Anglo-Catholics spread over the length of Southern England, from the Humber Estuary to the Channel Islands. After six years of service as a PEV, Bishop Barnes retired to Lymington on the south coast where he holds the Bishop of Winchester’s license as an honorary assistant bishop. On the retirement of the late and much lamented Bishop Eric Kemp, he was honored to be asked to succeed him as President of the Church Union, which office he still holds.
Bishop Barnes has dedicated the better part of his career to the defense of Catholic Faith and Apostolic Order in the Church of England and, even now, whilst looking forward to a future in the Anglican Ordinariate, as President of the Church Union, he continues to defend the rights of priests against the abuses of overweening prelates and their minions. I invite all of our readers to join me in welcoming him to The Anglo-Catholic!
Friends of the Ordinariate (FOTO) Now Welcoming TAC and RCs
Feb 25th
The Friends of the Ordinariate (FOTO) web site is now inviting the participation of members of the TAC (The Traditional Anglican Church/The Church of Ireland (Traditional Rite)) and Roman Catholics.
- If you are a communicant of the TTAC, go here to sign-up.
- If you are a Roman Catholic supporter of the future English Ordinariate, go here.
While the invitation to include the TAC and RCs in this endeavor is laudable, I do want to reiterate that there was no intended slight (against the TAC or any other group) on the part of the FOTO organizers. The project is primarily focused on members of Forward in Faith UK as the organization — unofficially — begins to take the first steps to gauge the support for the Apostolic Constitution. The eagerness of TAC members and Roman Catholics was not anticipated. Thankfully, though, now everyone is able to register their support as we work together to establish the English personal ordinariate!
