Though not related directly to the core mission of this blog, this article on SSPX-related happenings is a must read for anyone interested in the affairs of those dedicated to preserving Holy Tradition in the Catholic Church (and others who aid the Liberals and Modernists by continuing to give this movement a bad name).
I have been remiss. I published here the story of an ordination to the diaconate, but not the crowning glory of this deacon's ordination to the Holy Catholic priesthood. Better late than never!
The Anglo-Catholic remains on hiatus, but I thought that I would share the story of a friend's recent ordination to the diaconate in Orlando. On Saturday, God willing, he will be ordered a priest in the Catholic Church.
From this moment there will be an indefinite pause here on The Anglo-Catholic. The purpose of this blog from the start has been to encourage the development of Personal Ordinariates according to the will of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, as expressed in his Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus and the preservation and propagation of that Anglican Patrimony in harmony with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church. I believe that we have played an important role in the formation of the existing Personal Ordinariates, and I hope a positive one. Unfortunately, the powers that be have made it known that our help is not wanted at this time. In deference to them, this blog will comply and leave them to their business. Please pray for the Ordinariates, especially that of the Chair of St. Peter.
I have commissioned Daniel Mitsui to create a drawing based on this wonderful story from the life of St. Brigid, one of the Three Patrons of Ireland, and also my patroness. Daniel also has a delightful blog, The Lion and the Cardinal.
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Once a rustic, seeing a wolf run about in proximity to the palace, killed it; not knowing that it was the tame creature of the king; and he brought the dead beast to the king, expecting a reward. Then the prince in anger ordered the man to be cast into prison and executed. Now when Bridget heard this, her spirit was stirred within her, and mounting her chariot, she drove to the court, to intercede for the life of the poor countryman. And on the way, there came a wolf over the bog racing towards her, and it leaped into the chariot, and allowed her to caress it.
Then, when she reached the palace, she went before the king, with the wolf at her side, and said, "Sire! I have brought thee a better wolf than that thou hast lost, spare therefore the life of the poor man who unwittingly slew thy beast." Then the king accepted her present with great joy, and ordered the prisoner to be released.
It is my great honour and privilege to be able to announce, on behalf of the parish, that the Church of the Incarnation (formerly Cathedral of the Diocese of the Eastern United States, ACA/TAC; located in Orlando, FL) is to be received into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter on 16 September 2012.
This announcement is especially poignant for me as I served as Rector's Warden of the parish at the time of the publication of the Apostolic Constitution and I led the process by which the Chapter and full membership of the Cathedral parish accepted the Holy Father's most generous offer of full communion by means of Anglicanorum coetibus.
Since my confirmation into the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, I have necessarily been out of full communion with my parish family. I am overjoyed that this separation is soon to come to an end.
I also thank God for the visionary leadership of Bishop Campese and Fr. William "Doc" Holiday (also a Contributor here on The Anglo-Catholic). Without their devotion and sacrificial ministries to the parish, this great goal could not have been achieved.
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31 July 2012
Commemoration of St. Ignatius of Loyola
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Laudetur Iesus Christus!
As I have always told you, when I had some information concerning our reception into the Catholic Church, I would share it with you all straightaway. Finally, after nearly three years of prayer and preparation in the parish – with the seemingly interminable waiting, sometimes with anxiety and even anguish – I have some very important news to share with you all. Please indulge me as I make several observations as a preface to the joyous news to follow.
Firstly, I would like to thank each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. Through these months turned to years, you have been faithful in your prayer and your commitment to the vision of a fully Catholic Church of the Incarnation. No doubt, at times, many of you have felt as the Israelites wandering the desert wilderness.
Many of us also recognize that our journeying caravan has been continuously harried and harassed by the Devil and his unrelenting hosts. Navigating our way out of the shambles of the Continuing Church and gathering up the crumbs with the Pro-Diocese of the Holy Family, we have paid a heavy price. The Evil One has pitted brother against brother, demoralized both clergy and laity alike, and caused many to fall away from our mission – that same mission given to us by Our Lord Jesus Christ himself and recounted in the Seventeenth Chapter of the Gospel of St. John.
Now for the news! The congregation of the Church of the Incarnation is to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church on the Sixteenth Day of September, a Sunday. There will be only one Mass at Ten Fifteen o’ clock that morning. As this reception entails both corporate and individual aspects, it is imperative that you keep this date. The Mass will be the setting for your entrance into communion with the Holy See and your enrollment into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. We must have you there on this occasion of what will surely be profound joy!
As we are still working out the specifics, I have few details to share as this time, but I can say that Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson, Ordinary, will preside over the Celebration. His Excellency John Noonan, Bishop of Orlando, and a tremendous and invaluable resource and advocate for our cause, will also be in attendance. I have also invited the membership of some of our smaller missions to join us as well.
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Now an update on the circumstances of our individual clerics:
Bishop Campese:
As you all know, my goal from the very beginning has been to lead the people under my care to a safe harbor in the Catholic Church. Above all, this is what matters to me. I am still discussing future options with my counterparts in the Catholic Church. At the moment, neither the Personal Ordinariate nor I have made any decision with respect to my personal future. Anyway, this is not about me. As many of you are aware, I recently turned 78 years of age. So far, the Good Lord has provided me with good health, but I have a number of considerations about which to think. Regardless of what clerical role I may play in the future of the Church of the Incarnation, I will remain here until I die. This is my parish, and I will serve it and Holy Church in whatever way God calls me to do, just as I have striven to do from the very beginning of my ministry in His Church.
Fr. William “Doc” Holiday:
Fr. Doc has received a nulla osta from Rome. This letter means that there is no canonical bar to his ordination in the Catholic Church. We do not yet know when he will be ordained deacon and priest; we are working out the details presently.
Fr. Scott Whitmore:
Fr. Scott has attached a personal letter with regard to his life decisions at this time. But do not worry, Fr. Scott is not going anywhere; he will remain in our parish family.
Fr. Jason McCrimmon:
We have been greatly blessed to have Father McCrimmon and his beautiful family as a vital part of our parish life for many years now. Father Jason is pursuing his ministry as a Military Chaplain and it has been an arduous journey for him, especially hard as he has also given sacrificially, ministering to our church family.
I am sorry to have to report that Father Jason will be leaving us soon, to continue the ministry to which he believes he has been called. He will preach his last sermon on the Fifth Day of August, and I hope that you will be in attendance to support him. The United States Navy will be getting an excellent chaplain.
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Finally, I wish to entrust this last leg of our race toward Catholic Unity in a most special way to the Great Mother of God, Mary most Holy. I know that she has guided our way closer to Her Divine Son thus far; she will not abandon us now. May all the Angels and Saints of heaven watch over us these next several weeks.
In Dno,
Bishop Campese
UPDATE (10:15 AM EDT): Rorate Cæli, the highly esteemed web site for Traditional Catholics, are also covering these developments in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and I have been conferring with their top moderators making sure that we get the most accurate information possible to the faithful.
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In an recent statement from Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson (my emphasis):
"We have therefore asked that the congregations of the Ordinariate follow this direction. Some of our clergy want to learn also how to celebrate according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. They are certainly encouraged to do so, under the provisions of Summorum Pontificum and under the supervision of the local bishop, to assist in those stable communities that use the Extraordinary Form. But as the Extrordinary Form is not integral to the Anglican patrimony, it is not properly used in our communities. The Ordinariate will remain focused on bringing Christians in the Anglican tradition into full communion with the Catholic Church. We also are pleased that the Church has provided for the continuing use of the Extraordinary Form, particularly as a pastoral response to traditional Catholics, and regard all of this as a well-ordered symphony of praise to the Blessed Trinity."
I have it on unimpeachable authority that there is on ongoing crackdown on those AU/Ordinariate priests who would dare to learn or celebrate the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite on the part of Steenson, Hurd, and Chalmers. The affected priests are naturally frightened, and unwilling to go on record, but make no mistake, the leadership of the U.S. Ordinariate at present has set itself against both Summorum Pontificum and Anglicanorum coetibus. I also have it on good authority that this intimidation, an abuse of power, is being reported directly to the Roman Authorities. And the contention that the traditional Latin Mass has no bearing on the Anglican Patrimony — this simply has me flabbergasted. Is there just a shortsightedness on the part of the Ordinary, or is he ignorant of the history of English Catholicism?
Even though I've been accused of being a bit negative lately by the "shoot the messenger" crowd, I did want to share the fact that tomorrow or Tuesday at the latest, The Anglo-Catholic will be able to report on joyous news concerning the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter and one of the most faithful of Anglican Catholic communities.
I'd also like to take a moment, as Moderator, to moderate. Our readers need to understand that not every post is a matter of life and death, nor is every criticism un-Cathollc, disloyal, or simply a carrying over of Anglican fractiousness into the Catholic Church. Everyone take a deep breath and slowly exhale. Sometimes we have good news; sometimes we have bad or concerning news. The Ordinariates and the Catholic Church, just like life itself, have their ups and downs. What you can count on here at The Anglo-Catholic is honest reporting in our posts, and in the combox, at the very least, informed speculation from our distinguished Contributors. Not everything is going to make you happy, but neither are we here to make you feel bad. This blog has hung in there for nearly three years now and has always had the best of intentions toward the Ordinariates (before they even existed) and the Anglican communities which have chosen to avail themselves of the Holy Father's most generous invitation to Catholic Unity. If you can not appreciate this, you are in the wrong place.
This statement has been approved by the Personal Ordinariate and posted on the St. Thomas More Parish web site.
It's a pity — a solid, private boys' school with spirituality rooted in the Traditional Latin Mass, but with an appreciation of the Anglican Patrimony. This seems like it would have been a marriage made in heaven.
When I met him in Orlando some months ago, Monsignor Steenson held nothing back in the expression of his enmity towards Catholic Traditionalism and the so-called Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. He said the Ordinariate should have nothing to do with those people (a paraphrase, but an accurate assessment of his attitude which was made quite clear). He even suggested that, simply because I had an affinity for the TLM that I should consider myself "out of communion" with the local Ordinary, Bishop Noonan of Orlando. Quite taken aback, I assured the Anglican Ordinary that I was quite Catholic, despite my intense dislike (and often horror) of the institutionalized liturgical abuses found in Latin Rite parishes almost everywhere (and unfortunately in my home diocese) and my attachment to Catholic Tradition.
The Ordinary should at least be reminded that, according to Anglicanorum coetibus and Summorum Pontificum, his priests have the unrestricted right to celebrate the Sacraments according to the liturgical books in force in 1962. And it is my fervent belief that both the Anglican Catholic and Catholic Traditionalist communities would both greatly benefit by their collaboration — if only we had a visionary leadership.
There seems to be a bug in the polling system where an old poll gets associated with a new question. While I am investigating the problem, the "Liturgical Language Poll" post has been taken offline. The UK Poll is still active and working as expected.