Author Archives: Ralph Johnston

About Ralph Johnston

Ralph Johnston has been a member of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church, a parish of the Pastoral Provision, since 2004. Formerly a museum director, he now serves as headmaster of The Atonement Academy, the PK-12 parish school of Our Lady of the Atonement, and, to date, the only school in the Pastoral Provision and future Ordinariate community. Like many other cradle Catholics worshiping in Pastoral Provision congregations, he has developed an attachment to the Anglican forms of devotion. He has attended Anglican Use Conferences in prior years and is a member of the Anglican Use Society. In Rome with an Atonement pilgrimage group when Anglicanorum Coetibus was published, he was the first individual to file a petition with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to establish an Ordinariate for the United States under the Apostolic Constitution. He was a contributor at the Anglicanorum Coetibus Information Day in San Antonio on December 12, 2009 and has followed recent events closely. Mr. Johnston holds an MPPM from Yale University and a Certificate in Catholic School Leadership from the University of Dallas.

Reconciliation and Penance

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Today, within our discussion of the use of the word “convert,” Deacon Augustine posted a thoughtful and relevant comment, mentioning in the course of his post that some refer to the sacrament of Penance as Confession rather than as Reconciliation, and they often use the form of the rite that begins “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned.”

Deacon Augustine is correct and I understand his point. The preferred name, at least for the present, is Reconcilation. And there has been a formal revision to the form of the rite that makes the traditional opening line unnecessary. As Pope John Paul II of blessed memory teaches us his Apostolic Exhortation Reconciliato et Paenitentia, the sacrament is about more than transactional absolution, it is a rich expression of God’s love for us and God’s desire to be united with us.

te absolvo2 Reconciliation and Penance

What does this have to do with the Anglican Patrimony? Plenty. The rite is a part of the experience of some, but not all, clergy and faithful coming from Anglican traditions. But, for those who enter the Ordinariate, it will be important to all. And the rite will undoubtedly find in the Ordinariate a distinctively Anglican Catholic expression.

The broad subject of Penance, aka Confession, aka Reconciliation, presents a large and complex set of issues. I don't think it is correct to say that any one of the three terms is wrong.

Excessive focus on the sacrament as a transaction gives short shrift to the reconciliation theory. But there is also risk that excessive focus on the reconciliation model can deprive the faithful of a pastorally essential assurance of absolution. The fact is, for many Catholics, particularly those of us who were formed prior to or during the early 1960s, our understanding of God's mercy is formal, Roman, juridical, technical, legalistic, and transactional. It is not particularly mystical or in a sociological sense relational.

Some who are better catechized, or more recently catechized, may view this is as a bad attitude, a wrong attitude, or an attitude that shows insufficient appreciation for God's love for us. I would not agree. There certainly are broader, and more sophisticated, and more mysterious ways to look at the sacrament. And we should be open to learning about them as John Paul has urged. But in the mean time, while we await a perfectly enlightened world, people have a need to be healed. We need to confront our guilt, we need to convict ourselves of our failures, we need to express our regret and, most importantly, we need to be assured of God's mercy – and in the most concrete possible way; specifically, that God's mercy has been administered directly to me, a sinner, and that I am certainly and undeniably absolved.

Some penitents are better equipped than others to gain solace from the more subtle and more mystical understanding of the sacrament. But the scripture reflection that is an optional part of the present form of the rite is not the most important thing to me. Focusing on the juridical and transactional nature of the sacrament is not a bad thing; it is a good thing if it brings peace to the penitent.

Obviously, the best confessors administer God's mercy with some flexibility as to form and with great sensitivity to the penitent's individual pastoral needs.

And so, again, what does all of this have to do with the Anglican Patrimony? I will argue that, in the administration of the sacrament of Penance, as in the offering of the Mass, Anglican values will bring forth concrete, tangible symbols that will comfort those among us who may be weaker in faith and in greater need of assurance.

In a parish where I used to worship, I joked that we store cleaning supplies in the confessionals and make our confessions in the janitor’s closet. And it was literally true. The janitor’s closet had been converted to a Chapel of Reconcilation, and in a most minimalist way. The use of the confessionals had been completely abandoned, and confessionals were no longer meaningful symbols of our faith, so why not adopt the obvious utilitarian application?  Perhaps these curious closets were formally deconsecrated from sacramental use before the mop buckets were rolled in; I don’t know.

Would this mistake ever be made, in an Ordinariate church, by one of our priests? I don’t think so. I hope not.

Over the ages the Church has in its inspired wisdom evolved forms and rubrics for the sacraments that meet the psychological and spiritual needs, as well as the intellectual and moral needs, of the people. The psychologically natural postures and forms for Divine worship have been preserved in the Anglican Patrimony. When we go to Mass in a high Anglican environment, we know we have been to Mass! And form matters – lex orandi, lex credendi.

And so it is with Reconciliation/Confession/Penance. If we have entered a holy place, knelt reverently before a holy minister who sits in persona Christi, named our sins, stated our contrition, and heard the words of absolution, then we know with certainty that we have been absolved. If we had some lesser experience, perhaps in the janitor’s closet, where we were assured of God's love and were technically absolved, but without any comfort-giving frills, then we might just emerge with a vague feeling of being sent empty away. I am confident that our Ordinariate priests will be sufficiently attentive to individual needs and external forms that this outcome will be unlikely.

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Conversion, Reception and Nomenclature

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Father Holiday, thank for your very thoughtful reflection, Solus Anglicanus. I hope you will consider contributing to this forum more often. Thank you also for your kind words.

A challenge for us as a Christian community is to make sure that we are always speaking to each other with courtesy and yes, with precision. Elsewhere in this forum several of us have recently had a discussion about precise use of technical terms. I am humbled by my own errors and am well reminded to take the trouble to choose my words more carefully.

A couple of thoughts about conversion and nomenclature:

I.

I understand why many Christians who come into full communion bristle at the use of the term "convert." That word, used in that way, does not properly apply to them, as it denigrates the sincerity, the dignity and the grace of their prior faith practices as followers of Christ.

There are a couple of things that can be done to move away from a practice that is understandably offensive. First, we can all strive to use language more precisely. Don't say "convert" when it does not apply.

The second thing that could be done — and it would be a real service to those who are sincerely confused on this point — would be for our bishops and pastors to rethink the way people are received. Since the apostolic era, the Church has had a sense of a catechumate, persons of different cult who are discerning the Faith and contemplating requesting baptism. Since the Great Schism, the Church has understood that this is a very different situation from that of baptized faithful in impaired communion who are contemplating coming into full communion.

Then, at just the moment in history when many Church leaders decided that formal catechism instruction for its members had ceased to be "relevant," along came the instructional model of RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults), which in practice, and despite the transparently clear meaning of its name, is indiscriminately applied to a wide range of people whose faith and pastoral needs vary greatly.

Drop in to an RCIA class at your local parish and you are likely to find a lively mix of Episcopalians, Lutherans, Baptists, Mormons, Jews and others, all of them inquiring sincerely, and all of them entitled to respectful treatment of their present beliefs. And the fact is, the Episcopalians and the Lutherans are baptized Christians, the Baptists may or may not be baptized but are thoroughly and sincerely professed Christians, while the rest are genuine catechumens.

baptism mexico Conversion, Reception and Nomenclature

We correctly apply the term "convert" to the catechumens (if they go all the way). But we treat the inquiring Christians identically. In many parishes we exclude them all, Christian and pagan alike, from the greatest mystery of the Faith (even if they have been memorializing it in separation all of their lives), publicly dismissing them after the Gospel to go off to lay-led rap sessions at which they seek to "break open the Word."

rcia breaking open the word Conversion, Reception and Nomenclature

Can we blame the people in the pews (John and Mary Catholic, as one bishop disparages us) if we think of all the newcomers as "converts," if we fail to recognize that some of the "converts" are our Christian brothers and sisters who in some cases may be better catechized than we are?

Better pastoral leadership would help us all better understand the true nature of the path that our returning brethren are walking, and would make us more likely to be sensitive toward them.

The parishes of the Pastoral Provision have, not surprisingly given their own histories, proven to be quite good at welcoming and instructing inquirers. (And quite good at instructing sincere but under-catechized cradle Catholics, too.)

What will the future practice of the Ordinariate be in this regard? Well, at the risk of being prideful for an institution that does not yet even exist, it is safe to predict that this may be another area in which returning Anglicans can provide a good example to the rest of the Church. (We can be certain from what he has written that Fr. Holiday will.) With a sensitivity that comes from their awareness of theirs and their people’s own journey, our Ordinariate clergy can provide pastorally sensitive and doctrinally sound instruction and reception that will properly serve the inquirers who come to them, and perhaps also provide an example to RCIA-administering parishes.

II.

The word conversion has a second meaning, as in "the lifelong journey of conversion." We cease to be candidates for technical conversion to Christianity when we are baptized. But, soon after baptism, our souls are again stained by personal sin, and from there we have a very long and difficult walk in our moral lives as Christians.

baptistry florence Conversion, Reception and Nomenclature

In the West we have the terms "conversion" and "sanctification;” in the East they have the more mysterious and perhaps more powerful term "deification" (Theosis). We sinners say "conversion" even though we never fully convert, we say "sanctification" even though we generally stop short of moral purity, and we say "deification" because we seek to become more like God (and certainly not because we think we can become God.)

When used in this sense, the term conversion is not an insult at all, but a tribute to our sincere resolution to do better. In this sense of the word, none of us are truly "converts," we are just well-intentioned works in progress.

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Why St. Mary of the Angels Matters

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st mary of the angels Why St. Mary of the Angels MattersThe people of the parish of St. Mary of the Angels in Hollywood, under the leadership of their rector Fr. Jack Barker, were among the first “Groups of Anglicans” to petition for return to full communion. Three decades ago, in the summer of 1981, they found themselves, as their successor congregants do again today, on the cusp of reunion with Rome. They, along with a second Anglican congregation in Los Angeles, had requested and were anticipating their imminent reception into the Archdiocese of Los Angles as personal parishes of the Pastoral Provision.

Had this occurred as expected, then today we might acknowledge the parish of St. Mary of the Angels, rather than the parish of Our Lady of the Atonement (San Antonio, 1983) as the first Anglican Use congregation.

As Fr. Barker relates in a copyright tract which should be required reading for all who are interested in these matters, the reception of the two Los Angeles groups was unexpectedly denied, owing to the influence of “ecumenical” forces within the Roman Catholic Church. The Archbishop of Los Angeles, Cardinal Manning, ruled that these two parishes would not be received into the Church, and that no personal parish of the Pastoral Provision would be allowed in the Archdiocese. Individuals were free to seek reception individually.

Fr. Barker was received, and serves to this day as a priest in a neighboring diocese. Many faithful of the parish were received individually into mainstream Novus Ordo parishes, while others found other church homes including Orthodoxy. Perhaps a few remain members of St. Mary to this day; I don’t know.

I have no acquaintance, even slight, with anyone associated with the parish. I have never set foot in the parish church and, until very recently, never expected that I would. And yet I feel a close personal bond to this church of Our Lady, because it was a means by which I, a cradle Catholic married to an Anglican convert, ended up at Our Lady of the Atonement.

Seven or eight years ago, and having absolutely no knowledge of the Pastoral Provision, I was doing some unrelated internet reading and came across a reference to the ill-fated reconciliation of St. Mary of the Angels. Surprised to learn that such a thing as corporate reunion was even possible, I read on, and it was a short leap to a fuller appreciation of the Pastoral Provision and, eventually, to my family’s move to San Antonio.

Today, through the extraordinary generosity of the Holy Father in Anglicanorum Coetibus, a second opportunity is presented for the accession of this parish to the fullness of the Church. There is to this day not a single parish of the Pastoral Provision in the City of the Angels, and yet we may soon see a parish of the Ordinariate in Los Angeles; a city, by the way, whose archbishop-designate is a demonstrated friend of the Anglican Use.

What are we to make of these concidences? Probably nothing. Coincidences happen — or are perceived — all the time, and often without any supernatural implications. I am ordinarily the last person to attribute earthly events to Divine intervention in the mundane.

On the other hand, is this parish of St. Mary of the Angels merely a mundane thing? Or is it an institution of Christ’s Church that, owing to the faithful prayers of generations of its clergy and people, is urgently desired in reunion by its patroness?

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Canonical Curiosities of Parish Participation and Ordinariate Membership

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Brother Stephen’s insightful and provocative analysis under the headline “84 Groups of Anglicans on the Map…” has led to more than two dozen comments (so far). Everyone enjoys speculating about numbers. In a land where the Sunday morning talk shows demonstrate that the 2012 presidential and congressional campaigns are almost over, counting votes (or people in pews) is a national pastime.

Brother Stephen has begun with what strikes me as very conservative assumptions and projections, as a number of the other commenters have said. On the other hand, there is a perfectly good point of view that we have to be cautious about projecting big numbers, while a third voice wisely asks, what difference do the numbers make? It’s about souls, not numbers.

I’d like to comment on a theme that has emerged in the comments to that article, a theme that has been discussed by many of us since the very day that AC was published. It is a matter that is particularly close to the hearts of many of us within the Pastoral Provision.

It has been suggested that we should not expect to see significant numbers of cradle Catholics (or even of previously received Catholics) participating in ordinariate parishes. (In his analysis, Brother Stephen assures the Anglo-purity of his projections by explicitly excluding such attendance from his projections, but he also clearly says that if true, this “would run contrary to our experience thus far.”)

Ever since AC was published, all of us who follow and comment in this forum have made it our practice to put ourselves in the shoes of the Holy Father and try to figure out exactly what the intent is. And the longer we wait, the more we speculate. Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is a good technique, but it does have its disadvantages: it doesn’t always work perfectly. And when the person being second-guessed is divinely inspired, we have to expect that reliability is even less likely!

Nevertheless, there are some things that we can confidently say are correctly inferred and well understood. And one of them is the intent of the provision limiting membership in the ordinariates only to qualified persons.

Complementary Norms, Article 5, Section 1 states in part, “Those baptized previously as Catholics outside the Ordinariate are not ordinarily eligible for membership, unless they are members of a family belonging to the Ordinariate.” Some have argued that this provision is intended to avoid competition for Mass attendance between the ordinariate and the local Bishops.

(And so as we see, the Complementary Norms have already carved out one exception: for family members. And keep in mind, the Complementary Norms provide guidance generally and internationally, while here in the USA we have the special case of the Pastoral Provision congregations. I would like to think that the statutes or the particular norms for the USA ordinariate would provide a second exception, for established members of Pastoral Provision congregations.)

76 8th grade mass 300x199 Canonical Curiosities of Parish Participation and Ordinariate Membership

Yes, the Pope has limited ordinariate membership, but not for the purpose of preventing mainstream Novus Ordo faithful from reaping the benefits of Mass attendance within the ordinariate. On the contrary, the Holy Father has said that the Anglican Patrimony is "a treasure to be shared" within the Church beyond the ordinariates. (AC III.) Benedict WANTS mainstream Catholics to attend Mass in AC parishes — just as he wants mainstream Catholics to have access to the Extraordinary Form. Both promote a richer spiritual and devotional life, and both promise to be valuable contributors to the reform of the reform.

I don’t have any inside information but, believing in the Holy Father’s generous pastoral intent toward us and toward the entire Church, I would argue that the purpose in limiting ordinariate membership is simply to assure the Latin Rite Bishops that AC will not become a wide back door to a married priesthood in the West — nothing more than that.

Ordinariate membership really does not matter, for most practical purposes. The faithful can attend ordinariate parishes frequently, and probably can even formally enroll as members of the parish. What is parish membership anyway, other than the expression of the individual faithful’s intent to worship and support regularly? And where in AC or anywhere else in the law is parish membership forbidden? The ordinariates being a part of the Latin Rite, the normal restrictions on rite-switching would not apply.

Canonists among us, please help me out by checking the arguments carefully. Your comments and corrections are welcome. And let me be careful to say, few if any of the points made here are my original ideas, as all of these things have been discussed extensively with and among folks more knowledgeable than yr. obt. svt. (though not always in this forum).

Whatever the numbers turn out to be, they may very well include three interesting components:

1. significant numbers of cradle Catholics and previously-returned Catholics worshipping in ordinariate parishes,

2. significant numbers of individuals who are members of the ordinariate (because they are eligible and have requested it), but are not members of a parish of the ordinariate (because there is none in their area – yet!),

3. significant numbers of individuals who are members of a parish of the ordinariate (because they wish to worship there), but are not members of the ordinariate (either because they are ineligible or because they have not registered in writing).

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Ordinariate Parish Schools

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Remarks of Ralph Johnston at the Becoming One gathering, Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church, San Antonio, Texas, November 17, 2010.

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I would like to begin by thanking the many guests who have spoken with me throughout the day, commending the comportment of our students at Mass this morning, and praising the singing of our student choirs. Thank you for your most gracious compliments. And I would like to thank our friend, Christian Campbell, moderator of The Anglo-Catholic blog, for encouraging me to write a piece for publication on that website concerning our parish school, The Atonement Academy.

I had every intention of writing the article as Christian suggested, but it’s been a busy couple of weeks and, well, we all know how it is with good intentions.

Clearly there is a lot of interest in our school among this group, and that really became so much more clear to me as this day progressed. And perhaps in the story of this parish school, we can find some encouragement for the experience of parish life that we will have in the Ordinariate.

DSCN0050 300x225 Ordinariate Parish Schools

I hope that these brief remarks will be of some interest to all, but I would like to address them particularly to the Anglican clergy who make up the major part of this assembly. And so, Reverend Fathers,

On the day this parish was established under the Pastoral Provision, in 1983, Father Phillips told his people – all 18 of them – that within ten years this parish would establish a school. I would imagine that the idea was unthinkable to many in a congregation of that size, particularly in light of their recent experience of tribulation and hardship on the bumpy road to Rome. Unthinkable to some, perhaps, but to Fr. Phillips, always the pastor of souls, it was the idea of operating a parish without a school that was unthinkable.

And so, a generation or so later, the school is large and growing and is academically successful. The parish has a healthy and growing congregation– a congregation with good demographic characteristics; that is, with young parishioners as well as old. And, because of the presence of the school, it is a parish through whose front doors walk a continuous flow of young, faithful and fruitful families, all of them in need of pastoral assistance in raising their children. Some of these school families end up joining our parish…. But ALL of them are exposed to the beauty of our Anglican and fully Catholic spirituality. And ALL of them receive the Gospel, and, if they desire, the Sacraments.

atonement academy 300x247 Ordinariate Parish Schools

In this room are many devoted Anglican clergymen –men whose call to Christ’s Church is genuine, men whose faith is greater than my own; men who have an earnest desire to serve the people of God. Reverend Fathers, I would hate to see you expend your vocations or your labors on a small, a declining, or an unsustainable parish population. And I say this for two reasons: first, because it would be poor stewardship to build up a congregation that does not have a sustainable economic model, but more importantly, because I have seen, in this school, what so many of our guests have commented on today: that children need and thrive in an environment rich in the Word of God, rich in the Sacraments of the Church, and generous in providing the daily pastoral care of devoted clergymen – devoted clergymen much like all of you.

We have all seen parishes that are operating below the replacement rate. And we all know the signs. An aging population. A declining base of faithful worshippers. And, where there is no endowment, as is typically the case in the Continuing church, a constant financial crunch.

Our parish and our school do not have a financial crisis at this moment. Neither are we wealthy. In fact, we have some debt – debt that was taken on to build our last expansion of the school building in 2005, debt that is serviced through school operating revenues, debt that will probably not be paid off for another eight or nine years. And, having continued to grow our enrollment, and having exceeded the capacity of this school building, we are about to build another building. Barring any windfall, which we do not currently foresee, this means more debt, and more risk that we may find ourselves in a difficult situation in the event of a deeper recession, an unexpected enrollment decline, or some other catastrophic event.

Our business manager, who is also a co-founder of the school, Deacon Orr, may have an occasional sleepness night because of these prospects. Perhaps Father Phillips does as well. But, these faithful men are ministers of Christ’s Church, and they do not believe that God called them to this work so that they could operate cautiously, comfortably, and conservatively. God calls them to grow this parish, to operate this school, and to continue to teach the Truth to as many of God’s people as are willing to come to this place. These holy ministers are doing their part by responding to God’s call, and in return, God is doing His part by arranging for money to be gifted, or earned – frequently just in the nick of time.

Faithful clergy of the Episcopal and Continuing churches, you have answered God’s call by holding your congregations together in difficult times; by preserving orthodox doctrine, even when some of your own bishops would not; and by leading your people to the threshold of the Ordinariate. (Now, I should avoid the obvious analogy to Moses, because it is the hope of everyone here that the Ordinariate will be established sooner rather than later, so that all of us may enter, and not merely view from afar, that Promised Land.)

Pretty soon – and Father Hurd confirmed this afternoon that the most precise statement we can make about the timing for establishment of the Ordinariate is pretty soon – Pretty soon, Reverend Fathers, you will be leading parishes in the Ordinariate.

What should those parishes look like? We can all agree on some of the characteristics: Theologically, they should embrace Church doctrine. Sacramentally, they should provide your people with all graces. Culturally, they should preserve the Anglican ethos and spirituality that our Holy Father has called the Anglican Patrimony, a term that is not yet fully defined but which certainly includes the distinctive and highly admirable forms of liturgy and music and preaching that are so familiar to, and so beloved by, everyone in this room.

But what should these Ordinariate parishes look like, demographically? My purpose here tonight is to make the fairly obvious suggestion that these parishes should be young, vibrant, and growing. These congregations can best be served if they include many children, and many young families.

All of which leads me to suggest that this parish school, The Atonement Academy, as an early fruit of the cross-pollination of the Anglican and the fully Catholic – that this school can be an inspiration and a model for future Anglican-Catholic parishes.

Perhaps even, the day may come in the life of the Ordinariate, when a rule can be made, such as the agreement made by the Roman Catholic Bishops assembled in plenary session in Baltimore in 1884, that every parish should have a school, and that every bishop – in our case, the Personal Ordinary – should do his utmost to assure that every Catholic family desiring Catholic education, should receive it, and of a quality commensurate with our Anglican Patrimony.

old library Ordinariate Parish Schools

Economically challenging? Of course. Impossible? Based on our school’s experience – and with God’s help — no, not impossible.

Reverend Fathers, you did not respond to your call to the ministry with the expectation that you would get rich – or where applicable, richer. (That’s a different kind of Anglican Patrimony.) You had a higher purpose, one of service to God and His people. As you enter the Ordinariate, you will be further challenged, to build something permanent, something stable, something entirely faithful, something that will challenge your brother Roman priests to higher achievement, and something ambitious in carrying out the Great Commission. Please consider that the creation of a vibrant, faithful, Anglican, Catholic, school, in every parish of the Ordinariate, might be a part of your answer to the call that you have received; that call that you have followed, thus far, with such great faith, such great steadfastness, and such great love for Christ.

Thank you.

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Freedom and Obedience

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Thank you, Father Tomlinson. Now let's dispel another myth: the myth that full communion can be achieved while dissenting from doctrine.

Here we are in the summer after Anglicanorum coetibus. One would think that, in the months that AC has been studied and discussed, it would be well understood.

Yet despite the clear intent of the apostolic constitution, and despite the self-evident implications of full communion for doctrinal unanimity, discussion continues, in this forum and elsewhere, suggesting that some who dissent from portions of Church doctrine should nevertheless seek membership through the ordinariates – as if accession to the ordinariates will not, or should not, require a profession of faith.

In drafting Anglicanorum coetibus, the Holy Father wisely anticipated so many questions. And now we can see the wisdom and foresight of Benedict in providing that the Catechism of the Catholic Church will be the standard of faith in the ordinariates (AC Section 5). The Holy Father anticipated the argument that, despite its internally contradictory nature, is now being played out.

What AC offers is the opportunity to come into the fullness of the faith without having to leave behind the beauty of the Anglican patrimony. What AC does not offer is a shortcut that would allow someone to claim full communion while rejecting, or worse yet, while declining even to consider what the faith teaches us.

In a comment elsewhere in this forum, Father Berry quotes the Catechism: “Involuntary doubt refers to hesitation in believing, difficulty in overcoming objections connected with the faith, or also anxiety aroused by its obscurity. If deliberately cultivated doubt can lead to spiritual blindness." (CCC 2088) Father Berry then goes on to say in his own words, “It is only this deliberate cultivation of doubt – this hardening of the heart against some teaching of the Church – this willful shutting off of one’s hearing from the teaching voice of the Church that is a problem.”

Many Anglicans who now find themselves being called to full communion through the ordinariates have confronted the crisis in Anglicanism and have identified it for what it is: the lack of a consistent, unified, and trustworthy magisterium. And yet, perhaps out of habit more than anything else, and even while acknowledging the primacy of Peter, some are not quite ready to embrace the Magisterium of the Church. Perhaps there is some Marian doctrine, or some question of Holy Orders, or some obscure theological point that is not immediately accessible.

This is an obstacle that must be overcome before full communion is possible. Father Berry rightfully refers to it as a hardening of the heart. Perhaps it is just an old habit.

I understand that habit, the habit of disobedience, and I understand it from personal experience. Most thoughtful people understand it. And sooner or later, most Catholics (Anglo-, cradle- or otherwise) must confront the crisis of obedience as we consider — seriously consider — what the Church teaches us. Embracing the discipline of obedience to Church teaching, and doing so willingly and as an exercise of one's own freedom, is the solution.

Embracing obedience to Church authority as a voluntary exercise of freedom may at first seem paradoxical. But an exercise of freedom is not a surrender of freedom, as every new day will bring a new opportunity to revoke the obedience, and willfully to fall into error. Thus there truly is no contradiction.

Willingly embracing obedience demands a difficult new discipline and spirituality for all who come to it for the first time as adults. (We independently-minded Texans in particular, come to it with particular difficulty.) But once arriving at the necessity to reconcile, we can reason that obedience is just an appropriate response to authority, that Christ founded the Church on authority, and that authority is necessary for the preservation of the integrity of the faith.

Coming to a place where we are willing to accept whatever the Church teaches, simply because it is being taught by Christ through legitimate apostolic authority, can be a liberating experience.

Is it possible that we may have not just equal freedom, but greater freedom, after voluntarily submitting to authority? Perhaps so. I am more free, rather than less free, if I can accept doctrine based on Divine authority. I am free from the need to process the question through the weak filter of my own individual theological expertise, or through a synod or convention that determines doctrine by popular vote (and changes its mind every several years), or through a minister whose only authority is a bible college diploma. And I am free from uncertainty.

To those who feel a call to reunion through the ordinariates, you are being called to full communion, which demands full acceptance of all that the Church teaches. Consider that submission to the truth might be liberating, and not a burden at all. Consider the possibility that Anglicanorum coetibus offers you a new level of beauty and of freedom in your relationship with the Truth that is Jesus Christ

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Anglican Use Conference: Final Report

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The second and final day of the annual Anglican Use Conference began as the first day did, with Morning Prayer according to the Book of Divine Worship in the crypt chapel of the Cathedral in Newark. On this Memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Father Davis delivered a moving and powerful sermon lamenting the absence of Our Lady from the devotions of Anglo-Catholic churches.

The final session of the conference on Saturday morning began as Dr. Anne Barbeau Gardiner, Professor Emerita of English at John Jay College of the City University of New York, presented a fascinating history of great literary beauty on the English convert kings of the 17th century.

In response to a question about publication of the papers delivered at the conference, Steve Cavanaugh again confirmed that they would be published in Anglican Embers, the quarterly journal of the Anglican Use Society, and that in addition some of the material would be provided on the Society website.

The conference continued with a question-and-answer session with Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, introduced by Msgr. Sheehan. This was a follow-up to the Bishop’s canonical discussion of the personal ordinariates as presented to the conference the previous evening. Among the questions presented were two from Fr. Bergman, one relating to the status of individuals originally baptized outside of the Anglican tradition, but fully initiated through Confirmation within the Pastoral Provision. The second question concerned the manner in which Church real property might be held under the ordinariates, specifically, would church property be held in the name of the ordinariate, or in the name of the local diocese, or in some other form? Bishop Arrieta was thoughtful and gracious in his answers, and took the occasion to underscore the importance of cooperation between the personal ordinaries and the diocesan ordinaries, but it was clear that these and other details have yet to be worked out.

Bishop Arrieta was warm, friendly, and sincerely interested in the concerns of both the Pastoral Provision community and the Anglicans who are discerning reconciliation. As a curial official in the Holy See, Bishop Arrieta may be in a position to make the pastoral concerns of both groups better understood in Rome. Mr. Blake, Archbishop Myers and Monsignor Sheehan were farsighted and prudent in inviting the Bishop to participate in the conference. And in his partcipation, Bishop Arrieta demonstrated that he is more than a scholar and canonist, but is also, as befits the grace of his orders, a kind and thoughtful pastor of souls. I pray that the Bishop will be consulted by the Holy Father and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Before the conference adjourned, the final appearance was by the Traditional Anglican Communion Bishops. Archbishop John Hepworth, Bishop Carl Reid and Bishop David Moyer, who had been present throughout the conference, stood before the assembly while Archbishop Hepworth spoke with feeling, describing the way in which the churches of the TAC (ACA in the United States of America) will proceed as the ordinariates are established. (Archbishop Louis Falk had been present throughout the first day of the conference but was unavailable during this session.)

This is not the proper forum, and I am not the proper reporter, to interpret the Bishops' intent. There are important pastoral issues to be considered as these Bishops work with their people, and it is clear that the Bishops will do this work with great love and great sensitivity. I hope it will be sufficient in this forum to say that the conference was most favorably impressed with the remarks of Archbishop Hepworth, and that the conference expressed a clear message of approbation and welcome with an enthusiastic standing ovation for these Bishops that was the concluding event of the conference. Clearly this is a time of great hope and great promise for the people of the Traditional Anglican Communion and for the cause of Christian unity.

Following the adjournment of the conference, the Anglican Use Society conducted its annual meeting, which was open to all present. Then, at noon, the concluding Mass of the conference was offered in the crypt chapel of the Cathedral Basilica.

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Be sure to follow our Moderator at Eccentric Bliss, his personal blog!

Anglican Use Conference: End of Day One Report

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Following the Anglican Use Pastors Panel, the conference went into recess to prepare for Mass.

In the annual tradition of the Anglican Use Conference, all present were invited to join in the pickup choir for the Mass. At least two dozen conference attendees availed themselves of the opportunity, and off they went to a 3:30 pm rehearsal, while others went to confession at 4:00 pm or retired to one of the many informal discussion groups.

Solemn High Mass was offered at 5:00 pm at the high altar of the Cathedral. Our group did not quite fill the pews of the massive basilica, but mindful of Anglican tradition we did our best to fill the space with our hymns and chants. Mass was according to the Book of Divine Worship, with traditional Anglican plainsong. Most present either knew the chants or ably sight read them. Archbishop Myers pontificated, and the principal celebrant was Retired Bishop Jeffrey Steenson. The choir performed admirably, and, yes, we did have an opportunity to hear the cathedral’s extraordinary pipe organ. What an inspiring sight it was to see members of our two groups worshiping together according to our common liturgy, exchanging warm greetings at the sign of peace, separated from full communion by the width of the Tiber, but praying together for unity.

After Mass the group returned to the chancery office building where Archbishop Myers was our host for dinner. Archbishop Myers praised the work over the decades of Monsignor William Stetson, a priest of Opus Dei and the long-time secretary to the Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision. Monsignor Stetson received a standing ovation. His successor as secretary, Monsignor James Sheehan, served as master of ceremonies at the dinner.

After dinner, Monsignor Sheehan introduced the keynote speaker, his former canon law professor Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, who had traveled from Rome for the occasion. Bishop Arrieta presented his paper entitled Personal Ordinariates. This detailed presentation of nine single-spaced pages was both canonical and pastoral in its approach and sensitivities, and reflected Bishop Arrieta’s professional interest in ecclesiology. The canonist’s presentation confirmed much of the analysis that was evident from the plain language of the Apostolic Constitution and was presented at the Anglicanorum Coetibus Information Day at Our Lady of the Atonement parish last December. Additionally, Bishop Arrieta presented for the first time new insights on the dual membership of personal ordinariate members in both the ordinariate and the territorial diocese. The Bishop explained that, while this is not explicit in Anglicanorum Coetibus or the Complementary Norms, membership in a particular church must be inferred from the ecclesiological principles set out in Communionis Notio (1992). Bishop Arrieta also gave great emphasis to two points that are known but that the canonist felt were essential to a complete understanding, first, that it is canonically significant that those joining a personal ordinariate must voluntarily and affirmatively express their intent to do so (and may voluntarily withdraw at any time), and second, that the cooperation between the personal ordinary and diocesan bishops as called for in the Apostolic Constitution will be very important.

The Bishop also noted that, while exceptions are provided for, clerical celibacy as called for by Canon Law in the Latin Rite will be the rule in the ordinariates, and that this will be important for the future formation side-by-side of seminarians from the ordinariate and from the local diocese.

Bishop Arrieta’s paper, and the others given at the conference, will be published in Anglican Embers, the quarterly journal of the Anglican Use Society.

The final day of the conference will be tomorrow, Saturday June 12.

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Anglican Use Conference: Day One Afternoon Report

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Following Morning Prayer and the greeting from Archbishop Myers, the conference reconvened in morning session in the auditorium of the Archdiocesan chancery office.

The first speaker, Sister Elaine, ASSP, reflected on the experience of her religious community, All Saints Sisters of the Poor. A long-established order in the Church of England, the sisters first came to Baltimore in 1872, have been in Baltimore continuously ever since, and were received into full communion last September by Archbishop O’Brien of Baltimore.

As Sister Elaine explained, much of the sisters’ daily life remains unchanged, as Archbishop O’Brien had instructed them “keep doing what you’re doing.” For example, the form of their daily office remains unchanged, with the Sisters offering the liturgy of the hours six times daily as a community. Sister Elaine’s presentation was filled with joy, and was frequently punctuated with laughter, as when she explained that not every one understands the monastic life, as demonstrated by the advice she received to “get a job,” perhaps teaching in a Catholic school.

Sister Elaine describes her community’s journey into full communion matter-of-factly as “becoming Roman Catholic.” Sister emphasized the importance of promoting vocations to the religious life and said that she was counting on the parishes represented in the room to send her at least one postulant.

Next up on the program was Dr. William Oddie’s presentation on the important role of influential and literarily sophisticated Anglican converts in Catholic apologetics. Dr. Oddie is a well respected and widely published Church of England clergyman who was received into full communion in 1991.

What could have been a disappointing experience was transformed into a particularly edifying and entertaining experience when, on learning that for health reasons he would be unable to travel to Newark, Dr. Oddie asked Father Allan Hawkins to deliver the paper for him. Today, Fr. Hawkins is best known to us as the pastor of St. Mary the Virgin, the Pastoral Provision parish in Arlington, Texas. Earlier, Fathers Oddie and Hawkins had served together in England, and clearly know each other well. Fr. Hawkins’ annotated reading of the paper brought to life Dr. Oddie’s animated reflections on Chesterton, and the synergy of Chesterton, Oddie and Hawkins greatly exceeded the sum of the parts.

Following a thorough and thoroughly entertaining discussion of Newman and Chesterton, Oddie’s paper went to on to discuss more recent developments. Dr. Oddie made clear his view that last fall, Pope Benedict suddenly accelerated the timetable for the publication of Anglicanorum Coetibus, before its intent could be frustrated by those who oppose the new Apostolic Constitution.

Lunch was an occasion for informal discussions, with clergy and lay people from ACA, other Continuing and Episcopalian parishes dining in small groups with Pastoral Provision folks.

The afternoon conference session was the annual tradition of the Anglican Use Pastors Panel. This is always a crowd favorite, as the audience has the opportunity to define the agenda. This year’s panelists were Fr. James Ramsey of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Fr. Richard Bradford of St. Athanasius in Boston, Fr. Allan Hawkins of St. Mary the Virgin in Arlington, Fr. Jean Hart, SOLT, of St Anselm of Canterbury in Corpus Christi, Fr. Eric Bergman of St. Thomas More in Scranton, Fr. Ernest Davis of St. Therese Little Flower in Kansas City, and Deacon Oliver Vietor of St. Paul’s in Phoenix. In keeping with the issues of the day, questions and comments from the audience leaned heavily toward issues of priestly ordination and the future of the ordinariates.

Going into the pastors’ panel, most conference attendees probably had the sense that the mood of the room was a watchful and somewhat impatient eagerness for the Church “to get on with” the ordinariates. After hearing the tone and content of the questions, this mood was unmistakable.

Bishop Juan Ignacio Arrieta, a distinguished canon lawyer who serves as Secretary of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, and who is the keynote speaker for the conference, was present for the Pastors' Panel and followed the discussion with animated interest.

Your humble scribe is a cradle Catholic who has worshiped in a Pastoral Provision parish for six years, and, like most Anglican Use parishioners, is eager for the U.S. ordinariate to be established. After talking with these conference attendees, I can see that the need is even greater among our Anglican brethren who are waiting. In a particularly challenging situation are the clergy of the ACA, other Continuing groups, and Episcopal Church groups who are working hard to serve the pastoral needs of the people, while at the same time holding their flocks together under extreme uncertainty about the timing. Let us hope that Rome is reading the blogs.

Further reports will be posted as time allows.

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Anglican Use Conference: Day One Mid-day Report

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This morning, in the reverberant crypt chapel beneath the Cathedral Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, more than a hundred Catholic and Anglican voices rang out in the words of the General Thanksgiving as the annual Anglican Use Conference began with Morning Prayer according to the Book of Divine Worship.

Following Morning Prayer, and before leaving the crypt chapel, the conferees were greeted by our host, the Most Reverend John Myers, Archbishop of Newark and Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision. Invoking the words of our Lord Jesus in John 17 “that they all may be one,” the Archbishop wished us well in our work. We will see our host again at 5:00 pm for the Solemn High Mass at the high altar of the magnificent basilica which the Archbishop quite rightly called a “great work of art.”

Morning sessions were held in the auditorium of the Archdiocesan offices across the street from the Cathedral, and conferees will shortly reconvene for a lunch program. A more detailed report will be posted as time permits, but so far the meeting is characterized by great good will and cheerful collaboration.

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Be sure to follow our Moderator at Eccentric Bliss, his personal blog!