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.
Bishop Edwin Barnes
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.
Father Anthony Chadwick
Father Anthony Chadwick was born in the north of England into an Anglican family. He was educated in one of the Church of England’s most well-known schools, St. Peter’s in York, at which he was nurtured in the Anglican musical tradition. After several years studying and working in London he studied theology at university level in Switzerland, Italy and France.
Still living in France, he has been a priest of the Traditional Anglican Communion (under Archbishop Hepworth) since 2005. Fr. Chadwick is charged with chaplaincy work among dispersed Anglicans in the north of France, is married and lives in Normandy. His interests outside the Church and directly religious matters include classical music, DIY and sailing. As a non-stipendiary priest, he earns his living as a technical translator.
He has a web site and blog column on http://pagesperso-orange.fr/civitas.dei/.
Deborah Gyapong
I have been a member of the Traditional Anglican Communion’s Ottawa Cathedral of the Annunciation for about ten years now. I have a rather bizarre and convoluted spiritual journey that began with my Russian Orthodox baptism as an infant. But I spent most of my teens and early 20s resisting spitefully any overtures from God. Here’s a link to my testimony that appeared in the National Post a few years ago.
I did have some tenuous links to Anglicanism in my childhood. My father called himself a “mercenary Episcopalian” because he got paid to sing in some of the top Episcopal Church choirs in the Boston area. I would sometimes accompany him to the Church of the Advent but hanging around during rehearsals was a hardship and I was painfully shy around other children. But I grew up around the musical traditions of both the Russian Orthodox and the Anglican churches.
After my journey into apostasy, through various forms of Gnosticism and then into an “it’s just me and Jesus” cafeteria Christianity, I found shelter in a seeker-friendly Baptist Church in the Ottawa area. It is there, in the evangelical world, where I began to develop my adult Christian faith. I am so grateful for the gentle shepherding I received at Kanata Baptist. Had I plunged right into the TAC, I would have suffered the spiritual “bends.”
“What? No women priests?” “What? All this vain repetition?” “What? Creeds!” I would have been done in by the Athanasian Creed, I am sure. Thus I have great respect for the different ways the Lord woos us and am comfortable in a range of worship settings. And I hope no one keels over when I say this, but I am so grateful for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
At a certain point in my spiritual journey, I shifted from being someone who had to understand before I could believe to adopting Anselm’sCredo ut intelligam–”I believe in order that I may understand.”
Thus came a yearning to have an Apostolic faith. It was not long after that a chance meeting after a lecture brought me to our idiosyncratic little cathedral parish and I found I loved the kneeling, the reverence, the language. I already had an intuitive belief in Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist.
And I loved the way our then Bishop Robert Mercer prayed the mass. Somehow, his focus and sense of recollection made it impossible not to be lifted to heaven, to hear every word, to pray with him. I started bringing friends and some of them stuck, too.
Every Saturday, we have breakfast after the Eucharist in our parish hall. What an opportunity for one on one catechesis that was.
When I joined the TAC around 1999-2000, I was still working as a television producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Then I did a little stint as a communications officer for the then Leader of the Official Opposition. Then I got fired when a new leader came in, and started my own little communications business. I also polished up a novel that I had hoped would become a best seller and bring me a huge income I could retire on. The Defilers won the Best New Canadian Christian Author Award and was published in 2006. But, alas, it has sold terribly, though people who have bothered to read it have liked it.
Work in my communications business strangely dried up in 2004 and I tried about eight months of “living the dream” of being a full time fiction writer. But the isolation of writing fiction full time proved to be not all I thought it would be. I confess, I like the idea of being a writer more than I like being a real writer. If you see any typos, you’ll get my drift. (I don’t see them even if I look for them, sorry). I love churning out first drafts. Polishing is a chore. And I needed to earn some money. So when I spied the notice of job opening with Roman Catholic papers to be the national correspondent for a cooperative called Canadian Catholic News, I applied.
Being a Roman Catholic was not a requirement. In my interview with several of the editors, I told them I loved the Catholic Church and I loved the Holy Father. “I’m more Catholic than 85% of the people in the pews of the Catholic Church,” I told them. (Yet I didn’t know even what a monsignor was. I had a steep learning curve ahead of me.)
The editors traded meaningful glances and left to discuss the matter among themselves. Then they offered me the job.
What an amazing ride it has been. I jumped immediately into covering the same-sex ‘marriage’ debate then raging in Canada. Within a few weeks, I was covering my first plenary session of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB).
Now I’ve covered six plenaries. I’ve seen some beautiful renewal in the Catholic Church in Canada even in my short time covering the Church. My position in the National Capital has been a great perch from which to observe the many signs of hope here. And I often wonder if there was anything providential in my being a member of the TAC writing for Catholic papers at this time in our journey towards union with the Holy See.
Case in point. When the Apostolic Constitution (AC) was announced, I fortuitously happened to be down in Cornwall, Ontario covering the last CCCB plenary. I had gone to my room on Monday night, checked my computer and people were Tweeting me (sending me messages onTwitter for those who don’t use the site) that something was going to happen the next day that involved us. So I set my alarm early and first thing the next morning I checked my email and by 6:00 a.m. Eastern a friend of mine from Zenit had already sent me the texts of both news conferences. So I went off and got about a dozen copies printed off to pass around.
Who should happen to be at the plenary that morning but the Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada Archbishop Fred Hiltz! I dunno, if I wrote a novel with all those “coincidences” in it, my critique partners would tell me it was just not believable. Hiltz is a very nice man, but he didn’t seem to think much of the AC. When I interviewed him later that day, he said he did not expect many Anglicans would avail themselves of it. The juridical authority of the Pope was the sticking point.
Last summer, I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet Pope Benedict XVI. I had flown over on the Canadian Prime Minister’s plane to cover his first papal audience. While the other journalists went off to cover the G8, I had to hang around in Rome for a few days. Poor me.
But a big scandal had broken back in Canada. The Prime Minister, an evangelical, was accused of pocketing the Host during a Catholic funeral prior to leaving for Italy. He didn’t, of course. But it sure made my life busy. The meeting with Pope Benedict took place on the day we flew home to Ottawa. I brought him greetings from Bishop Peter Wilkinson.
So here we are.
Father Seán Finnegan
Born in 1961, Fr. Seán Finnegan studied at the University of St. Andrews and St. John’s Seminary, Wonersh, England. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton on September 24, 1989 where he has spent the majority of his priesthood, apart from a few years in the Oratories of Oxford and London. He is presently the Parish Priest of the Parish of Our Lady, Queen of Peace, Adur Valley, which is on the South Coast of England, not far from Brighton. Fr. Finnegan is the author of the exceptional blog Valle Adurni (the ancient Roman name for Shoreham, the main town of Fr. Finnegan’s parish, is supposed to have been Portus Adurni). He also teaches Early Church History at St. John’s Seminary.
Father William P. “Doc” Holiday
At the behest of my very good friend Mr. Campbell, I have been given the great honor of being allowed to participate in this endeavor that is The Anglo-Catholic. Christian has asked that my initial post be of an introductory nature. So, without any further ado, I beg your forbearance.
My name is Fr. William P. “Doc” Holiday. The nickname is the result of my last name and American western history, not earned by way of the academy. I serve as a curate at the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Orlando, FL), ACA/TAC, and have been so blessed since Advent season of 2007. I am a Cooperator with the Priestly Society of the Holy Cross, an association of clergy intrinsically united with Opus Dei, and it is my fervent hope that once the Ordinariate is established that I will be able to enter this Society as a full member. I entered the ACA/TAC by way of another “Continuing” Anglican jurisdiction (you will become aware in short order that I in no way appreciate the moniker “Continuum” in the context of current Anglican affairs), and I entered Anglicanism via the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, via the Presbyterian Church in America, via the Baptist church, via being eye brow deep in the temporal. Consequently, I approach things theological, and all the associated “logics”, from the perspective of one who has walked a very circuitous journey. My worldview has run the gamut from paganism, broad evangelicalism, foaming-at-the-mouth rabid Calvinism (my M. Div. is from Reformed Theological Seminary), latitudinarian Anglicanism, to Catholicism, and by that I mean real Catholic, capital “C” Catholic, Pope Catholic. I came to this point by way of much prayer, study, and spiritual direction, and am happy to be here because I know I don’t need to search anymore. Mother Church has opened her doors to me and my brothers and sisters and now we merely wait to step through. Actually, when I came into the ACA/TAC, I was contemplating going directly to Rome, but being aware of the TAC’s overtures toward the Holy See I decided that if I could in any way assist in the effort to bring tens of thousands into the Church, as opposed to just me, I should put forth the effort. Additionally, there exists in true Anglicanism a depth and richness of spirituality, a glory in liturgy, and a desire for the maintenance of Catholic tradition, that is not to be found in many Latin Rite parishes. This is the Anglican patrimony of which so many speak in the context of Anglicanorum Coetibus, the patrimony we desire to bring into the Church of which we were once part.
Another facet of my life that lends to a somewhat unique perspective regarding my take on things, and my presentation as well, is my secular background. After graduating high school in Kenton County, KY., I enlisted in the U. S. Marine Corps (a belated happy birthday to all you Devil Dogs [It's a Marine thing you others wouldn't understand]) where I served for over four years. After my discharge I entered a career in law enforcement. I am currently in my 25th year of service in that capacity. Yes, you read right, still active. By God’s grace I was able to segue my affinity with police officers into my priesthood by serving as a Chaplain for the Orange County (FL) Sheriff’s Office, a very large agency that serves the metro Orlando area. During my tenure in law enforcement I served in Patrol, Street Crimes, Traffic, Aviation, and for most of the time in my love of loves, SWAT. As you can well imagine, that gives me a sort of “rubber-meets-the-road” perspective of ministry, and an ability to talk about guns if any of you so desire.
I pray that my role here will be to engage in a practical theological approach to many of the matters discussed. I have a very distinct desire to overcome the prevalent, “Can’t see the forest for the trees,” paradigm so evidently displayed by so many self-proclaimed authorities in the matter of reunion before us. Unfortunately, there are so many who conjecture concerning the meaning of something they read, or hear, and then by way of that conjecture parse the matter to what they present as logical consistency, when in fact their initial perception was flawed consequently making all they say about the matter at hand invalid, and I would submit quite often ridiculous. In short, we need to address matters Anglo-Catholic objectively, parsing information of which we are sure, and letting things yet to be determined rest until they are determined.
I pray this was not burdensome, and I also beg your forgiveness if at times I become a bit edgy in my zeal to address issues that are so very dear to my heart, and there is nothing closer to my heart than the desire to see the fruition of the gracious work of the Holy Father in paving a way for us to come home.
Your servant in our Lord Jesus Christ and His most blessed and ever-virgin Mother,
“Doc”+
Father Christopher Phillips
Fr. Christopher G. Phillips is the pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas, where he has served for nearly twenty-seven years. He is the founding pastor of the first Anglican Use parish, erected in 1983 under the terms of the Pastoral Provision.
Fr. Phillips was ordained as an Anglican for the Diocese of Bristol, England, in 1975. After serving as Curate for three years at St. Stephen Southmead, he returned to the United States and served in two Episcopal parishes in the Diocese of Rhode Island. In 1981 he left the Episcopal Church and moved with his family to Texas, where he was subsequently ordained as a Catholic priest in 1983.
Fr. Phillips and his wife, JoAnn, have been married for nearly forty years. They have five children and one grandchild.
Fr. Phillips also blogs independently at AtonementOnline.
Father Mark Siegel
My name is Father Mark Siegel, and I serve God’s One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church as the Dean of the Cathedral of the Incarnation in Orlando, Florida. While it has not been my practice to spend much time reading the blogs in cyberspace, let alone commenting on what I have read, I have decided to enter the fray for a couple of reasons. The first is to support this wonderful effort of our outstanding Senior Warden, and the second is to add my voice to a very positive and reasonable response to the many negative and seemingly unreasonable blogs that are out there.
Being the Dean of the Cathedral means that my ministry is quite unlike most parish priests. That is to say that while I do have the full measure of responsibility that comes with being a priest in charge of a parish, it also means that I have the added duties that come with being a part of the seat of the diocese. Given my position within the diocese, I simply must maintain a “big picture” outlook and take on the weight and responsibility of serving the diocese, while at the same time being intimately involved in the lives of each and every member of the parish and doing all that I can to guide, direct, protect and feed the local flock. Both responsibilities are quite an honor and blessing to hold, but in my heart and mind I merely see myself as a simple parish priest that has been called to serve the Lord in a unique way. So, any contribution that I make to this blog will come from a rather parochial view of the situations that move me to comment.
As I am certain that many others will make comments that come from a much broader perspective (international, national, and even diocesan), I hope that my contribution, that focuses more on how the events of the day might impact each parish and its members, might be somewhat unique on this site, and God willing might even prove helpful.
It is my sincere prayer that anything that I might do here will first and foremost glorify our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but will also play a small part in the further unity, growth and outreach of His Church.
Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Fr. Mark+
Dr. William Tighe
Dr. Tighe is Associate Professor of History at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His papers have been published in numerous scholarly journals and his work has been featured in popular publications such as Touchstone and New Oxford Review. Dr. Tighe has provided the following biographical sketch for our readers.
I was born May 5, 1952 in Lowell, Massachusetts, and since 1990 have been married to the former Silvija G. Sterns. We have three children, Augustine Leo Tighe (b. 1992), Kirill Alexander Tighe (b. 1995) and Aija Theodoti Tighe (b. 2001).
I was born and bred a Roman Catholic, but as a graduate student at Yale drifted away and began to attend Episcopalian services. Had it not been for the decision of the Episcopal Church in 1976 to approve the ordination of women, I would most likely have become an Episcopalian, but that decision gave me pause, although not enough to drive me away from Anglicanism. When I left Yale (and America) for Cambridge (I lived in the UK from 1978 to 1986), I was able to cultivate an acquaintance with the late Anglo-Catholic theologian Eric Mascall (1905-1993), whose works I had discovered on my own as an undergraduate in the early 1970s and whom I had met in New York City on Good Friday 1977, and as a result of conversations with him, as well as with other new English Christian friends, I came to the conclusion that I could not justify formally becoming an Anglican, but, rather, should return to the practice of the Catholic Faith in the Catholic Church, which I did. Shortly after taking up my present position at Muhlenberg College in 1986, I began to attend the local Ukrainian Catholic parish, and in 1995 petitioned for, and received, a formal “transfer of rite” to become, with my children, a member of the ecclesia sui juris Ukrainian Catholic Church. I will acknowledge as well that I have been influenced by the admirable writings of Fr. Aidan Nichols, OP, whom I am pleased and honored to count as a friend.
My academic interests include the English Reformation (and its long-term “working out”) as well as the Reformation in the Scandinavian realms, and, additionally, the Orthodox Church and its relations with the West. I teach courses on various aspects of European history between the Renaissance and the French Revolution, as well as one on (Eastern) Orthodox Christianity.
