"Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzibah and thy land Beulah; for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married." (Isaiah 62:4).

Isaiah prophesied that the Children of Israel would be restored to their place in Jerusalem. No more would they be a forsaken people, no more would they be strangers in a strange land; rather they would be God’s delight and they would once again be in the land promised to them. As the old Gospel hymn put it:

O Beulah land, sweet Beulah land!
As on thy highest mount I stand,
I look away across the sea
Where mansions are prepared for me
And view the shining glory shore
My heaven, my home forever more.

The Holy Father wasn’t describing Beulah in Anglicanorum coetibus, but he’s giving us the next best thing; namely, a place in communion with the Successor of St. Peter, where we can be prepared for our final and true home in heaven. The question is – and this is where some hard feelings have come about – how are these Ordinariates going to be formed? What about the “groups of Anglicans” referred to in the very title of the Apostolic Constitution? How do they fit into the formation of the Ordinariates? Of course, we’ll have the answers after it all happens, and anything we say before that is mere speculation.

It’s been said that the position of this blog is that these Anglican groups – and specifically TAC – should just dissolve, because the Ordinariates are going to be created ex nihilo by Roman authority. That is not the editorial position of The Anglo-Catholic.

The moderator and contributors to this blog are simply individuals with a particular interest, but with no inside knowledge about any of this, and there’s no official position about how the practical details will be worked out. Our only “official position” is that we all want to be part of an Ordinariate. Having said that, I don’t think a single contributor has ever expressed the opinion that Anglican groups should dissolve themselves and wait for an Ordinariate to be dropped down from the sky. Groups such as TAC and Forward in Faith are providing pastoral care now, and will continue to do so until their people can be delivered safely into an Ordinariate. And perhaps it’s at this point – the point at which the members of an Anglican group are brought to the threshold of an Ordinariate – that there’s confusion over what happens next.

There are those who think that the old structures will be maintained – that somehow the various jurisdictions and dioceses will be preserved as the Ordinariate. I can say with confidence, that won’t be the case. TAC will not exist in an Ordinariate; Forward in Faith will not exist in an Ordinariate; not even the Pastoral Provision for the Anglican Use will exist in an Ordinariate. As St. Paul wrote in another context, “…the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” There will be no need for old structures, because we’ll have a new structure designed specifically for us by Pope Benedict XVI, which will enable us to preserve, nurture, and share the patrimony which is presently lodged in the various Anglican groups. Once these groups have brought their clergy and laity ad limina Apostolorum, their important work will be done.

There might be some value in seeing how this has happened before, because it’s not impossible that what has already happened with Anglicans who have come to Rome as a group might provide a glimpse at what could happen again. In fact, I had written this account as a comment elsewhere, in response to an article that was discussing this very issue:

Perhaps if I explain what happened when Our Lady of the Atonement came into being, it would show another possibility.

Our little group was called St. Anthony’s Parish, and it was part of the Pro-diocese of St. Augustine (a grouping of several parishes seeking entrance into the Catholic Church by way of the Pastoral Provision). Our people remained as members of St. Anthony’s Parish right up until the moment when Our Lady of the Atonement Parish was canonically erected. The only property owned by St. Anthony’s Parish consisted of our vestments, chalices, etc., and a small house in which my family and I were living. The parish continued to own this until our reception into the Church. At that time (and this was the only option, because we were becoming an archdiocesan parish), the property was deeded to the archdiocese, with the provision that it was for the exclusive use of the newly-erected parish of Our Lady of the Atonement. (As an aside, I’m sure the new Ordinaries, as they are appointed, will work with the priests’ councils of the various Ordinariates, to establish suitable ways to hold property, giving protection to the local congregation, while at the same time providing a way for churches to be consecrated as Catholic places of worship).

Our experience was that of a seamless transition. It was only for the period of a couple of weeks that I was unable to provide a sacramental ministry to my people, because I made my Profession of Faith a few weeks before they did, which enabled me to become a Deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. It was then at my priestly ordination that the rest of the congregation made their Professions of Faith, and the parish was canonically erected. During that same Mass, I was appointed to be the founding pastor of the new parish. This meant that our laity began the Mass as members of St. Anthony’s Parish of the Pro-diocese of St. Augustine, and they left the Mass as members of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church.

I would envision that something similar could happen in the case of the TAC parishes. So, for instance, the members of St. Swithin’s-in-the-Swamp Traditional Anglican Parish could continue as members of TAC right up until the moment it becomes St. Swithin’s-in-the-Swamp Roman Catholic Parish. I certainly would have no thought that St. Swithin’s should disband, nor do I think the people should go off to other parishes for a while. That would be disastrous, and not in keeping with the Apostolic Constitution. Nor do I think there is any reason for the group to “dissolve” itself. Its identity will simply be transformed — transitioned, if you will — as it enters the visible communion of the Catholic Church.

I suppose it could be compared, in a sense, to marriage. One moment the couple isn’t married; the next moment they are. One moment the people are TAC; the next moment they are Catholics in an Ordinariate. They will have been prepared for it, of course — just as a man and woman are prepared for Holy Matrimony. But the transitional moment, profound as it is, could really be quite simple.

I understand that there will need to be preparations made for the reception of property, and that will vary from country to country, state to state, province to province. Whether it takes the form of local corporations, or some other legal entities, is really for the Ordinaries and their priest-counsellors to work out. We’ll never be able to settle that on a blog — national and local laws vary too much for there to be one model.

I don’t know if this clarifies for you my thoughts… I’m understanding this through the prism of our experience from nearly thirty years ago.

That may be helpful; it may not be. As I said near the beginning, it’s all speculation on our part anyway. I do know this: it’s possible to speculate without resentment, and it’s possible to disagree without hostility. At least, I’d like us to try.

The new Incumbent among his people

The Parish of SS Peter and Paul Fareham has been a bastion of catholicism in Portsmouth (Anglican) diocese for many years.  The church itself is a bit of a hotch-potch; reputedly some Saxon long and short work in the ancient Chancel (which is now the North Chapel), a Chancel by Blomfield, and the heavy hand of, I think, Nicholson on much of the rest.  The great Fr Leslie Chad made liturgical sense of the space he inherited, putting in a very good nave altar, and confining the old High Altar and Tabernacle behind the Rood Screen, itself moved a bay or two to the east.  The Licensing was equally confused, set within a very decent Mass but including the various diocesan liturgical committee's bright ideas, such as taking the new incumbent to see the font and telling him what it is for.  It gives the 'lay chair' (which I thought you only came across in dentists' surgeries) and the Area Dean something to say.

So the licensing of the new parish priest was to be undertaken by Portsmouth Diocese; except that there is a vacancy in See, so the Bishop who did the legal bit was Ian Brackley who has been Bishop of Dorking (in neighbouring Guildford diocese) for the past fourteen years, and is just ending a stint as Commissary during the vacancy in Portsmouth.  Neither was the local Archdeacon on hand to assist him, since he is becoming bishop of Basingstoke, a suffragan of Winchester… and all three dioceses involved were, until some ninety years ago, all part of the Diocese of Winchester.  I hope that has not left anyone too confused.  The celebrant was the Provincial Episcopal Visitor, Keith Richborough.

Licensing Sermon

In the early 20th Century the C of E busily created new dioceses believing the church was growing apace.  Ever since that time it has shrunk, but left itself with far too many dioceses and bishops — and churches.  Portsmouth, once simply an Archdeaconry of Winchester with its own Archdeacon but no suffragan bishop now is established for a Bishop and THREE Archdeacons!  Guildford, equally, was an Archdeaconry.  It has its own Bishop, Bishop Suffragan, and two Archdeacons.  What is more, whereas Archdeacons used to have other responsibilities (usually Parishes) they have become increasingly insulated from reality by having no parochial responsibilities.

The vacancy in Portmouth, after the long illness of the previous diocesan bishop, was the ideal time to start reversing the trend.  It would have been no great problem for the Bishop of Winchester to have held Portsmouth in plurality, until all three dioceses were sorted out in due course.  But, no, the system will not allow it.  There have to be Acts of Parliament to undo the follies of our forefathers and reduce the number of  bishops.  General Synod prefers to spend its time ridding itself of catholics, rather than getting the diocesan system to face reality.  It is all a little like the Royal Navy, now with more Admirals than ships.

Well, back to the important topic of What to Wear.  Fr Christopher Woodman SSC was in plain alb and white stole, since he was assisting Bishop Keith of Richborough who celebrated the Mass.  There were others in cassock and cotta, some with and some without stoles.  There were some in surplice, scarf and hood.  The Bishop of Dorking was in Cope and Mitre; what a former bishop of Kensington used to call "matching hat and coat".  He carried a pastoral staff which looked like a close relative to a knob-kerry.  The Celebrant was, of course, properly attired in gold chasuble and mitre.  Earlier in the day I had lugged my black rochet and chimere down from the loft (others might have worn scarlet, but I do not like pretending to an Oxford Doctorate which I do not possess).  Is it part of the Patrimony?  I do hope not, it weighs a ton.

Choir Dress from Chelmsford and Winchester

It was good to have many brethren from our local SSC Chapter supporting Fr Christopher.  He takes on a new responsibility at a difficult time — even the Bishop of Dorking acknowledged as much — though he went on to be quite insensitively up-beat about how catholics should go on contributing to the C  of E forgetting that his liberal friends have made this impossible.  I believe Bishop Keith took him to task afterwards.  There was an outstandingly good bun-fight, and we returned home wondering just what it was we had been doing.

For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely men? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.

I Corinthians 3:4,5

It was a thrilling day last October, when the Apostolic Constitution was made public, and we suddenly saw the words “Anglicanorum coetibus” for the first time. My Latin, although passable enough to say Mass, wasn’t refined enough to determine immediately what an accurate translation would be. I knew such documents took the first few words as the title, but my hasty reading of the English translation saw the words, “In recent times the Holy Spirit has moved…” and I knew that wasn’t it. But then the next few words leapt off the page: “groups of Anglicans.” I knew then that was the title. It didn’t seem very catchy, but it was ours.

Everything was set to change on that day. At least it should have. The document spoke of “groups,” plural. The way was being opened for these groups to wrap up their separate existences and to prepare for one destination. The word repeated over and over in the document is “unity” – ultimately, unity in the visible Catholic Church – but also, unity among these various groups as part of their journey to the goal. And to achieve that unity during the journey – although the existing structures of these groups need to be maintained for pastoral reasons – still, there needs to be a transition, a winding-down, a de-emphasis on Houses of Bishops and Primates, a moratorium on the consecrating of new bishops.

Groups such as TAC and FiF have served a wonderful purpose. They, and others, are the groups that brought about the response from the Holy See. But with Anglicanorum coetibus, their destiny is fulfilled. To prepare to move from those bodies into a closer unity which will find its completion in the Ordinariates is not being disloyal to any person or group; rather, it’s being obedient to Peter, the Rock on which the Church is built. As someone said to me recently, "The Pope wants Anglicans, not acronyms." How true.

St. John the Baptist proclaimed, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The time has come for the movement towards the primary goal of entering an Ordinariate to increase, and it’s time for the former things to decrease. Certainly, we give thanks for those faithful voices – who no doubt sometimes felt like voices in the wilderness – who called together those who will comprise the Ordinariates. But they have completed their task, and now they can reap the fruit.

Those were difficult days in the early Church, when loyalties were being misplaced along with the Gospel. But St. Paul got them back on track, and his words can do the same for us:

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. He who plants and he who waters are equal, and each shall receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and another man is building upon it. Let each man take care how he builds upon it. For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

I Corinthians 3: 6-11

I just saw this rendering of the altar to be used for Cardinal Newman's beatification at Holy Smoke.  I went to the Papal Visit website just to make sure that it wasn't one of Damian's pranks.  It's not.

Can someone tell me what makes this an appropriate setting for Benedict XVI to beatify John Henry Newman?

Dean's Court is a great surprise.  It is in the heart of the lovely market town of Wimborne, just over the border from us in Dorset.  Sir William Hanham is the thirteenth Baronet, and the family have owned the house since the Dissolution in the sixteenth century.  One of the earlier Hanhams rebuilt the original house in the 1720's, and much of it still appears as it was then, though there are Victorian and other additions to one side of the house.

It is Dean's Court because Wimborne Minster, at the time of the Dissolution, was a Collegiate Church whose boss was the Dean of Wimborne.  In earlier centuries (before the Norman Conquest) there had been a convent of nuns in Wimborne, and the fishpond which survives in the garden of Deanery Court may date back to that time.

Minster Tower viewed over the Garden Wall

Last weekend one of the many Newspaper Property supplements was again extolling the virtues of former Rectories.  It seems if your house can be called the Old Rectory you will add hugely to its value.  The Church of England used to be custodian of thousands of wonderful old houses.  Instead of treating them imaginatively, leasing part of them and retaining the rest for the priest, they have gradually flogged almost all of them to the highest bidders.  Unfortunately although they now change hands for millions, the church mostly disposed of them for peanuts.  Our church is now proposing to do the same with Bishops' Palaces.  Indeed, the former See House for Portsmouth was sold a few years back for £500k ("we could not get planning permission," said the Church Commissioners).  Now there are many very expensive houses built in the grounds, each one worth more than that £500k – so someone obtained planning permission after obtaining such a snip.  The Church, meanwhile, spent more on a new Bishop's House than it originally obtained for the old one, and then spent even more adding offices, chapel and all the other essentials of episcopal living.

Rowan

Yet there are bishops saying of the Ordinariate that the Church of England could not possibly part with any buildings because they are "inalienable"!  Tell that to Henry VIII.  The Church of England has more churches than it knows what to do with, yet some of the bishops at least appear determined to hang on to every last one of them at all costs rather than letting any go to the Ordinariate.  I hope charity, and sanity, may yet prevail.  How much better that a building consecrated to the Glory of God should continue in the Church's use, rather than being turned into a coffee shop or an antiques market.

Enough carping.  Enjoy the pictures.

Walled Kitchen Garden

* * *

While the sexual abuse crisis has occasioned the most serious criticism of Benedict XVI, it's hardly an isolated case. Tornielli and Rodari treat a long list of other controversies and PR debacles too, including:

• A September 2006 speech in Regensburg which triggered Muslim protest by appearing to link Muhammad with violence;
• The appointment, followed by the swift fall from grace, of a new Archbishop of Warsaw who turned out to have had an ambiguous relationship with the Soviet-era secret police;
• Reviving the old Latin Mass, including a controversial Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews;
• Lifting the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops, including one who has denied that the Nazis used gas chambers;
• Comments aboard the papal plane to Africa to the effect that condoms make the problem of AIDS worse;
• Criticism from the Catholic right of Benedict's social encyclical Caritas in Veritate;
• Open conflicts among cardinals, most notably Christoph Schönborn of Vienna, Austria, and Angelo Sodano of Italy, the Secretary of State under John Paul II;
• Ecumenical tensions related to the creation of new "ordinariates" to welcome traditionalist Anglican converts.

-snip-

Tornielli and Rodari don't pretend to settle all the questions, and they realize that the tumult unleashed by these episodes can't be reduced exclusively to a communications problem. (No matter how you spin it, for example, some people are going to find rolling out a welcome mat for Lefebvrites and Anglican traditionalists ill-advised.)

* * *

Well, I happen to think the Regensburg address was brilliant, a must-read, a prophetic word to this generation.  I think reviving the old Latin Mass was a good thing, and his comments about condoms were right on.

So, how do you feel about our being seen as a public relations debacle?

* * *

PRAYERS FOR THE ORDINARIATES

Eternal Father, we place before you the project of forming the Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. We thank you for this initiative of Pope Benedict XVI., and we ask that, through the Holy Spirit, the Ordinariates may become:

families of charity, peace and the service of the poor,

centres for Christian unity and reconciliation,

communities that welcome and evangelize,

teaching the Faith in all its fullness,

celebrating the liturgy and sacraments with prayerful reverence

and maintaining a distinctive patrimony of Christian faith and culture.

Drawing on that heritage we pray:

Go before us, O Lord, in all our doings with thy most gracious favour, and further us with thy continual help; that in all our works, begun, continued and ended in thee, we may glorify thy holy Name, and finally by thy mercy obtain everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

V/ Our Lady of Walsingham.

R/ Pray for us as we claim your motherly care.

V/ Saint Therese of the Infant Jesus.

R/ Pray for us as we place this work under your patronage.

V/ Saints and Martyrs of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

R/ Pray for us and accompany us on our pilgrim way.

Our Lady of Walsingham. (Photo: Lawrence Lew, OP)

[I thought we could use something on the lighter side, so I pulled out this piece from last fall on the patronage of the ordinariates.  I hope it is clear that tongue is firmly in cheek in several places.]

Cardinal Newman is, at last, set to be beatified and that is a wonderful thing, but in the euphoria around his beatification and the subsequent euphoria over the announcement of Anglicanorum Coetibus, several writers have advocated linking the two events, suggesting that Newman should be recognized as patron of the new Anglican structures.  I won’t say that Newman isn’t the right patron, but we should give the other contenders their due.

First and foremost, the feelings and efforts of the Queen of Heaven should be given their due in this. England is known as Mary's dowry. At her behest, the Holy House was rebuilt at Walsingham, which became England's great seat of Marian devotion. The cult of Our Lady of Walsingham, under which Our Lady is Patroness of the English Speaking Peoples, is something that Catholics on both sides of the Tiber share and Walsingham has long been a place where both Roman Catholics and Anglo-Catholics have offered their prayers for the breach of the Reformation to be closed. The novena for the conversion of England ends on her feast.  Let's not forget the words of that other great Oratorian convert. Fr. Faber:

Faith of our fathers! Mary's prayers
Shall win our country back to thee;
And through the truth that comes from God,
England shall then indeed be free.
Faith of our fathers, holy faith!
We would be true to Thee till death.

In short, ladies first.

Second, England already has a patron saint, St. George, and though he is not English, I think most Anglophones and philes believe that he's done quite well by them. To look at it another way, saints who slew mythical beasts have had as rough a time during the last 40 years as the Anglo-Catholics who are looking toward the ordinariates. Maybe it's time for St. George to have a new day in the sun as well.

Third, chronologically, I suppose I should mention Joseph of Arimathea, whose cultus associated with Glastonbury has allowed the pottiness that is the gift of a certain type of Anglican mind to reach its hothouse extreme. Did his travels as a merchant bring him to England with the adolescent Lord so that his feet could tread on the green hills? Who knows, but it does have a place in hearts beyond the BNP.

Fourth, Cardinal Newman is about to join the ranks of the blesseds from a country that already has scores of saints, many of whom are established heavy-hitters, though their light has often been a bit dimmed since the Reformation. What of Alban, the proto-martyr; of Augustine who first brought aid and succor from Rome; and of Hilda, who settled the affairs of the Church with English good sense? What of St. Thomas, who gave his life for the liberty of the English Church and whose shrine made Canterbury one of Europe's great centers of pilgrimage?

Fifth, let's not forget the martyrs of the Reformation. What of St. Thomas More, the great lawyer whose intercession just might be detected in this solution that is as much canonical as it is theological? What of all the fruit of Tyburn's tree whose blood has contributed to making this particular peace?

Sixth, moving outside of the UK and thinking of my own country, what of Mother Seton, the pioneering Episcopal convert whose deathbed cry was, "Be children of the Church, be children of the Church."

Seventh, in an age where cable and the internet have created an unprecedented stage for those who write and argue, it is understandable that Cardinal Newman, who excelled at writing and arguing, should have quite a following among we would-be Newmans of the blogosphere and the talk show circuit, but does popularity on the 'net cast a wide enough net for patronage of something more broad and diverse?

Finally, is Newman an attractive figure for Anglicans who are moving toward reunion? When I was an Anglo-Catholic, I like many others had rather ambivalent feelings about Newman. Yes, he was right, but he wasn't always terribly nice about it. Newman left the Oxford Movement before Anglo-Catholicism really got started. After Newman's conversion, Anglo-Catholics went to the slums to reach the poor and to jail to defend their faith. Cardinal Newman is not part of that story and his defection is a deep wound that, for many, has never really healed. For some Anglo-Catholics, talking of Newman is a bit like talking about an ex-wife or a lost child. It's not that there isn't love there, but there is pain as well.

We will all rejoice when Cardinal Newman deservedly gets off the shelf next month, but with all of the worthy possibilities to be considered, are we sure that he’s our man?  What do you think?  Who else is in the running?  (And, please, keep it light.)

Cardinal Marc Ouellet and Deborah Gyapong in Quebec City

When I attended by first plenary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) six years ago, I confess I found myself rather dismayed.  Of course, most of it was a blur. I did not know anyone.  It's easy to make snap judgments.

The bishops struck me as nice men, but tired, and perhaps a bit battered by political correctness. They seemed to be bending over backwards to be accommodating and inoffensive, especially to women.  I quickly realized the Catholic Church, in Canada anyway, is in as much internal disarray as say the Anglican or the United Churches, save for the Pope and the episcopal hierarchy.  There are liberal and conservative and traditional and charismatic and pr0-life and social justice and you-name-it factions sometimes warring within one fractious family.  That was my first impression.  Since then, the beauty and the love and the gleaming treasure within this family have come into focus.

Though I knew the TAC was in informal talks about communion with the Holy See and I was already a big Cardinal Ratzinger fan in 2004, (we were all rooting for him in the conclave in 2005) I still had a basically Protestant theology of the Church and of the Body of Christ as a mystical entity, an unseen fellowship among believers that transcended any earthly institutions.  What mattered was a shared faith in Jesus Christ–and of course, a personal relationship with Him.  It took a few more years for me to begin to grasp a more Catholic ecclesiology.  I thought I was already Catholic because my faith was more catholic than most Catholics I ran across.  I had a lot to learn.

But it has not been doctrine that is drawing me into the Catholic Church.  I am content with the doctrine I get at our little bastion of sanity at the Cathedral of the Annunciation.  We receive great teaching from our priests.  And our worship is beautiful.

Why I yearn to be Catholic goes way beyond doctrinal assent or a desire to be obedient on principle–it's a deep-seated passion, from the heart, because of the love of the Father,   drawing me through  faithful Catholic bishops like Cardinal Marc Ouellet,  Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast and  our previous Nuncio, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, who is now in France.

I love them.  I want to be able to receive Our Lord from their hands.   I want to be in heaven with them and take my whole family with me.  And all my friends.

They have revealed to me in profound, personal ways how alive and well and beautiful the Catholic Church is at the level of her institutional, earthly structure.  I yearn now to be connected because of them.   And I could not began to name the many beautiful priests and lay Catholics I have come to know and love.  There are many more bishops who I do not know as well, but who have also been loving and kind to this journalist who is still an outsider.

Today, Cardinal Ouellet officially begins his duties in Rome as Prefect for the Congregation of Bishops, where he will have a major role in advising the Holy Father on episcopal appointments.

I try not to think too much of our loss here in Canada.

But yesterday, I received a little consolation via email.  When I had checked the Archdiocese of Quebec website for photos of the reception after his final public celebration of the mass Aug. 15, the photo I hoped to find of us together was not posted.  I do not photograph well and figured, drat! my eyes must have been closed or something.  But I wrote to Jasmin, the communications director at the diocese, and he sent me the photo I have posted here.   What a joy to have this photo.

Other consolations yesterday.  I went to the diocesan centre to do some interviews with the wonderful folks from Catholic Christian Outreach, and interviewed an evangelist from the United States, Peter Herbeck, who is leading a retreat today on the Holy Spirit.  He told me of how recent popes have written or spoken of the "signs of the times" as centered around the new movements in the church focusing on evangelism, community, orthodox faith and mission.  Readers here will know this is a subject I love. Herbeck spoke of the new Pentecost, and I have been praying for that.  He and the president of CCO, Jeff Lockert then prayed for me.  What a joy it is to meet people like this and write about the life-transforming work of the Holy Spirit in so many lives.

Peter Herbeck of Renewal Ministries and Jeff Lockert of Catholic Christian Outread

Then I went upstairs to meet with Archbishop Prendergast.

He told me Cardinal Ouellet would be starting his official duties in Rome on the day the Church remembers St. Augustine. We reminisced about our friend, talked about his last interview on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, which we agreed was really good.

The interviewer didn't always interrupt, she let him talk, and he is always great when he can just talk, because he always says something surprising, the archbishop said.

When the interviewer confronted him with criticism from one of his fellow bishops, the cardinal defended the bishop rather than himself. He also had that "little hum of love that he gets," I said.  Yeah, it's something that even leaps out of the television screen.  And it's contagious. You think about it, you talk about it, because you know its Source, you start humming, too.

And I thanked Archbishop Prendergast for not being ashamed of us in our little Traditional Anglican Communion/Anglican Catholic Church of Canada band.  He seemed  surprised I would thank him.  But we know not everyone wants to be associated with us because we are small, we are depicted negatively, especially by those in the Anglican Communion who see us as schismatics and cultists.

Archbishop Terrence Prendergast and Deborah Gyapong

For someone like Archbishop Prendergast to come to our little cathedral—which would tuck neatly into his private chapel—it's a type of the Incarnation, when you consider how beautiful the heavenly Notre Dame Cathedral Basilica is.   But he came one year and prayed with us for 45 minutes, kneeling in one of our creaking pews, when we had a quiet day in honor of 40 Days for Life.

I can't tell you how much that touched me.  It was like being Cinderella and getting an invitation to the prince's ball.

And this was before Anglicanorum coetibus.  As Fr. Ed Tomlinson is discovering, being an Anglo-Catholic who wants unity with the Catholic Church is a journey that loses you friends on both sides of the Tiber.  I've only been at this for 10 years, but I have seen the contempt and derision in which many hold us—as schismatics, as cultists, as the off-scouring of the earth and we deserve to gnash our teeth in outer darkness and find no home anywhere.  I'm not kidding.

There's an old praise song from the 1970s that goes "They will know we are Christians by our love."   Where I see the love of Christ shine the brightest—that's where I want to be.

Political machinations, planning and scheming or any sort of intrigue will not win the day.  Love will win the day.  Those with the shining faces, ablaze with the love of Jesus, united by the power of the Holy Spirit—they will be the credible witnesses.  If we, as we claim, have the Truth, we will also be alive with a holy Love.    Like that I experienced with the new religious community Famille Marie-Jeunesse a few weeks ago.

Here are some links to the stories I did on Famille Marie-Jeunesse for those who want to see more evidence of how the Catholic Church is alive and well and brimming with the love of Jesus, under the protection of His Blessed Mother.  The picture shows our former Nuncio Archbishop Ventura with FMJ members out in front of the Nunciature in Ottawa.

I remember Archbishop Ventura standing in the centre aisle at a big cathedral, handing out the Blessed Sacrament after the installation of a new archbishop in Kingston.  He was so present for each and every person who came to him to receive, aglow with joy and love.   What a way to bring to life the meaning of  in persona Christi, no?

Yes, I see lots of love in Christian circles outside the Catholic Church, too.  Jesus is alive in them too.  It is ultimately love, through the Holy Spirit, that will unite us all in one Church.

Salt and Light TV,  Canada's Catholic television network, posted an English translation of Cardinal Ouellet's homily at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre on Assumption.   I'll close with some of his words.

"His will is nothing but love."

and

"Conscious that the bonds of love formed by the Spirit will never die and will always keep us united together, I promise you, dear friends, to carry your intentions daily to the altar of the Lord."

He means it.  When he talks about eternal life, not only does he believe it, but he gives you a glimpse of it.  His theology about the love within the Trinity is something he helps you experience. You come into his presence and you taste it.    As my Bishop Peter Wilkinson, who has read Cardinal Ouellet's theology, told me, he is a "luminous" man who is "living out his theology."

In the homily, he asked for prayer as he took up his new duties.  Can we agree with him in this?

"Confident that the bonds formed would continue to unite us in the love of the Church, I commend myself to your prayers that you would obtain for me the gift of spiritual discernment and the wisdom necessary to accomplish my new ministry in full uprightness of conscience," the Cardinal said.  "And that my daily collaboration with the Holy Father Benedict XVI would be selfless, prudent, effective and loving. That nobody would ignore the importance of the ministry of bishops at the service of which I will henceforth dedicate all my energies. That the Holy Spirit and the prayer of all the faithful would come to my aid."

We set sail on our raft because our sincere Catholic convictions have left us unable to remain Anglican with integrity now that General Synod has made clear its decision to move the national church in a less Catholic direction. Getting on the raft is not easy as it requires leaving much that we love and treasure behind us. And for this reason, amongst others, we are clearly few in number.

The first wave crashes into us from behind. Our yearning for Rome does not win us friends in Canterbury! There are many who want to remain blind to what is being done to us or who want to pretend that actions in Synod need have no consequences.

Women priests were meant to be a sign of unity within the Church of England and our exodus points to a contrary position. This results in bitterness, anger and shame. How dare we abandon the C of E? Why cant we just accept the decisions of Synod?

And so the more we row on towards Rome, the more these feelings gather strength. What does the inability of certain commentators on this blog to even recognise our problem or say anything positive at all about our theology say other than to bare testament to this fact? In many ways our moving brings ancient divisions to the surface. We re-open reformation wounds with every stroke that we take and this in turn leads to the rise in anti-Catholic feeling and polemic that also bashes us at present. Little wonder we get battered for we find ourselves at the very meeting point between protestant and Catholic faith. A fact which only heightens the symbolism and meaning of our departure and further inflames rising passion.

And then we meet waves from the fore! Alas from Rome’s shore there are those who despise our passion for orthodoxy and tradition. Like their Anglican doppelgangers, these liberal products of modern Western culture, do not understand us or want us with our adherence to the faith of the ages and our delight for the reform of the reform! Again our arrival brings with it a symbolism and meaning which many would want to defy. Those seeking to make Rome more like Canterbury are hardly going to roll out the red carpet and we need to be ready for such rejection.

And finally there are holes in our tiny raft which means water assaults us from within. Many Anglo-Catholics do not want the Ordinariate to succeed for a variety of different reasons. It does not suit them and so they rail against it. This little raft puts a focus on people’s faith and integrity and many resent it for that reason. Our departure impacts on their identity and purpose. Oh that it might not be so! But it is and we cannot avoid the pain of an inevitable separation from those who would reject our journey and chosen direction.

And so we are buffeted by many different waves that gather momentum from many different sources. But still we must row on and not take our eyes off our captain. We go because we feel God is calling us to go. We do not wish harm of those who stay and we do not want to insult those who remain, though we might feel hurt by their actions. Please continue to pray for this rag-tag group of pilgrims…God knows, we need it!

Bishop Carl Reid gives the children's lesson

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered at our Wednesday evening "Evensaid" and Mass that one of the founding members of our parish had died.  We were all shocked as none of us had known — maybe even not Daphne herself — how seriously ill she was until it was too late.  We had not seen her around for a few weeks, but it is summer, and lots of people go away.  I didn't think much of it.

She was a pleasant, quiet woman and I regretted immediately that I hadn't made more of an effort to get to know her.  My fondest memory of her is how radiant her face was when, during our Ascension dinner, a group of us began to sing Jesu, the very thought of thee in parts as the line began to form for the food.  She seemed to love that song and the singing and I hope the verses are all coming true for her now.  But sweeter far thy face to see, and in thy presence rest.

At the same time as we were reeling from this sad news, I looked around at the two young men who had joined us for mass that evening.

One of the young men is a cradle Anglican who converted to the Roman Catholic Church six years ago, but can't wait for the Ordinariate to form because he loves the way we do the liturgy and he misses the Anglican choral tradition he grew up in.

The other young man describes himself as a liberal Anglican who has been doubting his opinions ever since the Apostolic Constitution was announced and he began to read Pope Benedict XVI.  He, too, is musical, and senses something special about our small but vibrant church community.

As we left the church, I said, "Maybe I'm dreaming in Technicolor, but do I see the seed of our future men's choir?"  Of course, our Michael Trolly is an excellent musician and singer, as is Bishop Carl.

We stuck around for a while after the service, the three of us sitting on the front step.

And what a conversation we had.  These are very thoughtful, interesting men.

We talked about Bishop Carl, and in a Seinfeldian sense, affectionately called him the "Liturgy Nazi."   [I told Bishop Carl later and he laughed, as he was familiar with the Soup Nazi on the Seinfeld program.  He liked that better than my calling him the Nureyev of the ballet of genuflection.  He said, "They're going to think I wear tights under my cassock!]

Our conversation on the steps became a serious discussion about orthodox faith and practice.  And how the discipline with which Bishop Carl does the liturgy, and how makes sure the priests also do it the same way, with the same reverence and honor to God, coupled with the fact that they mean the prayers they say, the Scriptures they read or chant and the homilies they deliver in line with Church teaching, has a profound effect on the congregation.

We talked about how the proper practice and orthodox teaching inoculates you from false teaching and makes you aware of heresy and scandal right away.  I compared it to how people say the best way for people to spot counterfeit bills to to handle real money all the time.

Fast forward to last night.  One of the young men was back.  I joined him and our Michael Trolly afterwards.  We were discussing the coming Ordinariates and the differing hermeneutics out there concerning how they will come into being.

I told them the image I had of them was like the train in the song "People get ready" because I saw the various Anglican groups as parts of a train, like the train in the song "picking up passengers from coast to coast."

I said some Anglican groups would have one car, some, like the Anglican Use parishes in the states, might have a string of seven, some might even have a locomotive or two, plus a dining car.  We don't know when this train is going to end, which group will have the caboose.

They were both too young to know the song.

So I have posted three versions here, since they are African American Gospel music that might not really be in keeping with an Angl0-Catholic blog.

Fr Saward begins by quoting Belloc:

“Of Courtesy, it is much less
Than Courage of Heart or Holiness,
Yet in my walks it seems to me
That the Grace of God is in Courtesy

— Belloc, Courtesy

and continues:

Courtesy is the mark of a Christian knight. To be more than a mere warrior, a man must be gallant in considerateness as well as courage. In late medieval literature, the exemplary knight is decked not just with iron mail, but with the whole armor of the virtues, of which courteous chivalry is the helm. Of Sir Gawain it is said that "his cleanness and his courtesy crooked were never," and in The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer's Knight is praised as a "worthy man" who loved "chivalry, truth and honor, freedom and courtesy." When he was ritually blessed by the bishop, the new knight made promises touching chiefly on faith and charity: unfailing obedience to the Church and a constant readiness to defend the widow and orphan. The secret of chivalry was in the soul.”

Read on…

Fr Saward, formerly an Anglican, is parish priest of St Gregory & St Augustine, Oxford, England. Having taught at Ushaw, he has been Professor of Systematic Theology at St Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, and Professor of Dogmatic Theology at the International Theological Institute in Gaming, Austria.

It is not unusual for our liturgical passion and dedication to public devotion to be misunderstood.  Some assume we are too churchy and, where Anglo-Catholicism is unhealthy, they have a point!  For when a dedication to devotion does not come from the heart, and is not leading people to a genuine relationship with Jesus, Anglo-Catholicism fosters religion, even religiosity, at the cost of living faith.  A strange ‘church-moth’ is created in the place of a disciple; one who loves mass but rarely sees beyond the externals to the life changing message of the Gospel.  This danger being real, the Anglo-Catholic must guard against closing hearts when falling on knees.

Another criticism of our dedication to public devotion is that we are too inward looking and precious.  Again this warning might have substance in places where a worshipping community have become completely out of touch with the people that they serve.  I have certainly met one or two horrific examples of clergy who genuinely seem more concerned with the correct length of lace on their albs than in evangelism, mission and fostering faith in others.  Such people need to remember that worship exists to ‘send us out in the power of the Spirit’.  They should also reflect on the fact that Corpus Christi processions once involved taking Jesus through every street in the parish!  Looking inward is healthy and important but only if it leads to us looking outwards as well as inwards.

So two criticisms exist which Anglo-Catholics must take on the chin, for where we have become disconnected from the living Gospel they hold water.  Daily mass, daily offices, the angelus, rosary, ejaculatory prayers and all else are of no use whatsoever if they do not lead us to Jesus.  But where this does happen then devotion to daily worship becomes a wonderful, life-giving and life-affirming thing.  Indeed I would argue that devotion to worship set alongside living faith is the catalyst for discovering a true life of fruitful prayer.  And it is certainly worth noting that most religious communities within the Anglican fold are the product of this type of living Anglo-Catholicism.

Perhaps our dedication to injecting passion into daily liturgy, that we may be sent out into the world, is a part of the ‘Anglican patrimony’ we Ordinariate seekers are pondering at this time.  Certainly daily devotion and good liturgy exists in Catholicism as a whole, but our unique struggle in upholding a Catholic spirituality within a largely protestant and hostile institution has led us to be particularly vigilant and faithful.  We have had to be passionate and dedicated in order to form a meaningful Catholic identity and this ‘vigilance’ must be bottled lest it be lost!  For it would be a terrible irony that in finding a true Catholic home we lost our true Catholic passion…

The internet abounds with caricatures of masculinity (of course within the bounds of Christian decency): the late nineteenth century handlebar moustache, city dress, belonging to the right club (having come from the right background), sports, having served in the Armed Forces, being game for a fight, all the way to the Übermensch of Nietzsche and the old Nazi ideology. Manliness is opposed to femininity or having characteristics in common with women.

The notion of masculinity is cultural and has taken different forms in history and parts of the world. Manliness is embodied in the myths of the old Greek gods and heros, Jupiter, Hercules, Alexander the Great, and survives in more recent military figures like General Montgomery and Charles de Gaulle. Other archetypes of masculinity would be described in his relationships with women, typically dominance tempered by chivalry and the spirit of the gentleman – simply respect for other persons, be they men or women. The notion of courtship was developed in the Middle Ages, and the man would be defined by his virtues, courage and generosity.

In the early twentieth century, men were associated with the image of the man working in industry, doing hard physical labour. Women are supposed to admire the virile and muscular body of a man whose body is an indication of will and self-discipline. Our behaviour as humans is not exempt from the animal instinct of dominance in the pack, as in the case of most mammals, especially the higher species like dogs, cats and primates. The real man is the alpha… Is he?

Obviously, the man most of us conservative Catholics and Anglicans would see as being suitable for the priesthood is normally constituted as a human being of the male sex. Crudely put, he has a penis and a pair of balls – and they work! Genetically, he has a Y chromosome and an X chromosome. More than one of each, and he / she will be genetically abnormal, suffering from Kleinfelter’s Syndrome, for example. A normal man has the right hormones flowing through his body, but perhaps in differing quantities.

After a man’s physical integrity come the social expectations. Boys and young men are expected to be interested in sports and develop a competitive spirit, which later extends into business and politics. To what extent do we have to be machos, alphas, images of little Hercules, or whatever? Do we all have to be good rugby players?

I do think the concept of masculinity has become exaggerated and distorted. I enjoyed boyish games as a lad – climbing trees, building dens, fishing, making things – but I hated competitiveness and fighting for the highest rank. I also loved (and still love) art, beautiful works of architecture, music, singing in choirs, making vestments, cooking and many of the finer things of life. I am aware of the danger of making a caricature of manliness to promote violence, immoral competition, physical and psychological harm to women and a despising attitude in regard to “weaker” men and women.

What about the “fine” men who are artists, musicians, men who work in trades traditionally associated with women such as sewing, cooking and interior decoration and design? Traditionally, we tend to consider such men as homosexuals and effeminate, and therefore not real men. We often read articles about how the world and the Church are becoming “feminised”, leading to the replacement of men in the clergy by homosexual men and “butch” women. We should be careful to be fine in our distinctions.

I prefer the medieval notion of manliness (other than the image of the knight who would lop your head off with less compunction than swatting a fly!), that of virtue and morality. We can be heterosexual and moral men without the body of Hercules, and may even be concerned for the aesthetic aspects of church culture and the liturgy. Perhaps men are more concerned for the liturgy than many women I have come across.

I do think we should avoid the caricatures, which in certain cultures and times led to Nazism and outright cruelty. The ideal man is not the psychopath who kills without compunction or remorse, a sort of James Bond or Bruce Willis figure. Most men have never killed under any circumstances, and would suffer remorse if they had to. I see very little Christian virtue in admiring guns, fast cars, women as sex objects and so forth. Is it virtuous to take risks? Perhaps, in some circumstances. Prudence is also a virtue, and avoiding a risk shows concern for our loved ones. We don’t have to drive dangerously or have a car bigger than what we actually need in order to be a real man! Some men think it is unmanly to consult a medical doctor too lightly – to our own peril on account of that undiagnosed heart condition or developing tumour.

I would be inclined to see manliness in our relationship with women, other men and the world. I have nothing against the “macho” type, but I will not consider the artist or the quiet contemplative man as any less a man. What often is irritating is to find men playing the caricatured role of women – especially in the form of cliques and unhealthy relationships, which might be an indication of sinful homosexuality, but not always.

We often find courage and stoicism as masculine virtues, but I see no less of those virtues in the many women who resisted the Nazis during the war and often gave their lives in atrocious suffering for King and Country. Faith is also a masculine virtue, but it is also a feminine one.

For me, the most important virtue for the priesthood is not so much “being a real man”, but being altruistic, having empathy for other people, being unambitious and lacking the thirst for sex, power and money. Men without virtue can be seen as wimps, but lack of courage and conviction is unbecoming of women too. Being a gentleman is being a person of virtue, kindness, consideration for others, but women can be that too.

Only men can be priests – for the reasons given by Tradition and the Church’s teaching, and not for the reasons of being good rugby players, or looking down their noses at art and beauty. What I admire in a good priest is not a caricature of masculinity but the combination of faith, hope, charity and the moral virtues – someone who makes Jesus Christ present among us. I ask your prayers that I may be given the strength to practice such virtues myself and be worthy of that wonderful gift I have received in the priesthood.

House and Courtyard Garden

In fact "poor" is not the right epithet for Anthony Rudd.  He was very wealthy indeed, and the house and garden he created witness to his wealth.  There is a great enthusiasm in Britain for recreating lost gardens.  Heligan in Cornwall was exhumed from the undergrowth a few years back, and the latest to receive a makeover is in Wales.  Despite dismal weather, we visited Aberglasney, and it was worth the effort.  The house (remodelled twice since Bishop Rudd's time, and lately rescued from a ruinous state) is on a very grand scale, but it is the gardens which are most worth seeing.

What a parallel with the state of the church in England and Wales.  Once so grand and powerful, now fallen on hard times and in many places ruinous.  Maybe it takes the vision of someone looking at us from outside to see the possibilities and recreate our ruins into something productive and beautiful.  It will never be the same as once it was; but if the Ordinariate can build on the best of the past, and capture people's enthusiasm and imagination, it may be that there will again be a church in these lands which will be acclaimed as stupor mundi, something worth travelling miles to see.

Jungle in the ruins