Though not related directly to the core mission of this blog, this article on SSPX-related happenings is a must read for anyone interested in the affairs of those dedicated to preserving Holy Tradition in the Catholic Church (and others who aid the Liberals and Modernists by continuing to give this movement a bad name).

I have been remiss. I published here the story of an ordination to the diaconate, but not the crowning glory of this deacon's ordination to the Holy Catholic priesthood. Better late than never!

The Anglo-Catholic remains on hiatus, but I thought that I would share the story of a friend's recent ordination to the diaconate in Orlando. On Saturday, God willing, he will be ordered a priest in the Catholic Church.

From this moment there will be an indefinite pause here on The Anglo-Catholic.  The purpose of this blog from the start has been to encourage the development of Personal Ordinariates according to the will of our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, as expressed in his Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus and the preservation and propagation of that Anglican Patrimony in harmony with the Magisterium of the Catholic Church.  I believe that we have played an important role in the formation of the existing Personal Ordinariates, and I hope a positive one.  Unfortunately, the powers that be have made it known that our help is not wanted at this time.  In deference to them, this blog will comply and leave them to their business.  Please pray for the Ordinariates, especially that of the Chair of St. Peter.

I’ve been posting articles on The Anglo-Catholic for a little over two and a half years. Many of them I’ve written myself, and others I have reposted from different sources. I hope most of them have been helpful, and I trust they have been a positive support for the Ordinariates. That has always been my intention and purpose.

Right now there seems to be a bit of a lull in any Ordinariate news to write about, and I think it’s most likely because Ordinariate activity is more of an internal thing at this particular time. It’s probably best for those of us outside the Ordinariates to back off a bit and let things work out.

To that end, I’ll be taking an indefinite break from posting on this blog. Of course, all my previous articles remain, and I’ll continue my own blog, AtonementOnline, as well as my Facebook musings.

There’s plenty to keep me busy at Our Lady of the Atonement Church and The Atonement Academy – something in the neighborhood of 3,000 people to care for spiritually, plus there’s a major building expansion that’s very much needed to accommodate the increased number of students applying for admission. I won’t be twiddling my thumbs, I promise!

The Ordinariates are dear to me, and it’s been a privilege to be able to encourage so many to seek their true home in communion with Rome through this wonderful vision of Pope Benedict XVI.

The 2012 annual conference of the Anglican Use Society will be held from Thursday, November 8 through Saturday, November 10. It will be hosted jointly by the parish of St. Therese of Lisieux and the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph. The Ordinary of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, Msgr. Jeffrey N. Steenson, will take part in the conference. Most activities will be held at the Catholic Center at 20 West Ninth St. in Kansas City.

Reservations for the conference and for the hotel can be made at the Conference web site.

The following article is from Anglican Ink, and it presents an issue which has floated around amongst both Ordinariate and non-Ordinariate clergy and laity. Posting this here should not be taken as doubting the assertion that there has been no favoritism shown, but it's probably important for the Ordinariate leadership to continue to take seriously the fact that there are those with this perception, and to address it in "thought, word and deed."

* * *

Ordinariate denies favoritism charges

TEC clergy dominate new U.S. Anglican Ordinariate

By George Conger

The head of the U.S. branch of the Anglican Ordinariate, Msg. Jeffrey Steenson, has denied accusations it has given preference to former Episcopal clergy in its ordination process. However, among its first class of priests, 16 of 19 are former Episcopal clergy, with only 3 receiving their formation and orders from the continuing church.

Questions and concerns about the implementation and interpretation of Anglicanorum coetibus have met the Vatican’s initiative to create a liturgical home for Anglicans with the Roman Catholic Church. In an interview with PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, Dr. Ian Markham, Dean of the Virginia Theological Seminary criticized the pastoral provision for Anglicans for sheep stealing.

“There was a perception that this was poaching by the Roman Catholic Church of Anglicans around the world. It was discourteous, it was stealing sheep, it was unecumenical,” he said, adding “It’s viewed as not recognizing the value of and integrity of our traditions.”

Its critics also charge the sheep stealing is directed towards the Church of England and the Episcopal Church. While talks began in 1991 between leaders of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) and the Vatican on returning Anglican Catholics to Rome, TAC clergy have been noticeably absent from the Ordinariates in the U.S. and U.K. The three TAC bishops who spearheaded the reunion efforts with Rome — David Moyer, John Hepworth and Louis Falk – are absent from the clergy ranks of the Ordinariate.

Some former TAC clergy who have applied for ordination in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter tell Anglican Ink that they have been treated brusquely. Others report that a year after contacting the Ordinariate’ s Washington office, they are still waiting to hear what the future holds.

One clergyman, who asked not to be named as he had applied for reception, told Anglican Ink he had been discouraged the “Pastoral Provision was so un-pastoral”. A “Fort Worth mafia” was dominating the U.S. Ordinariate – Msg. Steenson is a former Fort Worth rector, while the vicar for clergy, the Rt. Rev. Charles Hough III is the former canon to the ordinary of the Diocese of Fort Worth.

A second aspirant said he had been pressed to explain why he had not come to Rome when he left the Episcopal Church some twenty five years ago. If he accepted papal supremacy and the dogmas of the Catholic Church, why had he delayed a quarter century in making his submission, he was asked, the clergyman told AI.

The question is not an unfair one, however, as the Catholic Church’s self-understanding of its role in the economy of salvation is found in the statements of the Second Vatican Council.

Lumen Gentium 14 states: “Whosoever, therefore, knowing that the Catholic Church was made necessary by Christ, would refuse to enter or to remain in it, could not be saved”, which on its face, would appear to render suspect in Roman eyes those who have held long standing doubts as to the veracity of Anglican truth claims and delayed going over to Rome.

Of the 19 clergy re-ordained for service in the Ordinariate, 7 have come directly from the Episcopal Church, 6 from the Episcopal Church via the Anglican Church in North America, 3 from the Episcopal Church via the Anglican Church in America, 2 from the Anglican Church in America, and 1 from the Charismatic Episcopal Church.

Asked to respond to the assertions of unfair treatement of TAC clergy, Msg. Steenson said:“Not true. The judgment of Apostolicae curae falls on each of us alike. We treat each applicant equally, and apply the objective criteria of discernment that the Catholic Church requires.”

Here's Part Two of "Reluctant Anglicans" by Peregrinus. It appears on his blog, Peregrinations, and has been posted also on Fr Stephen Smuts' blog. Since there was a good discussion resulting from the posting of Part One, I thought our readers would like to continue with the series.

* * *

Reluctant Anglicans (2)

The questions presented here in the first "Reluctant" post have caused quite a flurry of comment on other blogs. I will attempt to summarize some of the constructive comments since our purpose is to seek clarification for those sincerely seeking to respond to our Lord's prayer that we all may be one.

So, here is a partial summary with the caveat that any condensation will be incomplete and since, as repeatedly mentioned, this is a process which is unfolding over years there are no easy, much less permanent, responses apart from those which are made by the CDF and other agents of the Holy See.

With this in mind, here we go with a first attempt at summary.

1. Authority

A number of posts have raised concerns about "private judgement" in relation to questions of authority. Some have pointed out that, amongst others, J.H. Newman held that there was a role for and necessity for the Church to elicit the voice of the laity in the determination of many matters including the reception of doctrine.

As it applies to the Ordinariates there are a number of matters which affect how this role might be defined in the governance of parishes, sodalities and ordinariate structures generally.

Anglicanorum Coetibus outlines clearly that it is expected that the councils and committees which are to be part of the structure being erected will reflect the engagement and contributions of laity in oversight at various levels. This has been a developing part of Anglican patrimony which will continue in the Ordinariates.

For Newman consultation with and participation by the laity is an important aspect of faithful discipleship as it relates to the stewardship which we collectively share for the Church Militant. In no way does consulting the laity detract from the proper role of doctrinal development and definition through the Petrine office or the role of the Magisterium in governing. In fact, the role of laity was seen by Newman as complementary to the Magisterium and as a sign of a vibrant Church with an educated laity – something Newman stove for in his work to establish a Catholic university in Ireland and in other aspects of his ministry.

The role of the laity as an aspect of patrimony is not then to be confused with the issue of "private judgement" in matters of doctrine.

—–
NOTE TO READERS

Due to time constraints, posts on this topic will continue at irregular intervals. For those interested there is much more discussion on the "The Anglo-Catholic" blog and Fr. Smut's blog amongst others.

Time does not allow a full digest of the constructive comments made there so discussion here will be selective but those who post comments to this blog will receive full consideration and, as stated, constructive comments will be posted here.

More to follow.

Over on his blog, Peregrinations, there is the first of a series of posts by Peregrinus, and in it are some interesting questions which could form the basis for useful discussion. I happened to see it on Fr Stephen Smuts' blog, and thought it worth reprinting here.

* * * * *

Why are some Anglicans reluctant about the Ordinariates?

by Peregrinus

This begins a series of posts which will seek to address questions that people have about the process of entering into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Personal Ordinariates being erected to receive Anglicans.

Barriers at St. Peter’s, Rome

There are, of course, many reasons for the reluctance of many Anglicans and others to enter a process for reception through the ordinariates. Anglicanorum Coetibus (AC) is the Apostolic Constitution crafted by Pope Benedict XVI to allow Anglicans, the Anglican patrimony and those drawn to the Church through the Anglican ethos to share full communion in response to our Lord’s prayer that we all may be one, ut unum sint.

AC is a thoughtful, realistic and generous ecumenical response to requests made over the past thirty years by Anglican bishops and faithful to enter into full unity with the Catholic Church while retaining those elements of Anglican culture and tradition which conform to the Catholic faith.

This post will list some of these concerns and future posts will seek to address these from a Canadian perspective.

First a few facts and estimates:

- To date there are eight bishops worldwide (by my count which may be out of date) who have been received into full communion and ordained.

- Around a hundred priests (with more in process) have been received and ordained

- Something going on a couple of thousand lay Anglicans have been received or are in a process to be received into the three ordinariates that currently serve the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia.

These numbers, though small, change monthly. Generously, the Holy Father has bestowed the rank of prelate of honour (Monsignor) upon each of the received former Anglican bishops following their ordinations.

Three of these former Anglican bishops have been created “ordinaries” that is leaders with jurisdiction for those who enter the non-territorial personal ordinariates erected:

1. Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (OOLW) for England, Scotland and Wales

2. Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (OCSP) to include jurisdiction for those received in North America including Canada and the USA

3. Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross (OOLSC) for Australia and, presumably, contiguous regions

These ordinaries act with authority and jurisdiction like that of bishops of a diocese without the limitation of geography within the respective Episcopal Conferences to which they relate e.g. Msgr Steenson of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter acts in concert with the conferences of bishops in Canada and the USA.

On a personal level, for example, an individual person received into the Ordinariate in Toronto comes under the same “ordinary” jurisdiction as someone in Houston,TX i.e. Msgr Steenson and does not come within the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Archbishop of Toronto though, naturally, the ordinary and the cardinal co-operate in every way possible to promote the unified witness of the Catholic Church.

Anglican Use Mass celebrated on Sundays at Sacré-Coeur Parish in Toronto

All of this should indicate that there is a warm and generous welcome for Anglican clergy and people. Some Anglicans and others, however, demur, delay or have additional questions about the process for a variety of reasons and from varying circumstances. A few have decisively (for now anyway) decided to continue as Anglicans or Anglican Catholics or Anglo-Catholics as they variously describe themselves.

This article will begin to explore some of the concerns that people have in a non-partisan manner by listing questions that have been raised. Together we seek some answers or responses to the many details that an unfolding process presents.

Clarification has been the purpose of all of the postings on this blog and so your responses and other questions and constructive comments are invited. These will be vetted and presented to advance the discussion and illuminate what, as we have said, has been and will continue to be a developing process with many twists and winds along the “narrow way” that we are called to by the Gospel.

To record some of the concerns of people, I have been compiling a list over the summer of 2012. Here it is for your consideration.

1. Authority

Is there still a place for the voice of the laity in the Ordinariate?

Will the Ordinary have real control over the administration and assets of the Ordinariate which, in the case of Canada and the USA, is spread over a continent.

What role will the local bishops have and can Anglican patrimony be restricted by an unsympathetic bishop?

Is there any way that conservative Anglicans (those who have evangelical sympathies and others) might be persuaded to enter into full communion?

2. Liturgy

Will the liturgy be familiar to Anglicans or will there be such changes that worship feels foreign? Will the great Anglican musical tradition be nurtured and developed within the Ordinariates?

Will the RSV and King James (A.V.) bibles be used? Is it a “deal breaker” as some have said if the KJV is not used at Mass? Can the KJV be used for other services, the Offices, group and private devotions, etc., even if the RSV is the authorized text for lections at Mass?

Will priests be required to use the approved Anglican Use of the Roman Rite or will they increasingly move to the Ordinary or Extraordinary forms of the Roman Rite? Who decides?

3. Economics

What assets will groups be able to bring with them and what say will they have in the use of these assets. With whom will the deeds for property reside?

Will small communities be able to afford to pay priests a living wage? Will priests have to work for the local RC diocese dividing time between Anglican Ordinariate congregations and other parish or chaplaincy work?

Will there be support from local dioceses and conferences of bishops in terms of health care, pensions and retirement care for priests and other employees of the Ordinariate?

4. Culture and Sharing

Pope Benedict has expressed his concern that Anglicans bring their patrimony with them to share with other Catholics. How will this happen? What form will this sharing take or will Anglicans be absorbed into the larger Western Rite Catholic community eventually?

Will young men who marry continue to be approved for ordination? Will the seminaries make allowance and provision for married candidates for ordination?

How will formation for the clergy of the Anglican ordinariates take place? Will everything be centred in Houston?

Will the Anglican Use parishes such as Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio, TX be included ultimately in the ordinariate? What will relations between AU and Ordinariate parishes and groups be in the meantime?

So, we welcome your thoughts on these matters and your further questions as we seek to follow our Lord in the way of unity under the guidance of the Holy Father and of those entrusted with the implementation of AC.

In light of the many ups and downs of any movement to unity within the Body of Christ we would do well to keep in mind the words of a young Ordinariate member: “An Apostolic Constitution is for the ages. It will be here for any remaining Anglicans in 200 years.”

* * * * *

Your responses are most welcome in the comments here, but since Peregrinus is asking the questions, you might like to go to his blog and post some comments there, too.

It's always wonderful news when we read of another group of Anglicans entering into full Catholic communion. But let's remember that there are countless small communities of Anglicans which are at various stages and different points along the path to Catholic communion. The road home is longer and more difficult for some than it is for others, but let's pray for all those pilgrims who, by the grace of God, are travelling in faith toward that precious destination for which they yearn.

The Blessed John Henry Newman Fellowship in Philadelphia is one such group, and it's well worth checking their website regularly for the latest news, or for an inspiring sermon.

* * * * *

A Sermon preached by Bishop David Moyer on the Solemnity of the Assumption, August 19, 2012, at the Blessed John Henry Newman Fellowship in Philadelphia.

+In the Name…

From our first reading from the Revelation of St. John the Divine: “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and her head a crown of twelve stars…” (12:1).

Today we honor the Mother of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as we keep the Solemnity of the Feast of the Assumption. The Assumption of the body and soul of Mary was a belief of the Church in many quarters of the East and West for centuries before it was finally declared as a dogma by the Catholic Church, Munificentissimus Deus, in 1950 by Pope Pius XII.

The Eastern Church’s theological way is that it doesn’t define things as specifically as the Western Church does. The East uses the Greek word Koimesis, which speaks of The Blessed Virgin’s “falling asleep” – implying something very different for her.

We as the Newman Fellowship have been on a pilgrimage of prayer and study as we embrace the Catechism of the Catholic Church, in the way the Traditional Anglican Communion’s College of Bishops stated it in their 2007 Petition to the Holy See, as “the most complete and authentic expression and application of the catholic faith in this moment of time….the faith we aspire to teach and hold.”

This has been and remains the trajectory for us in the Newman Fellowship; and we believe it is of God for the greater unity of the Church, as our Lord prayed. We long to move forward as a community into the Catholic Church with our Anglican heritage as God navigates us through the rough and dark waters of ill-will, false information, and misunderstanding which seek to prevent us from such a good thing. The Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus means, “for groups or communities of Anglicans.” Our unity here as a community of men, women, and children is something that we cherish because it is of God’s initiative. He knows what He is about, as Blessed John Henry Newman stated, so we trust in Him.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church puts before so many things in so many areas which comprise the fullness of the Church’s teachings. There are portions of it that immediately resonate with us, and for which we are glad in the way that such portions are expressed with such strength and clarity. But there are portions of it with which we struggle, especially from an Anglican perspective, where we have traditionally looked to the Scriptures for assurance that what is set forth is rooted in the Scriptures.

But, as we discussed in our Catechism classes, this can lead us to see different things in the Scriptures from one person to another, or to interpret the Scriptures from a certain individual or group perspective and bias.

Look, as you need not be reminded, to the plentitude of Christian churches and denominations in our country– each with a high degree of confidence that they’ve got it right!

The Catholic Church understands herself as the true Church under the Successor of St. Peter and the bishops in communion with him. It sees the Church’s vocation as that of bringing about unity of faith and belief as historic dissensions and points of separation are healed. The Catholic Church offers to the world the presentation of the Gospel and the religion of it with serious conviction, clarity, and authority through the Magisterium. Again, we have seen what happens to the Church without or a neglect of her teaching authority. We have seen fashion, fad, novelty, and ideology come into churches as the Zeitgeist (the spirit of the age) blows through the ranks of clergy and lay.

Yes, the Catholic Church has and has had major problems, but the Faith that is taught amidst the sins of man has not been compromised or diluted because of the sins of man. This is a testimony of the work of the Holy Spirit.

The late Avery Cardinal Dulles, SJ, in his final book, Magisterium, wrote the following, first quoting from Vatican II: “…sacred Tradition, sacred Scripture, and the Magisterium of the Church, in accordance with God’s most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit, contribute effectively to the salvation of souls” (Dei Verbum 10).

He further writes: “Just as the Christians of the first generation had to rely on the word of the Apostles and their fellow workers, so Christians of later generations must continue to rely on the living authority of those who succeed to the place of the Apostles…Faith is never the mere self-assertion of believers but an acceptance by them of something received from others – in the last analysis from God” (p. 5).

So the Catholic Church through its Magisterium teaches that the Virgin Mary at the time of her death was taken up into heaven, as Elijah was in the sight of his successor Elisha. This is something that for many is hard to wrap one’s mind around, so let me very briefly take you to Blessed John Henry Newman for some theological assistance – he who made the spiritual and theological journey to belief in and defense of the Assumption; from skepticism to commitment and subjection to what the Catholic Church taught, well before it was set forth as dogmatic.

Newman wrote: “…if her body was not taken into heaven, where is it? How comes it that it is hidden from us? Why do we not hear of her tomb as being here or there? Why are not pilgrimages made to it? Why are not relics producible of her, as of the saints in general? Is it not even a natural instinct which makes us reverent towards the places where our dear are buried?”

Newman takes us to the Book of Genesis. He writes: “Adam and Eve were created upright and sinless, and had a large measure of God’s grace bestowed upon them, and, in consequence, their bodies would never have crumbled into dust, had they not sinned; upon which it was said to them, ‘Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.’ If Eve, the beautiful daughter of God, never would have become dust and ashes unless she had sinned, shall we not say that Mary, having never sinned, retained the gift which Eve by sinning lost? What had Mary done to forfeit the privilege given to our first parents in the beginning? Was her comeliness to be turned into corruption, and her fine gold to become dim, without reason assigned? Impossible. Therefore we believe that, though she died for a short time, as did our Lord Himself, yet, like Him, and by His Almighty power, she was raised again from the grave.”

He then points to the Gospel of St. Matthew’s testimony of the Resurrection of Christ in which we read, “the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints that had slept arose, and coming out of the tombs after His Resurrection, came into the Holy City, and appeared to many.”

He says that such bodies were those of the holy Prophets, Priests, and Kings of former times, and then writes:

Can we suppose that Abraham, or David, or Isaiah, or Ezekiel, should have been favoured, and not God’s own mother? Had she not a claim on the love of her Son to have what any others had? Was she not nearer to Him than the greatest of the Saints before her? And is it conceivable that the law of the grave should admit of relaxation in their case, and not in hers? Therefore we confidently say that our Lord, having preserved her from sin and the consequences of sin by His Passion, lost no time in pouring out the full merits of that Passion upon her body as well as her soul” (the quotes are from Meditations and Devotions of the Late Cardinal Newman).

So may we in our worship, prayers, and study remain open. Openness is a hard journey because it may usher into our minds and hearts things we never expected, as it did for Blessed John Henry Newman.

Not to be open to new insights and theological understanding is an act of pride, and sometimes may be an act of prejudice. God spare any and all from that!

So today we join with over a billion Christians to praise God the Holy Trinity for the gift of Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, who, in giving herself to the will by God became the Mother of God Incarnate. In so doing, she found great sorrow, but even a greater reward in being taken up into the glory of Heaven to be with Her Son as a sign of what awaits us who say as she did, “Be it unto me according to thy Word.”