I have taken heat from some quarters for even having a link on The Anglo-Catholic to the web site of the United States District of the Priestly Society of Saint Pius X.
<wink>I wonder what these same folks will say in a few weeks' time? </wink>
[But it's not a done deal yet. Go here and pray the novena for Bishop Fellay and the Holy Father. If you do one pious thing today, do this!]
Great news for the Ordinariate in England and Wales! Thank you, Holy Father, for your unflagging support for the reconciliation of Anglican Christians with the Holy See!
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PERSONAL ORDINARIATE OF OUR LADY OF WALSINGHAM
1 MAY 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
POPE DONATES $250,000 TO ORDINARIATE
Pope Benedict XVI has donated $250,000 to support the work of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. The gift will help establish the Ordinariate as a vibrant part of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
The news from Rome came to Monsignor Keith Newton, the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate, and read “The Holy Father has benevolently permitted a donation of $250,000”.
Responding to the gift, Mgr Newton said, “I am very grateful to the Holy Father for his generosity and support. This gift is a great help and encouragement as we continue to grow and develop our distinctive ecclesial life, whilst seeking to contribute to the wider work of evangelisation in England and Wales”.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established in January 2011 to enable Anglicans to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church whilst retaining essential elements of their heritage and tradition. It comprises around 1200 lay faithful and 60 clergy spread across the United Kingdom.
The Apostolic Nuncio, His Excellency Archbishop Antonio Mennini, was instrumental in securing the Holy Father’s assistance. On the announcement of the gift the Archbishop said, “The Holy Father’s gift of $250,000 is a clear sign of his personal commitment to the work of Christian Unity and the special place the Ordinariate holds in his heart. I pray for the continuing success and development of the Ordinariate”.
Speaking of the need for further fundraising the Nuncio said, “I urge all those who share our Holy Father’s vision to lend their spiritual and material support to the Ordinariate, especially in these early days”.
Mgr Newton, in response to the remarks of Archbishop Mennini said, “The support and encouragement given to us by the Apostolic Nuncio has been very significant. We were very pleased to welcome him as the Principal Celebrant of our Chrism Mass: a clear sign of our deep desire to remain closely united the Holy Father”.
The Ordinariate welcomed over 250 new members this Easter. Bishop Alan Hopes will ordain deacons for the Ordinariate in Westminster Cathedral on 26 May 2012 at 10.00 a.m., and two men in their twenties were ordained to the Sacred Priesthood in London earlier this month.
General Audience
Last week the English (and Scots) Ordinariate celebrated its first year of existence — and did so in style, with a pilgrimage to Rome led by our Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton. You may already have seen photographs on other websites; this is just a personal sketch of what happened to us in those memorable six days.
We flew from three different British airports, Heathrow and Gatwick and Bristol — and some even came by train. We began as strangers, and certainly ended as friends. It is so good to learn about others' experience of new beginnings, often with only a handful of people setting out as Catholics. Some of the priests are now running Catholic Parishes, others are supporting themselves and their families in various chaplaincies while involved with their Ordinariate Group and also nearby Catholic Parishes.
The Ordinary with Deacon Bradley (l) and Music Director Michael Vian Clark (with scarf)
The young director of music from Buckfast Abbey somehow conjured a choir out of a group of disparate pilgrims, and managed some wonderful music, plainchant and Anglican hymnody, different for every Mass. We even found the confidence to sing in the packed Audience Hall to the Holy Father and assorted Cardinals, Bishops, Priests, Religious and faithful laity from around the world. "Praise to the Holiest" by our Patron, John Henry Newman, can seldom have been heard in such a setting.
Scots preacher Fr Len Black at St Joseph's Altar in St Peter's
But then, we also sang in St Peter's, bringing our Anglican Patrimony into those walls created by Michaelangelo and Borromini, adorned with sculptures and paintings of great beauty. More than one of our party was in tears by the end of that Mass, when we gathered before the tomb of Peter and said the General Thanksgiving from the 1662 English Prayer Book.
Quite a Sacristy - in S Peter's Basilica
So much of the Pilgrimage was about 'coming home', back to our origins. In San Giorgio Valabro — it sounds so much more exotic than St George's in the Marsh, which is its translation – we remembered John Henry Newman, whose titular church this was when he became a Cardinal. There a couple from my own group in Bournemouth were received and chrismated into the Catholic Church by Mgr Keith, and their delight at being in Communion with the Holy Father and the entire Catholic Church inspired us all.
Brian and Barbel, still smiling
St Gregory's was also a matter of going back to base, for it was from this monastery that Gregory the Great sent monks to convert England — among them Augustine of Canterbury and Paulinus of York, to say nothing of the first bishops of London and Rochester. By this time the Italian media had begun to catch up with our Group, and the Ordinary had to stay in our Hotel fending them off so that we might continue our pilgrimage undisturbed.
Ancient Ikon of Our Lady in San Gregorio's
Although it had rained on our first day, the weather grew ever better by the day. On Thursday we went up into the hills, to Subiaco and the roots of Western Monasticism. The Sacro Speco or holy cave is where Benedict led a hermit's life for three years, before beginning to build his first monastery, now known as St Scholastica's, it is the only survivor of the ten original foundations. The others have been destroyed down the years by invaders, by earthquakes and other such disasters. The hospitality in St Scholastica's was in the great Benedictine tradition. We sunned ourselves on the terraces, yet less than a fortnight before there had been such a snowfall (the greatest in fifty years) that they had been cut off for days, and many trees were brought down by the weight of snow.
So many people made us welcome wherever we went. The kindness of the parish priest at Santa Maria del Popolo on our last morning was typical of the generosity of everyone we came across. There is a genuine interest in the Ordinariate, a sense that something great is just beginning to bud and blossom. I hope the few pictures posted here might give a little flavour of what we were given during our days of thanksgiving for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. There are more to be added, but it is late and my computer is refusing to download any more just now. Good night!
. . . gaudete in Domino semper (Philippians 4:4) . . . be joyful and happy Catholics!
These words, from Fr. Jeffrey Steenson, the new Ordinary for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (just in case anyone forgot the authority that has been granted to him by the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI), are important for all of us. Whether you are an Anglican preparing to enter the Ordinariate or a non-Anglican Catholic who is just interested in the Ordinariate, the command to be joyful is not one that we are supposed to ignore. We are to be "joyful and happy" because we always are given far better things than we deserve, and we are supposed to trust Jesus to do what is best (even if we think we know a better way).
Yet, from what I have been reading here in the comments section of The Anglo-Catholic (and a few other websites as well) for the past few days, it appears that there are many who are much more interested in being "irritable and grouchy" Catholics. I do not need to expound on what it means to be joyful. We all know how to be joyful, and those who are not joyful know that they are not. Excuses are not a justification to ignore our responsibility of viewing others words and actions in the best possible light. Currently, however, it seems that the words and actions of those who have made decisions for the new Ordinariate are not being viewed in the best possible light. Conspiracy theories abound. Let each of us take a moment to consider the words of the Catechism:
To avoid rash judgment, everyone should be careful to interpret insofar as possible his neighbor's thoughts, words, and deeds in a favorable way (2478).
Although some are doing this, I have seen more than enough examples of interpreting things in the worst possible way.
On January 1st we received a gift from God that was the answer to many years of prayers. I began to rejoice and give Him praise. Then, for the past few days, I have felt sadness. Sadness that there are voices that are not joyful, but rather miserable. I expect some of those speaking in this manner would complain that Jesus' birth in a stable would make it impossible for Him to influence the religious leaders, that Bethlehem was too far away from Jerusalem, and that the filthiness of the straw in the manger was not healthy for a newborn. God knows how to do things even when we do not understand what He is doing. That is what it means to trust. If everything made sense to us there would be no need for faith.
We are told to rejoice and give thanks in all things. Whether we like the circumstances of life or not, we are to find reasons to praise God and show that He is always wiser and more gracious than we can imagine. He always works things out for our good. We have so much to rejoice over at this time, and yet rather than rejoicing, we read much in the way of complaining, fretting, and criticizing. Think of the example that we are giving to the world and the rest of the Church. You each need to take a personal assessment and look at where your hearts are right now (and maybe some need to be going to confession soon). I have already encouraged people to behave in a manner that gives "joy and not . . . grief" to the Ordinary (cf. Heb 13:17), and I will do so again, for our Lord commands us to "rejoice always" and again I say "rejoice".
Was the Church of the first century a failure? None of us would even imagine it was so. There were, however, a number of things that did not go as many thought they should. Jesus told many that His mission was to the Jews and not the Gentiles (Matt 10:6, 15:24). Yet, it spread among the Gentiles more than the Jews. We know that Jesus was not surprised by this, but is this what the Apostles foresaw? It does not appear to be so. Most of them viewed their mission to be to the Jews for quite a while after the Day of Pentecost (cf. Gal 2:7-8) and apparently assumed that they would eventually come around. At the same time, the Apostle Paul was planting new Churches among the Gentile communities throughout the Roman Empire. One might surmise that the first Jewish converts thought of Paul's mission as something of a "side project" but not the real hope of the future.
Jesus gave the leadership of His Church to the Apostles, and they proceeded to spread it throughout the Roman Empire within a generation (and we know very little of what they did in the far East). Yet, by A.D. 67 an enormous persecution had come against the Church by the hands of both the Jews who rejected Christ as well as from the Roman authorities under the leadership of Nero Caesar. The combination of these two attacks led to a terrific apostasy that we often do not think about. Large numbers of Christians fell away and many Churches were stretched thin (cf. Heb 6:4-6). Jesus predicted this (cf. Matt 24:11) around A.D. 30 so no one was surprised by it. The Apostle Paul repeated this prediction about twenty years later (cf. 2 Thess 2:3) calling it a "falling away". The Apostle John (ten years after Paul wrote his prediction) said that it had begun to happen in his day (cf. 1 John 2:19).
The Church of the first decade after the resurrection of Christ saw itself as a small faithful group of Jews who were still attached to the Judaism of their youth and acted something like a revival movement within Israel. They continued to go to the temple for many of its ceremonies, and did not yet see themselves as anything like the international organization they were soon to become (cf. Acts 8:1). By the time Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70, the Churches outside of Judea had become smaller, but stronger. There were apparently still a number of Jews in them, but they had become predominantly Gentile. The numbers continued to head in that direction until those who descended from Jewish bloodlines became a vast minority in the Church.
The Apostles eventually accepted the ministry of Paul to the Gentiles. He reached out his hands to pagans and told them of the One True God. The ramifications of his little act were not seen for many years to come. The Apostle knew that Jesus would be victorious over all (1 Cor 15:25), yet he did not know how that would look, or how it would come about. It is often the case that we do not see the consequences of our actions. We are called to be faithful to Christ and not to see the future. He knows where things will lead and usually does not tell us. Even the blessed Apostles may not have understood the full ramifications of the growth of the Church into the Gentile world, but Jesus brought fruit from their works.
What will be the fruit of the Holy Father reaching out his hands to us? It may not be something that any of us can foresee at this time. There may not be large numbers of people coming into the Ordinariates at first. Some may change their minds at the last minute and choose not to move forward. There may even be some who join, but then after a time they fall away. Does that mean that Anglicanorum Coetibus failed (as some nay-sayers have been barking lately)? Never. Even if only one baptized child of God is reconciled to Mother Church then this is worth it (and there is already more than just one). Reconciliation is what the Church is all about. Days of "small beginnings" (Zech 4:10) are usually what leads to grand conclusions. Like He did with Gideon, God prefers to do great things with small numbers.
So people ask me about numbers, "how many parishes in the USA?" "how many priests have been approved?" "are other countries applying for Ordinariates?" We want to hear big numbers, and that is not bad. Yet, small numbers are not bad either. The offer of Ordinariates is an open ended offer. It is so open that we do not know just how it will develop. It was offered to Anglicans, but that does not mean that God is necessarily going to use it in the way that any of us intended (who are we to bind His hands?). Just as the gospel went first to the Jews and it was the Gentiles who made the greater response, the ways that God can use these developments are beyond any of us to fathom. It may even be many generations before the fullness of this work is seen.
I prayed many years ago that something like this would happen. Even as a Protestant pastor, I knew that division was wrong, and I pleaded with God for unity, asking Him to let me be a part of it. Our prayers, however, are usually far too small. We pray only what our imagination can come up with, but the mind of God is far beyond our limitations. Though the Apostle Paul may not have grasped the full extent of what God was doing through him, he did grasp that God was not limited by our hopes. He knew that God always did greater work in the Church than we expect Him to. This is why he said:
"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen" (Eph 3:20-21).
I couldn't resist posting this from The Telegraph.
103-year-old nun to leave convent for first time in 84 years to meet Pope
For the last 84 years she has spent every day of her life behind the cloistered walls of a convent to the north of Madrid but on Friday Sister Teresita, aged 103, will venture into the world outside – to meet the Pope.
Sister Teresita, photo from The Telegraph
By Fiona Govan
The sprightly centenarian has been confined within the convent of Buenafuente del Sistal since she took her vows as a 19 year old, two years before the Wall Street Crash.
By strange coincidence she entered the convent on April 16, 1927 – the day that Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was born in Germany.
Sister Teresita has remained at the convent ever since leaving its seclusion for only a few hours at a time during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War when the nuns fled to escape the fighting.
But on Friday she will join a delegation to meet Pope Benedict during his three day visit to the Spanish capital to celebrate World Youth Day.
"She said she thinks she will make the trip with her eyes closed, so that nothing will distract her," said the convent's mother superior, Maria.
Sister Teresita was the subject of a book entitled "What is a girl like you doing in a place like that", which the author Jesus Garcia recounted the lives of 10 nuns in the convent,
"Who can spend 84 years in a convent without being happy? You feel happiness when you follow your vocation."
More than a million pilgrims have flooded in the capital for five days of events that began yesterday evening with a concert and will culminate on Sunday when the Pope celebrates an open air mass at an airfield in southwestern Madrid.
UPDATE:
On 29 June 1951, young Joseph Ratzinger was ordained to the Sacred Priesthood. This video of the event was rediscovered recently, and of course, when it was recorded there was no idea that one of the many men being ordained that day would become the Successor of St. Peter. Apparently the Holy Spirit guided the camera operator, because during the procession we get a good glimpse of the future Pope Benedict XVI. Look carefully at the 4:50 mark, and you'll recognize him.
This prayer was written by Pope Leo XIII:
O Lord, we are the millions of believers, humbly kneeling at Thy feet and begging Thee to preserve, defend and save the Sovereign Pontiff for many years. He is the Father of the great fellowship of souls and our Father as well. On this day, as on every other day, he is praying for us also, and is offering unto Thee with holy fervor the sacred Victim of love and peace.
Wherefore, O Lord, turn Thyself toward us with eyes of pity; for we are now, as it were, forgetful of ourselves, and are praying above all for him. Do Thou unite our prayers with his and receive them into the bosom of Thine infinite mercy, as a sweet savor of active and fruitful charity, whereby the children are united in the Church to their Father. All that he asks of Thee this day, we too ask it of Thee in unison with him.
Whether he weeps or rejoices, whether he hopes or offers himself as a victim of charity for his people, we desire to be united with him; nay more, we desire that the cry of our hearts should be made one with his. Of Thy great mercy grant, O Lord, that not one of us may be far from his mind and his heart in the hour that he prays and offers unto Thee the Sacrifice of Thy blessed Son. At the moment when our venerable High Priest, holding in His hands the very Body of Jesus Christ, shall say to the people over the Chalice of benediction these words: "The peace of the Lord be with you always," grant, O Lord, that Thy sweet peace may come down upon our hearts and upon all the nations with new and manifest power. Amen.
Watch over thy servant Benedict, O Lord, as his days increase; bless and guide him wherever he may be. Strengthen him when he stands; comfort him when discouraged or sorrowful; raise him up if he fall; and in his heart may thy peace which passeth understanding abide all the days of his life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
According to Fr. Z, the Holy Father has recently received Msgr. Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, in a personal audience. Considering the Holy Father's busy schedule and the general difficulty of seeing the Pontiff in person, even for relatively high-ranking diplomats or curial officials, this can only be seen as a very positive development.
