Posts tagged CDF
Cardinal Levada on Anglicanorum Coetibus
Mar 3rd
William Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, preached at the consecration, in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, of the seminary church of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter (FSSP) in Nebraska, USA:
Liturgical diversity is not inconsistent with the unity of the Catholic faith. This has been clear through the centuries in the diversity of rites, East and West. And it is clear with special relevance to your priestly fraternity in Summorum Pontificum. It is also the same principal that is operative in the new Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, establishing Ordinariates for former Anglicans who desire full communion with the Catholic Church, whilst at the same time preserving some of the richness of their liturgical and spiritual patrimony.
The full homily can be heard here.
The Smoke of Satan
Feb 17th
Damian Thompson has commented on the despicable report by The Guardian blogger Andrew Brown of a “leaked” email from the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, Andrew Burnham, to Melbourne auxiliary (and the Australian bishops’ delegate for Anglicanorum Coetibus), Bishop Peter Elliott. This whole episode is reprehensible, but I am moved to offer a few observations and a short reflection on the matter. My emphases and comments.
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The cloak and dagger Catholics
An email from an Anglican ‘flying bishop’ to a Catholic bishop in Australia sheds light on the machinations of the Anglo-Catholics
An extraordinary correspondence has fallen into my hands showing some of the detail of the Anglo-Catholic intrigues about their departure from the Church of England. [I think that it's the other way around.] It shows the Anglican “flying bishop” of Ebbsfleet, Andrew Burnham, conspiring with a sympathetic Roman Catholic bishop in Australia to work behind the back of the Catholic bishops here. He talks about his “cloak and dagger” correspondence with a sympathiser in the Vatican, and suggests that he can write personally to Pope Benedict XVI to smooth things over if his correspondent is caught. This may come as news to the pope.
Firstly, we have to assume that the email is genuine (did Mr. Brown confirm its authenticity with either the sender or the recipient?). And why is it that Mr. Brown has not seen fit to publish the message in its entirety? Certainly quoted passages such as “clearly a charming man … but not everything he says … synchronises fully with what we know from other sources” are open to interpretation (and look as if their sense has been manipulated).
And does Mr. Brown really think it surprising that FiF UK might be working directly with the Roman authorities, bypassing a bishops’ conference which, even now, is working to undermine Anglicanorum Coetibus? I am happy to independently confirm from my TAC sources, for what it’s worth, that no one in Rome trusts the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales to deal charitably with incoming Anglicans!
The Australian bishop, Peter Elliott, is himself an Anglican convert [Boo, hiss!], and is in charge of the pope’s outreach to Anglican opponents of women priests in Australia [Yeah, we're "disaffected" too.]. Most of these are grouped in a body called the Traditional Anglican Communion, which claims to have half a million members world wide: Burnham warns Bishop Elliott against complete confidence in their leader, Archbishop Hepworth (“clearly a charming man … but not everything he says … synchronises fully with what we know from other sources”).
I’d like to see the full quotation in context. Still, it seems quite a stretch to characterize this as a warning that Bishop Elliott should not have confidence in the TAC Primate. I have the opportunity to consult with (extremely well-placed) TAC and FiF UK sources almost daily and I can personally vouch for the fact that there is a lack of “synchronicity” all around. There is a good deal about the future of the personal ordinariate scheme that is, for the moment, uncertain. Mr. Brown obviously desires to interpret this uncertainty as division or suspicion.
I would also point out that, much to the chagrin of the pundits, history has shown (so far) Archbishop Hepworth to have been correct at every turn. Today we take the revolution of Anglicanorum Coetibus for granted, but before October 20, 2009, it was merely the fantastic dream of the TAC Primate, a dream which certainly failed to synchronize fully with what the experts thought they knew from other sources.
But the passage which will cause discomfort in this country is this:
“I am taking the liberty of mentioning, in confidence and with his permission, that we are in touch with Mgr Patrick Burke at the CDF [the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]. It has all felt a little bit like Elizabethan espionage but, truly, the informal contact with the CDF has been invaluable, and, if ever Mgr Burke got into trouble, I should write to the pope and say how splendidly helpful he has been.
This is not known about fully in England and Wales because we are trying to ensure that the whole Anglicanorum Coetibus project, which will begin in small ways, is not smothered by the management anxieties of a hierarchy, some of whom think that Anglicans are best off doing what they are presently doing and some of whom think the project would impact adversely on the Catholic Church in England. Needless to say Fr Pat’s help, and the support of Archbishop DiNoia, need, to a lesser extent, to be protected from disapproval at higher levels of the dicastery [Vatican department]. Hence the cloak and dagger.”
Anglicanorum Coetibus is the pope’s plan to allow disaffected Anglicans to convert as a group, and to keep their own bishops. As Bishop Burnham says, the Catholic hierarchy in this country is not enthusiastic about the prospect. The plan was sprung on Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the head of the Catholic church in England and Wales, with very little notice and although attention at the time was concentrated on the obvious discomfort of Rowan Williams, the Catholic archbishop had known no more than him.
This is the whole point. The Apostolic Constitution was “sprung” on the Archbishop of Westminster and the other English bishops precisely because the CDF did not trust them to respond obediently and charitably to the will of the Holy Father. And they have not reformed since! ”Hence the cloak and dagger.”
It’s still not clear how much autonomy the Anglican “ordinariates” will have; but Bishop Elliott told an Australian audience they would be comparable to the Eastern churches in communion with Rome; the Maronite Christians of the Lebanon, and the formerly orthodox “Uniate” churches of the Ukraine. “The structure … is much closer to an Eastern Rite Church in its autonomy than some might imagine.”
Yes, Bishop Elliott said that the Anglican personal ordinariates would be similar to these Eastern structures in some respects. This is exactly what Archbishop Hepworth has said all along. To beat a long-dead horse:
There will be an Anglican leader who relates to the Holy See on behalf of the Anglican Catholics. Thus establishing a body that is Anglican Catholic as distinct from Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Catholic, Maronite Catholic, or whatever. It’s not a rite but it looks awfully like one… (Archbishop Hepworth at the 2009 National Assembly of FiF UK)
This kind of autonomy, a church within the church, has long been the dream of the former Anglicans who converted in the early 70s. But it is not what the Catholic hierarchy thinks it is getting in this country. Monsignor Andrew Faley, the assistant secretary to the Bishops’ conference here, said “He’s wrong – he’s not entirely right, would be more ecclesially correct … Uniate status is concerned with rite; but the Anglican liturgy is so close to ours that it’s not possible in this case. The Pope asked our bishops to ‘be generous’ and in asking this was recognising their generosity to be genuine. Their hospitality to former Anglicans is 100% assured and the authority of the Church in working this out rests with the bishops’ conferences and not with the CDF.”
Allow me be very blunt. I would not trust a single thing Msgr. Faley has to say about the matter. This spokesman for the obstructionists has already been sent out to spread disinformation about the Apostolic Constitution (and was smacked down by Rome for it, as I understand).
This nonsense about “uniate status” (and it is most assuredly nonsense) is simply a misdirection. The Apostolic Constitution and the Complementary Norms speak for themselves — and these documents do provide for an ordinary authority that will exist independently of — and in no way subject to — the local territorial dioceses or the national episcopal conference. The English Catholic hierarchy may not yet fully appreciate this — and they certainly won’t like it when they do — but it’s coming nonetheless.
And Msgr. Faley’s contention that the Holy Father recognizes the English bishops’ generosity is utterly laughable! Is he speaking of the same Joseph Ratzinger, who, just a few short years ago, asked, “Why are the English bishops so unapostolic?” Were the Holy Father to be assured of the genuine nature of the bishops’ generosity, he would hardly need to ask. In this request, Msgr. Faley would, no doubt, like to be assured that Rome intends the bishops’ conference to have a decisive role in the erection of the English ordinariate. I think he’s going to be sorely disappointed.
But no groups have yet actually approached the Roman Catholic authorities in this country, according to Mgr Faley.
Why should they? Applications for the erection of a personal ordinariate will go directly to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Do not pass the bishops’ conference. Do not collect $200. As I wrote a few days ago:
On the subject of bishops’ welcoming committees, I will also note that it is the understanding of the TAC bishops involved in discussions with Rome that the two principal parties to be involved in the erection of any future personal ordinariates are 1) the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; and 2) the interested Anglican group itself – and that all applications must originate from the Anglican group seeking full communion. Local episcopal conferences will be consulted in due course, but the notion that these bodies will be the originators (or even decisive factors in the erection) of the new structures (as the episcopal conferences in England and Wales and Australia seem to think and as Cardinal DiNardo has recently suggested) seems to run contrary to the intentions of the CDF.
There is plenty of work going on behind the scenes. And, I am proud to say, at the present moment, the readers of The Anglo-Catholic are just as informed as most English Catholic bishops.
The other intriguing admission in Bishop Burnham’s letter is that “the project … will start in small ways”. This suggests that enthusiasm for the ordinariates is still much greater among the priests and bishops who hope to lead it than among the ordinary Anglicans who are supposed to follow them and fill its churches.
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If the Holy Father’s offer in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus is indeed a movement of the Holy Spirit, it should come as no surprise that the Enemy will stop at nothing to destroy it. Whoever leaked this message, and the one who published it, knowingly or unknowingly, are his instruments.
In the coming several months, Anglican groups around the world will request of the Holy See the erection of personal ordinariates and will begin to cross the threshold into the full communion and unity of the Catholic Church. The timing of this “leak” is not a coincidence. Just this past Saturday, Forward in Faith Australia directed its National Council “to foster by every means the establishing of an Ordinariate in Australia.” In just a few days, on February 22, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter, Anglicans in Forward in Faith UK, led by the provincial episcopal visitors, will be praying for discernment. Beginning on March 1, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America (TAC) will convene in Orlando, Florida; the ACA bishops, together with Primate John Hepworth, will be joined on March 2 by representatives of FiF UK (the Bishop of Fulham) and the Anglican Use/Pastoral Provision in the USA. This conference will be an important step in formulating our response to Anglicanorum Coetibus. In mid-March, bishops of the TAC and Forward in Faith will be in Rome to consult with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and to seek clarification on a number of important points. In Low Week, the College of Bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion will meet in Rome. And it is expected that the first personal ordinariates will be erected as soon as the end of June 2010.
The Adversary who has thwarted our desire for corporate reunion with the rest of the Western Church for over 400 years now sees that our vindication is at hand! He despises our Holy Father and all who would cooperate with him. And as we move ever closer, we should expect that more manipulative reports like this one from Andrew Brown will surface.
I have had the opportunity to hear from so many readers of The Anglo-Catholic who are patiently waiting for news from Archbishop Hepworth, the PEVs, sources in Rome, or even the Holy Father himself. Many of you visit the site several times a day for the latest information (which I, of course, very much appreciate). And, no doubt, many of you feel like there is nothing that you can do to help. This ecclesiastical politics, after all, seems to be the exclusive province of insiders — priests, bishops, archbishops, and even popes! But there is something you can do to help. Pray! Pray for the Holy Father. Pray for the shepherds of the Anglican groups who will shortly be leading their people into full communion with the Holy See. Pray that God beat down Satan — and our many enemies — under our feet. And never for a moment underestimate the forces arrayed against us!
A Daring Decision Fulfils a Newman Prayer
Feb 8th
The article below appears in the current edition of Faith Magazine. In 1997, Dr. William Oddie, a biographer of G. K. Chesterton and former editor of The Catholic Herald, wrote the then controversial book, The Roman Option: The Realignment of English Christianity, in which he described a possible future development whereby Anglicans abandoned by the Established Church might enter the Catholic Church en masse. Here is an extract from the back cover of the book:
The Church of England’s historic decision to ordain women to the priesthood has forced a dramatic realignment of Christianity in the English speaking world. In the space of five years, it has brough irreversible change into the heart of Anglicanism, and transformed its relationship with the Roman Catholic Church.
In this radical book, William Oddie gives an insider’s account of the origins and possible future development of the ‘Roman Option’, in which disaffected Anglicans seek to move en masse to the Catholic Church, and argues that the Catholic bishops must be ready to respond boldly to the real crisis for Anglicanism which lies ahead…
Of course the Catholic bishops were not ready (and many are still not ready) to respond boldly to this crisis in Anglicanism, and it ultimately took the revolutionary thinking of Pope Benedict XVI to see such a “Roman Option” realized.
In this current article, Dr. Oddie reflects on how the Holy Father and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith boldly sidestepped the “unapostolic” English bishops to finally guarantee to Anglo-Catholics a place of refuge in an often unwelcoming Catholic Church.
My emphases and comments in blue.
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William Oddie FAITH Magazine January-February 2010
A Daring Decision Fulfils a Newman Prayer
I very much hope that Catholics in this country and elsewhere will warmly welcome into our communion the members of the new ordinariates. Nevertheless, in terms of the relations between Rome and the bishops’ conferences affected, the way in which these ordinariates have been invented is disgraceful.
The present Apostolic Constitution is indeed a godsend, but had the Catholic bishops been more receptive of dispossessed Anglo-Catholics, corporate reunion could have been achieved years ago — and reconciled far more Anglicans to the Church than may now be immediately possible. Instead, ideology was allowed to triumph over apostolic mission and the Lord’s prayer for the unity of His Church was ignored. This is a disgrace!
Thus, Nicholas Lash – in, of course, The Tablet - on the Apostolic constitution which has authorised and enabled the setting up of jurisdictions under which Anglicans may become Roman Catholics not individually but collectively. The Tabletatura, of course, hate the whole thing; and they object particularly to the reception of communities rather than individuals, quite simply because far more will come, numerically, under this dispensation than under what previously obtained: i.e., special fast-track arrangements for clergy wanting reordination (this has helped substantially with the shortage of priests) but the old business of “individual submission” for the laity, and off with them to some denatured liturgy at the ghastly concrete Catholic barracks down the road. Quite simply, the Spirit-of-Vatican-ll boys don’t want the converts at all, because they know that they are coming not for the English bishops, and certainly not for The Tablet, which they loathe and despise, but for the Pope. [Precisely.]The Tablet would like smaller numbers to come, one by one, in a way which provides the opportunity to acclimatise them into the kind of reductionist belief-system they favour. Thus The Tablet’s weaselly suggestion that
They do have an alternative …. they could, as countless converts to Roman Catholicism have done before them including many former Anglo-Catholics, apply to enter into full communion through the normal processes. Nowadays that usually means enrolling in the parish-based scheme called the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults, or RCIA, which includes a rite for baptised Christians who want to become Catholic.
After a journey of faith involving instruction from a parish catechist, candidates follow a series of public steps leading to a ceremony of admission, with others who have made the same journey. … A simple formula of doctrinal assent is required … far less elaborate than adherence to every one of the Catholic catechism’s 2,865 paragraphs which the apostolic constitution envisages.
Why implicitly accept the entirety of Catholic teaching by joining a personal ordinariate (which defines the Catechism of the Catholic Church as a doctrinal standard) when you can recite a simple formula with mental reservations like the rest of your RCIA class?
Well, there you have it: what The Tablet wants for any convert is the half-cock reprocessed seventies Catholicism you get in RCIA (I speak from personal experience) rather than the full-blooded total Catholicism of The Catechism of the Catholic Church (which many of them already know far better than most cradle Catholics).
We’ve recently had a bit of controversy about the appropriateness of RCIA for the reception of Anglicans — indeed any Christians — into full communion. Even when applied appropriately, RCIA is very often deficient — and there appears to be a good deal of defensiveness of the part of some commenters when this fact is observed. Are there good RCIA programs out there? Of course there are. Have Anglicans (or others) being received into the full communion of the Catholic Church had positive experiences in RCIA? No doubt they have. But I would caution our Roman Catholic readers not to form their impression of the state of Church from web sites like the New Liturgical Movement or What Does the Prayer Really Say? These sites often focus on a few — and there still only a few — “showcase” churches. Most parish churches in North America and the UK are a liturgical and catechetical wasteland. If you are in a conservative parish with an orthodox priest where the Faith is taught in its integrity and experienced “in the beauty of holiness,” then you are most assuredly in the minority. Of course the times are changing, and there is a reform of the Reform afoot, but as Fr. Z says, “brick by brick.” There is a very long way to go. There is a reason that The Tablet is keen on subjecting Anglo-Catholics to RCIA: they are fairly certain that it will destroy their faith.
But you can understand The Tablet’s hostility and confusion. The fact is that the whole thing has been an enormous shock: not only to those who hate it all but to those who are still glowing with delight, for whom the words “personal ordinariate” induce not the slightest irritation at the usual graceless Vaticanese but on the contrary, sheer joy at the generous fulfilment the Pope has granted of their deepest hopes : these include many former Anglicans like myself and many more now preparing for the journey they have always longed to make, together with their whole ecclesial community. Of that, more in a while: but first, we need to get back to that extraordinary announcement: extraordinary both in its content and in its timing, as well as in its modus operandi. Why so very unexpected?
Ecclesiastical Sundries
Feb 2nd
- Cardinal DiNardo shares his views on the Apostolic Constitution during a special parish meeting at Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, TX. Cardinal DiNardo made no mention of the ACA/TAC (or any Continuing Anglicans) during the talk and it is unclear if he had only the current Anglican Use/Pastoral Provision in mind. He seems to take a high view of the role that the USCCB will have in the erection of future personal ordinariates. While the local episcopal conference will be consulted in due course, I believe that the application and erection process will be principally the concern of the petitioning Anglican group and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
- The Archbishop of Westminster has assured the Holy Father that his invitation to Catholic Anglicans has not “seriously disrupted” the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Church of England! Well that’s nice to know. Certainly ARCIC III is on the verge of a real breakthrough. How careless the Holy Father has been in nearly derailing the whole thing! Archbishop Nichols is also willing to work with Anglicans interested in coming into full communion with the Holy See. How very generous of him!
Archbishop Nichols characterized the Holy Father’s response to Anglicans who have requested communion with Rome as “generous and paternal.”
And he affirmed that the groundwork of “close cooperation and deepening friendship and communion” between Anglicans and Catholics have “helped us to ensure that the various interpretations of and reactions to ‘Anglicanorum Coetibus’ have not seriously disrupted the relationships between our Ecclesial Communions.”
“Indeed,” the prelate said, “the commitment to commence a third round of discussions as part of the work of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission has reinforced this relationship. We remain ready to explore with those Anglicans in England and Wales who wish to take up your generous and paternal response to their requests the ways forward towards full communion.“
- The Holy Father has officially confirmed his upcoming trip to the UK. In his address to the English and Welsh bishops at the end of their visit ad limina Apostolorum, Benedict XVI also challenged the bishops to teach with united voice, upholding orthodoxy, and not legitimizing dissent against the teaching of the Church.
In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognise dissent for what it is, and not to mistake it for a mature contribution to a balanced and wide-ranging debate. It is the truth revealed through Scripture and Tradition and articulated by the Church’s Magisterium that sets us free.
- The President Bishop of the Episcopal/Anglican Diocese of Eqypt, The Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer H. Anis, has resigned from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion. Bishop Anis says that there is no longer any place for orthodox Anglicans in the Anglican Communion.
After much prayer and consideration, I hereby submit my resignation from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion (SCAC). I have come to realize that my presence in the current SCAC has no value whatsoever and my voice is like a useless cry in the wilderness.
Many sing praises of “inclusiveness” while at the same time they exclude others. I am deeply disturbed in my conscience when I see a kind of double-standard in dealing with different issues. While emphasising the importance of caring for the marginalised in our communities, like the LGBT community, the orthodox Anglicans are being marginalized. I understand that in a family, the concern of every member is cared for; but this is not the reality in our meetings where the orthodox voices are disregarded or suppressed.
- SSPX group attacks FSSP chapel over rumor of an ecumenical Mass. The FSSP Chapel of St Peter Apostle in Guadalajara (The Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter) was asked to schedule a Mass for the conversion of those outside the Church, in an effort to promote true unity among all Christians. The Mass was called a Mass for the conversion of sinners outside the Church, to be followed by a rosary in reparation for false ecumenism. The SSPX however heard through the grapevine that an ecumenical Mass was going to take place and they jumped to false conclusions. As a result, the SSPX went ballistic, calling for a protest against the upcoming scheduled Mass at the FSSP chapel. The SSPX laymen came to the FSSP church the morning before the Mass on Wednesday Jan 20th, 2010, and they spray painted the walls around the church! A first hand account wrote, “Ecumenismo no! Judas!” was spray painted in huge letters three times, almost all the way around, and one time on the side walk.
Anglican Church in America Developments
Jan 30th
Virtue Online has posted the text of a recent email message sent by Bishop Louis Campese (TAC/ACA Diocese of the Eastern United States) to his diocesan clergy. We will not reproduce the text of the message here as a matter of principle. The message was evidently shared with David Virtue by one of the original recipients and without the bishop’s permission. As there is nothing especially secret about the contents of the bishop’s message, we will confirm the following details here.
In the last week of February, the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth, with Bishop Robert Mercer, Bishop Peter Wilkinson, and Archbishop Louis Falk, will be in Rome to meet with officials of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. After the public release of Anglicanorum Coetibus, the TAC bishops, after consultation with clergy and laity, compiled a short list of the most pressing practical questions regarding the implementation of the Apostolic Constitution. The purpose of the meeting(s) with the CDF is to get answers to these important questions and to discuss the logistics of the implementation process moving forward.
At the invitation of Bishop Campese, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America, joined by Archbishop Hepworth, will meet in Orlando, Florida beginning March 1, 2010 to discuss the implementation of Anglicanorum Coetibus in the ACA. Bishop John Broadhurst, provincial episcopal visitor for the Church of England Dioceses of London, Southwark, and Rochester and Chairman of Forward in Faith, and representatives of the Anglican Use/Pastoral Provision, including Fr. Christopher Phillips, pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement, San Antonio, Texas, will present at the conference at the invitation of Archbishop Falk.
After these meetings, Bishop Campese will convene a special meeting of the DEUS Standing Committee and a convocation of the entire diocesan presbyterate to discuss any developments.
Recent Posts from Archbishop Hepworth
Jan 28th
The past several days have seen the publication of several very important documents from Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC). Now that the CDF has formally responded to the TAC bishops and vicars general, the Primate has issued a statement acknowledging this response, the October 2007 “Portsmouth Letter” by which the TAC appealed to the Holy See for full, corporate reunion, and a lengthy Pastoral Letter to the faithful of the TAC around the world.
As the staff of The Anglo-Catholic has been known to produce content at a rate of sometimes ten articles a day, content drops off the front page rather quickly and these documents oughtn’t be missed!
Text of the TAC Petition to the Holy See
Jan 27th
The following is the complete text of the October 2007 Portsmouth Letter, the Petition of the Bishops and Vicars General of the Traditional Anglican Communion to the Holy See. Though excerpts of this document have been released to the media, the full text has remained confidential pending a formal response from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith as is normal in such circumstances. As the CDF has formally responded to the TAC bishops and vicars general, it is now published exclusively on The Anglo-Catholic at the behest of Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the TAC.
In the coming days, we will publish additional analysis and commentary on the Petition — and the Primate’s long-awaited pastoral letter (the release of which is imminent) will also reflect on the Portsmouth Letter — but, for now, I would refer readers to the recent post entitled “The Catechism of the Catholic Church, Papal Infallibility, and the TAC“ which lays the foundation for discussion of the doctrinal significance of this landmark letter.
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From the Bishops and Vicars General of the Traditional Anglican Communion, gathered in Plenary Meeting at Portsmouth, England, in the Church of Saint Agatha, to the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, concerning their desire for unity with the See of Peter.
5th October 2007
Grace and peace in the Name of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Saviour!
“A new hope arises that those who rejoice in the name of Christians, but are nevertheless separated from this apostolic see, hearing the voice of the divine Shepherd, may be able to make their way into the one Church of Christ….to seek and to follow that unity which Jesus Christ implored from his Heavenly father with such fervent prayers.”
In these words in his moto proprio, Superno De Nutu, the Blessed John XXIII, responded to the visit of Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher.
A few years later, in the Sistine Chapel, in March 1966, the next Bishop of Rome, Paul VI, told the next Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, that he should look on his journey as an approach to a home:
As you cross the threshold we want you especially to feel that you are not entering the house of a stranger but that this is your home, here you have a right to be.
The Holy Father warned of the difficulty of the task of bringing about the unity of “the Church of Rome and the Church of Canterbury”:
In the field of doctrine and ecclesiastical law, we are still respectively distinct and distant; for now it must be so, for the reverence due to truth and to freedom; until such time as we may merit the supreme grace of true and perfect unity in faith and communion.
The next day, at the Basilica of Saint Paul’s Without the Walls, the Holy Father placed his ring on the Archbishop’s finger. They had just signed the Joint Declaration that was intended to begin a dialogue that would lead to full communion between Anglicans and the See of Rome. The Pope used the phrases “our dear sister church” and “united but not absorbed’. These phrases inspired Anglicans who yearned for the reuniting of the Anglican Communion with the Holy See. They waited in prayerful optimism for the fulfillment of the work of the Anglican – Roman Catholic International Commission. The Lambeth Conference of 1968 powerfully endorsed the approach to the Holy See of the Archbishop and the proposed work of the Commission. The Holy Father noted this acceptance in his homily at the Canonization of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales in 1970, when he reflected on the nature of the unity that he anticipated:
There will be no seeking to lessen the prestige and usage proper to the Anglican Church.
These words exchanged between Anglican bishops and the Holy See transformed centuries of profound mistrust and unconsummated dreams of unity.
“Oh no you won’t!”
Jan 17th
Fr. Dwight Longenecker adds his thoughts to Fr. Chadwick’s recent post on the obstruction of Anglicanorum Coetibus on the part of the English Catholic bishops.
This is why we must beware the English bishops alacrity in ‘embracing’ Anglicanorum Coetibus. They seem to have jumped in saying, “Oh, yes, leave this to us. We’ll get the ball rolling here oh yes we will!”
As in the English panto, I think we should reply, “Oh no you won’t.” I fear the real reason the English bishops have jumped in and pretended to be enthusiastic is because, in fact, the Anglican Ordinariate needn’t concern them at all. The Constitution says that the Ordinariate will be set up by the CDF–not the local bishops’ conferences. All the Ordinary has to do is consult and work with the local bishop.
What the English bishops are trying to do is prevent that from happening by jumping in quickly to take control. Rome should politely tell them that their services are not needed unless asked for and get on with the job of setting up the ordinariate without them because, mark my words, if the English bishops get their hands on this it will go into a holding pattern and you will never see anything happen.
Why do I suspect such behavior? Only because it was at the hands of the English Catholic bishops that I waited for ten years to be ordained and then guess what? I had to come back to the USA to be ordained anyway. But that’s another long story for another time and another place.
Indeed we’ve already seen several high profile attempts on the part of the liberal establishment in the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales to hijack the Apostolic Constitution and manipulate the situation in the press. My sources inform me that the CDF responded swiftly to “smack down” these stunts.
Statement of Archbishop Hepworth on Response from Holy See
Jan 17th
In the past three weeks, each of the Bishops and Vicars General who signed the Petition to the Holy See of October 5th 2007 seeking “corporate reunion with the Holy See” has received a formal response. These letters, from the Prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, William Cardinal Levada, complete the process of the response of the Holy See to the Petition, and initiate the process of our formal response to the Apostolic Constitution.
The Cardinal makes the point in his letter that
This provision (the Apostolic Constitution with the Norms and Commentary) constitutes the definitive response of the Holy See not only to your original request, but also to the many others of a similar nature which have been submitted over the last years.
In the Petition, the bishops sought
…a communal and ecclesial way of being Anglican Catholics in communion with the Holy See, at once treasuring the full expression of catholic faith and treasuring our tradition within which we have come to this moment.
In another place, they state that the Traditional Anglican Communion was formed, in part
to seek as a body full and visible communion, particularly eucharistic communion, in Christ, with the Roman Catholic Church…
The Cardinal, in his letter, acknowledges our request
that some way might be found to welcome groups of clergy and faithful from the Traditional Anglican Communion into full visible unity with the Catholic Church, in a structure that could offer support and witness to the many evident graces of the Anglican tradition.
He goes on the add that, in the period since the submission of the Petition, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has completed a long and detailed study with the aim of making available
A suitable and viable model of organic unity for your and other such groups.
In the concluding paragraph of his letter, Cardinal Levada states that
I am only too aware of the delicate process of discernment that will no doubt need to be embarked upon by many of our Anglican brothers and sisters, and no less of the many difficult practical issues that will need to be faced.
He sets out the initial steps that must be taken in response.
I have replied to Cardinal Levada, thanking him once again for the generous pastoral understanding in what he has written to us. I have reiterated my thanks for the groundbreaking and historic nature of the Apostolic Constitution. I note that the Holy Father last week acknowledged the work of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the production of the Apostolic Constitution. Pope Benedict told the Congregation that
Unity is first and foremost the unity of faith, upheld by the sacred tradition of which Peter’s Successor is the primary custodian and defender…the faithful adherence of these groups (of Anglicans) to the truth received from Christ and presented in the Magisterium of the Church is in no way contrary to the ecumenical movement, it reveals, rather the ultimate scope that consists in reaching the full and visible communion of the disciples of the Lord.
I stated in my initial comments on the response of the Holy See last October that our obligation was “to be still in prayer and reflection” as a possibility arises that has been unavailable to communities of Anglicans since the cleavage of the Reformation. Our bishops, at my request and that of the Holy See, have maintained their quietness until the whole process of promulgation has been completed.
Next week, I will be publishing a commentary on the Constitution for members of the Traditional Anglican Communion. Now that a formal response has been received, I am also releasing at the same time the text of the Petition. In my statement, I will be setting out the steps that must now be taken by the whole College of Bishops, and by each part of our Communion. I emphasize that this “process of discernment” concerns the primary command of Jesus to His Church. It can neither be hurried nor lightly undertaken. But I also emphasize that a way of achieving unity has been created that is a direct and immediate response to our Petition, and to delay implementing the fullness of communion that we have sought would be in serious defiance of the will of Jesus for His Church. Now, above all, we must be sensitive to our Lord, and sensitive to each other.
The process we are following is this:
1. We are already in detailed and fruitful discussion with other Anglican groups mentioned by the Cardinal, and with bishops nominated to liaise with us by Catholic Conferences of Bishops in several parts of the world.
2. In the next few weeks, in Japan, Central America, the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Torres Strait, and a little later in India, Africa and Europe, I will have the opportunity of meeting with many of the clergy and people of our Communion. Regional gatherings of bishops, clergy and people are being organized in each part of our Communion. I look forward very much to being with you.
3. I will be calling a full meeting of the College of Bishops for Eastertide, 2010. The bishops will make a formal response to the Holy See, which will be followed in due time by canonical steps in the member churches of the Traditional Anglican Communion.
In the meantime, as we contemplate our response, we do well to read again and again the words of Jesus in the great prayer to His Father for the unity of His followers, and to measure our response with His words.
And also we should read with careful attention the opening words of the Constitution, in which Pope Benedict spells out his response to our request:
In recent times the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately. The Apostolic See has responded favorably to such petitions. Indeed, the successor of Peter, mandated by the Lord Jesus to guarantee the unity of the episcopate and to preside over and safeguard the universal communion of all the Churches could not fail to make available the means necessary to bring this holy desire to realization.
+John Hepworth, Primate January 16th 2010
The Pope Spoke on His Invitation to Anglicans Today
Jan 15th
VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI defended his decision to invite disaffected Anglicans to join the Catholic Church en masse, saying Friday it was the “ultimate aim” of ecumenism.
Benedict told members of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the invitation wasn’t an attack on the church’s reunification efforts with other Christians but was rather designed to help them by bringing about “full and visible communion.”
-snip-
“Achieving the common witness to faith of all Christians is a priority of the Church at all times,” Benedict said Friday. “In this spirit, I trust in the commitment of the (congregation) so that the doctrinal problems that remain with the Society of St. Pius X … can be overcome.”
Here’s the same story but from Vatican Radio. An excerpt:
(15 Jan 10 – RV) The Church’s teaching is open to all who seek truth, believers and non-believers: this was Pope Benedict XVI’s message Friday as he met with participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
The Pope touched on the contribution that the Christian faith can offer in the field of bioethics and he reiterated that the first commitment of St Peter’s Successor is to preserve the unity of the faithful.
He said the Successor of St Peter is “the primary keeper and defender” of faith. However, he said the Pope and the Church want to contribute to the formation of the consciences of every individual, not only of believers. The Pope recalled that his ministry is primarily at the service of unity and that the Bishop of Rome is called to obey the faith, “so Christ’s truth continues to shine for all men”.
Hence the hope “that outstanding doctrinal issues that remain to be resolved for the fraternity of St. Pius X to achieve full communion with the Church” will be overcome. The Holy Father also welcomed the Dicastery’s commitment in favour of “the full integration” of groups and individual Anglican faithful into the Catholic Church.
On this point he stressed that: “The faithful adherence of these groups to the truth received from Christ and proposed by the Magisterium of the Church is not in any way contrary to the ecumenical movement, rather it shows its ultimate goal, which is to achieve full and visible communion of the disciples of the Lord” .
Contrast and compare the two versions. It makes me wonder whether some of the secular journalists have an automatic word-generator for some of their stories–the constant repeating of the terms “disaffected Anglicans” or the need to mention “the Holocaust-denying” Williamson. Thus we seldom get much that is real news, just a rehash of politically-correct and usually inaccurate history ad nauseum.
Thank God for the blogosphere.
