Posts tagged England and Wales
Hi, y’all
Feb 26th
Now if the greeting above sounds a little un-English, I confess my first experience of the New World was as a just-left-school boy, aged 18, on an exchange from Plymouth (England) to Greenwood (Mississippi). It was a great eye-opener to someone who had lived through the war – 1939 it began for us, and we had our home in Plymouth bombed, then were ourselves ‘bombed out’ (and all but killed) in Birkenhead and Greenock. We were in those places, mother and I, because my father, in the Royal Navy, was sailing from those ports in his destroyer on the deadly Russian Convoys, to Murmansk and Archangel. So while were were still suffering rationing in England, the sheer bounty of the USA came as a welcome surprise in 1953; as did the hospitality of my hosts. Pre-integration Mississippi had its dark side, though, and a visit to the local gaol and seeing all the black faces on death row was a shock.
Subsequently I have visited Texas a few times, stayed with friends in Washington DC and Kentucky, been on Conferences in LA and Baltimore, and even stayed briefly in New York. My wife still treasures the comment of a Texan on hearing we were going on to the Big Apple: “Why?” he asked. “That’s not America”. And neither is London England. So any perspective I try to give concerning the Church in England at present will be a little Provincial, and not as London-centric as the news which Americans generally get from England.
As for churchmanship, I trained at the once great Theological College (seminary) of Cuddesdon, in the days when its monasticism was such that I had to get special permission from the Principal, Edward Knapp-Fisher, for my mother to step over the threshold of the Common Room. It came as a shock, visiting the old place a year or two later, to find a notice to the effect that “Ladies Bath night in college is Friday and genetlemen are asked to avoid using the bathroom on King I those evenings”. Robert Runcie had taken over, liberalism had begun, and two of his proteges were signatories of the recent letter to the Times seeking to persuade the Church of England to permit same-sex blessings.
The catholicism I learned there was Tractarian, reserved, did not care for dressing-up, was non-Papal, and used the Book of Common Prayer in its many revised forms. I still celebrate 1662 (approx) Holy Communion every Thursday here in my retirement, though as a ‘Flying Bishop’ I found most of the parishes in my care used the Roman Missal, and I am equally at home with that.
So those are some of the lenses through which I see the Church today, and you must make allowances for those various distortions to my vision.
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.
* * *
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.
* * *
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.
* * *
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.
Pope Benedict XVI to the English Bishops
Feb 1st
The source is Vatican Radio. My emphasis below:
* * *
Dear Brother Bishops,
I welcome all of you on your ad Limina visit to Rome, where you have come to venerate the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul. I thank you for the kind words that Archbishop Vincent Nichols has addressed to me on your behalf, and I offer you my warmest good wishes and prayers for yourselves and all the faithful of England and Wales entrusted to your pastoral care. Your visit to Rome strengthens the bonds of communion between the Catholic community in your country and the Apostolic See, a communion that sustained your people’s faith for centuries, and today provides fresh energies for renewal and evangelisation. Even amid the pressures of a secular age, there are many signs of living faith and devotion among the Catholics of England and Wales. I am thinking, for example, of the enthusiasm generated by the visit of the relics of Saint Thérèse, the interest aroused by the prospect of Cardinal Newman’s beatification, and the eagerness of young people to take part in pilgrimages and World Youth Days. On the occasion of my forthcoming Apostolic Visit to Great Britain, I shall be able to witness that faith for myself and, as Successor of Peter, to strengthen and confirm it. During the months of preparation that lie ahead, be sure to encourage the Catholics of England and Wales in their devotion, and assure them that the Pope constantly remembers them in his prayers and holds them in his heart.
Your country is well known for its firm commitment to equality of opportunity for all members of society. Yet as you have rightly pointed out, the effect of some of the legislation designed to achieve this goal has been to impose unjust limitations on the freedom of religious communities to act in accordance with their beliefs. In some respects it actually violates the natural law upon which the equality of all human beings is grounded and by which it is guaranteed. I urge you as Pastors to ensure that the Church’s moral teaching be always presented in its entirety and convincingly defended. Fidelity to the Gospel in no way restricts the freedom of others – on the contrary, it serves their freedom by offering them the truth. Continue to insist upon your right to participate in national debate through respectful dialogue with other elements in society. In doing so, you are not only maintaining long-standing British traditions of freedom of expression and honest exchange of opinion, but you are actually giving voice to the convictions of many people who lack the means to express them: when so many of the population claim to be Christian, how could anyone dispute the Gospel’s right to be heard?
If the full saving message of Christ is to be presented effectively and convincingly to the world, the Catholic community in your country needs to speak with a united voice. This requires not only you, the Bishops, but also priests, teachers, catechists, writers – in short all who are engaged in the task of communicating the Gospel – to be attentive to the promptings of the Spirit, who guides the whole Church into the truth, gathers her into unity and inspires her with missionary zeal.
Make it your concern, then, to draw on the considerable gifts of the lay faithful in England and Wales and see that they are equipped to hand on the faith to new generations comprehensively, accurately, and with a keen awareness that in so doing they are playing their part in the Church’s mission. In a social milieu that encourages the expression of a variety of opinions on every question that arises, it is important to recognize 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. Cardinal Newman realized this, and he left us an outstanding example of faithfulness to revealed truth by following that “kindly light” wherever it led him, even at considerable personal cost. Great writers and communicators of his stature and integrity are needed in the Church today, and it is my hope that devotion to him will inspire many to follow in his footsteps.
Much attention has rightly been given to Newman’s scholarship and to his extensive writings, but it is important to remember that he saw himself first and foremost as a priest. In this Annus Sacerdotalis, I urge you to hold up to your priests his example of dedication to prayer, pastoral sensitivity towards the needs of his flock, and passion for preaching the Gospel. You yourselves should set a similar example. Be close to your priests, and rekindle their sense of the enormous privilege and joy of standing among the people of God as alter Christus. In Newman’s words, “Christ’s priests have no priesthood but His … what they do, He does; when they baptize, He is baptizing; when they bless, He is blessing” (Parochial and Plain Sermons, VI 242). Indeed, since the priest plays an irreplaceable role in the life of the Church, spare no effort in encouraging priestly vocations and emphasizing to the faithful the true meaning and necessity of the priesthood. Encourage the lay faithful to express their appreciation of the priests who serve them, and to recognize the difficulties they sometimes face on account of their declining numbers and increasing pressures. The support and understanding of the faithful is particularly necessary when parishes have to be merged or Mass times adjusted. Help them to avoid any temptation to view the clergy as mere functionaries but rather to rejoice in the gift of priestly ministry, a gift that can never be taken for granted.
Ecumenical and inter-religious dialogue assume great importance in England and Wales, given the varied demographic profile of the population. As well as encouraging you in your important work in these areas, I would ask you to be generous in implementing the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, so as to assist those groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. I am convinced that, if given a warm and open-hearted welcome, such groups will be a blessing for the entire Church.
With these thoughts, I commend your apostolic ministry to the intercession of Saint David, Saint George and all the saints and martyrs of England and Wales. May Our Lady of Walsingham guide and protect you always. To all of you, and to the priests, religious and lay faithful of your country, I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of peace and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ.
From the Vatican, 1 February 2010
Archbishop Nichols Praises Apostolic Constitution
Jan 26th
The Archbishop of Westminster spoke about Anglicanorum Coetibus during an interview with Vatican Radio.
Rome, Italy, Jan 26, 2010 / 02:02 pm (CNA).- The president of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, Archbishop Vincent Nichols said this week that the publication of the apostolic constitution allowing Anglicans the option of entering into full communion with the Catholic Church “will have important consequences” in England.
The apostolic constitution, “Anglicanorum coetibus,” was issued by Pope Benedict last November.
In an interview with Vatican Radio in Rome, where the archbishop is with other English prelates for their ad limina visit, Archbishop Nichols said, “The reaction to this document is, in a certain sense, measured. There was a strong reaction at first, which was inflated by the media. Now we are in a phase of evaluation, reflection and prayer.”
In order for there to be a “complete assessment of the Pope’s initiative,” the archbishop said, “one must consider the important announcement of the start of the third phase of ARCIC talks, the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission. In my opinion, the two are related.”
“The response of the Holy Father has given a positive stimulus to ARCIC’s debates,” he continued adding that the coinciding of the launch of ARCIC III and the apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum coetibus” is not a coincidence.”
“In our joint declaration,” Archbishop Nichols stated, “the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury and I have said that this move by the Holy See will end a period of uncertainty, and consider this to be a positive contribution to a wider dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole, which will have important consequences for the country.”
ARCIC III and the Apostolic Constitution are related only insofar as the latter makes evident the futility of the former. Yes, the period of uncertainty is finally over. The future of the Established Church was never in doubt; it is Rome’s response to the Anglican Communion’s apostasy that is now certain.
“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.
Ecclesiastical Sundries
Jan 6th
- The Tablet reports that the Holy Father will visit the UK in September. The Pope will arrive in England on 16 September and travel to Scotland on 19 September (spending only nine hours there and likely meeting the Queen) before returning to Rome. The Beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman will take place at Coventry Airport.
- The bishops of England and Wales make their ad limina visits to Rome later this month. There have already been several attempts (subtle and otherwise) on the part of persons connected with the Bishops’ Conference to undermine Anglicanorum Coetibus to which the CDF has swiftly responded. The English bishops should expect that the intent of the Holy Father in the recent Apostolic Constitution will be reiterated in no uncertain terms.
- Bishop Christian Nourrichard, the Bishop of Evreux in Normandy, France, was admitted as a Sarum Canon at Salisbury Cathedral. This happened back in October, but as Fr. Chadwick has been following the lamentable story of this arrogant bishop’s attempt to remove a faithful parish priest in Thiberville, I thought I’d share the tidbit. The Bishop of Salisbury said after the installment service, “I am keen that we learn from Evreux’s imaginative solutions to the problem of having only a quarter as many clergy as we do to minister to an area the same size. In particular, their use of lay people in positions of responsibility and leadership is a pattern I would like us to explore.” I wonder how many other faithful priests have been forced out so that Bishop Nourrichard’s “pattern” could emerge?
- The Shroud of Turin will be on exhibition from 10 April to 23 May 2010. The Archdiocese of Turin has an online reservation system here. Admission to the Cathedral is open without a reservation but the Holy Shroud may only be viewed from a distance without a (free) reservation.
Summorum Pontificum Reloaded
Dec 11th
In the wake of the Holy Father’s promulgation of the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (liberalizing the celebration of Holy Mass and the other Sacraments according to the liturgical books in force in 1962), liberal prelates rushed to issue “clarifying statements” and “local norms” designed to impede its implementation in their dioceses. The motu proprio represented a dramatic departure from past policy, guaranteeing to every priest in the Latin Rite the permission to celebrate the older rites without having to seek the consent of the local ordinary. Having resisted earlier papal initiatives to provide for traditionalists (in the circular letter Quattuor abhinc annos and the motu proprio Ecclesia Dei adflicta), modernist bishops believed (and many still do!) that they could continue to defy the will of the Holy Father. Summorum Pontificum was a dead letter in many dioceses, as bishops deliberately misconstrued the provisions of the motu proprio to maintain their power to frustrate the efforts of priests inclined to offer the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite.
Anglicanorum Coetibus is not the first attempt by the Holy See to accommodate those married Anglican clergy and congregations interested in entering the Catholic Church in a corporate fashion. In 1980, Pope John Paul II established the so-called Pastoral Provision in the United States to do just that, but the American bishops responded to requests from Catholic-minded Episcopalians with indifference and occasionally with hostility. Inquiring Episcopal clergy were often rebuffed or held in limbo for years on end awaiting ordination, and ultimately, only a handful of Anglican Use congregations were successfully established.
Now that Anglicanorum Coetibus has been released, addressing as it does all of the shortcomings of the Pastoral Provision and extending its reach worldwide, it is disconcerting to see many in the Catholic establishment seeking again to maintain the status quo.
The BBC News web site is carrying an interview with Monsignor Andrew Faley, Assistant General Secretary of the English and Welsh Catholic bishops’ conference, and a member of the new commission established to coordinate the implementation of Anglicanorum Coetibus in England and Wales. The interview is filled with obstructionist “spin” and glaring misrepresentations of the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution. In fairness to Msgr. Faley, it is occasionally unclear whether the distortions are his or that of the reporter; nonetheless it is important that the inaccuracies be addressed. The entire article is reproduced below with my comments in red.
Anglicans thinking of Rome ‘must not become a sect’
By Trevor Timpson
BBC News
Discontented Anglicans who convert must not become a “sect” within the Roman Catholic Church, a senior Catholic clergyman dealing with church unity has warned.
This is the same sort of dismissive language liberals use to refer to traditionalists already in the Catholic Church. Being differentiated in any way from the modernist, “spirit of Vatican II” nonsense so prevalent in the mainstream Church makes one a ’sectarian’. This little backwards cult with their traditional liturgy and devotions must be made to conform.
Anglicans who object to plans for women bishops are considering the Vatican’s invitation to become part of a special section – an “ordinariate” – within the church in England and Wales.
Catholic Anglicans are not simply running away from women bishops.
Monsignor Andrew Faley, Assistant General Secretary of the English and Welsh Catholic bishops’ conference, told the BBC News website that ordinariate members would be expected to co-operate with their local bishop and the life of their local Catholic parish.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with cooperation with the local bishops and their dioceses. After all, this is what true communion is all about. But Msgr. Faley’s ‘cooperation’ is really ’subordination’.
“They can’t live separate from it… that would be a “sect” approach and that would not be tolerated within the Catholic understanding of the church,” he said.
As well as dealing with inter-church relations for the bishops’ conference, Mgr Faley is a member of the commission it has set up to “consider the next steps” following the Vatican’s publication of an Apostolic Constitution on receiving Anglican converts.
“What it means to be a Catholic is a very important question and a question that anyone considering the ordinariate needs to be seeking answers to,” he insists.
Absolutely, and that’s why characterizing Anglo-Catholics as “disgruntled” or simply fleeing women bishops is demeaning.
Anglican patrimony
“They become members of a Church which has the ministry of the successor of St Peter as its source of unity… unity for Catholics is central to their understanding of the Church.”
Meanwhile, much still needs to be clarified about the application of the Apostolic Constitution, says Mgr Faley.
It is a pity that Msgr. Faley goes on to speculate on those very matters that require clarification.
The Vatican document provides that the ordinariate, headed by an “ordinary” with similar status to a bishop, and its parishes would be separate from the ordinary Catholic dioceses and parishes – but with many links to them at national and local level.
Members of the ordinariate would retain “those aspects of the Anglican patrimony that are of particular value”. Some media reports have claimed this refers to the practice of allowing priests to marry.
A substantial number of married ex-Anglican priests are already Catholic priests, having crossed to Rome in the years following the ordination of women priests by the Church of England in the 1990s.
But the overwhelming majority of Catholic priests in Britain are required to remain unmarried and celibate.
The Apostolic Constitution, by setting out the procedure for admitting married men to the priesthood within the ordinariate, has revived interest among some Catholics in the question of priestly celibacy within their church.
But Mgr Faley says there is no great change in the offing.
This is correct. The universal norm of clerical celibacy remains in effect. What will occur in the new Anglican personal ordinariates will not affect the discipline in the rest of the Western Church.
The mechanism for giving a dispensation to married ex-Anglican clergy to become Catholic priests will continue in the ordinariate, he says.
But a man in the ordinariate who wishes to be considered as a priest “would be ordained as a celibate priest; he wouldn’t be allowed to marry.”
Provided the man is unmarried at the time he is ordained a Catholic priest, this is correct. Clerics will not be allowed to marry once in orders. If this is meant to suggest that only unmarried men will be admitted to the presbyterate in the future, this is not true. See here.
And a married man who has not been an Anglican priest, could he apply? “No,” says Mgr Faley, “A married man within the Catholic tradition cannot be ordained; the norm is celibacy.”
Msgr. Faley appears to be speaking of ordinary Roman Catholic laity (“a married man within the Catholic tradition”). If this is the case, he is correct. Future clergy must come from within the personal parishes, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life of the ordinariates.
The Apostolic Constitution allows for a former Anglican bishop to head the ordinariate. If he were married – as are most of the bishops on the Catholic wing of the Church of England – he could not be a Roman Catholic bishop, but could be the ordinary, and a member of the bishops’ conference.
Book of Common Prayer
However, Mgr Faley feels: “Within the nature of the bishops’ conference as it currently stands it’s almost certain that the ordinary of the ordinariate would be a celibate Catholic bishop.”
The nature of the bishops’ conference is immaterial. The Holy See erects the personal ordinariate and appoints the ordinary — not the local episcopal conferences.
Some commentators might be surprised by the idea that the head of the ordinariate would not be a leader from the present Anglo-Catholic tradition.
As much as the English Roman Catholic bishops may wish to advance one of their own, it seems inconceivable that an ordinary would not be, at least, a former Anglican (though perhaps received into the church a while ago). The TAC bishops certainly have been assured that ordinaries would come from their ranks.
“I really don’t know,” says Mgr Faley. “There is the possibility that he would be – but within the culture of the bishops’ conference I think that’s highly unlikely.”
Msgr. Faley should have stuck with “I really don’t know.”
Another Anglican tradition many commentators have mentioned is the use of the Book of Common Prayer as the framework of church ceremonies.
But many Anglo-Catholic parishes in the Church of England do not use the Book of Common Prayer; they use the Roman Rite, as the Roman Catholics do.
Such congregations might be happier as mainstream Roman Catholics – or staying in the C of E, says Mgr Faley.
While the Book of Common Prayer looms large in our tradition, its exclusive use is not the sine qua non of Anglicanism. Obviously, Rome is well aware of the fact the the vast majority of English ACs worship according to the modern Roman Rite.
The ordinariate will not follow the Roman rite; it will follow “Anglican worship patterns” as approved by Rome following a revision to bring them in line with Catholic teaching, he anticipates.
There is absolutely nothing in the Apostolic Constitution that prescribes a particular Anglican liturgy, but it does say that the Roman Rite can not be excluded. English Anglo-Catholics largely decided to follow the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council and who is to say that this is not a perfectly acceptable “Anglican worship pattern?”
In fact, says Mgr Faley, “What is meant by ‘Anglican patrimony’ will have to be explored thoroughly… will need to be very clearly stated and very clearly described.”
He does not foresee legal battles over church buildings if groups of Anglicans do decide to convert to Rome in large numbers. Unlike North America, Anglican congregations do not own their own buildings, he says; the Anglican Church’s relationship to its property is enshrined in law:
“There’s no way in which a parish moving from the Church of England to the ordinariate would be allowed to take its parish property with it. That’s just not possible at all.”
This, of course, remains to be seen. But thanks for being so optimistic! The possibility certainly exists that AC parishes will secure long term leases of their buildings from the Church of England.
Sharing an Anglican church building might work in some “very particular” situations, he says, but “broadly speaking I think it’s more likely that a parish in the ordinariate for worship purposes would share the local Catholic church or churches.”
And another task for the commission, he stresses, is to “maintain a good working relationship which we already have with the Church of England”.
The joint search for “the full unity of the Church” carries on, he says: “I think it’s quite an important point, really.”
Quite. As Cardinal Kasper has reminded us, there is still hope in ecumenism with the Church of England. Whatever.
Anglicanorum Coetibus Commission
Nov 23rd
From the the press release of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales on their Leeds meeting (November 2009):
Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus
The bishops warmly received the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, and its generosity towards those seeking full visible communion with the Holy See. They established a Commission to consider in detail the next steps in this process in England and Wales. They strongly reaffirmed their continuing commitment to ecumenical relations, working for the unity of his disciples for which Christ prayed (John 17:20-21). In particular, they looked forward to the next regular meeting with the Bishops of the Church of England ever seeking to deepen the shared mission to proclaim the Good News to the society in which we live.
Anglicanorum Coetibus Commission
Responding readily to the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, the Bishops’ Conference establishes a commission of Bishops and advisers to consider the next steps which may arise in this process.
‘The Commission is therefore available for consultation with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (cf. Anglicanorum coetibus 1§1) and to offer advice and guidance to Diocesan Bishops. Given the faculty for members of an Ordinariate “to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared”(Anglicanorum coetibus III), the Commission is to advise the Bishops’ Conference on transitional arrangements for the reception of groups of Anglicans, should such requests arise. The Commission is also to consider those articles of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus and the Complementary Norms that refer to the responsibilities of the Bishops’ Conference and to present suggestions for their fulfilment. The Episcopal members of the Commission are to be Archbishop-Elect Bernard Longley, Bishop Malcolm McMahon and Bishop Alan Hopes.’
