Tag Archives: Scotland

A Poll of Our British Audience

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It has been suggested that since the majority of Anglo-Catholics in Britain, having used the English Missal while the Tridentine Rite prevailed, and having followed Rome's lead in adopting the Missal of Pope Paul VI in its rather banal and unfaithful English translation, Anglo-Catholics in England, Scotland, and Wales have become accustomed to modern liturgical language and quite a bit detached from the Prayer-Book tradition (insofar as the Eucharistic rite is concerned, at least).  So this poll is for inhabitants of Great Britain only.

If you are a resident of England, Scotland, or Wales, which style of liturgical language would you prefer to prevail in the Ordinariates?

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English Wisdom: Triumvirate

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Here's another contribution from former Our Lady of Walsingham parishioner, Vincent Uher.  This piece, for me at least, begs the question of when and how are we to see Governing Councils in the Ordinariates come to be.  Under Anglicanorum cœtibus, the Governing Council of a Personal Ordinariate has considerable sway, its approval necessary for a number of key pastoral decisions, such as erecting a new parish or advancing postulants to Orders.  These are unusual limits placed on the power of a Catholic Ordinary (and my only guess is that this was intended to be a nod to Anglican synodal government), but they are clearly mandated in the primary legislation and norms.  Presently, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is "governed" by the Ordinary, his assistant, Fr. Scott Hurd, and (truth be told) several "interested" Catholic bishops.

In England, at least, there has already been established some form of collegiality and aid to the Ordinary, Msgr. Newton.  It is this temporary arrangement which Mr. Uher addresses his latest piece and which we propose for our reflection.

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English Wisdom: Triumvirate

I think my family and friends in Britain have been blest greatly with a triumvirate at the head of your Ordinariate in Britain. While one must necessarily be appointed to make the final decisions, having a council of three at the top is a far better situation than having one leader in isolation. Even if in Britain this is more ad hoc than a canonical structure, I would hope this sort of triumvirate model would become the norm for the Ordinariates. Msgr. Newton has shown great, great wisdom through it.

Of course, it would be different in North America and in Australia. My family and friends in Australia might imagine the Ordinary being named and then two others raised up (as Monsignors of the Protonotary Apostolic or something like it) who would perhaps be former bishops in TAC, the Australian Anglican Church or former priests of the same. It would be incredibly wise to create from the marvellous incoming Church in Torres Strait such a Monsignor to serve in this triumvirate.

In North America it would make sense to create such a triumvirate under Msgr. Steenson as well. The territory is vast, and the Ordinariate is not the only expression of the Anglican Patrimony in the Catholic Church in North America. By way of example, a former Anglican Catholic bishop in Canada would make an excellent choice as another Monsignor with oversight for the Canadian deanery. And it would be prudent and very wise to make the senior pastor of the Pastoral Provision parishes also a Monsignor with similar oversight responsibilities among those in the Pastoral Provision but serving in concert with his brother in Canada and together with Msgr Steenson's leadership of the Ordinariate.

I offer these thoughts to my family and friends who are far more influential than I. No one seems much interested in what a lay hermit in Texas thinks of these things. So I entrust the ideas to you if they are worthy. The one thing that has become clear to me is that a single Ordinary with a Vicar General and an office assitant is an irreduceable minimum that should have been given more provisions for the journey by Rome. It is too small an organisational model to be effective with so great a missionary task.

I know some will say, But look here! In North America, the Ordinary has got health insurance for us this May. And look at all of the men being ordained through the training programme he developed. I am in no way trying to take away from these stellar achievements. One should applaud the Ordinary right heartily for being willing to take up a task where Rome provided no money and the USCCB offered no immediate help with Insurance from the get go. We see that as an historian and a scholar he is absolutely the right person for all of these tasks at the onset. There are other considerations though where he would be well served to have brothers — a Msgr. 'Canada' and a Msgr. 'Pastoral Provision' with which to work in this common mission.

What has developed in England from Msgr. Newton's excellent leadership and vision is clearly a model worth repeating. And it really is worth reapting everywhere an Ordinariate is established or where they might be a mixed situation like that in North America … say in India for example. My family in India have some very clear thoughts about these things, but sadly… and it is sad that this is the case across the board, there is only the most limited collaboration with the Laity in Christ of the Anglican Patrimony, a matter that should be corrected post haste. Bishops and priests don't make the Church. Jesus Christ and all of His Faithful make the Church.

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The Barbarous Heathens Magnified the God of the Christians

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Book II, Chapter XXVII of the Vita Columbae of St. Adomnán (627/8–704), abbot of Iona (679–704), contains an account which has been interpreted by many to be the first historic reference to the Loch Ness Monster.

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PanoramaChateauLochNess 2 1024x298 The Barbarous Heathens Magnified the God of the Christians

At another time again, when the blessed man was staying for some days in the province of the Picts, he found it necessary to cross the river Ness; and, when he came to the bank thereof, he sees some of the inhabitants burying a poor unfortunate little fellow, whom, as those who were burying him themselves reported, some water monster had a little before snatched at as he was swimming, and bitten with a most savage bite, and whose hapless corpse some men who came in a boat to give assistance, though too late, caught hold of by putting out hooks. The blessed man however, on hearing this, directs that some one of his companions shall swim out and bring to him the cable that is on the other bank, sailing it across. On hearing this direction of the holy and famous man, Lugne Mocumin, obeying without delay, throws off all his clothes except his under-garment, and casts himself into the water. Now the monster, which before was not so much satiated as made eager for prey, was lying hid in the bottom of the river; but perceiving that the water above was disturbed by him who was crossing, suddenly emerged, and, swimming to the man as he was crossing in the middle of the stream, rushed up with a great roar and open mouth. Then the blessed man looked on, while all who were there, as well the heathen as even the brethren, were stricken with very great terror; and, with his holy hand raised on high, he formed the saving sign of the cross in the empty air, invoked the Name of God, and commanded the fierce monster, saying, 'Think not to go further, nor touch thou the man. Quick! go back!' Then the beast, on hearing this voice of the Saint, was terrified and 'fled backward more rapidly than he came, as if dragged by cords, although before it had come so near to Lugne as he swam, that there was not more than the length of one punt-pole between the man and the beast. Then the brethren, seeing that the beast had gone away, and that their comrade Lugne was returned to them safe and sound in the boat, glorified God in the blessed man, greatly marvelling. Moreover also the barbarous heathens who were there present, constrained by the greatness of that miracle, which they themselves had seen, magnified the God of the Christians.

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Tomorrow's Feast

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Iona Cathedral Arch Scot vol 1 1024x765 Tomorrows Feast

Tomorrow is my name-day, or onomastico as the Italians would call it — the Feast of St. Columba or Colum Cille, who with St. Patrick and St. Brigid is patron of Ireland and who, having established an outpost on the holy isle of Hy, brought Christianity to the Picts in that wild land known to the Romans as Caledonia.

St. Columba fell asleep in the Lord on the ninth day of June in the year 597.

Sancte Columba, spes Scotorum, ora pro nobis.

img front Tomorrows Feast

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A Stinging Rebuke

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P1010660 A Stinging Rebuke

Urquhart Castle on the Shore of Loch Ness

The first recorded words spoken to the Loch Ness Monster, by St. Columba in the VI century:

…"Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed." Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes…

Now there's some Dark Age Patrimony for you…

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Ordination in Scotland

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This news story is from the Scottish Catholic Observer. It's newsworthy because it reports the first priestly ordination for the Ordinariate in Scotland — which is even more remarkable because of the fact that Scotland does not yet have its own Ordinariate. It shows the seriousness of the Holy Father when he said that Anglicanorum coetibus should be applied as generously as possible. Fr. Black's ordination is a prime example of this generosity, showing that even in those places where there are not sufficient numbers to warrant a separate Ordinariate, it's perfectly possible for another Ordinariate to provide jurisdiction until sufficient growth allows for a separate Ordinariate.

1 Lenblack09 Ordination in Scotland

Picture by Mark Campbell, from Scottish Catholic Observer

Ordination is an historic first
Scottish Episcopal minister becomes Catholic priest under Anglican ordinariate

In an historic first for Scotland, an Episcopal minister has been ordained to the Catholic priesthood under the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham at a Mass in Greenock.

Bishop Philip Tartaglia of Paisley, the bishop-delegate in Scotland for the ordinariate, presided at Sunday’s ordination of Fr Len Black, former minister of St Michael of All Angels Episcopal Church in Inverness.

“I am delighted to be ordaining Rev Len Black to the priesthood,” Bishop Tartaglia said before telling Scotland’s newest priest: “While you are being ordained under the ordinariate your priesthood is for the whole of the Catholic Church… and we celebrate that with you.”

The ordinariate—an initiative of Pope Benedict XVI—was set up in January by the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith for groups of Anglican faithful and their clergy who wish to enter into full Communion with the Catholic Church.

Ordination

Fr Black’s ordination took place at St Mary’s Church in Greenock. He was presented for ordination by Ordinary Mgr Keith Newton, the former Anglican bishop who converted to Catholicism and now leads the ordinariate, in the presence of Bishop Tartaglia and Bishop Peter Moran of Aberdeen, the diocese in which Fr Black lives. Bishop Moran ordained Fr Black as a Catholic deacon on June 23 at Pluscarden Abbey prior to him entering the priesthood.

Fr Black’s wife Ruth was also present for the Sacrament on Sunday along with Mgr Denis Carlin, St Mary’s parish priest and director of Liturgical music for Paisley Diocese, and many priests from Paisley and beyond.

Ordinariate

In his homily at the ordination Bishop Tartaglia explained the significance of the occasion, and of the ordinariate itself, which extends to Scotland.

“In my personal opinion, the ordinariate has all the hallmarks of a Pope Benedict initiative: generous, creative, imaginative and, above all, deeply Catholic,” Bishop Tartaglia said.

He added that the Holy Father had taken the lead in building bridges with Traditional Anglicans ‘making us all run to catch up.’

Prior to Fr Black’s ordination Bishop Tartaglia sent an ad clerum message to all Paisley priests providing an informative guide to the ordinariate and the way in which it extends at present to the one small Inverness-based group within the Scottish Episcopal Church.

“Although the group in Scotland is very small, when taken along with considerably more groups and clergy in England and Wales and with ordinariate arrangements coming into place soon in the US and possibly in Australia later, this begins to look like a new and visionary way of re-creating Christian unity after years of ecumenical stalemate, and it is marked by the striking originality, simplicity, and generosity of a Pope Benedict XVI initiative,” the bishop added.

Since January the ordinariate has welcomed more than 50 members of the Anglican clergy, and more than 900 lay Anglicans, in to the Catholic Church.

Married priests

At Sunday’s Mass, before the traditional homily for the ordination rite, the Paisley bishop took the opportunity to further explain the ordinariate to the congregation and the ‘novelty’ that has arisen from Fr Black’s ordination. Bishop Tartaglia said that the ordinariate was ‘extending the existing precedent’ in Scotland of welcoming suitable candidates from the Anglican clergy, married or single, to the Catholic priesthood.

Unlike unmarried men entering the priesthood, however, Bishop Tartaglia said Fr Black would not ‘be expected to accept the vow of celibacy.’

However, the bishop reassured parishioners that the Catholic Church did not allow the ‘converse’ arrangement. By way of example, Bishop Tartaglia said, in good humour, that St Mary’s parish priest ‘Mgr Carlin will not anytime soon be running off to the ordinariate to get married.’

Fr Black

As an Episcopal minister, Fr Black was the regional dean of Forward in Faith, the leading group of traditionalist Anglicans.

“The gift of ordination is a great privilege and honour and for me it is also the culmination of a long journey into full communion with the Catholic Church made possible by the generosity of Pope Benedict,” he said.

When the first plans for the ordinariate were announced in March 2010, then Canon Black told the SCO he ‘warmly welcomed’ Pope Benedict’s efforts ‘to respond to groups of Anglicans, including members of Forward in Faith, seeking to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony.’

Vote of thanks

At the end of the Mass of Ordination, Mgr Keith Newton offered a vote of thanks to all those who had taken part in the celebration, and he also thanked the Holy Father for his vision.

Mgr Newton expressed his gratitude to all the Catholic priests who had joined Sunday’s celebrations, recalling the sense of brotherhood he himself had experienced through the kiss of peace at his own ordination to the Catholic priesthood earlier in the year.

“The priests in the ordinariate want to work hand in hand with the clergy in the dioceses where they live,” Mgr Newton went on to say.

Bishop Tartaglia echoed Mgr Newton’s thanks, further extending it to the two seminarians who attended the ordination. He said he looked forward to ordaining a priest for Paisley Diocese in the future.

Fr Black then gave his first blessing as a Catholic priest before the congregation joined him for a reception in the parish hall.

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I, Abiding with Him, Will Intercede for You.

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Collect from the 1929 Scottish Book of Common Prayer:

O GOD, who by the preaching of thy blessed servant Saint Columba didst cause the light of the Gospel to shine in these islands: Grant, we beseech thee that, having his life and labours in remembrance, we may shew forth our thankfulness unto thee for the same by following the example of his zeal and patience; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Iona Abbey 12 1024x697 I, Abiding with Him, Will Intercede for You.

Iona Abbey

Today, June 9, is the feast day of St. Columba of Iona. The following extract is taken from Book III, Chapter XXIII of Saint Adomnán's Vita Columbae.

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And going forth thence, he ascended the little hill that overlooks the monastery, and stood for a little while on the top of it, and, standing with both hands lifted up, he blessed the monastery, saying, 'To this place, small and mean though it be, not only the Scotic kings with their peoples, but also the rulers of strange and foreign nations, with the people subject to them, shall bring great and extraordinary honour; by the Saints also of other churches shall no common reverence be shown.'

After these words, descending from that little hill, and returning to the monastery, he sat in his cell transcribing the Psalter; and coming to that verse of the thirty-third Psalm where it is written, 'But they who seek the Lord shall want no manner of thing that is good,' 'Here,' he says, 'at the end of the page. I must cease. What follows let Baithene write.' The last verse which he had written was very suitable for the Saint at his departure, to whom eternal things that are good shall never be wanting; while the following verse was most suitable for his successor, as a father and teacher of spiritual sons: 'Come, ye children, and hearken unto me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.' And indeed he, as his predecessor enjoined, succeeded him not only in teaching, but also in transcribing.

After the transcription of the aforesaid verse, at the end of the page, the Saint enters the church for the evening mass of the Lord's day night, and as soon as this is over he returns to his cell, where he had bare rock for his bedding, and a stone for his pillow, which at this day is standing by his grave as a kind of sepulchral monument; and he sits on the bed through the night. And so, there sitting, he gives his last commands to the brethren, in the hearing of his attendant only; saying, 'These last words, O my children, I commend unto you; that ye have mutual and unfeigned charity among yourselves, with peace. And if, according to the example of the holy fathers, ye shall attend to this, God, the Comforter of good men, will help you; and I, abiding with Him, will intercede for you. And not only shall the necessaries of this present life be sufficiently supplied by Him, but He will also bestow those rewards of eternal riches, which are laid up for them that keep His Divine laws.' Thus far we have drawn up, recounted in a short paragraph, the last words of our venerable patron, spoken just as he was passing over from this weary pilgrimage unto the heavenly country.

After which, as his happy last hour gradually approached, the Saint was silent. Then, in the next place, in the middle of the night, at the sound of the ringing of the bell, he rises in haste and goes to the church; and, running more quickly than the rest, he enters alone, and on bended knees falls down in prayer beside the altar. Diormit his attendant, following more slowly, at the same moment sees from a distance that the whole church is filled within, in the direction of the Saint, with angelic light. But when he approaches the door, the same light that he had seen, which was also seen by a few other of the brethren, as they were standing at a distance, quickly disappeared. So Diormit, entering the church, keeps on asking, in a lamentable voice. 'Where art thou, Father?' And, feeling his way through the darkness, the lights of the brethren not yet being brought in, he finds the Saint prostrate before the altar; and, lifting him up a little and sitting beside him, he placed the holy head in his bosom. And meanwhile, the congregation of monks running up with the lights, and seeing their father dying, began to weep. And, as we have learnt from some who were there present, the Saint, his soul not yet departing, with his eyes opened upward, looked about on either hand with a wonderful cheerfulness and joy of countenance; doubtless seeing the holy angels coming to meet him. Then Diormit lifts up the holy right hand of the Saint that he may bless the choir of monks. But also the venerable man himself, so far as he could, at the same time moved his hand, so that, mark you, he might still be seen, while passing away, to bless the brethren by the motion of his hand, though he was not able to do so with his voice. And, after his holy benediction thus expressed, he immediately breathed out his spirit. Which having left the tabernacle of the body, his face remained ruddy, and wonderfully gladdened by an angelic vision; so that it appeared not to be that of one dead, but of one living and sleeping. Meanwhile the whole church resounded with mournful lamentations.

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The Barbarous Heathens Magnified the God of the Christians

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Book II, Chapter XXVII of the Vita Columbae of St. Adomnán (627/8–704), abbot of Iona (679–704), contains an account which has been interpreted by many to be the first historic reference to the Loch Ness Monster.

* * *

PanoramaChateauLochNess 2 1024x298 The Barbarous Heathens Magnified the God of the Christians

Urquhart Castle on Loch Ness

At another time again, when the blessed man was staying for some days in the province of the Picts, he found it necessary to cross the river Ness; and, when he came to the bank thereof, he sees some of the inhabitants burying a poor unfortunate little fellow, whom, as those who were burying him themselves reported, some water monster had a little before snatched at as he was swimming, and bitten with a most savage bite, and whose hapless corpse some men who came in a boat to give assistance, though too late, caught hold of by putting out hooks. The blessed man however, on hearing this, directs that some one of his companions shall swim out and bring to him the cable that is on the other bank, sailing it across. On hearing this direction of the holy and famous man, Lugne Moeumin, obeying without delay, throws off all his clothes except his under-garment, and casts himself into the water. Now the monster, which before was not so much satiated as made eager for prey, was lying hid in the bottom of the river; but perceiving that the water above was disturbed by him who was crossing, suddenly emerged, and, swimming to the man as he was crossing in the middle of the stream, rushed up with a great roar and open mouth. Then the blessed man looked on, while all who were there, as well the heathen as even the brethren, were stricken with very great terror; and, with his holy hand raised on high, he formed the saving sign of the cross in the empty air, invoked the Name of God, and commanded the fierce monster, saying, 'Think not to go further, nor touch thou the man. Quick! go back!' Then the beast, on hearing this voice of the Saint, was terrified and 'fled backward more rapidly than he came, as if dragged by cords, although before it had come so near to Lugne as he swam, that there was not more than the length of one punt-pole between the man and the beast. Then the brethren, seeing that the beast had gone away, and that their comrade Lugne was returned to them safe and sound in the boat, glorified God in the blessed man, greatly marvelling. Moreover also the barbarous heathens who were there present, constrained by the greatness of that miracle, which they themselves had seen, magnified the God of the Christians.

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Feast of St. Columba

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Tomorrow is both my name-day, or onomastico as the Italians would call it, and my wife's birthday — the Feast of St. Columba or Colum Cille, who with St. Patrick and St. Brigid is patron of Ireland and who, having established an outpost on the holy isle of Hy, brought Christianity to the Picts in that wild land known to the Romans as Caledonia.

St. Columba fell asleep in the Lord on the ninth day of June in the year 597.

Sancte Columba, ora pro nobis.

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Scottish Update

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bscov10 Scottish Update

I have heard from two of the priests in the group which met Bishop Philip Tartaglia to talk about a Scots Ordinariate.  Here is something of what they told me:

The group presented Bishop Tartaglia with a copy of the 1929 Scottish Prayer Book and other Scottish liturgical books. The historical, political and cultural differences between Anglicans in Scotland and England were discussed in relation to the formation of an Ordinariate. Bishop Tartaglia gave us wise and good guidance. No dates were mentioned but a positive view on the progress of the creation of an Ordinariate in 2011 was expressed. The priests present agreed to complete preparatory paperwork for the CDF. Bishop Philip made it clear that the matter was being handled in Rome. Bishop Philip has been appointed by the Scottish Conference of Catholic Bishops to assist those Anglicans in Scotland interested in pursuing the offer made by the Holy Father in Anglicanorum Coetibus.

I understand that this group which met Bishop Philip yesterday is the first such group in Scotland to be speaking with the Catholic authorities about the Ordinariate.

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