The Anglicans are Coming

Fr Dwight Longenecker:

The news is out. The Anglican Ordinariate will be established in the USA on January 1. Read more about it here and from Rocco Palmo here. As I predicted, there are more priests coming over than congregations for them to serve. They will, no doubt, serve in local Latin Rite parishes while they build up an ordinariate congregation. Goody Goody! I’m pretty excited by this. I know I’m biased, but they’re going to bring in some good stuff to the Catholic Church. It’s called “the Anglican Patrimony.”

Here are a few of the good things: 1. Good hymns 2. Good education 3. Good sense of self deprecating humor 4. Good taste in dry sherry 5. Good understanding of the importance of lace and incense 6. Good literary sense 7. Good boost to the Western tradition 8. words like “vouchsafe” 9. good Choral evensong 10. good knowledge of architecture 11. good Englishness 12. good sense of the need for Evangelization. 13. Good missionary spirit. 14. Good hats 15. Good down to earth spirituality.

Jail Inmate Stabbed During Bible study

An inmate at the Cascade County jail is charged with felony assault with a weapon after another inmate was stabbed during a Bible study session.

The Great Falls Tribune reports 21-year-old Jory Russell Strizich was charged with using a homemade weapon to stab Daniel Dahlin on Sunday night.

Prosecutors allege five men were holding a Bible study session in one of the cells when Strizich walked in and attacked Dahlin, stabbing him several times in the face and neck.

Dahlin told investigators Strizich may have targeted him believing he had complained to jail staff about Strizich.

Strizich’s made an initial court appearance Monday and his bail on the assault charge was set at $50,000. He also is awaiting trial on charges of escape, theft and criminal endangerment.

Source

 

New Bible Museum to be Built in Jerusalem

‘It’s absurd that in the land of the Bible, there is no center dedicated to it,’ said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Absurd indeed:

A Bible museum that will include a sculpture garden featuring biblical characters and exhibits showing what daily life was like in biblical times will be built in the Jerusalem area, the cabinet decided in a unanimous vote on Sunday.

“It’s absurd that in the land of the Bible, there is no center dedicated to it,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The value of the project, Netanyahu added, lies “not just in the heritage of the Bible, but also in its accessibility to the greater public in Israel and around the world.”

The museum will be funded primarily by a nonprofit group called Emek Hatanakh  (Valley of the Bible ), which aims to make people around the world more familiar with the Bible. The government has yet to decide whether it will help support the museum, but Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the facility would receive the land for free…

Did Padre Pio Use Carbolic Acid to Fake his Stigmata?

Damian Thompson asks: Could the saint really have been a fraud?

Did Padre Pio fake his stigmata with carbolic acid? That’s the claim made by Italian historian Professor Sergio Luzzatto, who says he has discovered documents including a letter from a pharmacist who supplied carbolic acid for Pio, canonised by Pope John Paul in 2002. The professor has made this claim before, drawing the following reply from the Catholic Anti-Defamation League: “We would like to remind Mr Luzzatto that according to Catholic doctrine, canonisation carries with it papal infallibility. We would like to suggest to Mr Luzzatto that he dedicates his energies to studying religion properly.”

But that response raises more questions than it answers. Is the Church therefore saying that, since canonisation is infallible, it is impossible that any evidence can emerge undermining the grounds for the canonisation? Interestingly, in my experience, controversial saint-making troubles many ordinary Catholics more than doctrines such as transubstantiation. A case in point is St Josemaria Escriva, founder of Opus Dei, some of whose critics (including a highly respected priest who knew Escriva) were not given the opportunity by the Vatican to submit testimony that cast doubt on his holiness.

Pio sceptics insist that Pope John Paul was yielding to pressure from devotees when he declared him a saint – St Pio of Pietrelcina. But that’s not necessarily a good argument: the acclamation and petitions of the faithful have been a factor in saint-making since the earliest days of Christianity. There’s a fine line, however, between natural and manipulated petitions, and I’m sure it’s been crossed many times, not least by Opus Dei.

What bothers me about the claims about Pio – which I haven’t studied closely enough to evaluate – is that they will be used by the secular world and its Catholic allies to pour scorn on the peasant and working-class devotions that Vatican II ideologues tried to eradicate. It feels a bit like an assault on the spirituality that sustained my grandparents, for whom Padre Pio was a source of inspiration…

Catholic Church Prepares to Accept Episcopalians

Reuters:

The U.S. Roman Catholic Church will establish a body in January to house disaffected members of the Episcopal Church, beginning with a few dozen ministers and at least two congregations seeking communion, U.S. bishops were told on Tuesday.

Some 35 of 67 Anglican ministers who have applied to join the Catholic Church have received the “nulla osta” from the Holy See, allowing them to move forward to become priests, said Cardinal Donald Wuerl, archbishop of Washington, D.C.

Wuerl, head of a committee to move the process forward, gave a progress report to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops who are meeting this week in Baltimore.

The other clergy seeking ordination have had their dossiers presented to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he said.

The Vatican will name an ordinary to lead the Church subdivision, called an ordinariate, beginning on January 1, to oversee the process and perform duties similar to a diocese, Wuerl told the bishops.

Permission to form the ordinariate in the United States was granted last month by Pope Benedict XVI, who in November 2009 issued a formal invitation to Anglicans to join the Catholic Church. Earlier, an ordinariate was formed in England and Wales, and others are under consideration in Canada and Australia.

“It was two years ago that I was invited to Rome for the conversations in response to the Holy Father’s expressed desire to move forward in a way that would adequately answer the requests for some form of corporate reunion. Those requests were made insistently over a number of years,” Wuerl told the bishops.

In 2003, the 2.3 million member Episcopal Church, the U.S. arm of global Anglicanism, triggered what many observers describe as an ongoing schism by consecrating its first openly gay bishop, the since-retired Gene Robinson. A few conservative dioceses have split from the U.S. church, and the 85-million member Anglican Communion continues to be roiled by the appointment of homosexuals and women to the hierarchy.

Virtually all of the Episcopal ministers who have asked to become Catholic priests in recent months are married and would be granted exceptions to Catholic celibacy rules in order to be ordained, church leaders said.

Wuerl said two congregations, one outside of Washington, D.C., in Bladensburg, Maryland, and another drawn from various Episcopal churches in the Fort Worth, Texas, diocese have already been accepted into the Catholic Church with the understanding they will fall under the ordinariate.

Wuerl’s assistant, Father Scott Heard, himself a former Episcopal priest, predicted the first ordinations from the new group would be in late May or June.

Candidates must undergo criminal background checks, psychological examinations, and undergo months of training through St. Mary’s seminary in Houston.

The congregations already worshiping in Catholic churches, including one in their rented former Episcopal church in Maryland, number some 130 people, Heard said. But there are other groups around the country in various stages of the process.

 

Ordinariate will be Implemented on 1 January 2012 in the USA

As was expected, an announcement was made on the establishment of Anglicanorum Coetibus in America today:

Report on the Implementation of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, November 15, 2011

by His Eminence Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington

 

Thank you Archbishop Dolan.  With me for this presentation are Bishop Robert McManus and Bishop Kevin Vann, the other members of the Conference’s ad hoc Committee on the Implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus.

With us, as well, are Father Jeffrey Steenson and Father Scott Hurd, who have worked with the committee.

At our June General Assembly meeting in Seattle, I provided a brief report and update on the progress being made in the implementation of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus.  At that time, I asked for and received a show of support for the material I presented by way of a consultation with the bishops.

At the September Administrative Committee meeting, I was asked to prepare an update for this General Assembly meeting which I am pleased now to present.

Between the time of my last report and today, a total of 67 dossiers of Anglican clergy seeking ordination as a Catholic priest have been prepared and sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  To date, 35 have received the nulla osta from the Congregation, which means that the individuals are free to move to the second stage, which includes a criminal background check, psychological evaluation and obtaining a votum from the Catholic bishop where the individual resides and from his Anglican ecclesiastical authority, if possible.

You may recall that earlier I wrote to each member of our Conference to ask for your observations on any Anglican community in your diocese that had indicated an interest in becoming a part of a future Ordinariate.

More recently I have been writing to you for those men who received a nulla osta asking if you would collaborate in helping them receive the necessary criminal background check and psychological evaluation.  I am grateful for the collaboration of so many of you in not only facilitating these two procedures but for underwriting the cost.  I have also written to those bishops in whose jurisdiction lives an Anglican cleric who has received the nulla osta, noting that Saint Luke Institute has generously offered to provide the psychological evaluation at a greatly reduced cost.  I want to thank all of you who have already responded in such a gracious manner.

In the meantime, two Anglican communities have come into full communion in the Catholic Church in anticipation of the formation of an Ordinariate.  One community was received in the Diocese of Fort Worth, another in the Archdiocese of Washington.

On October 29, 2011, I received a letter from His Eminence Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, indicating that “in an audience granted to me on October 28, 2011, Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has approved the erection of an Ordinariate in the United States.  I therefore write to authorize you as this Congregation’s Delegate for the implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus to address the plenary session of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, due to meet in Baltimore…in order to advise the Bishops of these developments.”

The Congregation has communicated that the canonical erection of the Ordinariate will take place on January 1, 2012, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.  At that time, I assume that an Ordinary will be named and the Ordinariate will begin its work.

What lies ahead of both the Ordinariate and all of us who will be working with the new Ordinary includes a number of steps.

For those Anglican congregations who wish to become a part of the Ordinariate, there is a program of catechesis prepared by your ad hoc Committee for the Implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus and approved by the Holy See.  This program will be made available through the Ordinariate once it is functioning.  Our Conference’s United States Catholic Catechism for Adults is designated as the catechetical tool for the review of the faith by those who wish to be received into full communion in the Catholic Church.  You may also recall that I asked during the presentation last June if, in an effort to assist this catechetical component, you might be willing to have diocesan or parish catechists be engaged with the Anglican congregation in its catechetical formation during this transition.

As for those seeking ordination as a Catholic priest, the program of priestly formation for them, approved by the Congregation, is based at Saint Mary’s Seminary in Houston and is available either on campus or through the University’s distance learning program.

Again, I want to thank His Eminence Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, for his generosity, wise counsel and support in helping to move forward this formation program.  Your Eminence, I am also grateful to the Rector of your seminary and its staff for their collaboration.

In a particular way, I want to thank Father Jeffrey Steenson, a Pastoral Provision priest who was formerly the Episcopal Bishop of Rio Grande, for his assistance in the preparation of the program of priestly formation for those Anglican clerics seeking ordination as a Catholic priest.  I also want to recognize Father Scott Hurd, a Pastoral Provision priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, who functions as staff to our Committee.  The Committee is deeply grateful to both priests.

At this point in the process, between now and the erection of the Ordinariate, your ad hoc Committee and Father Hurd will continue to work with all of those Anglican clergy who have received the nulla osta to move on to the second stage and to write to each of you involved, asking for your support in obtaining for the candidate the criminal background check, the psychological evaluation, and your votum.  I will also ask for your kind assistance in the oversight of catechetical preparation of the communities seeking to join the Ordinariate.

Personally, and on behalf of the committee and all of those involved in the implementation of the Apostolic Constitution, I want to thank you for your keen collaboration and your gracious support of this effort.

I remain convinced that this Ordinariate will be a true expression of the Catholic Church because of your engagement in the steps leading up to the acceptance of the candidates for ordination and for your involvement in the catechetical formation of the members of the congregations seeking membership in the Ordinariate.  Your involvement is one of the guarantees of the well being of the Ordinariate as it is established and begins to receive both clergy and congregations.

A number of questions have arisen, and I would like to touch briefly on them.  If the Ordinary of the new Ordinariate is married, then he can be ordained a priest, but not a bishop.  Thus the ordination of priests for the Ordinariate will need to be carried out by one of us.  My hope and recommendation is that since the former Anglican who will now become a Catholic priest will live and serve in the diocese of one of us, even though belonging to the Ordinariate, each of us would offer respectively to ordain the new priest.  There is no adaptation or change in the Ordination Rite for someone being ordained to the Anglicanorum coetibus Ordinariate.

Discussions are underway with the Military Archdiocese to ensure that those Anglican clergy who serve as chaplains to the military and who come into full communion as a part of the Ordinariate will be available for service in the Military Archdiocese.

Regarding the liturgical provision for Personal Ordinariates, it is important to note that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Divine Worship have established an interdicasterial body which will be responsible for provisions for the liturgical celebrations of the Personal Ordinariates.  However, from its erection, an Ordinariate will have the option of using the Roman Missal or the Book of Divine Worship already used by the Pastoral Provision or Anglican Use parishes.

Speaking of the Pastoral Provision, Bishop Kevin Vann has been nominated the Pastoral Provision Delegate for the United States and at the conclusion of my remarks I would ask him to share his observations with us.

Finally in concluding these remarks, I want again to thank all of your for your enormous support.  It was two years ago that I was invited to Rome for the initial conversations in response to the Holy Father’s expressed desire to move forward in a way that would adequately answer the requests for some form of corporate reunion with the Catholic Church.  The response of our Conference in immediately establishing an ad hoc Committee for the Implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus and your support, encouragement and practical advice have brought us to the point where in some six weeks time the Ordinariate will come into existence.

I hope you know how truly grateful I and your ad hoc Committee are to you.  Thank you!

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The Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision appointed by the CDF is Bishop Kevin W Vann, Bishop of Fort Worth Texas. He writes on his blog: At Long Last:

For the Catholic Church in the United States, today marks an important movement towards greater diversity and at the same time a reaffirmation of the universality of what Jesus Christ established. On the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, which falls on Sunday January 1, 2012, a Personal Ordinariate for former Anglicans (Episcopalians) who wish to be fully initiated into the Catholic Church will be erected. This follows the January 15, 2011 establishment of a Personal Ordinariate in England and comes just before an official announcement about progress towards the erection of a Personal Ordinariate in Australia.

Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Ecclesiastical Delegate for the establishment of a Personal Ordinariate in the United States, prepared remarks for the full body of Bishops at the USCCB meeting in Baltimore. Many questions remain to be answered and there is no rush to frenetically and prematurely answer questions to hypothetical situations which may or may not bear out. For the moment, what we know is that the Holy Father, in an audience granted to His Eminence William Cardinal Levada, approved the erection of an Ordinariate in the United States. As things fall into place the Catholic Church in the United States will figure out what needs to be done. Under Cardinal Wuerl’s able leadership and with the collaboration of Fr. Steenson and Fr. Hurd, the first steps towards making this a practical reality are being put into place. FAQs can be seen here.

Along with the announcement of an Ordinariate, Cardinal Wuerl also announced that I have been appointed the new Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision by the CDF. I succeed Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark and am grateful for the trust placed in me to participate in this historic fraternal embrace of those Anglicans who seek the same. Thank you to Cardinal Levada, Cardinal Wuerl and Archbishop Myers and so many others for their support and friendship as I move forward on this journey.

Here are the remarks that I shared with the Conference today…

Do read these his remarks here.

The USCCB has published a Q&A on the Ordinariate. It can be read here.