Whispers in the Loggia: Upon This “Rock,” An Ordinariate Is Born

Via Whispers in the Loggia:

Twenty-six months since Anglicanorum coetibus laid the groundwork for groups of Anglicans to cross the Tiber whilst maintaining elements of their liturgical, spiritual, theological and canonical patrimony, the top-shelf papal project has taken a sizable leap this New Year’s morning, with as the establishment of the venture’s Stateside jurisdiction by the Holy See.

In an unprecedented Sunday announcement — a significant sign of Rome’s degree of seriousness about the effort — the Vatican’s press bulletin gave official word of the erection of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter, encompassing the territory of the United States. The national quasi-diocese for the entering groups is the second of its kind, following England’s Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, which was launched a year ago this month. Fr Jeffrey Steenson, 59, the former Episcopal bishop of Rio Grande ordained a priest of the archdiocese of Santa Fe in 2009, has been named the founding Ordinary. A married father of three and Oxford-trained patristics scholar who’s been serving until now as a professor at Houston’s St Mary’s Seminary and University of St Thomas, Steenson’s appointment is effective immediately.

Last June, it emerged that Steenson had been tasked with preparing and overseeing the rapid formation program for American Anglican clergy entering the Ordinariate, to be based at St Mary’s. From 2005-07, the married father of three served as head of the Episcopal church’s most sprawling diocese, covering New Mexico and Southwest Texas.

Dated today, the CDF decree establishing the structure has already been released. A press conference to mark the launch will be held tomorrow (2 January) at Houston’s Our Lady of Walsingham church (top), which will be the “principal church” — essentially the cathedral — of the new entity.

The nation’s second-oldest Anglican Use community, the Norman-style church was dedicated in 2003, built by its members a decade after their reception into the Catholic fold. Begun with a dozen pilgrims, the parish now numbers more than 300 families.
The designation of a principal church for the US Anglicanorum branch already places the project ahead of its English counterpart. Despite having a year’s start, the UK Ordinariate is still awaiting the release of a church to serve as its hub.

Alongside its sacramental seat (interior, above), the Stateside Ordinariate’s offices are also to be in Houston, at least initially on the Walsingham parish campus.

According to the body’s official website, Fr Scott Hurd — another onetime Episcopal priest who has been assisting on the Anglicanorum launch for the US bishops — will serve the venture’s first three years as Steenson’s deputy or “Canon to the Ordinary,” employing the traditional Episcopal church term for what Catholics would know as a vicar-general. Hurd will reportedly remain based in Washington, for whose archdiocese he was ordained…

More here.

It’s Official and Historic – The Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter Erected in America

In response to numerous requests, Pope Benedict XVI has established an ordinariate for Anglican groups and clergy across the United States who wish to become Catholic. This is only the second structure like this in the world. The Pope also has named a Houston professor and former Episcopal bishop, Reverend Jeffrey N. Steenson, to lead the ordinariate. The Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter will be based in Houston, Texas. The only other ordinariate is Our Lady of Walsingham, established in January 2011 to serve England and Wales.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) – According to the Vatican Press Office (News.va) earlier today the first pontifical act of the New Year is the erection of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in the Episcopal Conference of the United States.

It is very rare for the Vatican to make such announcements on a Sunday. One person linked to the Ordinariate with whom I spoke on Thursday noted that, if such an announcement does come on January 1, it will be quite unusual and indicate the high level of importance they are placing on it.

A rough translation of the Act, which was written in Italian follows:

ERECTION OF THE PERSONAL ORDINARIATE OF THE CHAIR OF SAINT PETER AND THE NAMING OF THE FIRST ORDINARY

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the norms of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, has erected the Personal Ordinariate of The Chair of Saint Peter in the territory of the Episcopal Conference of the United States of America.

At the same time the Holy Father Benedict XVI has appointed the first Ordinary, the Reverend Jeffrey Neil Steenson.

There is much more at Catholic Online here.

Their website is here.

The document of erection of the Ordinariate is here (pdf.).

Thanks be to God!

 

The Actions of a Child Killer? Mitchells Plain

I was at the Police Station in Mitchells Plain (having taken someone to lay down an affidavit) on Thursday when a woman suddenly came rushing in, crying and screaming quite uncontrollably. Everyone automatically stopped what they were doing, turned and watched as she rushed up to the counter repeatedly saying: ‘My kind… My kind’ (my child, my child). The Police Officer behind the counter asked her what had happened. Through the sobs she managed to blurt out that she had just lost her child in the Town Centre (which was a stone’s throw away from the Police Station) and that she did not know where he was.

Now the ‘Town Centre’ of Mitchells Plain is not the nicest of places. It’s a crumbling maze of alleys, bustling with shops and informal trading of various kinds going on. Unsightly, noisy and smelly, it’s the kind of place you don’t want to go to unless you absolutely must - and certainly not a place where you would take your two-year old child.

Many years ago I was busy with mission work in the area when I was caught up in the midst a riot or protest of some kind (gone wrong) with hooligans running amok, bashing in shop windows and assaulting anyone crossing their path of destruction. With the Public Order Police on the outside, there was little that they could do to help those stuck in the completely pandemonious Town Centre. I swore that I would never set a foot there again…

The by now hysterical woman was being consoled by police officers and strangers alike. One police woman mercifully had the presence of mind to take her to the back of the police station, perhaps to a trauma room or something. The whole scene was quite upsetting to some. All felt much sympathy for her. And a quick prayer for the safe return of her son and strength for the desperate mother was quite appropriate. How little did we know then, that just two days later, this same woman would be taken into custody, charged with the heinous crimes of child murder and abandonment.

Partly because I had witnessed the reporting of a lost child - which has become something of a prevalent and high-profiled scourge here in the Western Cape - I was intermittently scanning the news, waiting, hoping and praying for a positive outcome: A mother and child eventually joyfully reunited. People rallied. Social media went into full swing. The search was on. He would be found.

But sadly, yet again, this was not to be. Our local Eye Witness News takes up the story:

The mother of two-year-old boy from Mitchell’s Plain confessed to his murder.

Tauriq Jacobs little’s body was found in a shallow grave at a primary school in Beacon Valley on Saturday afternoon.
He was last seen near the local mall with his mother on Thursday.

A massive search was launched and his mother was taken into custody on a charge of abandonment.

Police say the 36-year-old mother confessed to the crime on Saturday night and is due to appear in the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday on charges of murder and abandonment.

The police’s November Filander said they were investigating the cause of his death.

“The autopsy will shed light on the cause of death,” he said.

Seemingly, her whole outburst was nothing but an act… Or perhaps the dregs of a guilt ridden conscience.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens next. Rumours are already flying around. The mainstream media will keep us up to speed no doubt, while the tabloids will provide all the grotty details. One thing is for sure: We live in a fallen and sick world. And for an innocent two-year old, a new year will not dawn. Already (the year is but a few hours old) crime is leading us in. Come the end of 2012, I wonder, how many more lives will be lost, altered or irreversible changed because of the evil state of man? May God in His mercy help us.

The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? – Jeremiah 17:9 (NLT)

 

The Gift of Time

Happy New Year