Fr Christopher Phillips Explains the Situation at Our Lady of the Atonement Regarding the Ordinariate
May 6, 2012 7 Comments
[Background: Anglican Use Parish (Our Lady of the Atonement) withdraws Ordinariate request here.]
Fr Christopher Phillips of Our Lady of the Atonement explains further on Facebook:
Dear Friends,
It’s difficult to communicate important information by way of email – there’s an understandable tendency for recipients to forward them all over the place, and there is always the strong possibility of someone misinterpreting them. However, I do want to reiterate some of the points I made in yesterday’s email about my meeting with Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller and Bishop Oscar Cantu.
1. The archbishop is NOT preventing the parish from seeking entrance into the Ordinariate at this time, or at some future time. He was clear about that, and is very respectful of our right to make that request any time.
2. It is important to all of us that we preserve the integrity and unity of our parish – church and school, clergy and people, buildings and patrimony – and at the present time the only way we can insure this is by remaining as we are; namely, a Personal Parish of the Pastoral Provision, rather than a parish of the Ordinariate. We all want the parish to be able to continue as it is, with our clergy and people intact, and with our church and school serving those who want to be here. At some point we may be able to have that in the Ordinariate — but this is not the time.
3. Our way of worship – our liturgy, our devotional life, our music…everything we treasure and maintain – will be able to continue uninterrupted, and the archbishop and his auxiliary bishop have stated their support and admiration for what is done here.
I know the decision to withdraw our parish request to enter the Ordinariate is unexpected, and some of you might be perplexed. As you know, I have been very excited about the prospect of being in the Ordinariate, but I had to weigh every aspect of this, and decide what would be truly best for us. The stability of our parish is something I know you would not want to discard lightly, and this decision provides us with the best and safest way to continue to “preserve, nurture and share” our Anglican patrimony, as we have done for the past twenty-nine years.
As we have opportunities to deepen our communion with our Father-in-God, Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller, let’s make the most of them. He was genuinely moved to learn that we will be remaining in his jurisdiction for now, and he looks forward (as do we) to strengthening our ties with the archdiocese which has been our home for so long.
The time may come when we are prepared to enter the Ordinariate, and when the Ordinariate will be in a better position to receive us as we are. We can be grateful that God has used our parish, in some small way, to prepare the ground for the establishment of the Ordinariate in this country. As strange as it seems for us not to be part of it from the very beginning, the time is not yet right.
Let’s all pray for the success of the Ordinariate, and especially for the men who are preparing for ordination over the next few months. No matter what jurisdiction we’re in, we’re all working for the same end – the building up of God’s Kingdom!
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Christopher G. Phillips
Both letters are also on his blog here.
About Fr Stephen Smuts
This is clearly a highly controversial subject, although Fr Phillips’s letter does seem to settle the question (and the assertion on the prior thread) of whether the archbishop refused the parish’s entry. The actual reasons are still very vague, though from the parish’s perspective, not important: the parish continues under the same leadership, with the same liturgy as before.
However, I would say that the withdrawal of the request is a serious problem for the Ordinariate itself: Cardinal Wuerl’s estimate of potential Ordinariate membership in June 2011 was 2000; other sources placed it as high as 3000. By this spring, it had shrunk to 1400 on the Ordinariate web site, and the withdrawal of OLA must certainly put the potential at well under 1000 — we’re heading for the numbers involved in ONE healthy Episcopal parish, not even a Roman Catholic one!
By the same token, a blog maintained by a former ACA priest in 2011 listed over 60 groups and parishes in a cycle of prayer for those wishing to join the Ordinariate. By this spring, the Ordinariate’s estimate on its web site had shrunk to 20 — and most of those will be small groups, using donated space at Catholic parishes.
What I’m seeing is that the actuality of the Ordinariate is shrinking rapidly. I note that Msgr Steenson’s letter to St Mary of the Angels, as well as Fr Phillips’s letter here, opens the possibility that individuals can apply to join the Ordinariate (and presumably receive the Sacrament over the web? I don’t see how this works.) The whole point of Anglicanorum Coetibus was, as I understood it, to receive Anglican parishes either as an existing whole or as groups, with clergy. Now, it’s for individuals.
I’m increasingly coming to the conclusion that the US Ordinariate is a bait-and-switch. Whatever the specific reason for OLA withdrawing its request, it doesn’t seem to me that there was any benefit to the parish in switching from Anglican Use. But neither can I see any benefit to a single individual in joining the Ordinariate. Catholic faith, OK, but you can get that via RCIA. But an individual doesn’t get the Anglican liturgy — as well just borrow a Book of Common Prayer from the library and read it on Sunday, or play hymns from the 1940 or 1981 hymnals on CD!
I can’t imagine that this is what Pope Benedict envisioned.
Same old rag. Don’t you tire of saying the same thing over and over on every blog post? We sure are tired of your whiny angst. Just go away.
I basically agree with John here, this now with the loss of OLA, is just turning out not to be what many thought it would be. One can, and it looks like a better road, to go individually to Rome! If you want “Roman Catholic”. Anglican Patrimony? Note, how Fr. Phillips appears to be not one to throw over the Anglican patrimony, at least at this point. Good for him!
We all have always known that when setting up the ordinariates the practical concerns are great. Questions of legal status, of funding, of employee status including their benefits — the problems of moving a church and a school from a well-established institution to one that is newborn are legion.
Is that what the hold-up here is? Was the disruption too much to ask of a functioning school and parish both which have all the problems that even the best of schools and parishes have? Moving could have been a bridge too far. Moving could have meant sacrificing the health of the school and parish for the health of the ordinariate. It may have been tempting but hardly a prudent, pastoral move. This might be what the Archbishop and Fr. Phillips saw.
Or maybe it is something else all together. I don’t know, and frankly don’t care much.
We can jump all over every little bit of news to declare this or that a failure.But why? What does it get us? A bit of self-righteousness? We may live in a 24-hour news cycle that encourages analyzing each step instantly and declaring with certainity that we know what will come. Luckily Christ and His Church have a longer timeline.
Hi Bruce,
The problem lies in the fact that not everyone at Our Lady of the Atonement is a convert, former Anglican, or a lapsed Catholics returning to the faith. It is my understanding that Father Phillips rightfully wants the parish in its entirety to be able to enter the Ordinariate without division. I am not sure on the exact details, but is my understanding that the Ordinariate wanted to create separate spheres of Ordinariate/non-Ordinariate and effectively divide the Parish. They apparently desire a strict reading of who can join, and this excludes so called “cradle Catholics,” including technically our deacons! Father does not want to create divisions. Mind you this is no knock on the Ordinariate, the time is just not right at this time to bring everyone in and Father Phillips has stated this doesn’t preclude OLOTA from applying to join in the future. I stress the cautiousness in what I am saying because I do not mean to feed any fires, nor am I claiming to be any definitive authority, but just sharing as I understand the issues to help you understand a little bit.
Not true.
According to the Ordinariate application sheet, (http://usordinariate.org/documents/Request_to_Enter_Ordinariate.pdf) aspiring members should affirm the following:
I/we affirm (each should initial one of the following):
_____ I am a former Anglican and am now in full communion with the Catholic Church.
_____ I am currently an Anglican intending to be received into full communion with the Catholic
Church. I am prepared to make the required profession of faith: “I believe and profess all that
the holy Catholic Church believes, teaches, and proclaims to be revealed by God.”
And there’s this:
_____ I have previously been baptized within the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church, and I now
worship at an Anglican Use or Ordinariate congregation.
—————-
So a strict reading would allow “cradle Catholics” so long as they are baptized within the Latin Rite, and currently worship at an Anglican Use or Ordinariate congregation.
The only Biblical entrance into the visible Church is Christ and Baptism. (1 Pet. 3:18-22) And here is both the Covenant and the Salvation History of God! But Christ leads us into this Triune life and reality in God – “For through HIM (Christ) we both (Jew & Gentile) have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” (Eph. 2: 18)