U.S. Ordinary Welcomes News of Australian Ordinariate

Following closely on Msgr Keith Newton’s welcome (UK Ordinary) is that of Msgr Jeffrey Steenson (US Ordinary).

Monsignor Jeffrey N. Steenson, Ordinary of the U.S.-based Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, welcomed the announcement that a personal Ordinariate is to be established in Australia on June 15, 2012:

“The news that the Holy Father will establish a Personal Ordinariate in Australia, the third in the world, is truly wonderful, as it marks another important step toward Catholic unity.

“I offer my prayers, good wishes and encouragement to all those who will become part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, and I  pledge the support of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.”

The Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross will be the third Personal Ordinariate created by Pope Benedict XVI following the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus to serve Anglican groups and clergy seeking to become Catholic while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage and tradition.

The Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was established by Pope Benedict XVI on January 1, 2012, and is based in Houston, Texas. Sixty Anglican priests are in formation to be ordained Catholic priests. The first ordinations will be in June 2012.

 

The Blessed John Henry Newman Society

Fr Christopher Phillips is offering to do a feature on Ordinariate-bound parishes, societies, or groups over at the The Anglo-Catholic, and he starts today with the BJHN Society of Orange County. He’s calling it a ‘Bright Lights’ series.

The Blessed John Henry Newman Society of Orange County in California describes itself as “an Anglican Use Society of the Roman Catholic Church in Orange County, California. We are temporarily a non-eucharistic community, composed of Anglicans and Roman Catholics of Anglican background, coming together to form a new parish for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in the Catholic Church.”

Founded by Andrew Bartus, the Society shows the good fruit which can come from following the vision of Pope Benedict XVI, which he articulated in Anglicanorum coetibus.  God willing, Andrew will be ordained as a Deacon on June 9th at Our Lady of the Angels Cathedral in Los Angeles.  Ordination to the priesthood should follow soon after that, and the Society will be a fully-functioning community within the Catholic Church, with the goal of becoming a parish of the Ordinariate.

A look through the website of the Society gives an inspiring picture of the robust spiritual life already taking place, and there’s little doubt that this community is destined to be one of the “bright lights” of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

 

Ordinary Welcomes the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross

Msgr Keith Newton today:

It was announced yesterday that a Personal Ordinariate will be established within the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference on 15 June 2012. This will be the third Personal Ordinariate to be erected by Pope Benedict XVI following the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross will be under the patronage of St Augustine of Canterbury and will be headed by an Ordinary, who is yet to be named.

Monsignor Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, said, “This is great news for the Church in Australia, and for those from the Anglican tradition who are seeking to fulfil the goal of full visible unity with the Apostolic See, whilst maintaining essential elements of our Anglican tradition”.

“A close bond already exists between the Ordinariate here in the UK and our brothers and sisters of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter. It is my hope that similarly strong ties can be established with our Australian counterparts, especially as we look forward to the publication of a common liturgical use”.

Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne said, “I hope that those former Anglicans who have made a journey in faith that has led them to the Catholic Church will find a ready welcome”.

Also, a Catholic News Agency report on the Ordinariate:

Pope Benedict XVI will continue the expansion of the new Catholic Church structure created for former Anglicans by launching an ordinariate for Australia on June 15.

“I am confident that those former Anglicans who have made a journey in faith that has led them to the Catholic Church will find a ready welcome,” said Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, who serves as president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

Australia’s Anglican ordinariate will be called the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, under the patronage of St. Augustine of Canterbury. It will have the status of a diocese.

The ordinariate is intended for Anglicans and former Anglicans who wish to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining some of their customs and liturgical traditions.

The Australian bishops have put in place procedures to help Anglican clergy and laity join the Catholic Church through the ordinariate, the bishops said May 11.

The ordinariate for England and Wales launched in 2011, while the U.S. ordinariate launched on January 1, 2012.

In England and Wales there are at least 40 ordinariate groups with 60 priests, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham magazine The Portal reports. Several of its members are former Anglican bishops.

As of January, 1,400 individuals from 22 communities have expressed interest in joining, the U.S. ordinariate. About 60 current or former Anglican priests are preparing to be ordained Catholic priests for it, according to the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

The U.S. ordinariate will open its first parish in Scranton, Pa. this August.

 

Parallels Between the TAC and SSPX

Are there? Writes Deborah Gyapong:

The letter reminds me of some of the objections and hardened positions and insistence that Rome repent or change or recognize “we’re already Catholic” etc. that I encountered among those in the Traditional Anglican Communion who have decided to refuse the offer of Anglicanorum coetibus…

Of course the TAC is nothing compared to the SSPX in size and any other Catholic standard.   I’m just saying the parallels struck me.

Do give the piece a read here.