Fully Visible Anglican Catholic Union Not Likely Soon

That’s according to New Zealand Anglican Archbishop, David Moxon. Well, with a crew looking like this, I’m going to have to agree with his assessment:

New Zealand Anglican Archbishop, David Moxon, says there seem to be many obstacles to fully visible Anglican Catholic union and it is unlikely to be achieved in the near future. He is the co-chairperson of the Anglican-Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and was speaking at the Commission’s meeting in Hong Kong last week. “We can, however, do a lot of things together during this slow process,” he says…

The Anglican—Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) is an organization created in 1969 which seeks to make ecumenical progress between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. The sponsors are the Anglican Consultative Council and the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (formerly the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity).

ARCIC seeks to identify common ground between the two communions…

That common ground is rapidly crumbling. In any event, I still maintain that with the coming of Anglicanorum Coetibus, ARCIC is dead in the water.

 

Christ’s Message to Bloggers: ‘Love one another’

On The Deacon’s Bench:

“Love one another,” says Jesus. That means loving people, not judging them. That means bearing with them when we disagree with them, not attacking them at the slightest hint of a difference of opinion on church teaching. That means giving them the benefit of the doubt, not jumping down their throats when you think they’ve made a mistake. That means assuming that they too love God and the church, just like you do, maybe even more. That means hoping the best for them, not damning them if you think that they’re not “orthodox.” What’s more, “Love one another” doesn’t mean saying, “I love you so very much that I must tell you what a terrible Catholic you are, and how very much in error you are, and how you should just leave the church because you’re not a true believer like I am (because, of course, I can see within your soul).” Yes, one of the Spiritual Works of Mercy is to “Admonish the Sinner,” but that presumes an actual love, a heartfelt love, for the person, and most of the admonishing that is done these days seems suffused instead with hate. All of the Spiritual Works of Mercy–and the Corporal Works, too–are useless without love. Love one another. Leave the judging to Jesus.”

– Fr. James Martin, on his Facebook page

Catholics Create Room for Anglicans

The Age reports:

Several hundred Anglican Australians are expected to convert to Roman  Catholicism while keeping many of their Anglican  practices next month after an  invitation from Pope Benedict XVI.

Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said the Pope would announce the  establishment of a ”personal ordinariate for former Anglicans” in Australia on  June 15, with their own  bishop and churches.

Archbishop Hart, the newly elected chairman of the Australian Catholic  Bishops Conference, said the ordinariate would be a new diocese, called the  Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross.

Conference secretary Father Brian Lucas said last night the church expected  about 500 Anglicans to convert, some from the dissident Traditional Anglican  Communion, which broke away years ago after the Australian Anglican Church  allowed women to be priests, and some mainstream Anglicans with a Catholic  inclination.

He said he expected there would be two parishes in Melbourne, two in Sydney,  one in Brisbane and one in Perth. The Pope had not yet appointed a bishop.

“This will be announced on June 15. But there are people needing to make a  decision about their life, particularly Anglican clergy, and now they can make  their plans with confidence in the next step in their journey,” Father Lucas  said.

The Australian ordinariate follows similar moves in England last year and the  United States earlier this year.

Meanwhile, the Pope confirmed last night that Parramatta Vicar-General Robert  McGuckin has been appointed Bishop of Toowoomba, replacing Bishop Bill  Morris.

HT Deborah Gyapong who adds:

I’m surprised it is as high as 500. I would bet when all is said and done, the numbers will be more similar to those in Canada, which will initially add up to what, about 300? when all the groups are received.

Is that all it takes for a Ordinariate to be erected?

 

Pilgrimage to Walsingham

If you’re in the UK later this year, you may wish to join:

 

 

The Dead Sea is Dying

The Telegraph:

If you keep a sharp eye open as you drive the world’s lowest road, along the Israeli side of the Dead Sea, you may spot a short black line painted on a cliff face some feet above your head. It was made a century ago by British geographers, floating on a boat on the sea’s surface, to mark its level at the time.

But if you then turn, as I did this week, to look for the present-day sea, you’ll only spot it far beneath you, at the bottom of another cliff. For its level has since fallen by more than 80 feet, mainly over the past few decades.

At the same time the sea more here.