Plans for First Mixed Catholic and Protestant School in Northern Ireland

Approved.

Northern Ireland’s first shared education campus for Catholic and Protestant schoolchildren has been granted planning approval.

Up to six schools with 3,700 pupils are expected to be based at a former Army barracks in Omagh, Co Tyrone, Stormont’s power-sharing government revealed today. The relic of the region’s 30-year conflict is to be transformed into a 126-acre development to educate the next generation together…

SDLP Planning Minister Alex Attwood said: “The new campus will be at the forefront of shared education in Omagh and the North.”

Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers this week said renewed efforts should be made to tackle sectarianism which has characterised much of the region’s past. The Stormont Executive is still considering a cohesion, sharing and integration strategy…

Rest here.

HT

Nippon Kirisuto Seikoukai

Perhaps someone would be able to answer the following question, received from a reader after an appeal by Fr J.P.Y. on the blog today?

… could you give us any information about the Nippon Kirisuto Seikoukai? Are there any plan to join the Australian Ordinariate for instance?

Japan.

I suspect the Ordinary of the Australian Ordinariate, the Very Rev Harry Entwistle, however would be the best person to ask (and answer). Zenit (Jan 2011):

The new ordinariate will include a group of former Anglicans in Japan who are led by a retired prelate.

Or perhaps Fr Lawrence Wheeler, come to think of it?

So was the Nippon Kirisuto Seikoukai not once (or still) part of the The Traditional Anglican Communion in Japan?

Well, I had to go back into the mouldy archives (also 2011) of (the now defunct) The Anglo-Catholic blog to jolt the memory. (Go down to the comments section.) But still, I’m none the wiser… 

Anglican-Catholic Commission Meets in Brazil

Vatican Radio:

Anglican-Catholic dialogue is back on the agenda this week as a team of ecumenical experts from both sides meet in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro from April 30th to May 6th.

This 3rd meeting of the current Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission will continue its work on the relationship between local and universal Church, as well as the way in which both communities respond to the most pressing ethical issues of our time.

To find out more about the meeting, Philippa Hitchen talked to Mgr Mark Langham from the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity who serves as Catholic co-secretary of ARCIC III…..

She also spoke, during the recent enthronement of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, to an Anglican member of ARCIC III, Bishop Christopher Hill who chairs the Church of England’s Council for Christian Unity. He told her that Pope Francis’ emphasis on his role as the Bishop of Rome is extremely encouraging for the whole ecumenical endeavor…

Listen: here (mp3).

 

An Irish Ordinariate?

The Australian Ordinariate folk seems to know something the rest of us don’t. On their official website:

If you follow the link however, it leads back to the Personal  Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter, which is, of course, in the USA (okay, Mrs Gyapong, Canada too).

I Googled the ‘Irish Ordinariate’ and only really came up with a blog exploring the idea, which hasn’t posted anything since middle 2011.

Even the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (closest) doesn’t list a group or an exploration group in Ireland.

But then again, Ireland has never been a bastion of Anglo-Catholicism now has it?

Perhaps it’s but a mistake by the webmaster down-under? Or as I said, something only the Aussies are aware of at the moment?

UPDATE I:  After the above post, they have updated the tab to read ‘Irish Ordinariate -Discussion’ which takes the reader to a blog run by a one ‘Fr O’. Wonder how many ‘Fr O’s’ there are in Ireland… Can’t be too many…

UPDATE II:  Fr O with Little by little.

 

Russian Orthodox Tell Archbishop of Canterbury: Ordain Women Bishops and Forget About Unity

Damian Thompson blogs:

There’s a quaint Anglican concept of the universal Church known as the “branch theory”. This claims that there are three main branches to apostolic Christianity: Roman, Orthodox and Anglican. It’s much favoured by Church of England clerics who aren’t very keen on “Romans”, as they call Catholics, and convey their anti-Papist sentiment in pro-Orthodox code, forever banging on about the riches of Byzantine spirituality, the mystical power of icons, etc. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, is an example of this breed.

What these pro-Orthodox Anglicans don’t stress is that ordaining women priests was just as great an obstacle to unity with Constantinople and Moscow and it was to unity with Rome. And women bishops? Metropolitan Hilarion, head of ecumenical relations for the Moscow Patriarchate, delivered a pretty blunt message to the new Archbishop of Canterbury last weekend (H/T Gillibrand):

The introduction of the institution of female bishops will lead to the elimination of even a theoretical possibility of the Moscow patriarchate recognising the church hierarchy of the Anglican church, the communications service of the Department of External Church Relations reported on Saturday.

Even a theoretical possibility, note. This is exactly the same message coming from Rome (please don’t kid yourself that a change of Pope will make any difference). Of course, Hilarion’s warning won’t stop the C of E eventually ordaining women bishops, but let’s be clear about the consequences: the Orthodox Churches, following the lead of Moscow, will finally conclude that the Church of England is a protestant denomination with High liturgical trappings but outside the apostolic succession. Cue creaking of timber as the branch theory falls apart.

 

Catholic Church Using Anglican Converts To Serve Parishes

In the Huffington Post (with a video report there too).

Facing a priest shortage, the Catholic Church in the United States has started turning to former Anglican leaders to fill empty parishes.

The number of Roman Catholic priests in the U.S. has dropped by about 20,000 since 1975, while the number of Catholics has increased by 17 million, CBS reports.

The shortage was stretching thin the abilities of Catholic priests, and the Catholic Church was “supersizing” as it tried to accommodate more Catholics at a dwindling number of parishes, according to a 2011 study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate for the Emerging Models of Pastoral Leadership project.

Allowing converted Anglican priests to join the church was seen as a way to solve this shortage problem.

In an announcement that helped make this solution effective, former Pope Benedict XVI issued an edict in 2009 that created a “new structure to welcome some disenchanted Anglicans into the Roman Catholic fold,” Time notes.

At a Vatican news conference in October of that year, Cardinal William J. Levada, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said Anglicans who wished to convert would now be able “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” The New York Times reports.

This new structure paved the way for former Anglican priests like Mark Lewis to join the Roman Catholic Church.

Lewis, who is married with two children, told CBS News that “It was like God was opening up the door for us to truly become members of the church.”

However, in a 2012 article discussing married Catholic priests in the U.S., the New York Times noted that “the married priest problem” may raise interesting questions for the faithful. (Married priests were banned by the First Lateran Council in 1123, but married converts have been allowed since 1980.)

The Times wrote:

First, are they doing as good a job as other priests? If the church has decided that celibacy confers certain gifts on priests, does it follow that married priests are worse at serving their congregations? Second, wouldn’t celibate priests be a little resentful of colleagues who get to serve the church and have sex too? And third, if the married priests are doing a good job and not provoking envy, why keep the celibacy rule for priests in general?

Still, many of the Anglicans priests — and in some cases whole congregations — who have chosen to convert to Catholicism report the transition has been relatively smooth.

Lewis, who leads St. Luke’s now-Catholic parish in Bladensburg, Md., told PBS that ultimately, converting to Catholicism filled a hole they perceived in the Episcopal Church’s theology.

“We left the Episcopal Church not because we were running away from the issues of the Episcopal Church,” Lewis said. “We left the Episcopal Church because we were running to the Catholic Church … The theology of Rome, the authority of Rome, the unity in the Holy See and in the bishops: that was appealing to us.”

 

 

Fr Peter Wilkinson Given the Title of Monsignor

Peregrinus has the news:

Dateline: Houston, Texas
Feast of the Presentation, 2013

In the presence of three cardinals, bishops and staff of the Seminary of St. Mary in Houston along with deacons, priests with their wives and candidates for ordination for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, Msgr Jeffrey Steenson on the seminary stage announced that the Holy Father has made Fr. Peter Wilkinson a prelate of honour with the title of Monsignor.

This is a wonderful recognition of Msgr Wilkinson’s past service to his people in Canada as an Anglican bishop. As well, Pope Benedict, has recognized the sacrifice and faithfulness Msgr Peter has shown in shepherding his people into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

With his usual humility and grace Msgr Wilkinson dedicated this honour to the clergy, their wives and the people of his former diocese now in communion with the Holy Father.

With great thanks to God the Canadian Deanery of St. John the Baptist now has a monsignor as well as a fine dean. May God bless the Deanery as we walk in the Year of Faith and give us grace to proclaim Christ to all in the New Evangelization in the unity of communion to which we are called.

 

An Ordinariate for Lutherans?

More hints of an Ordinariate for Lutherans. Last October, Cardinal Kurt Koch mentioned the Vatican being open to the idea. Now, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller, is at it:

The prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has said that the Vatican might consider an ordinariate for Lutherans wishing to return to full communion with the Catholic Church, similar to the structure established by Pope Benedict XVI for Anglicans.

Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller conceded that “the Lutheran world is a bit different from the Anglican one, because among Anglicans there has always been a sector closer to Catholicism.” However, he said, some Lutherans hope for a restoration of full communion with Rome, and the Church should be ready to receive them. He suggested that, as with Anglicans, the Catholic Church might allow Lutherans to preserve “the legitimate traditions they have developed” while becoming members of the Catholic Church.

In the eyes of some Lutherans, the archbishop observed, Martin Luther intended merely to reform the Church, not to cause division among Christians. Archbishop Müller added that some Lutherans believe the necessary reforms were completed by Vatican II. He added that in his own native land, Germany, “Protestants are not just opposed to Catholicism, because they have retained many Catholic traditions.”

Archbishop Müller made these remarks during an appearance at a Roman bookshop marking the release of his own new book on the thought of Pope Benedict XVI.

 

(Fr) Owen Buckton to be Ordained in Ordinariate

Fr Owen Buckton, former Administrator and Vicar General of the ACCA/TAC, is to be Ordained for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross:

Your prayers are asked for Owen Buckton who will be ordained priest in St Joseph’s Cathedral, Rockhampton on Friday Feb 1st 2013 at 10-30 am by Bishop Brian Heenan, Bishop of Rockhampton. The Ordinariate Parish of Our Lady of Walsingham will be located at St Theresa’s Church, 32 Bolsover St, Rockhampton. Sunday Mass – 9–30 am.

Also,

Your prayers are asked for Deacon Stephen Hill who will be ordained priest by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB in St Joseph’s Church, Subiaco, WA at 7-00 pm on Friday 1 March 2013 to minister in the Ordinariate Parish of St Ninian and St Chad, 11 Susan Street, Maylands WA. Sunday Mass – 9–30 am.

+ + +

Suggestions for Anglo-Catholic Union

Fr Anthony Chadwick has them:

… The ideal of an Anglo-Catholic union is that it would be a single episcopal synod, where bishops get together, get their act together, and make mutual decisions about jurisdictional matters, and if necessary, a reduction of the number of bishops in proportion to the numbers of parishes in each diocese. That would be the most credible objective, but perhaps one that could be achieved in a number of stages…

If the TAC could get together with the ACC and the APA, that would give a large and credible communion, even better if other Anglo-Catholic communions like the Diocese of the Holy Cross can be in on it. Once stability is ensured, then perhaps there can be further stages at gaining the confidence of other Christians whether or not they identify with Anglicanism…

Anglo-Catholicism is now going to be more moderate with the transition of the Anglo-Papalists to the Ordinariate. I hope it will not have to be fettered to the Articles and the Prayer Book, a continuation of the old cognitive dissonance from which even moderate Anglo-Catholics have suffered in the past… There are lots of possibilities…

Also, a peaceful parting of the ways between Anglo-Catholics and broad / low Anglicans would free the low churchmen from having to accept doctrines not contained in the old Anglican formularies. It would do them a favour too.

Just a few ideas…

Read it all here.

And as an UPDATE:  Ideal Characteristics of Anglo-Catholicism.