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.

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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.

 

No Ordinary Year for the US Ordinariate

2012 was full of milestones for the new ordinariate, and 2013 will feature more,  including a February visit by Archbishop Gerhard Müller, prefect of the  Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

National Catholic Register:

Washington — When Father Scott Hurd, vicar general of the Personal  Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter — a home in the Catholic Church for  former Episcopalians and Anglicans — reflects back on 2012, he points to a  period of rapid and exciting growth marking its first year of existence.

On New Year’s Day 2012, Pope Benedict XVI erected the ordinariate, which  allows former Anglicans to retain certain treasured traditions within the  Catholic Church. It was created in accord with Anglicanorum  Coetibus, the Pope’s apostolic constitution permitting former Anglicans  to come into the Church corporately instead of as individuals.

On the same day, the Holy Father named Msgr.  Jeffrey Steenson, a married Catholic priest and the former Episcopal bishop  of the Episcopal Diocese of Rio Grande, as the first ordinary.

Newspapers have since featured stories of former Episcopal churches being  received into the Catholic Church as groups in beautiful Masses that included  Vatican-approved prayers that they had long cherished from the Anglican Book of  Common Prayer, a landmark of the English language.

“The joy and blessing of all these people being received into the Church is  at the end of the day what this is all about — it is about unity in Christ,” Father Hurd told the Register.

Father Hurd is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington who has a  three-year appointment to serve as vicar general to the ordinariate.

The ordinariate recently received an especially high-profile former  Episcopal priest, Larry Gipson, former dean of the Episcopal Cathedral Church of  the Advent in Birmingham, Ala., and also former rector of the 8,000-strong St.  Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, where former President George H. W. Bush  and his wife, Barbara, were among his parishioners.

The former Episcopal rector, who holds a master’s degree in divinity from  Yale University, hopes to become a Catholic priest.

Three Ordinariates

The Chair of St. Peter is one of three ordinariates for former  Anglicans.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our  Lady of Walsingham, under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman, one of  the great English converts, was established in the United Kingdom in 2011. (A  group of Anglican  nuns just joined the Church in the Walsingham Ordinariate). The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the  Southern Cross, under the patronage of St. Augustine of Canterbury, was  established in Australia in June.

The Chair of St. Peter also administers a newly created ordinariate deanery  in Canada, which  Rome approved in December. Msgr. Steenson appointed Father Lee Kenyon, a  former Church of England priest who brought his entire Anglican parish into the  Catholic Church in 2011, as dean of Canada’s new Deanery of St. John the  Baptist.

“It has been an amazing year,” said Susan White of Arlington, Va., a former  Episcopalian who is active in the ordinariate. “Every time I turn around, there  is news of more folks, clergy and lay, swimming the Tiber, their carefully  preserved Anglican treasures tied to their backs to offer to Rome. We are so  blessed to be able to bring our riches with us.”

Eric Wilson, a former Episcopalian who is now a communicant of St. Luke’s  Catholic Church in Bladensburg, Md., echoed that sense of gratitude: “It’s been  a tremendous blessing this year to experience firsthand Pope Benedict’s vision  for Christian unity being lived out on a daily basis.”

St. Luke’s parishioners entered the Catholic Church last summer, after an  intense period of discernment.

“Whether it’s the many holy priests we’ve seen ordained or the hundreds of  converts growing in the faith, the ordinariate’s success has exceeded all  expectations — a sure sign that the Lord is at work,” Wilson said.

The Year Ahead

Looking forward, Father Hurd added, “To a certain degree, next year will be  more of the same. There are communities in transition, and some still in  discernment [as to whether to become Catholic and part of the ordinariate], and  we have a second wave of clergy aspirants who are starting the process.”

As of late December, the ordinariate included 1,600 laypeople, 28 priests and  36 communities. There are 69 additional applications from men who hope to become  Catholic priests of the ordinariate.

Deacon Ken Bolin, 38, a West Point graduate and military chaplain who has  served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is among those candidates who have already  completed their priestly formation and expect to be ordained as Catholic priests  through the ordinariate this March.

“The ordinariate is a great answer to Christ’s prayer that we should all be  one,” said Deacon Bolin, a transitional deacon, who holds the rank of major in  the U.S. Army.

Currently stationed in Anchorage, Alaska, he hopes to be ordained in March.  He is especially excited that he has been granted permission to be the priest  who performs the rites of initiation when his wife, Sharon, and their three  children are welcomed into the Church.

The ordinariate makes it possible for married former Episcopal and Anglican  clergymen such as Deacon Bolin to become Catholic priests. But, eventually, the  ordinariate will have a celibate priesthood.

The ordinariate — which is something new in the history of the Catholic  Church — also devoted 2012 to establishing legal and organizational policies to  build a foundation for future growth. It will soon have income from parish  assessments similar to diocesan assessments. “

Now that we have reached this point, we will be on a firmer financial  footing,” Father Hurd predicted.

Diocesan Generosity

Father Hurd stressed that the generosity of Catholic dioceses and  ordinariate staff members — many of whom work without pay — has made the  ordinariate possible. He expressed gratitude to the U.S. bishops for their  financial and spiritual support.

While some ordinariate priests, such as Father Mark Lewis of St. Luke’s  Catholic Church in Bladensburg, Md., who is renowned for his preaching and the  high caliber of music at his church, are able to function full time as clergy,  others mostly rely on income generated from work in Catholic institutions such  as schools or diocesan offices.

“Anyone who puts forth an application to become an ordinariate priest must  have an adequate source of income to take care of his family,” said Father  Hurd.

While the ordinariate has spent a lot of energy on establishing a secure  foundation, it has been buoyed by many promising developments. Recently, it  received an anonymous donation of land to build its first chancery. The donor  spent $5 million to purchase five acres adjacent to the ordinariate’s principal  church, Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston.

The ordinariate is seeking additional donors for construction of the  chancery. It currently operates out of a small office at St. Mary’s Seminary in  Houston, where Msgr. Steenson teaches theology, with most of its small staff  scattered around the United States. Father Hurd said that quite a few members of  the staff have donated their time free of charge.

The ordinariate is planning a pilgrimage to Rome for priests and families in  February. “We will set out to discover the apostolic foundations of the Church  of Rome, to participate in the wonderful tradition of Lenten stational Masses  organized by the Pontifical North American College and to meet some of the  architects of the ordinariates,” Msgr. Steenson reported in an online “update  from the ordinary.”

He also expressed the hope that the pilgrimage to Rome would include an  opportunity to thank the “Successor of St. Peter himself for the gift of Anglicanorum Coetibus.”

Archbishop Müller’s Visit

A symposium on the ordinariate is planned for February at St. Mary’s  Seminary in Houston, and Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, who played an  essential role in establishing and supporting the ordinariate, and Archbishop Gerhard Müller, the prefect of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and  secretary to the Anglicanae Traditiones commission, will be featured  speakers.

“The three ordinariates operate under the aegis of the Congregation for the  Doctrine of the Faith,” explained Father Hurd, “and for Archbishop Müller to  make his first U.S. visit as head to the symposium is not only a great honor for  us, but also a vote of confidence for the great things that have happened over  the last year.”

Ordinariate Pilgrim

Ordinariate Pilgrim is a quiet blog I that came across for the first time today, by Scott Anderson.

On February 2nd 2012 I was received into the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. I was 62 years of age and had been ordained in the Church of England for 37 years. I have the privilege to live at the moment the life of a Catholic layman, dividing my time between England and France. This means that I have three spiritual homes: the London (South) Ordinariate group provides me with Sunday worship, the friendship of fellow Ordinariate pilgrims, and a growing sense of mission within the parish of the Most Precious Blood at Borough; then for the daily Mass the Jesuit Parish of the Sacred Heart, Wimbledon with its huge and lively congregation, musical tradition and great preaching; and finally the parish of Notre Dame des Etangs in Picardy, where I have found a welcome, singing with the choir, occasionally playing the organ, and generally improving my french!

With many other former Anglicans I give thanks for the very direct welcome that Pope Benedict XVI has given to us, by setting up the Ordinariates. It is always good to feel wanted, in any aspect of life, and not least in the Church…

Visit it here.

HT: Ordinariate Expats

 

Fr Chadwick’s TAC Survey

Fr Anthony Chadwick’s survey of the Traditional Anglican Communion has begun. At the moment, what he basically has done is visited and appraised the existent TAC web pages (most of these are already found by simply following the links here) and made a few further observations.

He has started with ‘the easiest – because the web sites are detailed and kept up to date’.

They are:

• The Anglican Church in America

• The Anglican Catholic Church of Canada

• The Traditional Anglican Church in Britain

• The Anglican Catholic Church in Australia

The TAC Presence on the Internet

Fr Anthony Chadwick has been working hard on the .net today! Earlier he made mention of his plans to undertaken a general survey of the Traditional Anglican Communion, globally. If you can help in this regard, do contact him (anthony.chadwick AT wanadoo.fr).

Now, he has just posted, The Regrouped TAC and its presence on the Internet:

I am approaching a tender subject, and some of the communications I am receiving suggest that I need to handle this with kid gloves. Some have paid a high price for following Archbishop Hepworth’s ordinariate scheme…

It seems best not to go over the past, but rather to take stock and look at what can be of value in the future. One thing impeding progress for some of us is the lack of computer literacy, basic technology or awareness of the use of the Internet to communicate beyond one’s own diocesan and parochial boundaries. The admissibility of using the Internet to get the TAC’s message out seems to be acquired. The most computer-savvy are the Americans, and the Canadians give monthly news of what is going on there. The English are presently working on The Traditional Anglican Church, though there still are a few frustrating things to clear up. I have the impression that the site is a standard model designed for business and commercial applications, and the person running the site is learning how to use it.

Very few of us are blogging. It’s really just Fr Smuts and myself. There used to be Christian Campbell of The Anglo-Catholic, but he went off at a tangent and has put the blog into hiatus. Deborah Gyapong posts in support of the Ordinariate movement, which is understandable. The South African website seems to be another standard business template job run by a kind soul with love in his heart but little experience with Internet work. I don’t know that much about html design, so I find the blog format most convenient, and have used the ultra-simple format of Civitas Dei for years. Old-fashioned websites take a lot of will and dedication to keep them up to date and relevant. My site usually gets about one major overhaul a year. This blog updates itself, and its template formula is user-friendly and adaptable for church work as business templates are not. For someone who has not been trained in web design, I don’t think I do too badly. The other thing is enjoying writing.

It’s going to be difficult to evaluate numbers in the TAC….

For the moment, there seems to be no way of getting accurate figures, though I’m open to new information. Perhaps a little less than half the number of clergy and laity in the USA, Canada, England and Australia have remained in the TAC, the others having gone to the Ordinariates or disappeared off the map. South Africa, Torres Strait and India would not have changed substantially in terms of numbers between the pre-ordinariate era and now. For anything like a reliable estimate of numbers, I will have to find informed persons I can trust, and that won’t be easy, especially in the local Churches where the Internet is not used.

Personally, I would like to see Bishop Michael Gill emerge as Primate, as his location in South Africa puts him midway between the western and English-speaking world and the mission territories of Africa, Latin America and India. Above all, we need modern communication and reactivity of the kind one finds in modern business. Another very positive omen is the desire of the Americans to grow into unity with the other Continuers. I have heard nothing but the highest praise for Bishop Paul Hewitt of the Diocese of the Holy Cross. If all those serious churches can be brought together without being dogged by unwise moves or excessive numbers of episcopal consecrations, then Continuing Anglicanism has a future.

It is of paramount importance to let go of the ghosts of the past, try to stay together and perhaps recover some of the “crumbs” that didn’t go to the Ordinariate. My information tells me that the TAC is not in ruins. Far from it! But, damage has been done, and the lack of modern communication is partly to blame.

The most useful sites presently available are (in all modesty), this blog and Fr Smuts. Among the official TAC sites, the most updated are that of the ACA and the American diocesan pages. As mentioned, the Canadians are giving regular and relevant news. Efforts are being made by the Brits, and Fr Gray’s new Advent Pastoral Letter is most uplifting and appreciated. The centralised site, The Traditional Anglican Communion is not bad, giving fairly regular news bulletins and official documents. But, we do need more blogging and interaction, more interpretation and more encouragement to foster a positive and optimistic vision of the future.

You readers can help Fr Smuts and I, and anyone else who decides to launch out into the exciting world of the blogosphere.

I hear what Fr Chadwick is saying, and his efforts appear to be both noble and admirable. Again, if you can contribute positively, then please do.

It all reminds me of a something Deacon Chris F once said in a comment on this blog:

Dear Fr Stephen…

There have been attempts by the remnants of the (non-Hepworth) TAC hierarchy to get in touch with clergy in the Eastern states, but for those of us in WA, we remain scattered and shepherdless.

I think it largely comes down to communication. Information within the TAC was very strictly policed under the previous regime – when I tried to make my fellow worshippers aware of positive or alternative sources of information about continuing Anglicanism outside our little circle, I was described as “negative” and “disruptive”. The vast majority of TACers here were not tech-savvy or users of the Internet – they relied on their clergy – all very pro-Ordinariate. I found my own affirmation through blogs such as this one – while I might not agree with everything they said, at least I got some balance…

The Internet is there. Yes, we should make good use of it (together with other forms of social media). In a digital age, it is all about information. People crave information and it must be at their fingertips (i.e. speed).  This is unavoidable and in order to be in any way relevant, we must keep abreast of technological developments.

The other thing that I have come to appreciate, being a blogging priest (or rather, a priest who blogs), is that the Internet is able to hold people accountable. You don’t get to do things in the dark and simply think that you’re going to snowball  (or ‘police’) people with clandestine motives/activities. Again, it’s the age of information. People are becoming tech savvy. People are searching. People watching. So propaganda, which otherwise could readily be spread, can now in fact be countered. Even within the Church. While a taxing, time-consuming and often unappreciated work, the results are always worthwhile - especially when people are helped and the work done, is done in the name of the Lord, for the furtherment of His Kingdom.

A Survey of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC)

A survey of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) is to be undertaken by a seemingly (and hopefully) reinvigorated Fr Anthony Chadwick. Here’s the gist:

… The history of the TAC over the past five years is of Byzantine complexity, but whatever went wrong with the aftermath of the bishops’ meeting in Portsmouth in October 2007, one thing that lacked was solidarity in the body of the clergy. I had many conversations with Archbishop Hepworth about what would happen to the irregulars in view of the complementary norms of November 2009 that clearly stated the categories of me would not be considered for the priesthood in the Ordinariates. I think he believed what he said to me – he was expecting special rules from Rome to cover the irregulars. There were none, not even for himself. By the time the Archbishop thought of setting up a Fraternity of Saint Benedict to create a pastoral provision for irregulars for the years it would take to make canonical appeals to the Roman canonical law courts, it was too late.

All that is left of the TAC, poo-pooed by the new converts, is what was regrouped in March 2012 under Archbishop Prakash and the organisational skills and energy of Bishop Michael Gill of South Africa, together with input from the American bishops and Bishop Botterill. What is more or less affiliated to this regrouping is difficult to fathom, in particular the TAC in Australia, Torres Strait and many local Churches in Africa and South / Central America.

There are ongoing attempts to define the regrouped TAC. Some are far from being impartial or laced with bitter reflections…

I am not going to go on with the blood feud or seek guilty persons to settle scores with. There may be some despicable clergy in the TAC, as there are in all churches and ecclesial communities. We either reject the faith or ecclesial life, stick our heads in the sand, or come to terms with the human reality. Alongside the sin, there is also ecclesial communion in Christ and a sense of solidarity, loyalty and obedience to those we believe are more likely to be right than ourselves.

So, what do I propose? I am going to try to make a survey of the TAC and find out what we have and how many we are – bishops, dioceses, parishes, priests, laity, religious communities. In places, there may be pitifully few as our critics underline in their writings. Where two or three are gathered together in my name… In other places, there may be entirely intact communities judging by pre-Portsmouth 2007 standards like in South Africa, and – as far as I can tell – in Torres Strait. One thing is sure, we are not 400,000! We may well not be a hundredth of that number.

Some information is available on the various official sites of TAC local Churches. There are the names of the bishops and local parishes, and in many cases the names of the priests and parish websites. I plan to write an article about each local Church of the TAC once I can find reliable information. It’s likely to be a tough job, and the recent events have driven heads into the sand and made the weak of heart retreat into silence and fear.

I intend writing articles on the present state of the local member Churches of the TAC in the United Kingdom, Australia, Torres Strait, Canada, the USA, the African continent, the Central and Southern American continent and India. I expect there will be a small and scattered diaspora in other countries, like myself in France. I will look for official communications, information bishops and vicars general are prepared to share with me for publication and other information from private persons if I am convinced of its reliability. I intend to perform this task in the spirit of casting the TAC in the most favourable light possible. I believe this would be of service to the TAC and would help complete and close the painful separation process between it and the Ordinariates.

I would appreciate all the help I can get for the preparation of each of these articles. You can write by way of comments or privately by e-mail (anthony.chadwick AT wanadoo.fr). Thank you in advance, and wishing you a happy Christmas Octave, celebration of the New Year and a holy Epiphany.

So, if you can help, do drop Fr Chadwick an e-mail or pop over to his blog here.

 

What Can We Learn?

Asks Fr Anthony Chadwick:

… If we want things better for ourselves and our posterity, it is up to each of us not only to rebuff the cynicism, scoffing and naysaying of others, but also to be committed to a positive course of action to offer the world what we consider as sacred and precious. I believe it is possible with this renewal of good will between our bishops…

Read it all here.

 

Former TAC Bishop Carl Reid to be Ordained

Priest for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter on 26 January 2012.

It’s on Archbishop Prendergast’s schedule and now the official news release is out from the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

Month of January 2013 from the Arcbishop’s schedule.  I hear Fr. Peter Wilkinson is coming, so is our Dean, Fr. Lee Kenyon. 

Day & Time		Activity & Location
Jan. 12, 10 a.m.		Ordination to the diaconate of Carl Reid, St. Patrick’s Basilica, Ottawa
Jan. 26, 10 a.m.		Ordination to the priesthood of Carl Reid, Notre Dame Cathedral, Ottawa

Here’s the news release. My bolds. …

Three ordinations scheduled for early 2013 include former Anglican bishop Carl Reid of Ottawa, Canada, a former bishop with the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada and current administrator of the Sodality of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and former Anglican priest John Cornelius, of the Society of St. Alban in Rochester, New York, on January 26. Ken Bolin, Airborne Brigade Combat Team Chaplain with the U.S. Army, currently stationed in Fort Richardson, Alaska, recently was ordained a Catholic deacon. He is expected to be ordained a priest in March 2013. The Ordinariate, which is equivalent to a diocese, but national in scope, has 27 priests (including Ray), more than 1,600 people and 36 communities across the United States and Canada. Its Ordinary, Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson, is a former Episcopal bishop who is based in Houston, TX. Two additional ordinariates are located in the United Kingdom (Our Lady of Walsingham) and Australia (Our Lady of the Southern Cross).