The first principle of the Ordinariate is then about Christian unity. St. Basil the Great, the Church’s greatest ecumenist, literally expended his life on the work of building bridges between orthodox brethren who shared a common faith, but who had become separated from one another in a Church badly fragmented by heresy and controversy. He taught that the work of Christian unity requires deliberate and ceaseless effort...St. Basil often talked with yearning about the archaia agape, the ancient love of the apostolic community, so rarely seen in the Church of his day. This love, he taught, is a visible sign that the Holy Spirit is indeed present and active, and it is absolutely essential for the health of the Church.

- Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, Homily on the Occasion of his Formal Institution as Ordinary

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Vatican opens its doors to married Anglican clergy

November 10, 2009
by Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent


The Pope has made it as easy as possible for traditional and “continuing” Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholicism while retaining key elements of their ecclesiastical heritage.

The eagerly awaited Apostolic Constitution, published by the Vatican yesterday, will enable hundreds of thousands of disaffected Anglicans to become Catholics.

Married Anglican clergy will be allowed to train for the priesthood in seminaries set up within the new Anglican Ordinariates — as long as their marital state is not “irregular”. The constitution states that the admission of married men will be considered “on a case-by-case basis”...

Read the rest on The TimesOnline.

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