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, December 1, 2009

Welcoming Anglicans not new for this parish

Nov. 23, 2009
By Joshua J. McElwee
For St. Therese Little Flower Parish here, news of a new process for welcoming Anglicans into the Catholic church is not some distant idea. It’s something parishioners experience every time they come to church. The Vatican last month announced the creation of new ecclesiastical structures to absorb disaffected Anglicans wishing to become Catholics. The structures will allow those Anglicans to hold onto their distinctive spiritual practices, including the ordination of married former Anglican clergy as Catholic priests.
Last year, St. Therese, a small parish, welcomed a group of about 20 converts from a local church in the Anglican tradition. The converts left their former church after a falling out on several fronts. “There were some issues that came up that gave me a definite reason to question whether or not I was attending the right church,” said Cristen Huntz, one of the former Anglicans who converted to Catholicism and is now the parish business manager...

Read the rest at The National Catholic Reporter.

Once again, thanks to Mary Ann.
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