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, April 6, 2010

Archbishop Gomez: San Antonio to Los Angeles

Archbishop José Gomez has been appointed as coadjutor bishop of Los Angeles. Roger Cardinal Mahony, Archbishop of Los Angeles, will celebrate his 75th birthday next year, which is the age established in Canon Law for a bishop to tender his resignation. Sometimes bishops are asked to continue to serve beyond this age, but when a coadjutor (i.e., an assisting bishop with right of succession) is appointed, it usually means that the retirement is likely to not be prolonged.

As archbishop ordinary of an archdiocese with an Anglican Use parish, this could be very good news for Catholic-minded Anglicans in California.

Fr. Phillips reports:
Archbishop Jose H. Gomez is headed from the City of St. Anthony to the City of Angels. What this means for the Church in this country I’ll leave for others to speculate. For those of us whose future is in an Ordinariate, it’s very good news indeed.

From the time of his arrival in San Antonio, Archbishop Gomez has shown a great appreciation for the Pastoral Provision, and very recently expressed to me his complete support for the Holy Father’s Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus. The archbishop has made several pastoral visits to us at Our Lady of the Atonement Church, and put in the great effort of learning to celebrate our liturgical use, as a sign of how seriously he takes his responsibility of being our spiritual father-in-God...


Read the rest at The Anglo-Catholic blog.

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