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

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

From Jewish boy to Protestant minister...to Catholic priest

Tuesday June 8, 2010
by Deacon Greg Kandra
What a journey!

It's the first Catholic ordination in one Pennsylvania community -- and it's one for the history books:

St. Joseph's Church in York will be the setting on Saturday for an event sure to go down in local religious history, and perhaps more. Paul Schenck, born into a Jewish family, eventually ordained as a Protestant minister, converting then becoming a Catholic deacon ... plus being married and blessed with many children ... will be ordained a Catholic priest in solemn ceremonies at St. Joseph's on Saturday.

This will be the first-ever Catholic ordination in York, and surely, from a ministerial perspective, concludes an extraordinary spiritual journey from Jew, to Protestant, to Catholic...

Read the whole article at Deacon Kandra's blog The Deacon's Bench, hosted at BeliefNet.
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