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

Friday, January 7, 2011

The Church in Australia in 2011

From the pages of The Australian, a long article on the Catholic Church in that country and events that will be occurring in 2011, including the launching of the U.S.-conceived "Catholics Come Home" and the introduction of the new English translation of the Roman Missal of 2002. At the end of the article we read the following:
One group that is happy with the new translation is the Traditional Anglican Communion, which will become part of the Catholic Church in Australia at Easter or Pentecost through the new Anglican Ordinariate. But while the translation is closer to the traditional Anglican liturgies favoured by the TAC, Anglican parishes joining the ordinariate will be keeping their own liturgies and pastoral traditions.

World TAC primate archbishop John Hepworth is one of four Australian bishops who will be joining the ordinariate, along with about 20 priests. He said that after years of the TAC serving as a "field hospital for those damaged in the Anglican wars" over women priests and church doctrines, it was ironic that "the new protector of classical Anglicanism was the Pope" who had allowed the ordinariate to be established within the Catholic Church.

"His vision, after almost 500 years' separation of the churches is extraordinary. The ordinariate will change the course of church history."


Visit the site of The Australian to read the full article "Church calls the unfaithful home".

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