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

Thursday, January 6, 2011

The ordinariate is happening, at an unprecedented pace

The speed of the operation is possible because of the Pope’s personal knowledge of those involved
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
By WILLIAM ODDIE


Three former Anglican bishops were received into full communion with the
Catholic Church at Westminster Cathedral (Mazur/catholicchurch.org.uk)


The English ordinariate, it seems, will be well on its way by the middle of this month. Three former Anglican bishops were received into full communion with the Catholic Church during a Mass at Westminster Cathedral on January 1. One of the comments following the Herald online report, noting that they were received in secular clothing, opines that “For Bishops to wear ties is simply saintly and to lose all that prestige they once held is stunning to the mind of a Catholic Bishop”.

Well, indeed. But I think that their former prestige is the least important aspect of what they are giving up: they are abandoning certainty and recognition within an established institution, for uncertainty within an institution – the ordinariate – that doesn’t even exist yet. What this shows is an absolute faith in the Catholic Church of which it will be a part, especially as it is embodied by the present Holy Father...

Read the rest at the web site of The Catholic Herald.

Hat tip to Fr. Phillips writing on the Anglo-Catholic blog.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

1 comment:

  1. EdwinJanuary 6, 2011 at 6:35 AM

    Dates for my recycling are now out: Priesting March 5, 2.30pm in Portsmouth Cathedral. I believe Bishop David Silk also is progressing at speed.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)