Ordinariate Festival Australia - a participant reports to The Messenger.Journal

THOSE interested in the Ordinariate for Australia met at St. Stephen’s College at Coomera on the Gold Coast, a school affiliated with the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, on the invitation of the hosts Bishop Peter Elliott, Delegate of the Holy See for the Australian Ordinariate and Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion. While I was there only for the first two days it was a wonderful time of discovery, talking and listening, to each other and to the Bp. Elliott. There were people from the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Anglican Catholic Church, Church of the Torres Strait, and the Ukrainian Catholic Church, as well as others.

The festival started with a Mass of the Holy Spirit according to the usage of the ACCA of which Archbishop Hepworth was the celebrant. Perhaps the unique aspect of this was the two Catholic Bishops seated in the front pew, Bp. Elliott, Apostolic Delegate and Bp. Jarrett, Bishop of Lismore, as well as Fr John Fleming, and several catholic laymen and women. The next day was Candlemass and this was a Catholic concelebration by Bp. Jarrett (the celebrant), Bp. Elliott, and Fr. Fleming. The singing was wonderful on both occasions and one could feel the movement of the Holy Spirit over each and every one that was there. Yet there was brokenness and isolation as we are not yet one, but the festival such as this, is the necessary step in healing the divisions of the past, and taking seriously Our Lord command, that the Church become one.

Sharing our stories, listening to each other, and being there as the unfolding the Ordinariate takes place, was a central theme of the conference. Perhaps the most eloquent was Bp. Elliott who spoke, on day two, of the way that the Ordinariate may unfold in Australia...

Read the rest of this report on the Traditional Anglican Communion's official The Messenger web site.

Hat tip to Br. Stephen Treat at the Anglo-Catholic blog.