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, September 29, 2011

Anglicanorum "Unfolds Before Us": In Fort Worth, a US First

Two years since Anglicanorum coetibus, they say the day is coming soon -- the release of the CDF decree establishing a Stateside jurisdiction for groups of Anglicans entering full communion with Rome, bringing with them distinctive elements of their lifelong patrimony of faith.

Yet even without the formal starting-gun, the groundbreaking B16 venture has already begun taking root on these shores, reaching a new level of its ramp-up last weekend.

At a Sunday Mass in Fort Worth, some 30 former Episcopalians became the first US group to enter the Catholic fold in preparation for the American Ordinariate's launch. Fourteen months since beginning their catechesis, the group's Professions of Faith, Confirmations and First Eucharists in St Patrick's Cathedral took place four years after four priests of North Texas' Episcopal diocese met privately with Bishop Kevin Vann to investigate the possibility of swimming the Tiber...

Read the rest at Rocco Palmo's Whispers in the Loggia.

Hat tip to Fr. Phillips writing at The Anglo-Catholic blog.
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