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 27, 2012

The Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth experiences Christian Unity with the the Pastoral Provision and the Anglican Ordinariate


Our Shepherd Speaks
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
One of the blessings about the life of Faith here in the Diocese of Fort Worth, especially with an eye to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, has been the lived experience of the Pastoral Provision and the recent announcement of the establishment of the "Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter" on January 2, 2012 at Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston,Texas.AsIsaidatthenewsconference, both are, I believe complementary, yet distinct expressions of the Lord's will that "all may be one." They are first ecclesial movements toward something — full communion with the See of Peter — and not away from something...

Read the rest of Bishop Vann's column in the February issue of North Texas Catholic, beginning on page 2.
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