The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;

pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. (Matt 9:37-38)

The newly ordained priests of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in Texas

Almighty God, the giver of all good gifts, who of thy divine
providence hast appointed various orders in thy Church:
Give thy grace, we humbly beseech thee, to all who are
now called to any office and ministry for thy people; and
so fill them with the truth of thy doctrine and clothe them
with holiness of life, that they may faithfully serve before
thee, to the glory of thy great Name and for the benefit of
thy holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth
and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one
God, now and for ever. Amen.

from the Book of Divine Worship

Laying hands on Fr Hunwicke

Only as a presbyter, of course. Fr John Hunwicke was ordained yesterday at the Church of St Aloysius at Oxford, the home of the Oxford Oratory, by Bishop William Kenney, Auxiliary in Birmingham.

Here he is, prostrate during the Litany of the Saints sung by Fr James Bradley:

The Newman Consort sang Palestrina's Missa Papae Marcelli for the Kyrie and Sanctus, and the plainchant Introit, Gradual, Offertory and Communion. At the anointing, they sang Iam non dicam vos servos by Dominique Phinot, and at Communion Byrd's Sacerdotes Domini. The singing was sublime and I was glad that I made the choice to attend in choro since I was able to listen to the music as part of my actuosa participatio. Fr Michael Mary and Brother Martin de Porres were also in choir, along with Fr Edward van den Bergh of the London Oratory. Concelebrants, in addition to priests of the Ordinariate, and priests from the Oratory, included Fr John Saward, Fr Aidan Nichols OP and Fr John Osman

The ceremony showed that the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham can teach many of us something about the Roman Liturgy. Having the propers sung in the proper place is routine for the Ordinariate at sung Masses. May their good example inspire parishes to discover the proper place of sacred music.

After Mass, along with the others present, I received Fr Hunwicke's blessing. I was glad to have made the journey to Oxford for the greater blessing of his priestly ordination which God has granted to the Church and for which many of us have been praying earnestly.

from Fr. Finigan's blog Hermenutic of Continuity.

Maine Catholic convert brings wife, children to priesthood

The Rev. David Affleck, pastor of three churches in York County, is one of two new priests in the state.
By Eric Russell erussell@pressherald.com

When David Affleck was ordained earlier this month as Maine's newest Roman Catholic priest, his wife, Katherine, sat in the pews at Portland's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.

Two of his four grown children were there as well.

Wait, what?

A Catholic priest who's married? With children? That can't be right.

Except it is.

Affleck, 62, of York, is a former Episcopal priest who took advantage of a 1980 papal provision that allows him and others like him to become priests in the Catholic Church.

Only a handful of such ordinations take place in the U.S. each year. In Maine, it's happened just three times in 32 years, and Affleck is the only current convert. One died, and the other has left the church.

"It is indeed rare for a pastoral provision to be sought and granted," Bishop Richard Malone said in a statement. "The Church takes a great deal of time and energy to know that the man in question is truly being called to the priesthood and completely understands the responsibilities and ministry within the Catholic Church."

The trend, however small, is less a reflection of relaxed requirements of the Catholic Church and more a sign that fewer men are joining the priesthood, said Monsignor Michael Henchal, a Catholic priest in Maine for nearly 40 years. Aside from Affleck, only one other priest has been ordained this year. There are now more retired priests in Maine (86) than active priests (69). Affleck is needed.

That's not to diminish his resume. He has a master's degree, a doctorate and more than 15 years of priesthood under his collar. When parishioners of St. Raphael in Kittery, St. Christopher in York or Our Lady of Peace in Berwick see Affleck at the front of their church, reading Scripture and offering Communion, they see a man of distinction and conviction...

Read the full story at The Portland Press Herald.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller.

Fr John Hunwicke ordained on June 27

Here are some photos from Fr. Hunwicke's ordination to the priesthood yesterday at the Oxford Oratory. Additional photos are available here.

Hat tip to Fr. Stephen Smuts.

"The New Evangellization" is the theme for weekend conference for UK Ordinariate

Father James Bradley writes:

Something For The Weekend

This Saturday the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham welcomes Professor Tracey Rowland to lead our thoughts on the New Evangelisation in the thought of Pope Benedict XVI, with a particular attention to the role we have in that important work from our unique place in the life of the Church.

Professor Rowland is the Dean and Permanent Fellow of the John Paul II Institute for Marriage and Family in Melbourne, Australia, and the author of numerous articles and several excellent books (including two works on Pope Benedict XVI). She is an engaging speaker and holds a passion for the New Evangelisation, and also for the Ordinariate project, about which she has spoken previously...

Read the whole post at his blog Thine Own Service.

Ordinariate head wants group to grow, evangelise

By Damir Govorcin
1 July, 2012

Fr Harry Entwistle says his conversion from Anglican to the Catholic faith can’t be explained by anything other than the Holy Spirit’s “wicked sense of humour”.

As the inaugural head of the personal ordinariate of Our Lady of the South­ern Cross, a jurisdiction for former Anglicans in Australia, he said it’s “an awesome responsibility because it means that I have to lay the foundations of the Ordinariate to enable it to grow and flourish and be an evangelistic tool for the Church”.

“Apart from the legalities of erecting the Ordinariate, we’re getting enormous help from the Catholic Bishops Conference to set that up, it does mean with a shortage of few clergy we will have initially we have got to get the message out to others that we exist,” he said...

Read the full story in The Catholic Weekly.

Hat tip to Fr. Stephen Smuts.

Deaconesses in the Anglican Heritage

At Tonus Peregrinus, Vincent Uher recalls another distinctive of Anglican life from the past two centuries, the deaconess. Unlike some offices of the Anglican Church, such as the Parish Clerk and the Archdeacon, which were a heritage received and retained from its Catholic past, the office of deaconess was a restoration of an office that had passed out of church life in the early Medieval period.

Mr. Uher writes:

Many Episcopalians and Anglicans, present and former, still recall with great affection the Deaconesses in their lives. We recall some of them in their distinctive cap or distinctive cross. Some of us recall a Deaconess dressed like a nun in a voluminous black or grey habit. Today some will know them in a distinctive blue cassock with blue cincture. When the Episcopalian Church in the USA decided to ordain women to the diaconate, the Deaconesses all but disappeared. Since 2002 the Order of Deaconesses has been established canonically among the Reformed Episcopalians where the Deaconesses provide many forms of help including performing baptisms when no deacon or priest is available. Deaconesses continue to serve in other parts of the Anglican Communion. The duties of the Deaconess in the various Anglican Churches did indeed vary, but behind all interpretations was a desire for the Deaconess to be in the local church as St. Phoebe was in Sacred Scripture, an idea at the heart of the setting apart of Deaconess Elizabeth Catherine Ferard in the Church of England as the first Deaconess of that Church. Deaconess Isabella Gilmore in the Diocese of Rochester, England explored a different model for the life of the Deaconess that was very influential. And among the many Deaconesses, the first African-American Deaconess in the state of Georgia in the USA is venerated as one of sainted memory: Deaconess Anna E.B. Alexander...

Please visit his site and enjoy not only the history by the photos of notable women who dedicated their lives to the service of Christ and his followers.

Rare father and son priest ordination set for this Saturday

Six former Episcopal priests from the Fort Worth area, including a father and son, will become part of history when they are ordained Catholic priests together on June 30.

The six are part of the first ordination class for the new Catholic Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. Based in Houston, the ordinariate is equivalent to a diocese, but national in scope. It was created earlier this year by Pope Benedict XVI for Anglican groups and clergy in the United States seeking to become Catholic while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage.

Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann will ordain the men as Catholic priests on Saturday, June 30, 9 a.m. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, 2016 Willis Lane, Keller, TX 76248. Msgr. Jeffrey N. Steenson, head of the 0rdinariate, will participate.

And regarding the father and son:

Among those being ordained are Charles Hough, III, and his son, Charles Hough, IV. They will be among a handful of father-son Catholic priests in U.S. history. A special exception has been given for the former Anglican priests who are married to be ordained Catholic priests for the Ordinariate.

Charles Hough, III

Charles Hough, III, 57, of Granbury, was an Episcopal priest for 31 years, including 18 years as Canon to the Ordinary of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth before he stepped down in September 2011 to become Catholic. A graduate of the University of Texas and Nashotah House Seminary in Wisconsin, he was rector of two parishes in the Fort Worth area from 1982 to 1993. He currently leads St. John Vianney Catholic Ordinariate Community, which meets at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church in Granbury, and is online at stjohnvianneycleburne.org. Married for 39 years, he and his wife, Marilyn, have two children and two grandchildren. Their son, Charles IV, also is being ordained.

Charles Hough, IV

Charles Hough, IV, 30, of Keller, was ordained an Episcopal priest in 2007 and was rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church until entering the Catholic Church in June 2011. He is a graduate of Texas A&M and received a Master of Divinity from Nashotah House Seminary. He served on the adult religious education staff at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Keller, Texas and, starting July 1, will be pastor of Our Lady of Walsingham Ordinariate Parish in Houston, Texas. Married for eight years, he and his wife Lindsay have two young sons.

from Deacon Greg Kandra's blog The Deacon's Bench. 

St. Mary of the Angels: The Rest of the Hollywood Story

As most readers will be aware, there has been a very contentious battle going on for St. Mary of the Angels in Los Angeles, California. I did not print stories about this that appeared in the last month because, frankly, I did not deem them credible. A long post appeared on Virtue Online yesterday which offered a different perspective, and I feel it offers some very valuable information by referring directly to important documents from the current leadership of the Anglican Church of America (ACA) which give the lie to certain claims being made now by that same leadership. Unfortunately, as has happened in other continuing church communities, some leaders have decided that they don't dislike the Episcopal Church's (TEC) ecclesiology at all; they are just as ready to use the civil courts to sue parishes that want to go a different way and to alienate their property as TEC is. This was the genesis of the Anglican Use community of Our Lady of Hope in Kansas City by a different continuing jurisdiction, and it seems to be the case here in the ACA as well.

St. Mary of the Angels: The Rest of the Hollywood Story

OPINION

By Martha Eischen
www.virtueonline.org
June 25, 2012

"For God is not a God of confusion, but a God of peace." I Corinthians 14:33

Many wild accusations and pronouncements have been swirling around about St. Mary of the Angels, Hollywood, CA, and especially its rector, Fr Christopher Kelley. It has been anything but peaceful in Hollywood. The following sentence from "An Open Appeal to Bishop Marsh," by the Rev Lawrence B. Wheeler, Holy Cross, Honolulu, sums it up rather accurately:

"The people of St. Mary's, Hollywood are now suffering greatly from the wounds of division. The congregation has been polarized over the issue of their transition into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter and Fr. Kelley's leadership in that direction."

An attorney involved in the case said, "It is a complicated legal situation."

Actually it's not at all complicated. Two very opposing parties actually came together for two very different reasons to support the chaotic upheaval of this well-heeled parish of true believers, led by a very humble, godly priest, to advance their disparate, but parallel, agendas. Each of the parties sought, by any means, to upset both the course of the parish into the Ordinariate and the path to ordination and continued leadership of the rector. Strange bedfellows they were. Personal ambition and the lust for possession of the good land.

The end, which is still unfolding, voices have spoken above the din of the claims. In the end, who has the authority to restore the flock, with its shepherd, thatshepherd that it may safely graze? In the end, does the continued existence of the Patrimony of the Primate, to which St Mary's clearly belonged, even matter? Did it affect the status of St Mary's today?

Hoping to capitalize on the court order of June 13, 2012, in which the judge of the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, made a statement that judicial interference in a dispute within a hierarchical religious organization was unconstitutional, Bishop Brian Marsh, as presiding bishop of the Anglican Church in America (ACA), seized the opportunity to make his categorical claim that "as the highest liturgical and religious authority in the ACA" he was advising the Los Angeles Police Department that "Fr Kelley is not the rector at St Mary's and he has had no authority under the ACA to perform or act in any way as a priest there or to be on the premises since April 2, 2012."

But the judge's statement gave Bishop Marsh no such permission. In fact, she simply turns back the questions to the two equal parties in the dispute. Judge Ann I. Jones, concluded the following:

This case clearly presents a dispute within a hierarchical religious organization as to whether the Church has followed its own procedures, i.e., whether the Patrimony of the Primate was properly dissolved or continues to exist. This court would be acting unconstitutionally were it to interject itself into that controversy... Moreover, even if it were not to decide that judicial interference in this matter is unconstitutional, the Court would still deny the Preliminary Injunction on equitable grounds. ACA's own personnel have repeatedly represented to parishes - after January 1, 2012 (the date on which Plaintiffs claim that the Patrimony dissolved),that, that they simply need to make a decision regarding their future jurisdiction, and that those parishes that wished to enter the Ordinariate would simply need to apply and that the parish's acceptance would be "no big deal." Sometime thereafter, as evidenced by this lawsuit, leaving the ACA became a very big deal and defendant's reasonable reliance to its detriment to proceed under the ACA's own stated processes estops the Plaintiffs from changing the rules at this juncture. He who seeks equity must do equity. That has not happened in this case.

From the trail of minutes and documents of the ACA itself, it is very clear, not at all complicated, that the ACA has no authority, jurisdiction or oversight in the ministry, fellowship, and decision-making of the Church of St Mary of the Angels, Hollywood...

There is much more, and I urge those who have an interest in this to read the full post at VOL and to keep the people of St. Mary's in prayer -- they have suffered too many times at the hands of career ecclesiastics.

Hat tip to Fr. Stephen Smuts.

Homily by Cardinal Wuerl at Ordination Mass of June 23, 2012

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter has posted the homily given by Archbishop Donald Cardinal Wuerl at the Saturday ordination of Frs. Mark Lewis, Ed Meeks and Rick Kramer. Of note in the Cardinal's homily is the following:

Reunion between Anglicans and Roman Catholics has been the goal of ecumenical dialogues which were inaugurated in 1966 by Pope Paul VI and Archbishop of Canterbury Michael Ramsey. Today we see the first fruits of these efforts with this ordination.

I would like to share with you this morning these few thoughts on what is happening — the ordination to the priesthood of these three men; why it is happening — why we have the sacrament of orders and the ministerial priesthood, and where the priesthood will be lived today – the context of our ordination, this new moment in the life of the Church...

Today our celebration is a visible sign of the communion of faith spread throughout the whole world and how it is anchored in Rome, where Peter lives now, bearing the name Benedict XVI.

But there is a wider cultural context for your ministry today. You are priests of the New Evangelization. All around you are those for whom the Gospel has lost its savor. Your ministry will be to those who were too often taught that their Catholic faith and its life-giving message is an option. To them you are sent today. As Jesus commissions you: “You will be my witnesses.”

You are the priests who will re-propose Christ as the answer to a world staggering under the weight of so many unanswered questions of the heart. There is even more in answer to the question, “Where do you exercise your ministry?” We are called to be priests in the circumstances of our day with all of its challenges.

In his January 19, 2012 talk to the bishops of Region IV, our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, spoke of another challenge – one connected with and flowing out of the need for a New Evangelization – the call to defend religious freedom.

In that talk I was privileged to hear in person and which I gave to each priest, deacon and seminarian at the Chrism Mass, our Holy Father taught us:

“Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion...the seriousness of these threats needs to be clearly appreciated at every level of ecclesial life.”

You are being ordained for a Church whose roots go centuries back into the past, whose ministry is exercised in the present and who continually looks forward to the future and the realization of the kingdom. Neither nostalgia for past moments, nor anticipation of future glory should distract us from the reality of the now.
Accept for yourself Saint Paul’s advice to Timothy whom he ordained and sent to serve, “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word and with the imposition of hands...” Always rejoice in the gift of grace you have just received and let your gladness and joy be apparent and generous.

Read the whole homily at the site of the US Ordinariate.

The Vocation of the Laity

In a post that is principally concerned with the Anglican Church in England and Wales, Fr. Michael Gollop, SSC, in his post "An age of disarray and shifting allegiances" writes a warning that it is important for all of us to keep in mind about the proper role of the laity (for fuller teaching on the same topic, read Vatican II's Apostolicam actuositatem and Blessed Pope John Paul II's Christifideles laici).

...

I do take issue, however, with those in authority who now maintain that the lay people who are not now in some way involved in running parishes, those who 'merely' come to church to receive the Sacraments, should somehow all be shamed into becoming, again if you forgive the term, 'religious activists.' If Christians are to act as a leaven in the world, does everyone need to hold down an ecclesial 'job' of some kind merely to keep a failing system on the road? 

Being present at mass and receiving the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament on a Sunday and spending the rest of the week in employment and / or with one's family is a valid and valuable Christian vocation, too - perhaps the most valuable of all in a secularised, faith-averse culture where the 'professional' voices of the Church are less and less heeded. 

No one has to be 'dignified' with the title of one active lay 'ministry' or another to be fulfilling his or her baptismal vocation and faithfully following Christ, yet that is what we seem to have come to expect...

Read the full post on Fr. Gollop's blog Let Nothing You Dismay.

Anglican parish in Towson switches to Catholicism

Christ the King is the largest Anglican church in the U.S. to make the switch

By Jamie Smith Hopkins, The Baltimore Sun

Msgr Steenson anointing one of the members of Christ the King parish


The Rev. Edward Meeks and his flock attended to a "million and one details" last week in the run-up to a momentous day for their church. People to talk to. Flowers to arrange. Food to cook. And, of course, the new sign.

On Sunday, Christ the King Church — Anglican — became Christ the King Catholic Church.

The Towson congregation of about 140 is one of the first groups in the United States to join a new "ordinariate" established for those who want to be Catholic but hold on to Anglican traditions. The largest Anglican church in the country to do so, it follows in the footsteps of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore and St. Luke's Parish in Bladensburg...

Read the rest of the story in The Baltimore Sun.

Hat tip to the Personal Ordinariate's Facebook page

Reception Mass for Towson congregation of Christ the King

from the Facebook page of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter:

Mass to receive 120 parishioners at Christ the King in Towson, MD [earlier today] with Msgr. Steenson, Fr. Hurd & Fr. Ed Meeks, pastor. This is the 3rd Maryland parish & largest Anglican community to join the Ordinariate nationally.

Another Ordination for the US Ordinariate

Former Charismatic Episcopal bishop Randy Sly is ordained on June 23rd to the Catholic priesthood by Arlington, Virginia Bishop Paul S. Loverde at Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church in Potomac Falls, Maryland. Father Sly is Associate Editor for Catholic Online (www.catholic.org) and CEO for the Catholic Online Virginia Edition - North. Father Sly was ordained for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

DC Ordinations for the Ordinariate

Monsignor Steenson is shown with three newly ordained priests for the Ordinariate in the D.C. area along with "veterans" from Baltimore ordained earlier in June.

From left to right: Rev. Rick Kramer, Rev. Anthony Vidal, Rev. Ed Meeks, Msgr. Steenson, Rev. Jason Catania, Rev Mark Lewis.

Photo from the Facebook page of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Ordination and first Masses of John Hunwicke

from the Hermeneutic of Continuity blog.



Many of us have been looking forward eagerly to John Hunwicke's priestly ordination. Deo gratias this will be taking place next week on Wednesday 27 June at 7pm at the Oxford Oratory. I will be assisting at the Mass and one or two of my parishioners are going. Everyone is welcome so if you are in the area, do come.

Here, from Fr Hunwicke's Liturgical Notes is a further announcement:

Please come ... if you are able ... to the event mentioned in the previous post, in Oxford this coming Wednesday, June 27.

I ALSO ANNOUNCE that, Deo volente, I plan to celebrate

First Mass in the Extraordinary Form; London at the Brompton Oratory.
Low Mass, Thursday June 28, 11.30; by kind permission of the Provost.

First Mass in the Ordinary Form; Oxford in the Church of the Holy Rood.
Solemn Vigil Mass of Sunday, Saturday June 30, 6.00, by kind permission of Fr Paul King and Mgr Andrew Burnham. I plan also to preach.

Please! I would love to see as many friends, whether or not we have met in the flesh, as possible.

By the way (and I was corrected on this myself by a friend of Fr Hunwicke) if you have only so far met him virtually, the name is pronounced "Hunnick", the w being silent.

Update from St. Edmund's, Cambridge, Ontario

The latest Update of St Edmund's Sodality in Cambridge, Ontario writes:

Our community in Vancouver (St. Peter and St. Paul) is being received into the Catholic Church on June 30 by the Archbishop of Vancouver. Congratulations!

STEALS ON THE EAR THE DISTANT TRIUMPH SONG

For our first retreat we were welcomed by our mentor priest, Fr Bruce McAllister, at Westminster Abbey (near Vancouver). Our group is a baker's dozen plus one, stretching all the way from Phoebe, 4 years old, to two or three in their seventies. The monastery has ensuite apartments and we were the guests of Archbishop Michael. Abigail and Phoebe watched with amazement as a pullout sofa bed was revealed. They screeched with delight as it marched across the room and gave it the ultimate accolade: "COOL".
Our mentor priest gave us a heart-felt welcome. There would be several sessions. We would be experiencing the monastic life of the Abbey, and later we would be visiting the Poor Clares. In another talk he explained that in the Ordinariate our baptismal rite would be conformed to Catholic practice with the anointing with the oil of catechumens and the anointing with sacred chrism added to the text. (Anglicans sometimes anoint at Baptism, though it is not actually in the prayer book.) Then in another session we learnt that at our reception at Holy Rosary Cathedral on the 30th of June we would be presented by our Catholic sponsors, we would be wearing the customary red robes, we would sing Gregorian chant and there would be communion in both kinds...

Our second weekend at Westminster Abbey began late on Friday with everyone making their confession. It was very heartening. We all slept peacefully till 6 AM when we were 'donged' back into life by the 10 Abbey Bells (purchased many years ago from the Whitechapel foundry in the East end of London).
The morning was taken up with the Papal Primacy. Archbishop Michael addressed us and fielded questions. Although there is not much about the papacy in the Catechism, the role of the Papacy is enormous...

We followed this session with a visit to the Poor Clares just down the hill from the monastery. Fr McAllister's wife Linda joined us. We attended their office and had a good discussion. The following day was Sunday and the Abbey kept the feast of Corpus Christi. After the mass there was Exposition till Benediction at 5 PM. We left grateful for two happy weekends, and thankful to the Archbishop, to Fr McAllister, to the Fr Abbot and to Fr Mark, the guestmaster and to the cook!.

By Michael Shier

FORMER BISHOPS HONOURED BY POPE BENEDICT XVI

Pope Benedict XVI has elevated three priests of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness (Monsignor).

Monsignor Edwin Barnes, Monsignor Robert Mercer, and Monsignor David Silk, have all received the honour from the Holy Father, recognising their former ministry as Anglican bishops.

Mgr Barnes and Mgr Silk were received and ordained via the Personal Ordinariate in 2011, whilst Mgr Mercer was received and ordained in 2012.

The Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, said “By establishing Personal Ordinariates, Pope Benedict is seeking to be generous in making provision for those Anglicans who wish to come into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In every possible way he has sought to recognise the fruitful Anglican ministry which we undertook before entering the Catholic Church; this honour for these three distinguished men is a further sign of our Holy Father’s love and warmth toward this project”.

The announcement was made on Thursday morning as the clergy and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham met for their summer plenary at Allen Hall, the diocesan seminary of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

from the website of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

ORDINATIONS NEXT WEEK (IN CANADA!)

Lee Kenyon and John Wright will be ordained Deacon
on Thursday 28th June at 10.00 a.m.
at St John the Evangelist, Calgary

They will be ordained Priest
on Saturday 30th June at 11.00 a.m.
at St Mary’s Cathedral, Calgary

The Bishop of Calgary, The Most Revd Frederick Henry
will ordain Lee and John
for service in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter

Fr Kenyon’s First Mass will be on Dominion Day
Sunday 1st July at 10.00 a.m.

Your presence and prayers are requested at all these Masses.

http://www.calgaryordinariate.com/

Hat tip to Br. Charles Gillman, OSB.

Anglicanorum Coetibus in Action

A Traditional Catholic in Iowa reports:

I received the following correspondence from Deacon Chori Seraiah yesterday. I have been given permission to pass this along. I have my own thoughts to follow!

Please check his blog at: The Maccabean

Andy,

I wanted to let you know that both Bp. Pates and Msgr. Steenson have encouraged me to begin working to form an Ordinariate community here in the Des Moines area. If St. Aidan's eventually chooses to join, we will just merge the two together, but for the time being, we can begin meeting as soon as we have just a few people who are interested. Feel free to get the word out to whomever you wish.

Also, I will be saying my first couple of Masses (Anglican Use) at St. Anthony's on Monday, July 9th at 10:00am, and Tuesday, July 10th at 6:00pm. All are invited to this as well (and it may be a good introduction for folks who are curious about an Ordinariate community).

In Christ,Chori Jonathin Seraiah

I cannot express to you how many prayers are being answered. I know that God works in his own time, but this is providential.

The voice of the Anglican Patrimony...

is being added to the chorus of praise that is the Church Catholic. This ingathering of the Anglican faithful is a gift to be celebrated by all.

God wills that we sing his praise, but we will not be able to sing that praise as it was meant to be sung until the voices of all God's scattered flock are brought into one under one shepherd. I was reminded of this at Mass this morning, as a visiting bishop from Ethiopia gave communion to the Vietnamese sister who is staying with the order of Lithuanian nuns near my house here in Brockton, Massachusetts.

Archbishop Ireland

Mr. Uher reflects on a sad chapter in the history of the Church in the U.S.A. by way of warning that it not be repeated.

Those among the Catholic bishops who are currently inclined to thwart or stop the Personal Ordinariates arising from Anglicanorum coetibus would do well to consider the legacy of Archbishop Ireland of Minnesota, or like him they may wind up reviled and on the wrong side of history. Archbishop Ireland has his defenders citing several things, but violating Church Law and causing a schism eclipses everything else.  He was not alone among the Irish Catholic clergy to greet the Greek Catholics with contempt bordering upon hate, but he is remembered as the very worst.  Who wants to be seen in his company?

Archbishop Ireland is personally responsible for the biggest schism in Catholicism in the USA.  His poor decisions and belligerence with regard to the Greek Catholics, his violation of the Law of the Church that went unchallenged, all of these issues sent large numbers of Eastern Greek Catholics into the Orthodox Church where they contributed significantly to the birth of the Orthodox Church of America.  In fact, with tongue planted firmly in cheek Archbishop Ireland is called "the Father of the Orthodox Church of America".

The US bishops had sought and received from Rome a prohibition on married priests serving among or being ordained to serve  the Eastern Catholics in the USA.  They were wrong, and for their error the bishops have had to apologise in our time.   During the "Russian Greek Catholic Schism" the US Latin-rite Catholic bishops stood with Archbishop Ireland in his attack on the legitimate Canonical rights of the Greek Catholics.  They were wrong to do so.  They learned nothing from the experience, and later another 100,000 Greek Catholics would leave for the Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of Constantinople.  Similar situations obtained in Canada...

Has the Church not learned from the Portuguese disaster in India? from the Greek Catholic exodus in North America?  Will we really find Anglicanorum coetibus thwarted and blunted at every turn leading those who had wished to be loyal sons and daughters of the Church to make a telephone call to the Polish National Catholics or the Antiochian Orthodox for a chat?  Please, Lord God, let everyone wake up to receive the gift they are being given through Anglicanorum coetibus.  May they listen to the aspirations of the new clergy and laity and help them realise their goals so they can enter the mission field that is their own nation fully furnished with what they need to be that part of the Church that cherishes and makes use of the Anglican Patrimony.

Read the full post at Tonus Peregrinus.

Are there are bishops in the U.S., U.K. or Autstralia attempting to thwart the will of the Holy Father as expressed in Anglicanorum coetibus? I have seen no proof of this, but it is certainlly a possibility, given the way that Pope John Paul II's Ecclesia Dei was flat out rejected by many in the episcopate, and the way Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum has been resisted by too many. A few years ago I wrote an article on the history of the Latin-rite bishops' relationships with the Eastern Catholics in the U.S. and also with the Polish Catholics. That article, Whither the Anglican Use? is available on the AUS site on the Anglican Embers page. It reviews the same history Mr. Uher refers to in his piece. My conclusion was that a canonical solution was needed to protect the Anglican Use parishes, and while I was not imaginative enough to come up with the idea of a Personal Ordinariate, the world was fortunate that the Lord saw fit to put someone with more imagination in charge! I have rejoiced to see Anglicanorum coetibus first announced and then implemented, because I felt it would give the legal protection needed. But it is also true, as Mr. Uher implies, that it is not enough to have the law on your side; you must use the law and the avenues it provides to defend and vindicate the rights that law establishes.

New Home for Springfield, Missouri Anglican Use group

Shane Schatzel reports via Facebook

The St. Augustine of Canterbury Society will be relocating to Immaculate Conception Church at 3555 South Fremont in Springfield Missouri.

We will henceforth be called the ANGLICAN ORDINARIATE FELLOWSHIP.

Our new meeting time will be SATURDAYS at 7:30 PM. in the prayer chapel which is behind the main chapel. This new chapel has direct access to the blessed sacrament in the tabernacle so we will begin genuflecting instead of bowing as we did previously in the SEAS chapel.

These changes will be effective July 7, 2012.

On an Ordinariate Catechism...

While it is understood that the Catechism of the Catholic Church is the standard for the Ordinariates, the Catechism itself is designed as a source for producing particular catechisms. With that in mind I point you to two considerations of this.

From Vincent Uher's Tonus Peregrinus, writing about a text of Percy Dearmer:

I hope in due course the Ordinariates together with the Anglican Use parishes will produce a new particular Catechism with Services of Instruction like those with which we were once familiar. Of course, they would need to be adapted properly to our Catholic life. It would be an excellent way to bring quotes from the Anglican worthies to bear upon questions of the faith by way of footnote or direct quotation in the text...

see "Percy Dearmer Speaks".

In the September 2011 Holy Cross embertide issue of Anglican Embers, we published an article about devising an Ordinariate-specific Catechism. You can read author Hugo Mendez's thoughts at "An Ordinariate Catechism: Prospects and Possibilities" on the Anglican Embers page of the Anglican Use Society's web site.

Towson service will bring Christ the King Anglican parishioners into Catholic Church

Rector to be ordained Catholic at ceremony in Washington


Staff Reports
3:16 p.m. EDT, June 18, 2012

A Towson area church will make a faithful transition this weekend as its rector is ordained — and its congregation confirmed — into the Catholic Church.

Anglican priest Father Edward Meeks — of the Christ the King Anglican Parish in Towson — will be ordained a Catholic priest by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, on June 23, during a ceremony in Washington D.C.

The next day, Sunday, June 24, some 120 of Meek's parishioners are expected to be received into the Catholic Church during a Mass of Confirmation and Reception at Christ the King, located at 1102 Hart Road.

Meeks is part of the first ordination class in history for the new Catholic Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

Equivalent to a diocese, but national in scope, the U.S.-based ordinariate was created earlier this year by Pope Benedict XVI, specifically for Anglican groups and clergy seeking to become Catholic — while still retaining elements of their Anglican heritage...

Read the rest at the web site of the Baltimore Sun.

A Question of Collaboration

Vincent Uher wonders:

Why did the USA not benefit from the kind of name accorded to the UK in the establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham?

Clearly, the English, Anglican, and Catholic convergence in the UK was recognised around its most central apparition of Our Lady at Walsingham as the most appropriate name for the Ordinariate under the patronage of that most famous convert Blessed John Henry Newman. Deo gratias!

Was there nothing similar in the USA? Does the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter resonate with anyone as uniquely expressive of the American Anglican experience being welcomed into the Church? I entered the Church on the feast of the Chair of St. Peter so that has meaning to me. And communion with the Chair of St. Peter has been a most important aspiration over the years.

The name is majestic and wonderful, but does it speak to the American Anglican experience and the long held desire for corporate reunion with Rome? Of course, it does, and in that respect it is successful. But it could be just as true in Australia or South Africa or elsewhere. Unfortunately, there is no explanation of how this name was chosen, but it is said that it came to be chosen without any consulation of the Anglican Use parishes, clergy, and people. How very sad if true.

I am long on record that I had hoped the Ordinariates around the world would all be called Ordinariates of Our Lady of Walsingham. We would have been able to set down the difficult appellation "Anglican", and we could have been called "Walsingham Catholics" as a kind of short-hand the world over.

I also held a second opinion that if each were to be different bearing something of national character then Father Paul Wattson and Mother Lurana had clearly pointed the way for us. I have no doubt that the 'Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Atonement' would have been the best choice. For those who do not know, Fr. Paul and Mother Lurana were Episcopalians and their communities came into the Catholic Church with a devotion to Our Lady of the Atonement for the sake of Christian Unity. This devotion was embraced by the Catholic Church and the Pope himself embraced the devotion and honoured it.

Does it make a difference? I think so. How much more appropriate would the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Atonement under the patronage of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton be in comparison to what was chosen. St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was of course a convert from the Episcopal Church, and it is her major relic that is in the High Altar of the gorgeous Our Lady of Walsingham Church in Houston, Texas which over many years was my home parish.

Of course, no one asked. So how could I or any others have made representation to authorities of our hopes or aspirations regarding a name or anything else? No the generosity and openness of Pope Benedict XVI in Anglicanorum coetibus was met with a brotherhood of absolute secrecy worthy of Freemasons in the establishment of the U.S. Ordinariate.

If the way the U.S. Ordinariate began shrouded in secrecy is to be the norm, then a key element of the Anglican patrimony is to be left behind. Collaboration cannot be reduced to a few folks gathered together in an unnecessarily secretive liturgical committee or particular Working Group. None of this is the Manhattan Project.

This post is actually meant to undergird this simple plea: that those to be affected by decisions be invited to collaborate prior to the final judgements being rendered. Our Anglican background has taught us well how to do this, and it does not mean that we are putting anything to a vote. But now without the sort of vote that Anglicans once held in synod and on council, surely collaboration and investigation of the laity's aspirations and ideas prior to delivering decisions is the wisest course of action to ensure that there are no unnecessary troubles along the way.

Do visit his blog Tonus Peregrinus. Mr Uher is well worth the read, and I am very happy to see him writing more often these days.

I won't disagree with his conclusion that there should be widespread consultation with the faithful by the pastors of the Church. I believe Blessed JH Newman thought the same, and that should be enough to recommend the idea.

But regarding the name for the North American Ordinariate, I have to say that I am surprised that Mr. Uher doesn't see the rationale for the name of the Ordinariate. While the feast of Our Lady of the Atonement was indeed ratified by Rome (in 1946), and I am very happy to see it on the Ordinariate Calendar, there was another liturgical celebration begun by Fr. Paul of Greymoor that won ratification by Rome even earlier than OLA...the Chair of Unity Octave, now usually known as the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

It was Fr. Paul's and Mother Lurana's insight that there could be no unity among Christians without communion with Peter, and thus the Octave in January from the feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Rome to the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul. (Of course, the modern Roman calendar combined the January 18th feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Rome with the February 22nd feast of the Chair of St. Peter in Antioch into one feast, but the Octave remains in January. Letting the editors at Reader's Digest revise the calendar is another reason to be glad that the Anglican Missal tradition and the promoters of the 1962 Roman Missal kept the old Calendar in play; else how would we know why we start that Octave of Prayer when we do?) Couldn't the origin of the Unity Octave be the rationale for the selection of this name for the Ordinariate in the US?

On a related, if tangential note, in the most recent issue of the Anglican Use Society's publication Anglican Embers, the propers for the feast of Our Lady of the Atonement have been published, set to psalm tones after the manner of the Anglican Use Gradual. You may download the propers for the feast at the Embers page.

Oh, the Coverdale Psalter...

Another entry from Mr. Uher, and my commentary.

Everyone says they love the Coverdale Psalter, the grace of its language, its majestic tone. Most people have never used Coverdale's Psalter exactly as he wrote it, but rather we have worshipped with it via various recensions and twigglings over the years.

The American recension of 1928 is to my mind one of the very best. It does have single problems with the elimination of the word "Satan". A closer reading of the Vulgate and Septuaginta also has suggested worthy corrections.

Currently, the best version I have encountered is in The St. Dunstan's Plainsong Psalter published by Lancelot Andrewes Press -- a press of the Western Rite Orthodox who are also of the Anglican Patrimony, my friends. Frankly, I recommend the adoption of this Plainsong Psalter as it is. It is a wise revised edition of Canon Douglas' great Plainsong Psalter. It includes Sarum tones and other ancient British tones. Its version of the Coverdale Psalter restores some things got wrong in the American 1928 recension, and it makes other slight alterations that make the text sing doubly in the mouth of a worshipper.

This press, Lancelot Andrewes Press, is one of the reasons to cheer among the Anglican diaspora. They have brought Dr. Neale's commentary on the psalter back into print. Deo gratias! They have published a gorgeous Western Orthodox edition of The Book of Common Prayer. They have made Lancelot Andrewes great prayers available in a beautiful edition. And the version of the Rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English sold by them is the one I use...

Read the rest of Mr. Uher's post at Tonus Peregrinus

I want to second Mr. Uher's recommendation of the St. Dunstan Plainsong Psalter. I have been using this for my personal singing of the office for about 2 years now, and included it for illustration in my lectures on Gregorian and Anglican chant at the summer sessions at Thomas More College in 2010 and 2011. I have a hard cover version, but there is also a soft cover version (not a paperback) now available as well. The notes are also quite valuable.

In a future Office Book for the Ordinariates, it would be good if this noted psalter could be included.

In addition to the Coverdale Psalter, the SDPP also has several settings of the Benedictus, Te Deum, Magnificat, Nunc Dimmittis and other canticles appointed in the Prayer Book that can be used to good effect in a sung Office. See below for an example.

New Evangelisation & Church Planting

From the blog of Vincent Uher comes this reflection on the November conference of the Anglican Use Society.

The Anglican Use Society, which predates the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, will be having its 2012 Conference around the theme of the New Evangelisation of Blessed Pope John Paul II.

Wonderful news! But remember a New Evangelisation Conference does not a missionary make. But with the proper catechetical instruction and reference points in the New Evangelisation of Blessed Pope John Paul II you will have the most fertile intellectual ground from which to develop your local mission strategies. I hope the Ordinariate would develop a common mission strategy. A consideration may be that perhaps because you are scattered all across North America in relatively small groups the really important task is to develop your local mission strategy in concert with the Church's invitation to the New Evangelisation rather than a directive from the Ordinariate itself.

Papers will be given by most excellent speakers at the Conference relating to the New Evangelisation and the Anglican experience, and some issues will be explored in a presentation by Fr. Scott Hurd, the Vicar General of the Ordinariate, and Mr. Marlon de la Torre of the Pastoral Provision Office in Fort Worth, Texas that I think will be very key: "Pastoral Considerations and Future Directions in the Pastoral Provision and in the Ordinariate". One would hope that a common mission strategy could be developed for both the Pastoral Provision parishes and clergy and the Ordinariate... but there is a great danger if it is simply a strategy delivered from on high, top down. The great chance you have is to collaborate as clergy and laity in the whole process because your numbers are so small that you could all gather in one Great Conference ... even by satellite uplink technology.

I note in particular that there will be a presentation on financing start-ups and new congregations by C. Denis Green. I sincerely hope many more such informational presentations will be made targeting the particular issues of planting new churches. This will be a very different thing for the Ordinariate than what is normally done in the dioceses of the USA. Because the Ordinariate comes from an Anglican wellspring, I would hope they would look to the whole Boot Camp for Church Planters experiences that are out there in order to tailor one for the Ordinariate's own needs and one for the needs of the Pastoral Provision parishes.

Without the fresh ideas coming from this very successful movement a priest starting a new congregation will be tempted to simply do what he knows from his own experience and what he tries to apply from what he has studied or heard. It can be so much easier than trying to reinvent the wheel. It's been done. So if you are starting up a new Ordinariate congregation, try not to rely on the fact that you are coming from existing congregations with their structures and customs and merely replicate those. Take advantage of the expertise that largely comes from the committed Evanglical part of the Protestant Churches and make it your Catholic own.

Starting a new parish can be the most difficult thing in a priest's life. It can also be the most rewarding. By making use of the Church Planting models, needless stress upon one's wife or children can be avoided. And needless stress and troubles can be avoided for you too by simply learning some of the strategies for growth in the contemporary post-Christian culture as well as strategies for avoiding the pitfalls of parish formation and life.

The Rev. Tom Herrick of Titus Church Planting is one of the best in Church Planting in North America, and as he is an Anglican in North America you will likely find a sympathetic soul prepared to challenge the hell out of you to bring in new souls for the Lord of the harvest. Some of you may well know him from courses he has taught at various venues including Nashotah House. I would hope you would seek out someone like him as you new priests and deacons plant your new communities of Catholics of the Anglican Patrimony.

More established congregations from a TAC background might also consider the model of a "restart" that is found in Church Planting strategies since you are in fact restarting your communities within a new context and now have all of the fulness and beauty of the Catholic Church and your Anglican heritage to offer.

Admittedly, many, many souls will be drawn to your new churches because of the profound reverence and beauty of your liturgies that are so different from the normative Latin rite but are not as big a leap as the Extraordinary Form of the Liturgy. You will be that place just right to worship God and watch the family grow.

I offer these thoughts as a person who has no authority beyond the authority of the Lay State as enunciated in Christifideles laici of Blessed Pope John Paul II ... which in short means I am called to the front lines of the battle for souls sharing in Christ's threefold office as prophet, priest and king. I am not connected to the Ordinariate in anyway except for that I pray for its clergy, religious, and people daily.

Do visit Mr. Uher's blog Tonus Peregrinus where he shares the fruits of his reflections.

Ordination of the Very Reverend Fr Harry Entwistle

16 Jun 2012

Article and Photo by Fr R Cross

The Most Reverend Timothy Costelloe SDB, Archbishop of Perth, ordained to the Priesthood on Friday 15 June in St Mary's Cathedral Perth the Very Reverend Harry Entwistle.

 

Above: Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett, Bishop Peter Elliott, Fr Harry Entwistle, 

Archbishop Timothy Costelloe and Bishop Donald Sproxton

 

Also present at the ordination were Bishop Geoffrey Jarrett of the Lismore Diocese, Bishop Peter Elliot, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, Bishop Donald Sproxton, many clergy of the Archdiocese of Perth as well as family and friends of the newly ordained Fr Entwistle. Traditional Anglican Community Archbishop, the Most Reverend John Hepworth, was also present in the congregation and later expressed his goodwill and support and said he looked forward to the day when the Church would be without division and speak with the one voice of Christ...

Read the rest at the web site of the Perth Archdiocese.

Hat tip to Fr. Smuts.

Renegade Episcopal rector to be ordained Roman Catholic church

By David O'Reilly
Inquirer Staff Writer


Rev David Ousley at Holy Cross Church where
he was ordained on June 16, 2012

The Rev. David Ousley was baptized a Methodist in 1951, was ordained a priest of the Episcopal Church in 1979, and left it in 1999 for the Anglican Church in America.

And on Saturday, this 61-year-old married father of three will make one more ecclesiastical leap: he will be ordained a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in a 11 a.m. Mass at Holy Cross Church in Mount Airy.

He is "swimming the Tiber," as Anglicans call conversion to Catholicism — a reference to the river that runs through Rome — but the white-bearded Ousley will not emerge from his swim on some strange and foreign shore.

Even after he becomes a Catholic priest, he can continue to wear his Anglican collar, lead his flock at Vesper services, warble old hymns like "A Mighty Fortress," and read some of the prayers found in the lectionary that the Church of England has been using since King Henry VIII broke with Rome in the 16th century .

After decades of petitioning and negotiating by conservative Anglicans and Episcopalians, Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 approved a constitution, called Anglicanorum Coetibus, establishing the equivalent of national dioceses for disaffected Anglicans such as Ousley. These ordinariates, as they are called, allow laity and clergy from the Anglican tradition to join the Roman Catholic Church while retaining much of their liturgies, calendar, and traditions — including married priests.

The ordinariate for Britain was created last year, for the United States and Canada in January, and for Australia on Friday. About 60 Anglican priests and 2,000 laypeople are expected to join the North American ordinariate, headed by the Rev. Jeffrey Steenson, a former rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont and a longtime friend of Ousley and his wife, Beth...

Read the full story with much of Fr. Ousley's biography on the web site of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Fr. Smuts muses "And the next Ordinariate?"

The question now mulling around is where (if there is to be any) will the next Ordinariate be erected? What began in the heartland of Anglicanism, in England and Wales on 1 January 2011, as an initiative to unite and bring disaffected Anglicans into the safe fold of the Catholic Church, has spread to the US (and Canada), and as of today, Australia. It’s a logical sort of progression: Extension into lands that were all at one time part of the British Empire, and thus to where the influence of the Church of England reached, and is still well felt to this very day. Anglicans, Continuing Anglicans and Episcopalians are the intent behind the apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus. So followingthe geographic extent of the now worldwide Anglican Communion seems to be key in order for us to stay abreast of the historic narrative unfolding before our eyes. And unfolding it is… Read the whole post and take the poll at Fr. Smut's eponymous blog.

Ordinariate established for Australia / Biography of Rev. Harry Entwistle

It was announced on Friday Pope Benedict XVI has erected the third personal ordinariate according to the norms established by the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorun coetibus. The Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross will conform to the area of the Australian Bishop’s Conference. The former Western Regional Bishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion, the Reverend Harry Entwistle, was appointed the Ordinariate’s first Ordinary.


Biography of Rev. Harry Entwistle

Reverend Harry Entwistle was born on May 31, 1940 at Chorley, Lancashire, England and baptised an Anglican in the Parish Church on July 7, 1940. After studies at St. Chad's Theological College in the University of Durham, he was ordained priest on September 20, 1964 for the Anglican Diocese of Blackburn, Lancashire. After priestly service in Fleetwood, Hardwick, Weedon, Aston Abbotts and Cubligton, he was Chaplain in Her Majesty's Prison Service from 1974 to 1981 and from 1981 to 1988, Senior Chaplain at HM Prison Wansworth.
He migrated to Australia in 1988 where he was the Senior Chaplain for the Department of Corrective Services in the Anglican Diocese of Perth, Western Australia.
From 1992 to 1999 he was Archdeacon and Parish Priest of Northam; from 1999 to 2006 Parish Priest of Mt Lawley. In 2006 he joined the Traditional Anglican Communion and was appointed Western Regional Bishop and Parish Priest of Maylands in Perth.
After reception into the Church and ordination as a deacon, he was ordained to the priesthood in St. Mary's Cathedral, Perth on June 15, 2012.


from the Vatican News web site

Australian Ordinariate Erected; Fr. Harry Entwistle named Ordinary

Fr. Harry Entwhistle was ordained to the Catholic priesthood today in Australia, and was named as Ordinary of the newly erected Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross. The principal church was also named. The decree of erection from the CDF is reposted below. Hat tip to Fr. Stephen Smuts
Decree of Erection of
the Personal Ordinarlate of
Our Lady of the Southern Cross
The supreme law of the Church is the salvation of souls. As such, throughout its history, the Church has always found the pastoral and juridical means to care for the good of the faithful.
With the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, promulgated on 4 November 2009, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, provided for the establishment of Personal Ordinariates through which Anglican faithful may enter, even in a corporate manner, into full communion with the Catholic Church¹. On that same date. the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith published Complementary Norms relating to such Ordinariates².
In conformity with what is established in Art. I § 1 and § 2 of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, having received requests from a considerable number of Anglican faithful, and having consulted with the AustralianCatholic Bishops Conference, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith

ERECTS
the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross within the territory of the Episcopal Conference of Australia.
1. The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross ipso iure possesses juridic personality and is juridically equivalent to a diocese³. It includes those faithful, of every category and state of life, who, originally having belonged to the Anglican Communion, are now in full communion with the Catholic Church, or who have received the sacraments of initiation within the jurisdiction of the Ordinariate itself⁴, or who are received into it because they are part of a family belonging to the Ordinariate⁵.
2. The faithful of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross are entrusted to the pastoral care of the Personal Ordinary who, once named by the Roman Pontiff⁶, possesses all the faculties, and is held to all the obligations, specified in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus and the Complementary Norms⁷ as well as in those matters determined subsequently by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on request both of the Ordinary, having heard the Governing Council of the Ordinariate, and of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
3. The Anglican faithful who wish to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate must manifest this desire in writing⁸. There is to be a program of catechetical formation for these faithful, lasting for a congruent time, and with content established by the Ordinary in agreement with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith so that the faithful are able to adhere fully to the doctrinal content of the Catechism of the Catholic church⁹, and therefore, make the profession of faith.
4. For candidates for ordination who previously were ministers in the Anglican Communion, there is to be a specific program of theological formation, as well as spiritual and pastoral preparation, prior to ordination in the Catholic Church, according to what will be established by the Ordinary in agreement with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and in consultation with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
5. For a cleric not incardinated in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross to assist at a marriage of the faithful belonging to the Ordinariate, he must receive the faculty from the Ordinary or the pastor of the personal parish to which the faithful belong¹⁰.
6. The Ordinary is a member by right of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, with deliberative vote in those cases in which this is required in law¹¹.
7. A cleric, having come originally from the Anglican Communion, who has already been ordained in the Catholic Church and incardinated in a Diocese, is able to be incardinated in the Ordinariate in accord with the norm of can. 267 CIC.
8. Until the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross may have established its own Tribunal, the judicial cases of its faithful are referred to the Tribunal of the Diocese in which one of the parties has a domicile, while taking into account, however, the different titles of competence established in cann. 1408-1414 and 1673 CIC¹².
9. The faithful of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross who are, temporarily or permanently, outside the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, while remaining members of the Ordinariate, are bound by universal law and those particular laws of the territory where they find themselves¹³.
10. If a member of the faithful moves permanently into a place where another Personal Ordinariate has been erected, he is able, on his own request, to be received into it. The new Ordinary is bound to inform the original Personal Ordinariate of the reception. If a member of the faithful wishes to leave the Ordinariate, he must make such a decision known to his own Ordinary. He automatically becomes a member of the Diocese where he resides. In this case, the Ordinary will ensure that the Diocesan Bishop is informed.
11. The Ordinary, keeping in mind the Ratio fundamentalis institutionis sacerdotalis and the Program of Priestly Formation of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, is to prepare a Program of Priestly Formation for the seminarians of the Ordinariate which must be approved by the Apostolic See¹⁴.
12, The Ordinary will ensure that the Statutes of the Governing Council and the Pastoral Council, which are subject to his approval, are drawn up¹⁵.
13. The principal Church of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross will be the Church of St. Ninian and St. Chad, Maylands, Perth. The Seat of the Ordinariate, where the register referred to in Art. 5 § 1 of the Complementary Norms will be kept, will be determined by the Ordinary in agreement with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and in consultation with the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.
14. The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross has as its patron St. Augustine of Canterbury.
Everything to the contrary notwithstanding.
Rome, from the Offices of the Congregation for tho Doctrine of the Faith, 15 June 2012, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
William Cardinal Levada
Prefect
+ Luis F.Ladaria, S.J. Titular Archbishop of Thibica
Secretary

---

¹ Cf.AAS 101 (2009). 985-990.
² Cf, L'Osservatore Romano (9-10 November 2009), p. 7; Weekly Edition In English (11 November 2009), p. 4.
³ Cf. can. 372 § 2 CIC; Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Art. I § 3.
⁴ Cf. Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Art. I 8 4.
⁵ Cf. Complementary Norms, Art. 5 § 1.
⁶ Cf. Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Art. IV, Complementary Norms, Art. 4 § 1.
⁷ Cf. Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Art. VI § 4; Complementary Norms, Art. 5 § 2; Art. 9.
⁸ Cf. Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Art. IX.
⁹ Cf. Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Art. I § 5.
¹⁰ Cf. cann. 1110-1111 CIC.
¹¹ Cf. Complementary Norms, Art. 2 § 2. >12 Cf. Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Art. XII.
¹³ Cf. can. 13 § 3 CIC.
¹⁴ Cf. Complementary Norms, Art 10 § 3; see also Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, Art. VI § 2.
¹⁵ Cf. Complementary Norms, Art. 12 § 1; Art. 13 § 2.