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, June 15, 2012

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.
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