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

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Blog vacation

Dear Readers,

I will not be blogging any news articles for the next 6 weeks or so, as I have a few items to take care of that will consume a great deal of time. At the beginning of May I was laid off from my job of 13 years, which I was fortunate enough to know about well ahead of time. I took some classes for the six months prior to my termination, and have a certification exam coming up in August that will require study.

Also, I am revising the book of Communion chants I assembled last year for use in our parish. These are in the same format as the music of David Burt's Anglican Use Gradual, with the addition of verses to sing during the communion. Along with fixing errors and typos, I want to add the chants for ritual Masses such as Marriage and Confirmation, and a table to help users coordinate between the "Ordinary Time" designation of Sundays upon which the Lectionary is based and the "of Epiphany" and "after Trinity" designations now assigned to those Sundays per annum in the Ordinariate Calendars. Once this is completed, I will alert you to their availability.

Our little Latin schola is singing this week for two Masses for Our Lady of the Atonement, and then I need to attend to preparing the music for the "high Mass" season of October through April.

And finally, I need to attend to getting the web site for the annual Anglican Use Society Conference finished and work on advertising for that.

And in addition to studying, editing and searching for work, there are the usual summer chores: the gardens, painting the house, erecting a new porch...

I am sure that you will not lack for news however, and recommend the following sites if you are not already visiting them regularly.

For thought-provoking commentary, I recommend the following blogs.

Vincent Uher's Tonus Peregrinus .

Fr. Stephen Smuts in South Africa.

Be on the watch for new posts from Fr. Hunwicke, whose blog has recently had a name change, from Liturgical Posts to Fr. Hunwicke's Mutual Enrichment. The title, I'm sure, hints at treasures worth seeking.

For news and analysis, from several viewpoints, visit the Anglo-Catholic blog, and the blogs of three of the bloggers there: Fr. Christopher Phillips, Fr. Edwin Barnes and Deborah Gyapong.

Additionally, you might wish to visit:

For Thine Own Service by Fr. James Bradley, and

Catholics in the Ozarks by Shane Schaetzel.

I wish you all well. Please keep the work of Msgr. Steenson, Msgr. Newton and Fr. Entwistle, and all of the new Ordinariate communities and the Anglican Use parishes in your daily prayer.

1 comment:

  1. Thank-you for the recommendation! And don't stay away too long... You will be missed.

    ReplyDelete