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

Monday, September 24, 2012

Reporting on Recent Events on Patheos

Kathy Schiffer reports on some Ordinariate events of the past week at her blog on Patheos.

A few days ago, I announced the wonderful story of Orlando’s Cathedral of the Incarnation. On Sunday, September 16, the entire congregation of 140—including a bishop, clergy and laypeople—were received into the Catholic Church.

And in the same week, it was announced that St. Mary the Virgin Parish in Arlington, Texas—currently part of the Diocese of Fort Worth—will join the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. (Here in the United States, the Pope has established the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter to serve the needs of Anglicans who seek reunion with Rome, but who want to retain some elements of their Anglican worship.)

On Monday I spoke by phone about these events with Fr. James Bradley, a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, in England and Wales, who was visiting here in the U.S. and who attended the Mass of Reception at Incarnation Parish...
Read the rest at Seasons of Grace.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller.
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2 comments:

  1. Matthew MSeptember 25, 2012 at 11:10 AM

    Another mission and this one is from CHRIST THE KING, Towson. Way to go. Seems all the activity is in Maryland and Texas.
    Meanwhile, west of the Mississippi to the West Coast is zilch, nada, nyet, nein,nuyyin' honey!
    Diocese of Orange does have Fr. Bartus and his SBJHN but there's nothing but a vast wasteland. Of course most Episcopalians if they didn't go Continuing Anglican in the first wave probably went the Charismatic, Calvary Chapel, Vinyard, Harvest route. The most recent movement seems to be to the ACNA which is nothing more than the old ECUSA 1976. Oh well, guess I'll have to move someday if I want the Ordinariate option.Sad now :-( .

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  2. Steve CavanaughSeptember 29, 2012 at 3:45 PM

    Well, it's not exactly true that the MidWest is a desert, as far as the OCSP goes. We have an ordinariate priest, Fr. Chori Seraiah who is attempting to plant a mission in Iowa. We also have a sodality in Indianapolis. Msgr. Steenson was recently in Omaha, Nebraska visiting St. Barnabas which plans on entering the Ordinariate. There were parishes in Arizona and Nevada interested in the Ordinariate and I haven't heard that they have changed plans.

    But the beginning (and we are only 9 months in!) is going about as fast as it can. While it's unlikely that it will ever be the case that there'll be an Ordinariate parish in every town, I would not be surprised to see 50 in 3 years's time here in the States. If there is no Anglican group that seems interested in the Ordinariate at this time, the best bet is to do as Shane Schaetzel did in Springfield, and start up a regular Evensong prayer group and form the nucelus of a future Ordinariate sodality in your own area.

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