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, August 26, 2013

Permanent home found for Sisters who left Anglican community

Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary found a home in Birmingham
26 August 2013
by Susie Turner

The new religious community of the Personal Ordinariate, the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary, has moved into a permanent home for the first time since being received into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

The community includes 11 sisters who had been part of the Anglican Community of St Mary the Virgin in Wantage, Oxfordshire, and one sister who belonged to an Anglican community in Walsingham.

They are now part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham adopting the Benedictine rule, and officially became part of the Catholic fold on New Year's Day.

They had no endowments to sustain them financially and have spent the last eight months as guests at an enclosed Benedictine abbey on the Isle of Wight...

Read the rest at Christian Today.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller

1 comment:

  1. Great news! May the LORD Bless them with many new vocations, young & old.

    ReplyDelete