Voices from the Patrimony on the Psalms

One of the positive achievements of the reformers in the Church of England was the renewal of the daily office in parish life. The combination of Matins and Lauds into Morning Prayer and of Vespers and Compline into Evening Prayer (a situation that was commonly done de facto in many English parishes and cathedrals at the time) in the Book of Common Prayer, and the canonical requirement for pastors to recite the offices in the parish church daily brought this important liturgical element once more into the daily lives of Christians. Far from being only an Anglican concern, the renewal of daily liturgical prayer was also frequently urged by Popes and Councils.

On the Anglican Embers page at the Anglican Use Society site (http://www.anglicanuse.org/AngEmb.htm) we have made available two articles in our "From the Anglican Patrimony" series. The first is from the writings of William Law, who was a nonjuror and mystic in 18th century England. His classic book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life influenced many readers, including John and Charles Wesley, William Wilberforce and John Henry Newman. This selection from Law's work "On the Singing of Psalms" (http://www.anglicanuse.org/AE_3_05_AngPatr-Law-Psalms.pdf) gets to the heart of the importance of the psalms in Christian worship, and the psalms are, of course, the heart of the Divine Office. This except from Law's work was published in our Lent 2010 issue.

The second article is by Canon Charles Winfrid Douglas, an erudite and key Anglican clergyman of 20th century America, who was chief editor of the Episcopal Church's new hymnal in 1918 and one of the editors of The Hymnal 1940. Canon Douglas' article "The Importance of the Psalter in Worship" (http://www.anglicanuse.org/AE_3_10_AngPatr-Douglas-Psalms.p…) is from his The Hale Lectures. Church Music in History and Practice: Studies in the Praise of God. Here again, we are instructed in a short but wise essay on the value of the psalter to our daily prayer. Canon Douglas' article was published in our Pentecost 2012 issue.

(Cross-posted on the Facebook page of the Anglican Use Society.)

RIP: Servant of God Jerry McGreevy

I am saddened to report that George Gerald (Jerry) McGreevy, long-time treasurer of the Anglican Use Society and a founding member of St. Thomas More Catholic Parish in Scranton, died on Wednesday, November 12, 2014 in Palm Beach County, Florida, where he had resided for the past 16 months. He was instrumental in the establishment of the mission of St. Thomas More to reconcile our separated brethren to Holy Mother Church, accompanying Fr. Eric Bergman on many trips to share with others the work of their community of converts to the Faith. 

Jerry (right) with my family on his visit to Boston.

I met Jerry when he accompanied Fr. Bergman to Boston so that he could have his initial evaluation with the faculty at St. John's Seminary, which was the faculty that worked with Pastoral Provision clergy candidates at the time. Jerry stayed with us in Brockton, and it was the beginning of a warm friendship. He returned the hospitality when David Burt and I stayed with him when we attended the first annual Anglican Use Conference in Scranton in 2005. Jerry was received into the Church and confirmed later that year, along with more than 30 others, on All Saints Eve in 2005. 

While he will be buried in Florida, a Requiem Mass for Jerry will be offered on Saturday, December 6 at 10 AM at St. Joseph Church in Scranton, with a pot luck lunch in the Parish Hall to follow. Please mark this date on your calendars and make every effort to assist at this Mass, offered for the repose of the soul of one of God's faithful servants.


Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord,
And let light perpetual shine upon him.

May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed
Through the mercy of God rest in peace.

New URL for Anglican Use Society

Update (2/21/2014): The old URL for the Anglican Use Society is once again functioning:

www.anglicanuse.org

and the site there has been updated.

----------------

Due to a problem with the domain registration, the former URL of the Anglican Use Society's web site (www.anglicanuse.org) is not working at this time.

A new domain has been established, and is working as of this morning:

www.anglicanusesociety.org

The site has not been updated since summer of 2014, but there should be updates happening over the next couple of months.

Anglican Embers published and on way to subscribers

Anglican Embers is the quarterly journal of the Anglican Use Society, published (roughly) at the four embertides of the year. The latest issue just got mailed (a few weeks late). This issue is the final issue of the third volume (each volume has 12 issues), which means that Embers has now been published for 9 full years!

This issue's table of contents includes:

The Anglican Use & Ordinariates Online, page 523
The Anglican Patrimony and the New Evangelization,
Rev. John Jay Hughes, page 527
Compel People to Come In: Growth in Holiness,
Rev. Andrew Bartus, page 539
Practical Considerations and Future Directions in the Pastoral Provision and Ordinariate,
Dr. Marlon De La Torre, page 546
MUSIC: Minor Propers for the Feast of The Chair of St. Peter, Feburary 22
C. David Burt, editor, page 550

David Burt began the journal and served as the editor into the early issues of Volume II, after which he asked me to take over the journal. In that time we have published talks given at the annual Anglican Use Conferences, three graduate dissertations (serially) on topics of interest to the Anglican Use, several new settings of Mass propers for major feasts (Our Lady of the Atonement, Sacred Heart, Conversion of St. Paul), an account of the Society's pilgrimage to Rome and many other articles. Several articles are available for download from the Anglican Embers page on the AUS web site.

Choral Evensong from AUS Conference

The first event of the Anglican Use Society's annual conference, just concluded, was a Choral Evensong & Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. This was followed by a delicious dinner in the pavilion pitched outside the church in the parking lot, and the first talk, already posted here, by Fr. John Jay Hughes. The music provided for the Evensong is provided by the organist and musicians of the parish of St. Therese.

Solemn Mass from AUS Conference

On Friday evening, November 9th, we celebrated the Anglican Use Mass in a solemn manner, with the diocesan choir supporting our singing and Bishop Robert Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph as principal celebrant. Msgr. Steenson was the homilist.

Fr. John Jay Hughes on The Anglican Patrimony and New Evangelization

The opening keynote talk at the Anglican Use Society Conference which was held in Kansas City, Missouri last week was given by Fr. John Jay Hughes. Fr. Hughes, the son and grandson of Anglican priests, was himself an Anglican priest for 6 years before entering the Catholic Church in 1960. He was conditionally ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1968. A Church historian and priest of the St. Louis archdiocese, he is the author of numerous articles and publications, as well as his autobiography No Ordinary Fool: A Testimony to Grace, the story of a man who, 57 years after ordination, is still in love with the priesthood.

His talk was entitled: "The Anglican Patrimony and New Evangelization: Observations by a Pre-Vatican II Convert"

Music for the Anglican Use Conference Nov 8 & 9

Fr. Ernie Davis has forwarded the music programs for Evensong on Thursday, November 8th and the Solemn Mass on Friday, November 9th during the Annual Conference of the Anglican Use Society.

Synod's Message to the People of God

The soon to be concluded Synod of Bishops, whose topic of reflection was "The New Evangelization" released their final syondical message to day. It reads in part:

5. Evangelizing ourselves and opening ourselves to conversion

We, however, should never think that the new evangelization does not concern us personally. In these days voices among the Bishops were raised to recall that the Church must first of all heed the Word before she could evangelize the world. The invitation to evangelize becomes a call to conversion.We firmly believe that we must convert ourselves above all to the power of Christ who alone can make all things new, above all our poor existence...

If this renewal were up to us, there would be serious reasons to doubt. But conversion in the Church, just like evangelization, does not come about primarily through us poor mortals, but rather through the Spirit of the Lord. Here we find our strength and our certainty that evil will never have the last word whether in the Church or in history: “Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27), Jesus said to his disciples.

The work of the new evangelization rests on this serene certainty. We are confident in the inspiration and strength of the Spirit, who will teach us what we are to say and what we are to do even in the most difficult moments. It is our duty, therefore, to conquer fear through faith, humiliation through hope, indifference through love.

6. Seizing new opportunities for evangelization in the world today

This serene courage also affects the way we look at the world today. We are not intimidated by the circumstances of the times in which we live. Our world is full of contradictions and challenges, but it remains God's creation. The world is wounded by evil, but God loves it still. It is his field in which the sowing of the Word can be renewed so that it would bear fruit once more...

from the Vatican News Service

The New Evangelization is also the theme of this year's Anglican Use Society Conference in Kansas City. There is still time to register for this year's conference, to be held from November 8th through 10th.

Hurray! Fr. Hunwicke's blogging returns!

The always erudite and witty Fr. Hunwicke's first post in many days is a delightful read:

...But back to the Birmingham Oratory. Fr Anton, the Parish Priest, very kindly made me free of 'the Cardinal's' study (with adjacent chapel). Little discoveries can be as satisfactory as large ones; we all know that on Monday December 3, Newman left Oxford for the foreign travels which led him to Sicily, serious illness, and the writing of Lead kindly light. The day before, he preached a University Sermon which could be regarded as the start of the Catholic Revival in the Church of England. But what was he doing on the preceding Saturday? I can now reveal the Truth. He was shopping ... for books. Devout tomes? Deary me, No. He bought a pocket copy of Thucydides; and one of Pindar. Isn't it a lovely mental picture; the slender, donnish, very English figure, sweat pouring down his face as he plodded round the bumps near Syracuse and traced (Thucydides in hand) the footprints of the ill-fated Athenian Expedition during the Peloponnesian War; then sitting in a cafe (I think I detected slight wine marks on some pages) and reading Pindar's mannered encomia upon the equestrian victories of Sicilian rulers in the Games.

Newman once said, I think, that he could never be a saint; because he loved literature too much. But Classicists, evidently, can become saints!...

Treat yourself and visit his blog Mutual Enrichment and read the whole post. If you were a member of the Anglican Use Society, you would also have been treated to his wonderful talk at last year's Anglican Use Society Conference, which was just published in Anglican Embers. Of course, you could register for this year's conference. Lots of other great speakers will be on hand in Kansas City November 8th through the 10th.

The Sacred Liturgy and the New Evangelization

Msgr. Edwin Barnes of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham writes about the Sacred Liturgy as a means of the New Evangelization:

“The Sacred Liturgy is at the centre of the new evangelization,” said the Bishop of Frejus-Toulon in announcing an international conference on the Sacred Liturgy next summer. So as this year of faith begins our little Ordinairate Group in Bournemouth is trying to do something about bringing with us into the Catholic Church an Anglican emphasis on the beauty of holiness. Almost the first thing we did on arrival at Our Lady Queen of Peace was to acquire (through good Church of England friends in Southampton) copies of English Hymnal.

That book has come as a revelation to some of the long-time Catholics who join us at Mass now and again. "But there are hymns by St Thomas Aquinas! And Blessed John Henry Newman! And G.K. Chesterton ... how wonderful!"...

Read the rest of his post at Fr. Barnes' blog Ancient Richborough.

This is directly relevant, of course, to theme of this year's Anglican Use Society Conference. You can get full information on the conference and register to come at the conference web site.

New Posts to begin soon

Dear Friends,

First I would like to thank those who have held in prayer my various intentions these past few weeks. I have found new work, once again with a medical journal, and so that necessary task is complete.

Second, I would direct your attention to the list of upcoming events on the left side bar, and even if you cannot attend, do keep the intentions of our brethren in your prayers.

Third, I expect to resume regular blogging next week, after I have finished the Holy Cross edition of Anglican Embers, which is this week's task of the moment.

As you likely know, the Anglo-Catholic has ceased regular posts, although there is much there in the archives worth reading. Fr Hunwicke, unfortunately, has not resumed posting, and his blog's title change proved to raise hopes prematurely.

However, Fr. Smuts in South Africa continues doing excellent work reporting the news, and Fr. Phillips' blog is always worth a visit, as is Deborah Gyapong's.

Finally, please consider coming to the annual Anglican Use Society Conference, to be held in Kansas City, Missouri from November 8th to November 10th. There is a great line up of speakers, and the annual conference remains the best way to meet up with fellow Anglican Use Catholics from across the country, and really, the world. The Conference website is:

http://www.anglicanuseconference.com

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.

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.

Registration for the 2012 Anglican Use Society Conference now open

Speakers will include:

Dr. Barbara J. Elliott, the founder of the Center for Cultural Renewal, lecturer for the Catherine of Siena Institute and author of four books including Street Saints: Renewing American Cities and Equipping The Saints, is an adjunct member of the faculty of the University of Houston and the winner of many prestigious awards. She is a member of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church in Houston, Texas.

Fr. John Jay Hughes was an Anglican priest for 6 years before being conditionally ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1960. A Church historian and priest of the St. Louis archdiocese, he is the author of No Ordinary Fool: A Testimony to Grace, the story of a man who, 57 years after ordination, is still in love with the priesthood, as well as numerous other articles and publications.

Fr. Ian Ker is the author of Mere Catholicism (a popular introduction to the Catholic faith), the definitive John Henry Newman: A Biography, G. K. Chesterton: A Biography, and other books and articles too numerous to count. He is a parish priest and teaches theology at Oxford University.

and Msgr. Jeffrey N. Steenson, appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

The conference site can be found at www.anglicanuseconference.com.

Agenda for Annual Anglican Use Conference posted

Tentative Schedule
Thursday, November 8
	5:30 p.m.	Solemn Evensong Cathedral
	8:00 p.m.	First Session: TBD
	9:00 p.m.	Compline
Friday, November 9
	8:30 a.m.	Morning Prayer
	9:15 a.m.	Second Session: Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson: Topic TBD
	10:30 a.m.	Break
	11:30 a.m.	Third Session: Fr. Ian Ker: Blessed John Henry Newman and Pope Benedict XVI's Heremeneutic of Continuity: A Crucial Inspiration for the New Evangelisation
	12:30 p.m.	Lunch
	1:30 p.m.	Fourth Session: Fr. Ian Ker: The Anglican Patrimony as an Aid to the New Evangelization
	2:30 p.m.	Break
	3:00 p.m.	Fifth Session: James Carlyle, Fr. Eric Bergman, Fr. Andy Bartus: Practical Congregational Growth and Development
	4:00 p.m.	Break
	5:00 p.m.	Solemn Mass: Principal Celebrant: The Most Rev. Robert Finn, Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph; Preacher: The Most Rev. Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, Ordinary, Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter
	7:00 p.m.	Banquet, After Dinner Speaker: Rev. Fr. John Jay Hughes: The Anglican Patrimony and New Evangelization: Observations by a Pre-Vatican II Convert
Saturday, November 10
	8:30 a.m.	Morning Prayer
	9:00 a.m.	Low Mass
	10:00 a.m.	Sixth Session: TBD
	11:00 a.m.	Break
	11:15 a.m.	Annual Meeting of the Anglican Use Society

Dates for 2012 Anglican Use Conference set

The Anglican Use Society will hold its 2012 Annual Conference from November 8th through November 10th in Kansas City this year. Hosted jointly by the parish of St. Therese the Little Flower parish and the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, most sessions will be held at the Catholic Center in Kansas City with the solemn conference Mass being held at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Msgr. Jeffrey N. Steenson will speak at the conference.

The conference web site is http://www.anglicanuseconference.com, and as more details are settled they will be released, hopefully by mid-March. Registration for the conference will be via the conference web site.

Organization meeting of San Francisco Bay Area Anglican Use Society

The organizational meeting of the San Francisco Bay Area Anglican Use Society will be held on Saturday, October 1, 2011, from 2:00 until 4:00 p.m. in the Cedar Room at the Main Branch of the San Mateo Public Library, 55 West 3rd Ave., San Mateo, CA, 94402.

The group's first goal is to establish an Anglican Use society for the Bay Area, which will begin offering services from the Book of Divine Worship at least monthly. The location of the first services will depend upon the availability of church or chapel space, but eventually the group plans to have locations in the City of San Francisco, the North Bay, East Bay and South Bay areas.

The meeting agenda will include:

1. forming a leadership team;
2. discussing possible locations for the first services;
3. tentatively scheduling the date of the first service and the date of the first leadership team meeting.

James Farr, president of the Washington, DC-based St. Thomas of Canterbury Anglican Use Society, is advising the group and will speak at the meeting.
Contact: James Farr, e-mail codeblueiii@yahoo.com.

2011 Anglican Use Conference to Be Live Streamed

June 30, 2011
by Fr. Christopher Phillips

The 2011 Conference of the Anglican Use Society will be taking place on July 7th – 9th at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Arlington, Texas. The general theme of the conference will be “Our Patrimony,” and speakers will include Fr. David Jaeger, OFM, of the Antonianum Pontifical University in Rome; Msgr. Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England & Wales; John Hunwicke, formerly parish priest of St. Thomas the Martyr in Oxford and now a member of the Ordinariate in England; Fr. Larry Covington, Pastor of St. Louis the King Church in Austin, Texas; and Dr. William Tighe, Associate Professor of History at Muhlenberg College. The Most Reverend Kevin W. Vann, Bishop of Fort Worth (and adviser to Cardinal Wuerl on the erection of the Ordinariate in the U.S.) will be the principal celebrant and preacher at the conference Solemn Mass on July 8.
The conference talks and events will be live streamed at this web address: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/anglicanorum, where you may watch it live, or (since it will remain archived) you can view it at a later time.

AU Mass Celebrating First Anniversary of the St. Thomas of Canterbury Society

The Ordinariate-bound group here in the Washington area, the St. Thomas of Canterbury Anglican Use Society (STCS), began on June 12, 2010 with a meeting in a local library attended by a grand total of five people. The purpose was simply to gauge interest in forming a local "Group of Anglicans" to accept the Holy Father's offer to Anglicans set forth in Anglicanorum coetibus. Attendance doubled to ten for the second meeting, and since then by God's grace we have seen steady growth. We are now looking forward to initiating regular services in Northern Virginia with Evensong and Benediction on June 26th--the Feast of Corpus Christi--at Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Annandale, VA (map). This is in addition to monthly Evening Prayer services we have been holding at St. Anselm's Abbey in Washington, DC since September 2010. More information is available on the website of the STCS...

Read the rest of this at Seward's Folly.