Catholic Church receives former Anglican parish

Omaha, Nebraska
August 16, 2013

Father Robert Scheiblhofer, parochial administrator of St. Barnabas Church in Omaha, said he felt joy as he watched church members being confirmed during a historic July 10 ceremony welcoming the former Episcopalian church into the Catholic faith.

At that time, Father Scheiblhofer had resigned his Anglican orders to become Catholic. He was ordained a priest Aug. 10 by Archbishop George J. Lucas at St. Cecilia Cathedral in Omaha.

Prayer and faith sustained the church of about 50 people during its long journey, which dates back to St. Barnabas' founding in 1869 as part of a movement reestablishing Anglicanism's Catholic roots, said Father Scheiblhofer, 62.

"We've been working and praying for this for many years," he said. "It's literally the answer to that prayer."

Becoming part of the Catholic community was the highlight of the ceremony for Vicki Bohn, 69, a member of St. Barnabas for 12 years with her husband, Mel, 70...

Read the full story about the reception of St. Baranabas on Catholic Voice Online.

Read the related story on St. Baranbas' long history of ecumenism, which begins:

St. Barnabas has long history of ecumenism
By DAVID GOUGER

St. Barnabas Church in Omaha - an Anglican congregation that came into full communion with the Catholic Church during a Rite of Reception ceremony July 10 - has a history of Anglican-Catholic ecumenism dating to its 19th century ties with Father Paul Wattson, whose ministry included Christian unity.

Father Wattson - an Anglican who later converted to Catholicism - assisted at St. Barnabas while part of a group of Episcopalian priests who lived in community in Omaha, said Father Robert Scheiblhofer, parochial administrator for St. Barnabas...

Father Paul Wattson and the Quest for Church Unity

January 15, 2010
by Patrick J. Hayes

Early one morning last summer, I walked out to the precipice of a “holy mountain.” I looked out and saw the fog lifting from an immense and undulating forest below, like incense from a thurible. I knew I was walking on holy ground and I soaked up the silence, interrupted only by the stray bird on the wing. In this sweet-smelling, bounteous setting I was a pilgrim. There at the ledge was the grave of Father Paul James Francis Wattson, founder of the Society of the Atonement, a group of friars that established themselves for the strict purpose of uniting the branches of the Christian family...

Read the reflection in full at The Living Church.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller

The Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity

Fr. Paul Wattson, S.A. of Graymoor

This Octave was first conceived by Father Paul of Graymoor on 30 November 1907, before his entrance into the Catholic Church. The initial success in 1908 was so encouraging that he decided to promote it annually, and he regarded the Octave as one of the special means which brought his Society of the Atonement into the Church on 30 October 1909. It was given papal blessing by Pope St. Pius X on 27 December 1909, just two months after the Society of the Atonement had entered the Catholic Church...

Read the rest of Fr. Phillips post, which includes the traditional prayers for this octave, at Atonement Online.

Community marks centennial of reception into Catholic Church

November 2, 2009

By Beth Griffin

One hundred years before Pope Benedict XVI captured headlines by establishing a special structure for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Catholic Church, the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement became the first religious group to be received into the church in its entirety. Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Vatican ambassador to the United States, said the pope's recent overture to the Anglicans could be seen as a fruit of 100 years of prayers offered for the unity of the church by members of the Society of the Atonement.

Archbishop Sambi spoke at Mass Oct. 30 celebrating the centennial of the society's reception into the church. The Mass was concelebrated by New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan at Graymoor, the society's headquarters. In remarks to some 400 people after the centennial Mass, Archbishop Sambi said, "Your charism is a charism of the future." From its founding in 1900, the Society of the Atonement has dedicated itself to Christian unity...

Read the rest at Catholic News Service.

Anticipated by a Hundred Years...

With all the talk about Anglican conversions -- who? how many? where? -- let's not forget a very important conversion anniversary which took place on 30 October 1909. On that day Fr. Paul Wattson, Mother Lurana White, and fifteen others (including friars, sisters and laity) were received corporately into the Catholic Church. Originally founded as a Franciscan community within the Episcopal Church, the Graymoor Friars and Sisters were, as Fr. Paul said, "the first-fruits of our prayer for unity." The previous year they had begun what was then called the Church Unity Octave, afterwards renamed the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Read the rest on Fr. Phillips' blog Atonement Online