Msgr. Steenson visits St. Edmund's in Hamilton

(L to R) Fr. Foote, Msgr. Steenson, Mr. Freeman, Bishop Crosby, Msgr. Kroetsch (chancellor).

MONSIGNOR JEFFREY STEENSON, ORDINARY of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, visited the parishioners of The Sodality of St. Edmund, King and Martyr earlier this week. During the celebration, the small Anglican Use community was welcomed into the Deanery of St. John the Baptist, which brings together the various Anglican Use parishes and communities in Canada. As part of his visitation, Monsignor Steenson joined Mr. Gary Freeman from St. Edmunds, for a courtesy visit to the Diocesan Chancery. Father Bill Foote, who has been providing Sunday Mass for the community at St. Patrick’s Parish in Cambridge on Sunday mornings, was also present. The community moves forward slowly but surely!

From the "Heart to Heart" page of the Diocese of Hamilton, Ontario.
Hat tip to Gary Freeman

The Ordination of Jonathan Gibson

The Canadian Deanery of St. John the Baptist, having added 3 deacons to its clergy last weekend (see the story at Deborah Gyapong's Foolishness to the World blog),  will add another member of the faithful to the clergy, for the ministry of the Sacraments, the preaching of the pure Word of the Lord 

and the greater glory of God.

ORDINATION TO THE DIACONATE
Saturday 18th May
at 10.30 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist
by Bishop Frederick Henry

ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD
Saturday 25th May
at 10.30 a.m. at St. John the Evangelist
by Bishop Frederick Henry
in the presence of Msgr. Jeffery Steenson, Ordinary
Hat tip to Michael Trolly

Anglican Catholics in Canada

On the Sunday of the Divine Mercy of the Lord, the first Anglican group in Canada is received into the Catholic Church with the intent of joining an Ordinariate for former Anglicans. The group includes 40 members of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Ottawa, which has been a member of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC) and of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC). They were received into full communion with the Catholic Church in St. Patrick's Basilica in Ottawa by Archbishop Terrence Prendercast earlier today.

With Benedict XVI's apostolic constitution Anglicanorum cœtibus (and complementary norms), personal ordinariates can be established in countries where sufficient number of Anglicans wish to enter into communion with the Catholic Church. Similar to a Diocese, an Ordinariate possesses public juridic personality in Canon Law, and has jurisdiction of possibly a whole country. These Ordinariates can celebrate the Holy Eucharist and other sacraments according to the Anglican tradition which have been approved by the Holy See.

Former Anglican bishops who enter an Ordinariate (as Ordinary or not) may receive ordination to the diaconate and priesthood, but only those who are not married can receive ordination to the episcopate. The head of an ordinariate is called an Ordinary. He must receive ordination as priest from the Catholic Church but would have similar power to a diocesan Bishop and be similarly vested. The only difference for Ordinaries who cannot receive episcopal ordination in the Catholic Church is that they cannot perform ordinations.

Canada does not have sufficient members to form a personal ordinariate of its own. Anglicans from the country will join the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in the United States, established four months ago. This is only the second ordinariate for Anglicans, with the first one being the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England, established in 2011. The Canadians will form a Deanery within the Ordinariate, under the patronage of St. John the Baptist, who has special significance to Canada...

read the full post at Sacrosancta Ecclesia.

Whither the ACCC?

The February issue of this newsletter was completed in early January so that your editor could sneak away with his wife for a brief Florida vacation. The weather was splendid, thank you! That did, however, leave somewhat of a hole in terms of news developments between early January and this current issue.

In late January, Bishop Peter Wilkinson, along with Fr’s Birch, Malins and Henry (also representing Gale, Switzer and Braunstein) met with Bishop Gagnon of the Catholic Diocese of Victoria. The purpose of the meeting was to determine a way forward for the Victoria Fellowship of Blessed John Henry Newman.

And, just as in Waterloo a few months ago, the suggestion was to form a sodality -- which in this situation, as we anticipate the extension of the US Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter to include a Canadian Deanery -- means a "parish in waiting". Which is to say, while they will be welcomed by Bishop Gagnon, his Victoria Diocese lays no claim on any assets; they remain the property of the fellowship/sodality/parish-in-waiting, as articulated in Anglicanorum Coetibus.

The date chosen for this to occur is Easter I, April 15.

This has led to a certain amount of incorrect speculation. Some are suggesting that Bishop Wilkinson and the other clergy in the Victoria area have already left the ACCC. That is simply not correct. They will remain members until April 15.

Acknowledging this timetable, those who are already in the Pro-Diocese of Our Lady of Walsingham (headed imminently for the ordinariate), or are poised in that direction, have met or are about to meet with our respec- tive parishes, and, in many cases, also with the local Catholic (arch) bishop. In all cases, we have been met with the same profoundly co-operative spirit of helpfulness in creating sodalities as we await the formation of a Canadian Deanery of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter. When Bishop Peter was in Houston in February he met with Mons Steenson for several hours. He confirmed that we would have such a Deanery and Bishop Peter asked if our patron could be St John the Baptist, our country’s old patron, and whose Octave Day is July 1, our national holiday. Mons Steenson readily agreed, and looks forward to coming to Canada again.

Other parishes are just having their meetings, or in some cases are some weeks away. We have communicated with the rectors in those cases, and have tried to reflect their respective understanding of what they, in discussion with their faithful, understand how the cards will fall. Calgary is perhaps the biggest challenge to understand: there is already an ordinariate parish there (St John the Evangelist); some of our Christ the King people have already moved there, more will be going on Easter, and, of the remaining approximately half, some will moving to that portion of All Saints that intends to remain in the Diocese of Canada, others will leave altogether. It appears that only a minority from All Saints will also join St John the Evangelist, with the majority remaining in the Diocese of Canada. We have tried to reflect this below, recognizing that this does not commit anyone to a particular position; it is only our best understanding at the time of printing:

Clergy (Parishes) remaining in the Diocese of Canada
Bishop Craig Botterill (St Aidan’s, Halifax)
Dean Shane Janzen (St John the Evangelist, Victoria) Fr Douglas Ohs Fr Richard Root
Fr Trevor Elliot (Our Lady & St Michael, Edmonton)
(The majority of All Saints, and part of Christ the King, Calgary)
Fr Howard Patterson (Holy Trinity, Medicine Hat)
(St Barnabas, Moose Jaw -- now without a priest since the sudden death of Fr Dennis Dickson)
Fr Ted Bowles Fr Lee Whitney Fr Harley Kynock (St George’s, Mosers River)
Fr Fred Highmore (St Stephen, St Johns) Fr Fabian Ollerhead Fr Edward Fizzard Fr Dn Robert Short

Clergy (Parishes) seeking imminent inclusion in the Ordinariate (dates if known)
Bishop Peter Wilkinson (Fellowship of Blessed John Henry Newman, Victoria-April 15)
Fr Michael Birch Fr Don Malins Fr Sean Henry Fr Ralph Braunstein Fr Edward Gale
Fr Peter Switzer
Bishop Carl Reid (Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Ottawa-April 15)
Fr David Walsh
Fr Dn Henry Stauffenberg Fr Dn Michael Trolly
Fr Ernest Skublics (All Saints, Calgary-only part, date TBD)
Fr Dn Glenn Galenkamp
Fr Colin O’Rourke (Christ the King, Calgary-only part of parish, Apr 8)
Fr Lloyd Gedge
Fr David Skelton (Fellowship of Blessed John Henry Newman, Edmonton-April 15)
Fr Bryan Donegan
Fr Jim Tilley (Good Shepherd, Oshawa-April 15) Fr David Garrett
Fr Raymond Ball (already a sodality of St Edmund, Waterloo)
Fr Gérard Trinque (Christ the King, Tyendinaga-date TBD)
Fr Doug Hayman (St Barnabas, Spencerville-Apr 15)
Fr Kipling Cooper (Holy Nativity, Barrhaven-date TBD)
Fr Doug Nicholson (St Athanasius, Montreal-date TBD)
Fr. Oswald Slattery
Fr Charles Warner (Holy Cross, Sydney Forks-date TBD)
Fr Chris Le Page (St Thomas More, Charlottetown- date TBD)

Undecided
Fr Michael Shier (St Peter & St Paul, Vancouver; St Michael, Matsqui)
Fr Jim Schovanek (All Saints, Calgary) Fr Douglas Skoyles
Fr Richard Harris (St Michael, Fredericton Jctn.) Fr John Hall
Fr Ron McBrine

Looking ahead to April 15, this March issue of the newsletter might possibly be the last produced in the Ottawa office of the ACCC, as the records will be moved to Victoria soon. Following that move, we might presume that, under Fr Shane Janzen’s management, a new newsletter, for what will become a one-diocese ACCC again, will be forthcoming.
As a final note, I pray that all of us, even as we may be parting ways, will continue in a spirit of mutual good will.
+Carl

from the March Archdiocesan Newsletter of the ACCC

Hat tip to Br. Charles Gilman, o.s.b.