Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue Releases Joint Statement: “Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Seeking a Unified Moral Witness.”

April 22, 2014
WASHINGTON—The Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States (ARC-USA) has concluded a six-year round of dialogue with the release of “Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Seeking a Unified Moral Witness,” approved at the most recent meeting February 24-25, 2014, at Virginia Theological Seminary in Alexandria, Virginia. The meeting was chaired by Bishop John Bauerschmidt of the Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee; the Roman Catholic co-chairman, Bishop Ronald Herzog of Alexandria, Louisiana, was unable to attend for health reasons.

In 2008 the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, asked the ARC-USA to address questions of ethics and the Christian life in the context of ecclesiology, in an effort to achieve greater clarity regarding areas of agreement and disagreement. They were aware that dialogue on these issues was also taking place between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion at the international level, and also in other bilateral dialogues between churches of various traditions.

The statement reflects on the way the two churches pursue the work of teaching and learning within the Christian moral life. It examines the extent to which their respective church structures influence the way they teach and what they teach on moral questions. Inquiries and discussions about moral formation and the teaching charism of the churches guided them in addressing this topic.

With a focus on two case studies concerning migration/immigration and same sex relations, the dialogue concluded that even if the moral teachings of Anglicans and Catholics diverge on some questions, they also share important common features. The statement delves into these differences and similarities and represents progress toward a more unified Gospel witness capable of addressing contemporary concerns in ways that are useful and attractive to all Christians, as well as larger society. As Bishop Bauerschmidt said, "ARC-USA has produced some important statements in the past. This statement represents the latest landmark in our journey together as churches, and is a valuable contribution to an important topic." The full text is available online here: www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/ecumenical/anglican/upload/arcusa-2014-statement.pdf...

Read the rest of the releast at: http://www.usccb.org/news/2014/14-066.cfm

Hat tip to Chris Buckley.

St. Timothy's holds final service and looks for new home

By Julie Baughman
July 2, 2013

CATONSVILLE, MARYLAND---St. Timothy's Church of Baltimore County held its last Sunday service in its building on Ingleside Avenue — which they have occupied since 1844 — June 30 after voting as a parish on Feb. 10 to switch faiths from Episcopalian to Roman Catholic.
Those congregation members who chose to convert to Catholicism will move to St. Mark Church's building on Melvin Avenue for the time being as they search for a new, permanent home in the area.
Emory Stagmer,a member of St. Tim's for more than 20 years, and was among the parishioners who voted to switch.

He said the group negotiated with the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, which owns the church property, but was unable to retain their worship space.
"We went to the Episcopal Diocese with a lease, with an option to buy proposal and they turned it down and said that they were not going to make us a counter offer," Stagmer said. "We know going into this entire process that ... it was a distinct possibility (to lose the church building.)"
"The new Roman Catholic congregation was allowed to maintain a presence in the Catonsville church property during their transition through a cooperative arrangement with the Episcopal Church," said the statement from the Rev. Scott Slater, canon to the ordinary of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland. "The new Catholic community will be leaving the property effective June 30, 2013.
"The buildings and grounds remain the property of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and we are currently discerning future uses of this space," the statement said. "As we have said from the start, our goal is to maintain an Episcopal presence in Catonsville. This is a strong community and we plan to be here for a very long time."
Stagmer said the group is thankful to St. Mark's parish for welcoming them into their church home, and is looking at property at both St. William of York Catholic Church on Cooks Lane and Mount de Sales Academy on Academy Road for a long-term spot...

Read the rest at the Baltimore Sun.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller.

Parish, Episcopal diocese settle dispute: St. Barnabas can stay on church property

By Michael O'Connor 

World-Herald
July 6, 2013

OMAHA, NEBRASKA---The Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska has settled a dispute with a local parish over whether the congregation could remain in its church building.

In an out-of-court settlement, St. Barnabas parish made a cash payment to the diocese. The settlement enables the congregation to permanently remain on the church property at 129 N. 40th St. Both sides are keeping the amount of the payment confidential.
In 2007, members of St. Barnabas voted to leave the Episcopal Church. The parish disagreed with the Episcopal Church over issues of church doctrine.
Last year, a Douglas County District Court judge ruled that the people of St. Barnabas must surrender the church building, plus its rectory and other property to the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska.
The ruling came more than three years after the diocese sued St. Barnabas' priest and leaders for the church and rectory. The congregation argued that parishioners always have owned and maintained the church property.
The parish appealed to the Nebraska Supreme Court but decided it was best for the congregation to work out a settlement with the diocese, said Sean Reed, parish council president and senior warden. He said the settlement was fair for both sides.
St. Barnabas joined the Anglican Church in America, an affiliation of conservative Anglican churches. Roman Catholic Pope Benedict XVI, who resigned earlier this year, had set up a path by which such parishes could join the Catholic Church, and St. Barnabas has put itself on that path.
The Right Rev. Scott Barker, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska, said in a statement that “while I am personally saddened by the exit of St. Barnabas from The Episcopal Church, I have little doubt that both the parish and the diocese have acted in faith and charity to end this long-running dispute. On behalf of our whole diocesan family, I wish them well.”

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller.

Update on St. Barnabas, Omaha, Nebraska

Legal Update -

As many of you know, in early December we had a meeting with representatives of the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska which was chaired by Msgr. Steenson. The meeting was held at the Archdiocesan Chancery and the Chancellor of the Archdiocese, Fr. Taphorn was in attendance.

From this cordial and productive meeting, we arrived at an agreement for Settlement in the litigation regarding the property, which was filed against us by the Diocese of Nebraska, subsequent to our disaffiliation from the Diocese in 2007.

We next began a process of fundraising for the necessary and mutually agreed upon amount. We completed that process a few weeks ago.

I have worked with our attorney on the final form of the agreement - with several drafts passing back and forth between us and the Diocesan attorney.

We had requested to meet with them to sign the agreement this past Thursday. While the Diocese indicates they are satisfied with the agreement, we have yet, as of this hour, to have the approval of the national TEC communicated to us.

I can tell you that during the last few days I have been in regular communication with Bishop Barker, and can assure you he is doing what he can to facilitate bringing this matter to a conclusion.

When that happens, we will move forward with the execution of the agreement, payment of funds, and the end of the litigation.

Please watch for further updates.

Sean W. Reed,
President, St. Barnabas Church Parish Council
Senior Warden, St. Barnabas Parish

from Facebook

Benedict’s legacy: here come more Episcopalians

February 20, 2013 

By Deacon Greg Kandra

Following several months of prayerful discernment, the majority of members of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Catonsville, Maryland, have decided to enter the Catholic Church as part of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.
Two other churches in the Baltimore area, Christ the King Anglican in Towson, and Mount Calvary Episcopal in Baltimore, became Catholic through the Ordinariate in 2012.
Members voted on Feb. 10 whether to leave The Episcopal Church and whether to enter the Ordinariate. Eighty of 100 parishioners were present; 55 were voting members. Of the voting members, six people abstained; 83 percent elected to leave The Episcopal Church and 76 percent to enter the Ordinariate. The vote was held in the presence of the Rev. Scott Slater, canon to the ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, and Rev. Scott Hurd, vicar general for the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter...

Read the rest on Deacon Kandra's blog The Deacon's Bench.

Former dean of Advent Cathedral in Birmingham and ex-rector of nation's largest Episcopal church jumps to Catholic Church

November 29, 2012
By Greg Garrison

The Rev. Larry Gipson, who was dean of the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham from 1982-94 and rector at the largest Episcopal church in the nation from 1994-2008, has become a Roman Catholic.

Gipson retired in 2008 from the 8,000-member St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, where his parishioners included former President George H.W. Bush and his wife, Barbara.

Last month, Gipson was accepted as a Catholic into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a structure set up by Pope Benedict XVI to accept former Anglicans into the Catholic Church.

"The nature of authority in the Catholic Church is what attracted me to it," Gipson said in a telephone interview from his home in Houston. "After I retired, I was concerned and had been for many years about the Episcopal Church's authority structure."

Gipson will be among 69 candidates for Catholic priesthood attending a Formation Retreat this weekend in Houston, where the headquarters for the Ordinariate is based.

Among those leading seminars at the Formation Retreat in Houston will be the Rev. Jon Chalmers, who was ordained a Catholic priest in June, the second former Episcopal priest to be accepted as a priest under the Ordinariate. Chalmers served as curate, associate priest and interim rector at Canterbury Chapel in Tuscaloosa from 2007-2009.

His wife, Margaret Chalmers, former canon lawyer for the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham and now chancellor of the Ordinariate, will also be a presenter at the weekend retreat that runs Friday night through Sunday, Dec. 2...

Read the whole story in The Birmingham News.

Hat tip to Jack Grimes via Facebook

St. Barnabas' legal status still in question

No definitive answers on the horizon

By Mary Ann Mueller
VOL Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
Oct. 31, 2012

OMAHA, NEB: For 97 years, St. Barnabas Church has been a landmark at 40th and Davenport streets In Omaha, Nebraska. The bright white edifice, with brown roof matched by striking deep brown timber framing and sweeping stairs leading to classic Anglican red doors, has been home to an Episcopal - currently Anglican and soon-to-be Catholic - congregation. But as the church's centennial looms on the horizon, its ownership hangs in the balance.

As with so many other former Episcopal church buildings scattered around the United States, St. Barnabas - a fine example of English Herefordshire architecture - is mired in litigation with the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska WHICH seems more than willing to take it away from the on-going congregation by any legal means possible.

Even though the current St. Barnabas church building is inching towards its centennial celebration, the congregation is even older.

St. Barnabas was conceived on the Feast of St. Barnabas (June 11) in 1868 as the Anglo-Catholic daughter of Trinity Parish, the Episcopal Mother Church in the Cornhusker State. According to church records, a small church was built on the corner of Ninth and Douglas streets. The first service was celebrated on Quinquagesima Sunday 1869 (Feb. 7). Finally, St. Barnabas Parish was birthed on May 3, 1869 with the enthusiastic consent of the first Bishop of Nebraska, the Rt. Rev. Robert Clarkson, when the parish constitution was formally adopted. St. Barnabas celebrated its first anniversary with the installation of its first rector, the Rev. George C. Betts, on St. Barnabas Day (June 11) 1869. Since Day One St. Barnabas has always be true to its Anglo-Catholic heritage born out of the 19th Century Oxford Movement. The church's website proclaims: "Faithful stewards of the Catholic Faith in the Anglican tradition since 1869."

For more than a century, St. Barnabas has maintained a strong witness to the Gospel and celebrated Episcopal services with an Anglo-Catholic flair. The faithful of the Omaha congregation, under the spiritual leadership of their priests, have built their faith upon the solid rock - Jesus Christ. Then the shifting sands of the ever-changing liberal theology of the now post-modern Episcopal Church made it abundantly clear that it was time to set out into the deep...

Read the whole story at Virtue Online

Pope Paul VI on St. Elizabeth Ann Seton

May you always be able to cultivate the genuine fruitfulness of evangelical holiness, and ever experience how-far from stunting the flourishing development of your economic, cultural and civic vitality -it will be in its own way the unfailing safeguard of that vitality. Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton was born, brought up and educated in New York in the Episcopalian Communion. To this Church goes the merit of having awakened and fostered the religious sense and Christian sentiment which in the young Elizabeth were naturally predisposed to the most spontaneous and lively manifestations. We willingly recognize this merit, and, knowing well how much it cost Elizabeth to pass over to the Catholic Church, we admire her courage for adhering to the religious truth and divine reality which were manifested to her therein. And we are likewise pleased to see that from this same adherence to the Catholic Church she experienced great peace and security, and found it natural to preserve all the good things which her membership in the fervent Episcopalian community had taught her, in so many beautiful expressions, especially of religious piety, and that she was always faithful in her esteem and affection for those from whom her Catholic profession had sadly separated her.

from the homily by Pope Paul VI at the canonization of Elizabeth Ann Seton, September 14, 1975.

Almighty Father, whose blessed Son before his passion prayed for his disciples that they might be one, even as thou and he are one: Grant that thy Church, being bound together in love and obedience to thee, may be united in one body by the one Spirit, that the world may believe in him whom thou didst send, the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the same Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
from the Book of Divine Worship, For the Unity of Church, p. 496

Omaha's St. Barnabas parish weighs order to surrender its church

By Christopher Burbach

An Omaha congregation that left the Episcopal Church over issues of doctrine and homosexuality now faces a tough decision about its midtown church: Should congregants stay or should they go?

A judge ruled last week that the people of St. Barnabas Church must surrender the 97-year-old church building, with all its artwork and other trappings, plus its rectory and other property to the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska.

The ruling by Douglas County District Court Judge Joseph Troia came more than three years after the diocese sued St. Barnabas' priest and leaders for the church and rectory at 129 N. 40th St. It is one of many such property disputes around the nation between the Episcopal Church and disaffected congregations.

The judge's order gives the St. Barnabas congregation, which is moving toward joining the Roman Catholic Church, until late October to hand over the keys. But the diocese's lawyer, D.C. “Woody” Bradford, said it won't push to enforce that deadline.

People on both sides said they hope for negotiations that could lead to the congregation's staying in its current home, though not as an Episcopal church. St. Barnabas leaders also are considering an appeal.

“What we're hoping is that now that they have won the lawsuit they'll be more willing to sit down with us and talk about what's real,” said the Rev. Robert Scheiblhofer, rector of St. Barnabas...

Read the rest at the Omaha World Herald.

Hat tips to Fr. Smuts and Michael Frost

==============

Another article with a different slant can be found on the website of Fox42 News. (Note, the article repeatedly refers to the "archdiocese" of Nebraska, which is a mistake, as there are no archbishops in the Episcopal Church in the U.S.; this is probably a conflation with the Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha, which may be more typically part of the news cycle.)

Read the whole story at Fox42 News.

"Property has been taken away from an entity here that was never in court," said John Chatelain.

Last week, a judge ruled that St. Barnabas belongs to the Episcopal Archdiocese of Nebraska. That means, since the church no long associates itself with Episcopalian beliefs and practices, the church keys-and everything inside-belong to the archdiocese.

"Not only has the plaintiff sued the wrong people, but they have failed to sue the person of the entity that owns the property," said Chatelain, the attorney for St. Barnabas.

The Archdiocese filed a lawsuit against seven defendants three years ago. At the time, a little over half were part of the governing body of St. Barnabas. Now, Chatelain said, none of them are church officials.

"Parish corporation has never been named as a defendant-and the property has always been held by the ‘wardens and vestry' of the Church," said Chatelain...

That's one of the many reasons why Chatelain said he plans to appeal the ruling.

Hat tip to Sean Reed and Michael Thannisch on Facebook

Entering the Ordinariate

January 14, 2012

Cardinal Newman

As this is being read, I will have joined others in one of the first groups of US Anglicans being received into the nascent Personal Ordinariates of the Catholic Church.
Why would anyone in his right mind want to leave a parish where he has invested over a third of a century, served in key leadership positions, and has many friends? Good golly, my parish has some of the best clergy, liturgy, outreach ethic and sacramental and pastoral care and some of the nicest people in Christendom, and it adheres to Catholic faith and practice while respecting that each of us is at a different point in our earthly pilgrimage. It’s getting it right, as some would say.
And why would any Anglican want to trade this for an ecclesial culture with oft-different values and experiences on a variety of fronts? Plus, given that the Personal Ordinariate is only in the formation stage in this country, does it really make sense to jump into the unknown?

Read the rest at Forward in Christ Magazine

Episcopal Abandonment

January 11, 2012
By Charlotte Hays

I am sorry to say that I can’t share my friend Phil Terzian’s pleasure that a court in Virginia has ruled that the Episcopal Church can reclaim property from a so-called breakaway Anglican group.

Phil says: “If people want to abandon the Episcopal Church, they are free to do so; but they cannot take historic Church property with them, or deprive Episcopalians of their parish homes.”

But who has abandoned the Episcopal Church? I would argue that the real abandoners of the Episcopal Church more rightly include those who have kept the miters and want to keep the property but have ditched all semblance of doctrine...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I must admit that I suffered greatly when I had to give up the old Book of Common Prayer (the ’28 version!) upon swimming the Tiber. But now Pope Benedict XVI has given it back to us with his invitation for groups for former Episcopalians to bring our beautiful patrimony into the Catholic Church.

Speaking of which, may I invite you to join the St. Thomas of Canterbury Anglican Use Society in a festive Evensong to celebrate the erection of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter for former Anglicans and Episcopalians and the appointment of the new ordinary, Father Jeffrey Steenson?

Evensong is one of the most beautiful and characteristically Anglican of liturgies. Ours will be at St. Anselm’s Abbey, January 21, at 4 p.m. I can promise splendid music and reverent language, and, being former Episcopalians, we will lay on something more exciting than coffee at the coffee hour immediately following the service.

Read Charlotte's full article at National Review Online

A towering figure in the Anglo-Catholic movement dies

January 9, 2012
By Mary Ann Mueller

Retired Fort Worth Bishop Clarence Pope died Saturday in Louisiana


A towering leader in the current Anglo-Catholic movement has died. Former Fort Worth Bishop Clarence C. Pope succumbed to pneumonia in his sleep Saturday, Jan. 7.

Bishop Pope was the long-time rector of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Baton Rouge before being elected in 1984 as the bishop coadjutor in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. He stepped into the diocesan bishop's roll in 1986 as the second bishop of Fort Worth, taking over the diocesan croizer from Fort Worth's founding bishop, Donald Davies who died last October.

The retired bishop was always a staunch supporter of Anglo-Catholic spirituality in Anglicanism. St. Luke's is a strong Anglo-Catholic parish. Pope kept the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth tightly within that religious understanding.

Under Bishop Pope's leadership and guidance the Diocese of Fort Worth was one of the final four Episcopal dioceses that did not ordain women. The foursome included: Fort Worth, Quincy, Eau Claire and San Joaquin.

While Bishop of Fort Worth, Bishop Pope was instrumental in helping St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church in Arlington become a Roman Catholic Pastoral Provision parish. It is now known as St. Mary the Virgin Catholic Church. The former Episcopal parish is slated to become a part of the newly erected Anglican Ordinariate.

Bishop Pope was sympathetic with Arlington's sole Anglo-Catholic parish's Catholic leanings and was instrumental in helping the former Episcopal congregation keep its land and buildings when it became an established Roman Catholic Anglican Use church in the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth in 1994.

The Anglo-Catholic bishop was also the founder and first president of the Episcopal Synod of America, which eventually folded to Forward in Faith-North America where he served as the first president. Until his death, he remained an ex-officio adjunct member of the FiF-NA Council where he was listed as the President Emeritus.

Bishop Pope handed the reins of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth over to coadjutor Bishop Jack Iker in January 1995 so he could follow his conscience into the Roman Catholic faith. Bernard Cardinal Law received him and his wife, Martha, into the Roman Catholic Church.

However, the ecclesial transfer was not a good fit. In seeking to reclaim his priesthood as a Catholic under the Pastoral Provision, Bishop Pope was reportedly black balled by the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge Priests' Council and was not ordained a Catholic priest. He was devastated.

After some cajoling by then-Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning and his own successor Bishop Iker, Bishop Pope returned to The Episcopal Church and was reinstated into the House of Bishops. That, too, was not a good fit, and he returned to the Papal flock.

Bishop Pope continued to struggle with his place in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. His heart was Anglican but his soul was Catholic. He lived that tension for the rest of his life struggling to be faithful to the spiritual path God had laid out for him...



Read the rest of Clarence Popes' obituary at Virtue Online

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller

Retired Fort Worth Bishop Clarence Pope dead

JANUARY 8, 2012
BY GEORGE CONGER

The second [Epsicopal] Bishop of Fort Worth, the Rt. Rev. Clarence C. Pope, Jr., has died.

On 8 Jan 2012, the Diocese of Fort Worth announced that Bishop Pope (81) had “died in his sleep overnight” at a hospital in Baton Rouge where he was being treated for pneumonia.

“His wife, Dr. Martha Pope, and members of their family were with him over the past week. Please keep all the family in your prayers,” the diocese said.

Elected the second Bishop of Fort Worth in 1984, Bishop Pope was the first president of the Episcopal Synod of America, and a long-time advocate for corporate reunification with the Roman Catholic Church. Upon his retirement in 1994, Bishop Pope announced that he and his wife were joining the Roman Catholic Church. Citing the Church of England’s 1992 Act of Synod permitting the ordination of women, Bishop Pope said then that the “pilgrimage I had longed to take corporately would now have to be taken alone.”...

Read the rest at Anglican Ink.

Requiescat in pace.

Fr. Catania of Mt Calvary, Baltimore on the Ordinariate

from the December newsletter Crux Fidelis of Mt. Calvary Church in Baltimore, Maryland

Dear Friends in Christ,

As we begin our second Advent since Mount Calvary’s watershed decision to enter full communion with the See of Peter, I had hoped I might at last be able to report both an agreement on a final property settlement with the Diocese of Maryland, and the date of our reception into the Catholic Church. Alas, I am not yet able to so, delayed as we are by factors beyond our control, mostly having to do with our protracted negotiations with the diocese. Sadly, it appears that there are some who would have this process extended indefinitely, perhaps with the hope that the people of Mount Calvary would simply disperse. But fortunately, there is also evidence there are those of goodwill amongst the leadership of the diocese who remain desirous of a gracious, amicable parting of ways, and I am cautiously optimistic that that mindset will prevail. Though we did not agree to a final settlement after six hours of mediation with Judge Joseph Kaplan on November 10, considerable progress was made, and I think it would be fair to say that the outlines of an agreement did emerge. I am hopeful that in the coming weeks, the details of that outline will be filled in, and a consensus will be reached. Then, once a settlement has been signed, a date can be set for our long-awaited reconciliation with Holy Mother Church.

Whatever the contents of that forthcoming settlement, it will inevitably entail sacrifice; after all, sacrifice is an inescapable component of the Christian life, as demonstrated by Our Lord Himself. Mount Calvary’s sacrifice for the sake of fulfilling the Holy Spirit’s call into full communion with the Catholic Church will undoubtedly be painful. But we mustn’t let that pain dissuade us from following the path which God has prepared for us. We must not allow an inordinate concern with secondary matters to cloud our vision of what Mount Calvary has the potential to become. It must be acknowledged, however, that there are serious financial factors which must be addressed. For far too long, we as a congregation have relied on the generosity of past generations to fund our ministry in the present. Regardless of the cost associated with a final property settlement, we will need to carefully consider our priorities as we look ahead. Furthermore, each of us must search within our hearts and determine whether our own personal stewardship adequately reflects both the needs of the parish and our own ability to give. Only by prayerfully reflecting on both our expenditures and our income will Mount Calvary be able to face the future on a sure fiscal footing.

And what of that future? For what has seemed like an eternity, the future has been shrouded in mystery, particularly with regard to the new structure within the Catholic Church which Pope Benedict has created for us, namely the Ordinariate. At last, that picture is becoming clearer. On November 15, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Holy See’s delegate for the implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus in the United States, announced that an American Ordinariate will be canonically established on January 1, 2012. You can read about the details of the Cardinal’s report in Fr. John Huntington’s fine summary on page 6. Suffice it say, this is very exciting news, for not only will the Ordinariate at last come into existence at that time, but the Ordinary (the priest or bishop who will be its leader) will also be named, and so we will finally know the identity of our soon-to-be Father in God. One of the most frustrating aspects of our common life since October 24, 2010 has been that our parish has effectively been without any pastoral oversight. This is, of course, contrary to the very nature of the Church, necessitated by unique circumstance though it has been. As soon as the Ordinary’s name is made known, I intend to contact him and seek his direction regarding the many questions which face us as an incoming parish of the Ordinariate. I am confident that whomever the Holy Father chooses to be our Ordinary, he will be a godly and wise pastor whom we can trust to lead us and all the members of the American Ordinariate to the fulfillment of Pope Benedict’s vision for this historic project.

Once again, I conclude by asking for your continued prayers for the clergy and people of Mount Calvary, as well as for all those preparing to enter the Ordinariate and for our future Ordinary. To be sure, many challenges remain before us, but in the words of Blessed John Henry Newman, “amidst the encircling gloom,” God will assuredly lead us into His “kindly Light.”

Your pastor and friend,

The Rev’d Jason Catania, Rector

Big news in Washington: “We are ordinariate bound!”

June 6, 2011
by Deacon Greg Kandra


That’s the happy headline from the website for St. Luke’s Episcopal Parish in Bladensburg, Maryland (not far from where I grew up, actually).

The website notes:

It is with great joy St. Luke’s announces its intention to join the Personal Ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church. We have been discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit since the Holy Father’s announcement of Anglicanorum coetibus in October of 2009. Since that time we have been in close dialogue with both the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and the Archdiocese Washington...

Read the rest at The Deacon's Bench.

Former TEC Anglo-Catholic Bishop Explains Why Traditionalists are not Accepting Ordinariate

By David W. Virtue
February 11, 2011

The Pope's offer of a Personal Ordinariate for Anglo-Catholics around the world is now open for business. In January, an Ordinariate was set up in England and Wales. VOL spoke with Bishop Keith Ackerman, VIIIth, Bishop of Quincy (Episcopal Church) (ret), and President of Forward in Faith-North America. He is a member of the College of Bishops in the Province of the Southern Cone and ACNA and Episcopal Vicar of the Diocese of Quincy.

VOL spoke with him about this situation and asked him what the implications are for Anglo-Catholic bishops like himself and what he would do if an Ordinariate were set up in the US and Canada.

VOL: The recent announcement by Pope Benedict XVI of a Personal Ordinariate in the form of an Apostolic Constitution (Anglicanorum Coetibus) for Anglo-Catholics around the world raises serious issues for Anglo-Catholics in North America. Did this take you by surprise?

ACKERMAN: No, not at all. Just a clarification, David, the Personal Ordinariate is not in the form of the Apostolic Constitution, but rather is provided for as a general normative structure for those Anglican faithful who desire to enter into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church in a corporate manner. This is another pastoral response of the Roman Church to the request of certain Anglicans that has been evolving for many years due to the requests from bishops, priests, deacons and the laity of the Anglican Communion. Pope John Paul II instituted what is called the "Pastoral provision", and placed it under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Since 1980 the "Pastoral Provision" has provided a means for Anglican Clergy, married or celibate, seeking to come into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church, to be considered for Ordination in the Roman Catholic Church, retaining elements of the Anglican Liturgical tradition. As a person who has been aware of these conversations ecumenically, this evolution is not surprising.

Read the rest of Bishop Ackerman's thoughtful and thorough responses in his interview posted on Virtue Online.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller.

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Anglicans headed to the Ordinariate are becoming one in spirit at Texas meeting

By Mary Ann Mueller in San Antonio
Special Correspondent
www.virtueonline.org
November 17, 2010

Perhaps in three hundred years, historians and journalists will look back on a mid-November 2010 meeting on the edge of a Texas desert and realize that it was the first time the various Anglican "cousins" of the emerging Anglican Ordinariate in America met and began forging the bonds that would weave them into a united ecclesial family under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman and in full unity with the Vicar of Christ, the successor to the Throne of Peter.

A year ago, these vastly flung Anglican "cousins" heard the words of Pope Benedict XVI when he announced the establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate in his publication of Anglicanorum Coetibus, thus throwing open wide the doors of the Catholic Church to fully embrace those various Anglicans who want to reunite with the See of Peter while retaining their own unique Anglican patrimony and thereby helping to enrich the Catholic Church in the process.

"This is historic," proclaimed the Rev. Christopher Phillips, founding pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement Anglican Use Catholic Church. "A great change was set into motion - a change so tremendous that Anglican/Catholic relations will be seen in terms of 'before Anglicanorum Coetibus' and 'after Anglicanorum Coetibus'."

Just as Rome threw its doors open wide, Fr. Phillips has thrown open the doors on his church to welcome American bishops, archbishops, priests, deacons, abbots, religious, hermits and laity to his San Antonio church so that the various Anglican cousins could come together as one in united prayer, unified praise, and common Anglican fellowship.

More than 125, from all points on the map responded to Fr. Phillips open invitation to come together and begin forming a united family centered around their common desire to become one in the Catholic Church.

A wide spectrum of the Anglican alphabet soup was represented at the three-day "Becoming One" gathering in Texas. Anglicans from the Episcopal Church (TEC); the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC); and Catholic Church (RC); the Anglican Church in America (ACA); the Federation of Anglican Churches in America (FACA) and a number of other Anglican jurisdictions came to the desert Southwest.

"The Pope wants Anglicans not acronyms," Fr. Phillips explained. "TAC, FIF-NA, ACA, ACNA, AU ... Anglicanorum Coetibus envisions none of those things continuing within an Ordinariate.

"With the implementation of the Holy Father's Apostolic Constitution, they will have served their purpose," the Texas priest continued, "and as necessary as they were to get us here, they will be needed no more."

He noted that Forward in Faith and the Traditional Anglican Communion were instrumental in helping the See of Peter recognize and respond to the spiritual yearning of Anglo-Catholics committed to reunifying with the Great Latin Church of the West and to help fulfill the Lord's heartfelt pastoral prayer that "they all may be one ..." Now a new era is dawning and the next stage of development has begun.

Not only has a new era dawned for Anglo-Catholics as they are welcomed into full Communion with the Church of Rome, a new day has also dawned in The Episcopal Church under the leadership of its current Presiding Bishop.

"...to those who reject the Ordinariate because they want to 'maintain a pure form of Anglicanism' - all I can say is 'good luck with that." commented Fr. Phillips. "We can all see how well this so-called 'pure Anglicanism' is working out."

Fr. Phillips said that he can foresee a day when The Episcopal Church will no longer be considered a Christian denomination because the Christian faith is being jettisoned as Biblical truths are redefined.

"We've heard from people who recoil at the idea of 'becoming Roman Catholics'," he said. "And isn't it ironic? Isn't it 'Rome' which is actually preserving and nurturing the Anglican patrimony."

The former Episcopal priest has personally struggled long and hard to leave the spiritually decaying Episcopal Church behind him and find his spiritual home and ministry in the Roman Catholic Church.

In one fell swoop -- within a breath and two heart beats -- the former Episcopal priest found himself stripped of his pulpit, unemployed, homeless and without insurance coverage for his growing young family. He left without a retirement pension when he admitted to his Episcopal bishop that he felt the call of God to fulfill his priesthood in the Catholic Church and enter into the Pastoral Provision process. His Episcopal bishop immediately stopped his salary, his insurance and his pension, took the keys to his church and rectory, and deposed him of his Episcopal priesthood.

"My family and I willing sacrificed everything we had - family, friends, home, salary, insurance, pension - all gone," he recalled.

Eventually, Fr. Phillips was ordained an early Pastoral Provision Catholic priest. He went on to found Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church - the strong mother church of the Anglican Use in the United States. From those humble beginnings, with 18 souls in his spiritual care, Fr. Phillips, under the direction and leadership of the Holy Spirit, went on to build a vibrant Anglican Use congregation, one soul at a time.

"Episcopalians and Anglicans of various stripes came to see what it was all about and many of them chose to join with us." Fr. Phillips remembers the early days of Our Lady of the Atonement. "Lapsed Catholics found a place where they could rediscover their faith and were restored to the Sacraments. People who had no particular religious background found a small and welcoming community of believers and so made their way into the Catholic Church."

Now hundreds attend Sunday services. An attached classical education academy teaches more than 550 students in the Four Rs - 'Reading, 'Riting, 'Rithmetic, and Religion. The Atonement Academy is growing faster than they can build classrooms. Every available space is being used with more buildings are on the drawing board.

Just as Our Lady of the Atonement grew out of very humble beginnings, Fr. Phillips envisions a time in the Anglican Ordinariate that his success story will be replicated time and again as the Ordinariate grows one soul at a time and one congregation at a time.

On Tuesday evening he said he was thrilled to see so many of his Anglican "cousins" show up at Our Lady of the Atonement with a single-mindedness to come together and become one in faith, and practice and as a unified Catholic spiritual family.

"Our job is to become one with each other," Our Lady of the Atonement's pastor noted, while looking to the day when the unity among us will find its fulfillment in the unity of Christ's One, Holy, Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church."


---Mary Ann Mueller is a journalist living in Texas. She is a regular contributor to VirtueOnline

TEC priest appearance was no Sunday surprise at Mount Calvary

A VOL EXCLUSIVE

By Mary Ann Mueller
Special Correspondent
www.Virtueonline.org
November 4, 2010

Last Sunday the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland sent in another priest to celebrate an unscheduled Service of Holy Communion at Calvary Episcopal Church. This decision on the part of the Diocese was made following the parish's overwhelming vote to disassociate with The Episcopal Church and begin the conversion process to Roman Catholicism.

The Rev. Jesse Leon Anthony Parker, rector at St. John's-in-the-Village, celebrated a 9 am Eucharist at Mount Calvary, wedging his service in between Mount Calvary's scheduled 8 am Low Mass and 10 am Solemn High Mass. Only a handful of loyal Episcopalians attended the impromptu service.

Fr. Parker is the only priest at St. John's which is about two and a half miles away. He has been rector at that parish since 1991.

Mount Calvary's rector, the Rev. Jason Catania said that it was "no surprise" that Fr. Parker showed up. The Diocese of Maryland communicated its intension to Fr. Catania beforehand. The visiting Episcopal priest is an openly homosexual relationship.

Although Fr. Parker started his service late, which caused it to run overtime, Fr. Cantania said there were "no incidents and everyone was polite." However, the Mount Calvary rector is speaking with the Diocese of Maryland to insure that there is not another unscheduled Service of Holy Communion celebrated at his altar...

Read the rest at Virtue Online.

Baltimore Anglicans becoming Catholic -- but are they already more "Catholic" than most Catholics?

Wonderful news from the Baltimore Sun, where it is being reported that the Mount Calvary Episcopal Church in Baltimore on Sunday "became the first congregation in Maryland to vote to break ties with the Episcopal Church and take steps to join the Roman Catholic Church."

According to the paper of record in the oldest Archdiocese in the country: "The small Anglo Catholic parish ... was feeling increasingly alienated from the Episcopal Church as it accepted priests who did not believe in what most of the congregation saw as the foundations of the faith ... The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland issued a statement Monday about the vote, but both the bishop and the rector, the Rev. Jason Catania, declined to be interviewed. A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Sean Caine, said the Catholic Church would welcome the congregation."

Read the rest at Rorate Coeli.

Mt. Calvary Baltimore Votes to Leave TEC

Sunday, October 24, 2010
Greg Griffity writes on Stand Firm:
Mt. Calvary, an Episcopal church in Baltimore that dates back to 1842, this morning voted to remove itself from the Episcopal Church. A parishioner reports:

Mount Calvary voted on two resolutions today at a special meeting following 10:00 Mass:

1) That Mt. Calvary Church separate itself from The Episcopal Church, and

2) That Mt. Calvary Church seek admission to the Roman Catholic Church as an Anglican Use parish.

Both resolutions passed by majorities of almost 85%.

The ballots were counted by two disinterested outsiders: Dr. Daniel Page (a friend of many parishioners who lives nearby) and Sister Mary Joan of the All Saints' Sisters of the Poor.

The ballots were counted in the presence of the Rev. Scott Slater, Canon to the Ordinary of the Diocese of Maryland.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller