New US Ordinariate Chancery Dedicated and Blessed

February 4, 2015

Cardinal Levada with Msgr. Steenson

Houston – The Chancery of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was blessed and dedicated on Sunday, February 1st, with all the majesty and magnificence of the best of our Anglican patrimony and Catholic heritage.

With the prayers and presence of two Cardinals, an archbishop, two dozen priests and deacons, a festive choir, musicians, a contingent from the Knights of Columbus and a crowd of several hundred, the Chancery was liturgically and officially prepared for use as the headquarters for our growing mission within the Catholic Church in the United States and Canada.

Read the rest of the story and see more photos at the web site of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

Dedication services for new Chancery of US Ordinariate set for February 1-2

We are pleased to share with you the dates and times for the Chancery dedication for the Ordinariate. Please mark your calendars for February 1-2, 2015.The formalities officially begin with Evensong at 4:00pm on Sunday; however, Mass will be celebrated that morning at 11:15 in the presence of His Eminence William Cardinal Levada, who will be the homilist. Please let us know if you plan to be at the Mass and (for clergy) if you plan to concelebrate. We will send out more information in early January with the particulars for Mass and for Evensong.

We hope many of you can attend. Please do not hesitate to let us now in the Ordinariate office me know if you have questions.

from the Ordinariate Observer, Winter 2014-15 edition.

RIP: Deacon John Denson

An email from the rector of the US Ordinariate's principal Church:

Dear Faithful of Our Lady of Walsingham,   

Our beloved Deacon John Denson passed from this life on Sunday afternoon at 12:45 p.m.   This Friday, November 22, 2013 there will be Evening Prayer and Rosary beginning at 6:00 p.m.   The next morning, Saturday, November 23 at 10:00 a.m. will be the Requiem Mass with lunch reception to follow. 

  
Both liturgies will be held at Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church.  May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed rest in peace.  Let light perpetual shine upon him. 

Faithfully in Christ through Mary, 

Fr. Hough 

Anglicans swimming the Tiber, a one-year report

February 12, 2013

by Terry Mattingly

 

It’s natural for any employee to want to know just how committed the big boss is to the company’s future and, especially, to the expansion project that includes his job.

So, even though Pope Benedict XVI didn’t make it to America in person, Father Jason Catania still appreciated the message he sent to the former Episcopal priests and others who swam the Tiber to Rome after the pontiff’s controversial “Anglicanorum Coetibus (“groups of Anglicans”) pronouncement in 2009.
“We didn’t just wake up one morning last year and said, ‘Why don’t we join the Catholic Church?’ Many of us have made personal and financial sacrifices over the years to do this,” said Catania, who leads Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore. This was the first American parish that voted to enter one of the new “personal ordinariates” — the equivalent of nationwide dioceses — that would allow Anglicans to retain key elements of their liturgy, music, art and other traditions, such as married priests.

“We were very intentional and took many steps toward Rome on this journey,” he said. “Now we’re starting to see the results of the Vatican’s strategic step toward us.”

Clergy and supporters of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter gathered at its home base in Houston last week to mark the first anniversary of this outreach effort in America. Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Muller, the new leader of the Vatican’s powerful Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, offered his share of theological commentary on this project, but made it clear that his main message was personal...

Read the rest of Mr. Mattingly's story at his blog on Patheos.

Hat tip to Fr. Catania on Facebook.

US Ordinariate announces details on February 2-3 Symposium

SYMPOSIUM: THE MISSION OF THE ORDINARIATE
A symposium to commemorate the first anniversary of the
Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter
February 2-3, 2013

Registration of $25.00 required per each attendee for February 2nd events. To register online, visit Eventbrite.

Archbishop Gerhard Müller
Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

HOTEL INFORMATION: Rooms have been reserved for the Ordinariate at the following hotels:

Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites
7625 Katy Freeway (I-10)
Houston, Texas 77024
713-688-2800
$89.00 single or double occupancy
Block code for online reservations: OSP.

Crowne Plaza Houston Galleria Area
7611 Katy Freeway (I-10)
Houston, TX 77024
713-680-2222
$99.00 single occupancy
$109.00 double occupancy
Block will be released on January 18, 2013
Block code for online reservations: CSP

PARKING: On Saturday, shuttle service will be available from the hotels and from special satellite parking next to Our Lady of Walsingham Church, 7809 Shadyvilla Lane, Houston, Texas 77055.

Please note that parking will not be available at the seminary.

AGENDA:

Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013
St. Mary’s Seminary
9845 Memorial Drive, Houston, TX 77024

8:30 a.m. Check-in, Nold Hall Auditorium.

9:30 a.m. Welcome and Introductions.

“The Ecclesiology of Anglicanorum coetibus”
Archbishop Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith.

10:45 a.m. Break.

11:00 a.m. Greetings from Daniel Cardinal DiNardo
Archbishop of Galveston-Houston

“The Ordinariate’s Mission: Evangelization”
Donald Cardinal Wuerl, Ecclesiastical Delegate for
Anglicanorum coetibus in the United States.

12:00 p.m. Casual Lunch. Box lunches included in the registration fee.

1:30 p.m. “The Ordinariate’s Mission: Liturgy”
Msgr. Steven Lopes,
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Secretary to
the Anglicanae Traditiones Commission.

2:30 p.m. Break

2:45 p.m. Responses:

Bishop Kevin Vann, Bishop of the Diocese of Orange and
Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision

Msgr. Jeffrey N. Steenson, Ordinary
The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter

Archbishop Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith.

Sunday, Feb. 3, 2012 (Open to everyone. Registration not required.)

9:00 a.m. Concelebrated Mass at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
1111 St. Joseph Parkway at San Jacinto, Houston, Texas 77002

4:30 p.m. Solemn Evensong and Procession to the Shrine, Our Lady of Walsingham.
7809 Shadyvilla Lane, Houston, Texas 77055

Vatican, U.S. Officials to Headline Symposium on the Ordinariate

November 9, 2012

Archbishop Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington; and Msgr. Steve Lopes, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Secretary to the Anglicanae Traditiones Commission, will be featured speakers at a symposium to mark first anniversary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

The symposium, which will be sponsored by the ordinariate, will be held Feb. 2, 2013 at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston. Topics will include the ecclesiology of Anglicanorum Coetibus, and the evangelization and liturgical missions of the ordinariate.

Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, will greet participants. Additional speakers include Bishop Kevin Vann of Orange (CA), who also is the ecclesiastical delegate for the Pastoral Provision; and Monsignor Jeffrey N. Steenson, ordinary of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

The Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was established by Pope Benedict XVI on Jan. 1, 2012 for former Anglican groups and clergy seeking to become Catholic while retaining elements of the Anglican traditions and heritage. The ordinariate, which is based in Houston, Texas, is equivalent to a diocese, but national in scope. Its clergy and communities are located across the United States and Canada. Other ordinariates are located in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Details on the symposium will be posted online soon at www.usordinariate.org.

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

November 12, 2012 UPDATE: While not yet confirmed by the Ordinariate, word has reached me that it has been decided that the Symposium will be held at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart (rather than at the seminary) in Houston because of the anticipated large attendance.

An Episcopal priest's first Catholic Mass

One of the Fort Worth Six was ordained with his father


By Mary Ann Mueller
Special Correspondent

HOUSTON, TX: He's tall, he's slender, he's young and now he is a Catholic priest.

In my 40-plus years as a religion writer, I have covered a wide variety of religious events: the ordination of deacons and priests - Episcopal and Catholic; the consecration of a Catholic bishop; the installation of Episcopal rectors; the enthronement of an Anglican archbishop and an Ordinariate's founding Ordinary; the veilings of Catholic nuns; the creation of an Episcopal diocese; the elevation of a Catholic diocese to an archdiocese; the craziness of several Episcopal General Conventions - even as another gets underway; and one United Methodist General Conference. However, I have never been to a priest's first Mass ... until Sunday.

On Saturday, June 30, the Rev. Charles Hough IV, formerly rector St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Gainesville, Texas, was ordained a Roman Catholic priest along with five other former Episcopal priests, all of whom are a part of the ACNA Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, including his own father, Charles the Third, who was at one time the Canon to the Ordinary.

The calendar page turns. On Sunday, July 1, wearing green and gold brocade vestments, Fr. Hough was officially installed as the first Ordinariate rector of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church in Houston, even before he stepped up to the altar to offer his first Mass as a Catholic priest. His first Mass as an Episcopal priest was celebrated when he was ordained in September 2007. Since then, he has served at two Texas Episcopal churches, one in Arlington and the other in Gainesville.

The entrance procession included several acolytes - torch bearers, a crucifer, a thurifer - two deacons and two priests, all in matching vestments, as well as the Ordinary of the Ordinariate wearing his golden-colored mitre. The orders of clergy processed in to the lusty singing of Hosanna to the Living Lord.

As the final note sounded, Our Lady of Walsingham's deacon, the Rev. Mr. James Barnett, stepped forward, faced the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson, and said, "Reverend Father in God, I present to you Fr. Charles Hough, who you as Ordinary have appointed to serve as the rector of this Principal Church of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, Our Lady of Walsingham, and here this day by your to be installed and admitted to the cure of souls in this parish."

Monsignor Steenson replied, "Dearly beloved in the Lord - In the Name of God and in the presence of this congregation, as the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, I hereby institute our well-beloved in Christ, Fr. Charles Hough as rector of this Principal Church, and with all the parishioners of Our Lady of Walsingham, I welcome him to this sacred ministry ..."

The congregation exploded in applause.

When the applause died down and following a prayer the Monsignor asked the new rector if he would "steadfastly serve this parish, duly ministering God's Word and Sacraments, for the benefit of the faithful ..."

The new priest's first words as rector were, "I will, God being my helper."

Monsignor Steenson turned to the congregation and inquired of the parishioners if they would support Fr. Hough in his new ministry as a Catholic priest and their new rector.

"We will, with God's help," came the solid reply...

Read the rest of Mary Ann's story at Virtue Online.

Shepherd of Fort Worth writes about the Ordinariate

from the blog of Bishop Kevin Vann

Msgr. Steenson and Bishop Vann with candidates for the Ordinariate

Sunday, February 12th, saw the liturgical establishment of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter at Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Houston. Donald Cardinal Wuerl and Daniel Cardinal DiNardo presided, along with a number of other Bishops and Archbishops, when Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson PA, celebrated the Mass that inaugurated the Ordinariate. There were approximately 800 people in attendance at the beautiful new Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral in Houston. Anglicans that had already been received in the Church, or were part of Anglican use personal parishes were present, along with many priests, deacons, and religious. There was a very good sized group from the Diocese of Fort Worth, along with Lucas Pollice, our Director of Catechesis, and Bert and Rosary Guidry of St. Michael’s parish in Bedford who assist in the catechesis for all of those seeking full communion.

In his homily, Msgr. Steenson relied on the Fathers of the Church to show that Church’s ancient concern for reconciliation and full communion. He especially saluted the priests present who came into the Church years ago as “pioneers’ in the Pastoral Provision. I would especially mention here Fr. Allan Hawkins who was present, and he, along with his congregation of St. Mary the Virgin in Arlington, made careful preparation, study and prayer in their journey to full communion years ago. Their pioneer journey of Faith years ago has now begun to bear fruit in a significant way. An Anglican priest friend of mine mentioned years ago, at a meeting, “we are just looking for someone to reach out to us with a hand.” And, so it has been done in the person of Pope Benedict XVI. As another priest said, this is not just about “swimming the Tiber”, but the Pope has built us a bridge.” All of this is certainly the fruit of the ecumenical movement which predated the Second Vatican Council, but as well is found in the documents of the Council.

Fr. Steenson interviewed on Houston Channel 8

Another report on the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter Receiving its First Ordinary

One of the friends I met up with in Houston was Heide Seward from No. Virginia. She posts today:

As reported in many other places (see below for links) the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, TX was the site of last Sunday's Installation Mass for the new Ordinary for the US, Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson. And what an occasion it was! I told someone that participated with me in a 2007 Anglican Use Society pilgrimage to Rome that I hadn't seen that many bishops, cardinals, priests, deacons and seminarians all in the same place since Rome. The procession alone took nearly 20 minutes. I've seen estimates numbering the crowd at upwards of 1,000 people...

Read the rest of Heide's post at Seward's Folly.

HOUSTON, TEXAS: Fr. Jeffrey Steenson Retakes Miter and Crosier

Former Episcopal bishop becomes Catholic monsignor

By Mary Ann Mueller in Houston

Feb. 13, 2012

An excited crowd was already starting to form at Sacred Heart Co-cathedral before Sunday's early afternoon Vietnamese Mass was even completed. People were gathering from points near and far to witness and participate in a unique moment in Catholic ecclesial history - the formal installation of the first Ordinary of the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States.

Pope Benedict XVI's much-anticipated Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus was finally becoming a reality in America. All the prayers that have gone into this moment were about to be fulfilled and brought to full fruition. In moments, the written words would be spoken. Leaping off the page, these words would become a reality and the Rev. Jeffrey Steenson would be officially installed as the reigning cleric with jurisdiction.

The occasional light whiff of incense that drifted past the nostrils of the multitude, as they found their seats in the massive 27,800 square foot cathedral, was the first hint that something special was about to happen.

The air crackled with anticipation and excitement. The clock kept ticking toward Feb. 12th's appointed three pm hour.

From somewhere in the back of the immense cathedral, an organ started to play softly helping to create a contemplative atmosphere. Pews were filling up as the finishing touches were being put on the solemn ceremony that would begin momentarily.

As quickly as the organ had started to play, the lilting musical notes ended. A deep hush descended on the assembled congregation. The strong aroma of incense filled the church. The Opus XIX 5,499 pipe organ pealed out the first notes of "Firmly I Believe", bringing the congregation to its feet. Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman penned the 19th Century hymn with the 20th Century melody being written by Joseph Kucharski, the professor of church music at Nashotah House. The entrance procession had begun.

First to process in were the Catholic bishops and archbishops -- eight in all - who were dressed in their fuchsia-colored choir dress. The next splash of color came when the two cardinals came in attired in brilliant vivid red.

The processional cross was flanked by two torch bearers, followed by the thurifer who with a practiced swing could twirl the thurible a full 360 degrees sending great clouds of aromatic blue-gray white smoke drifting towards the 72-foot-high vaulted ceiling.

Emerging from the smoke screen of incense came eight torch bearers leading the way for those who were carrying the humeral-veil draped crosier and miter - which would become Fr. Steenson's symbols of spiritual authority and temporal power in the recently created personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.

The new Anglican ordinariate was erected on New Year's Day by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith at the behest of Pope Benedict XVI. This came in response to the many Anglicans who, for years and even decades, have pounded on the Vatican's door seeking to be reunified with the Church of Rome following the original splintering off of Anglicanism in the 16th Century. The Pope made a special provision for Anglicans to become fully Roman Catholic while maintaining some of their unique cherished ways in patrimony and ethos...

Read the rest of the story on Virtue Online.

A Day to Remember

Some things happen in life, and they are of such a nature that you not only remember them, but you also remember where you were when they happened. For instance, my earliest memory is of the Texas City explosion in 1947. I remember where I was, and with whom, when we heard in Houston the noise from the explosion all the way down in Texas City. Most people old enough remember where they were when they learned that President Kennedy had been killed.

This Sunday should prove to be one of those days that we remember, not just for one event, but for four. It is the First Anniversary of Deacon John Denson's ordination to the diaconate. I am sure that you join me in congratulating John and in thanking him for all his outstanding and faithful service to the Church and to this parish, especially during this past year in the Office of Deacon.

The second event commemorated Sunday is the Eighth Anniversary of the Dedication of our church building. It is hard to believe eight years have passed since we gathered on that Saturday morning back in 2004 as then Bishop Fiorenza was with us for the dedication liturgy of our church building, which seems to impress all who enter with its beauty and sense of the Spirit of Holiness.

The third and fourth events go hand-in-hand and will take place at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on Sunday afternoon. In the presence of our own Cardinal DiNardo and of Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., the Anglican Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter will be officially inaugurated. At the same liturgy, Father Jeffrey Steenson will be installed as our first Ordinary. This weekend we keep in our prayers in a special way both the new Ordinariate and Fr. Steenson as he begins his new tasks of leadership for us.

For some of us the waith for this day has been thirty years in coming. It is something none of us could have ever imagined when Our Lady of Walsingham was begun as a house church in 1982 by Father Moore, myself, and about twelve people. With the Lord's blessing and the prayers of the Blessed Mother, and through much hard work, patience, and perseverance, we have arrived at today, a day which is truly historic: it marks the first time since the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century that the See of Peter has admitted a Reformation body back into its ranks while allowing us to retain our Anglican Patrimony.
Sunday is thus a day we should always be able to remember where we were when these events happened, as we echo the word of the angels at Bethlehem, "Gloria in excelsis Deo."

Fr. James Ramsey
Pastor

From the Sunday bulletin of the Church of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas

Bringing ex-Anglicans into the Catholic fold

By Kate Shellnutt

The Rev. Jeffrey Steenson's colleagues joke that during the past several years, he's gone from a church heretic to a hierarch.

Even though he has been a Catholic priest for only about three years, Steenson was Pope Benedict's pick to lead a brand-new structure for Catholic converts from Anglican churches, a position he officially takes on this weekend in Houston.

Catholic bishops and leaders from across the country will fill downtown's Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart at 3 p.m. Sunday for his installation as the head of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

The ordinariate consists of Catholic parishes that maintain some traditional Anglican prayers and music in services. Like most of the members of these communities, called Anglican Use parishes, Steenson used to be an Episcopalian, an Episcopal bishop, in fact.

He converted to Catholicism in 2007, after spending most of his career studying the church fathers, striving for ecumenicalism and, ultimately, feeling God put on his conscience that the Catholic Church was the "one, true, holy and apostolic" body.

A married father of three and amateur pilot, Steenson joined the church under provisions initially made for former Anglicans in the early '80s by Pope John Paul II. About that time, the first Anglican Use parishes formed in the U.S., including Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio and Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, now the headquarters for Steenson's ordinariate.

The announcement came as a surprise to Steenson and members of the local parish, which years ago "had been meeting in borrowed chapels and rented warehouses. We wouldn't have imagined it would have come to this and that Houston would be the headquarters for this nationwide (ordinariate)," said Clint Brand, a parishioner at Our Lady of Walsingham and professor at theUniversity of St. Thomas. "It's a recognition of what converts have carried with them into the Catholic Church. We can now reclaim the tradition that taught us to be Catholic."

Catholics hope their Episcopal neighbors see the initiative positively, as an unprecedented way of honoring the Anglican tradition and its core liturgy, in the Book of Common Prayer, by officially making a place for it in the Catholic Church...

Read the rest of the article in The Houston Chronicle.

Historic Mass of Institution for newly created Catholic Ordinariate on Feb. 12

CONTACT:
Susan Gibbs, 202-525-9554 or media@usordinariate.org

Cardinals Donald Wuerl and Daniel DiNardo and ten other bishops from across the nation will join Rev. Jeffrey N. Steenson for an historic Mass of Institution for the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter (www.usordinariate.org):

Sunday, Feb. 12
3 p.m.
Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart
1111 St. Joseph Parkway, Houston, TX

The ordinariate, similar to a Catholic diocese, but national in scope, was established by the Vatican on Jan. 1, 2012 to serve former Anglican groups and clergy who become Catholic while retaining elements of their Anglican traditions and heritage.

During the Mass Fr. Steenson, a professor and former Episcopal bishop, will be installed as the first Ordinary and given the title of Monsignor. Cardinal Wuerl, delegate for the implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus, the document authorizing ordinariates, will read the Vatican’s official letter of appointment and present Msgr. Steenson with symbols of his office: a crozier (pastoral staff representing his role as a spiritual shepherd) and miter (tall hat worn during liturgies representing his authority).

Msgr. Steenson will be greeted by representatives of the ordinariate, including young people, candidates for the priesthood and pastors of existing Anglican-use parishes (under a previous provision, a small number of Anglican parishes became Catholic as part of regular Catholic dioceses).

As ordinary, he will have responsibility for establishing the new organization, including parishes, community and clergy. Since he is married, he will not be a bishop, but will be a full member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He joined the Catholic Church in 2007 and was ordained a Catholic priest in 2009. He and his wife, Debra, have three adult children. He also is on the faculty of St. Thomas University in Houston.

To date, over 100 former Anglican priests have applied to become Catholic priests through the ordinariate; some 50 are beginning studies in a formation program, with some ordinations possible in June. Another 1,400 individuals from 22 communities also are seeking to enter the ordinariate. Since September, two former Anglican parish communities in Maryland and a group in Fort Worth, Texas have been received into the Catholic Church.

The Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is based in Houston, Texas. Its main church is Our Lady of Walsingham. Only one other ordinariate exists, in England.

Background on ordinariates

The ordinariates are the result of requests from Anglican groups to become Catholic in a “corporate” manner (as groups). In November 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus (Anglicanorum chay-tee-bus), which authorized the ordinariates. In September 2010, the Vatican appointed Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, as its delegate for its implementation in the United States. He, Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth and Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester were assisted by Reverend Scott Hurd, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington (and a former Anglican priest). Fr. Hurd is serving a three-year term as vicar general of the ordinariate.

Fr. Bruce Noble retires

from the weekly bulletin of Our Lady of Walsingham Church, Houston, Texas.

Congratulations to Father Bruce
Noble on his official retirement this Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham, September 24, from the Catholic Chaplain Corps after 25 years of service to this vital ministry! He and his beloved twin brother, Father David, gave a total of 50 years between the two of them working in the Texas Medical Center of Houston.

For a short, beautiful tale about Fr. Bruce and his recently deceased brother Fr. David, read this story Encounter with Christ on the Chistocentric Life blog.

A biography of the twin Frs. Noble can be read on the web site of Gulf Coast Catholic.