We are few, like Gideon's men (Judges 6), but the bravery of 80 priests, most of whom have lost stipend and some future pension benefits, and the 30 or 40 groups of laity, who have lost their habitual time and place of worship and nowadays go to church at a less convenient time and to a less convenient place, is, we believe, the beginning of something new and magnificent. It is not just Choral Evensong and all that, though the Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham provides that for us, it is a step towards the healing of one of the most damaging wounds of history, the dividing of Christ's Body the Church, here in England.The update is available from St. Edmund's web site.
At the very heart of the Christian faith is the revelation of the Blessed Trinity: God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three Persons united in the one Godhead. The revelation of the Trinity is not one doctrine among others, but it is God’s very self-manifestation in which God does not just impart some abstract knowledge about himself, but rather draws us in to the depths of the mystery of his life and love so that we might be saved, healed, and restored to relationship with him. The revelation of the Trinity encompasses the whole of the Christian faith, and therefore will be a helpful context for our reflection on unity. The communion of the Church flows from the communion of the Blessed Trinity, which is a model of unity not based on uniformity, nor is it a unity without substance.
The Father is the source and author of all life. He reveals himself, that is to say, he gives himself to the World in giving his Incarnate Son and he pours forth the Holy Spirit with the Son so that every aspect of this revealing self-gift might be illuminated and life-giving. The Church, receiving the gift of the Son and being vivified by the Spirit, responds in Eucharistic praise, offering back to the Father for the sake of the world the very gift she has received. This the Church does in the power of the Holy Spirit who effects the transformation of the Church’s gifts into the Body and Blood of Christ, the only acceptable sacrifice which brings salvation to the whole world.
The encounter with Divine Revelation and the dynamic of inter-Personal love in God characterizes the most basic shape of the Church which stands before the Father, in the Son, through the Holy Spirit. Through our Eucharistic sharing in the death and resurrection of Christ, we, the many, are made one in Christ Jesus. This communion with Christ fashioned by the Spirit allows us access to the Father. Indeed, the greatest prayer of the Church is the oneour Lord gave us in which we call God not only his Father, but “Our Father”.
From the perspective of the world, this is indeed a new kind of unity different from all other human attempts at oneness. The history of the world demonstrates again and again that human beings often go about trying to construct unity by enforcing uniformity. When we think of how this has played out in governments and societies, particularly in the totalitarian regimes of the last century, we see that there is an inherent danger in this conception. Uniformity tends toward the elimination of those who do not conform or comply. Conversely, another way the world tries to achieve oneness is by simply overlooking or ignoring the differences that do exist, even to the point of allowing contradictory claims to truth. But this kind of liberal expansiveness, which is rather a hallmark of “latitudinarian” Anglicanism, brings about a unity that is naïve and ephemeral and is, in fact, unity in name only. It is relativism in the absolute and erodes the very foundation of truth upon which true ecclesial communion is built.
True communion is rooted in the unity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a communion in which the diversity of the Persons is constituted and sustained by their essential relations. The Father is not the Son and the Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, and yet each divine Person is who he is in relation to and in perfect communion with the other. This communion in difference is the key insight as we consider our participation as Church in the Trinitarian mystery. We are all called to discipleship and grafted onto the ecclesial Body of Christ through Baptism. Our unity with one another as members of the one Body does not destroy our distinctiveness. Clergy and lay, religious and secular, married and single, male and female, we all share an equal dignity and are formed into one Church through the profession of “one Lord, one faith and one Baptism”. Our distinctiveness and interdependence is a blessing for the Church and a source of its vitality.
The unity of the one and the many is a key insight of Anglicanorum coetibus. The unity of the Church is an image of the eternal unity of God, and according to that heavenly pattern, unity is not achieved by an elimination of distinctiveness. The unity of faith, therefore, permits a diversity of expression of that one faith. This is what is meant in the Apostolic Constitution when it says that groups of Anglicans can enter into communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony. The diversity in liturgical expressions, in some governance structures and in parochial culture does not threaten ecclesial communion. The overarching structure which holds together these expressions is the faith of the Church, ever ancient and ever new, and expressed eloquently in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Anglicans tend to know little about Anglicanism. How many are aware that the Archbishop of Canterbury's coat of arms displays the pallium? How many know what a pallium is? It is a Y shaped vestment, woven from lamb's wool, marked with crosses, worn by the archbishops of ancient, important or primatial dioceses. It hangs down back and front from the shoulders like a yoke over the chasuble. It is conferred on archbishops by the Pope and indicates the strong bond between himself and them. But the Archbishop of Canterbury is not in communion with the Bishop of Rome. Quite so. The arms of Canterbury therefore lie!Read the full article in this month's Update.
But as I say, the majority of Anglicans are ignorant of this lie. I myself am not offended. The lie is a reminder of what once was. The first Archbishop of Canterbury was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great in 597 (when he brought with him the consecration prayer which we of the Ordinariate use at the eucharist). The lie I see as an expression of hope, or if not of hope, as an expression of what ought to be. The Archbishop of Canterbury ought to be in communion with the Bishop of Rome. The church should be one: bishops should express such unity by being in communion with all other bishops. They are, after all, supposed to be the ministers of unity. And a universal church needs a universal primate, president, presiding servant. Who can this possibly be if not the Bishop of Rome? The Eastern Orthodox recognize this and one Russian has added, "What use is primacy without jurisdiction?" What does the Archbishop of Canterbury do to foster unity? He advocates policies which drive the two churches further and further apart, the ordination of women, gay marriages, and he is evasive about the human right to life.
Then again, how many Anglicans know that off and on for some four hundred years there have been some modest attempts at Anglican Roman Catholic rapprochement? Admittedly such attempts have been more off than on. But Canon Bernard Pawley of St Paul's cathedral in London and his wife Margaret have published a history of these attempts, Canterbury and Rome Through Four Centuries...
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
Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast at the Rite of Reception of Anglican Catholic Church of Canada members.- Photo by Robert Du Broy, courtesy of the Archdiocese of OttawaOTTAWA - Bishops in Ottawa and Victoria received two groups from the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC) into the Roman Catholic Church April 15, including two former ACCC bishops and about a half dozen clergy.
"Today, the Body of Christ is a little more healed, a little more unified," Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast told more than 700 people who packed St. Patrick's Basilica. "Today, after half a millennium, separated brethren are separated no more. We are brethren, rejoicing at the same banquet table. Hallelujah."
In Victoria, an estimated 600 people packed St. Andrew's Cathedral, where Bishop Richard Gagnon welcomed the former metropolitan bishop of the ACCC, Peter Wilkinson.
The two groups received on Divine Mercy Sunday will soon become part of the Canadian Deanery of St. John the Baptist of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter under Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, who was named the Ordinary when the American Ordinariate was erected Jan. 1. Steenson, a former Episcopal (Anglican) bishop, is a married Catholic priest who teaches theology at the University of St. Thomas and St. Mary's Seminary in Houston...
Read the rest at The Catholic Register.
The Foligno diocese, in the Umbria region of Italy, is home to the restored Benedictine abbey of Norcia, where St. Benedict, founder of the world-wide Benedictine order of monks had his abbey. His Grace, Bishop Gualtiero Sigismondi
The incumbent Archbishop of Canterbury, His Grace Rowan Williams, who announced his retirement at the end of this year so that he may take up an academic appointment at Cambridge University, is said to be delighted with the choice. "As is well known, I have always felt that the Anglo-Catholic view is the purest strain of churchmanship in the Church of England, and this bodes well for the unity of the whole Christian Church. I have full confidence in Her Majesty's selection, and look forward to greeting Bishop Sigismondi when he visits during the special June bank holiday when we will celebrate Her Majesty's diamond jubilee.
Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Vatican Press Secretary, released a statement that said that His Holiness was pleased that this appointment would go forward, adding that this would serve to draw the two churches closer, accelerating the process begun since the 2009 publication of Anglicanorum Coetibus.His Holiness, Benedict XVI with
press secretary Fr. Federico Lombardi, S.J.
Fr. Jeffrey Steenson Processing into the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston
at the Beginning of the Mass for his Institution as Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate
of the Chair of St. Peter
The Chair of St. Peter and Christian Unity
“Behold how good and joyful a thing it is, for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Ps. 133:1). With all our hearts, let us thank Pope Benedict XVI for this beautiful gift, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and let us pray that it may further the goal of Catholic unity. When Cardinal Wuerl told me that the Holy Father would establish the Ordinariate under this name, I truly rejoiced, for it goes to the heart of what our mission should be. And it helps us to understand why our Lord entrusted His Church to St. Peter in the first place.
So much ink has been spilled over the interpretation of these words of our Gospel, which Jesus spoke to Peter in Caesarea Philippi – “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church” (Mt. 16:18). Of course, for Catholics, the authoritative interpretation was provided at the First Vatican Council. But we must honestly acknowledge that Christians have read this text in different ways. Even amongst the church fathers there was not unanimity over what “On this Rock” means precisely. The great Augustine himself said that the reader must choose – Does this Rock signify Christ or Peter? (Retract. 1.20). But Augustine quite properly would not have thought this a matter of either/or. For Peter brings everything to Christ. The trajectory is clear. We are Christ’s and Christ is God’s (I Cor. 3:23). I am grateful that, over the course of my ministry, the teachings of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI have been so clear on this point – the Church exists to bring souls to Christ. But, as our text plainly affirms, Jesus has invested Peter with a ministry of fundamental importance. And he does so by employing three verbs in the future tense – I will build my church … the gates of hell will not prevail against it … I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. When Jesus speaks in the future tense, he draws all things to himself; we know then that this commission does not end with the historical Peter. The whole life of the Church on earth until the end of time is anticipated in this moment.
In this context, listen to St. Anselm, the 37th Archbishop of Canterbury, perhaps the greatest theologian ever to grace England’s green and pleasant land: “This power was committed specially to Peter, that we might therefore be invited to unity. Christ therefore appointed him the head of the Apostles, that the Church might have one principal Vicar of Christ, to whom the different members of the Church should have recourse, if ever they should have dissentions among them. But if there were many heads in the Church, the bond of unity would be broken” (Cat. Aur. Mt. 16:19).
The first time we find Matthew 16:18 specifically applied to Peter’s successors, the Bishops of Rome, came amidst a controversy between Pope Stephen and Cyprian of Carthage in the middle of the third century. At the risk of sounding pedantic, I hope that you will permit me to speak briefly to this, because it is very relevant to the Ordinariate. In the Anglican tradition, the church fathers are held in high esteem; here is where we were taught to find our bearings on theological questions.
The third century popes are heroes to me, because they were courageous pastors who sought to restore those brethren who had broken or fallen away to the full communion of the Catholic Church. At a time when many bishops were very severe and uncompromising about the purity of the Church, God gave us popes who understood that welcoming back the wandering and the fallen is of the very essence of the ministry that Jesus gave to the Apostles. In the letters of St. Cyprian there is a remarkable and revealing correspondence from St. Firmilian of Caesarea about Pope Stephen (Ep. 75, ca. 255) – Can you believe it, Cyprian? Stephen actually thinks that he sits on the chair of Peter as he orders us to accept the baptism of these separated groups! He actually wants us to regard these people as Christians!
I think this is the important context in which to understand what Pope Benedict is saying to us in Anglicanorum coetibus. Some will argue that the Catholic Church makes Christian unity a difficult thing to achieve. Look at what is being asked of those who are considering the Ordinariate! – Anglicans have not only to be received but even confirmed, and their clergy ordained in the absolute form. Is this not asking them to begin all over again? Certainly not! From Zephyrinus to Callistus to Cornelius to Stephen – these third century popes, most of whom laid down their lives as martyrs, who governed the Church at a time when it seemed as though the gates of hell really might prevail, threatening to destroy her essential unity – the Catholic Church simply asked that the bonds of charity be restored sacramentally by invoking the presence of the Holy Spirit. These are brothers and sisters, returning home.
The first principle of the Ordinariate is then about Christian unity. St. Basil the Great, the Church’s greatest ecumenist, literally expended his life on the work of building bridges between orthodox brethren who shared a common faith, but who had become separated from one another in a Church badly fragmented by heresy and controversy. He taught that the work of Christian unity requires deliberate and ceaseless effort. Like an old coat which is always being torn and is difficult to mend, the unity of the Church must never be taken for granted but requires great diligence and courage from her leaders (Bas. Ep.113). St. Basil often talked with yearning about the archaia agape, the ancient love of the apostolic community, so rarely seen in the Church of his day. This love, he taught, is a visible sign that the Holy Spirit is indeed present and active, and it is absolutely essential for the health of the Church. I can’t think of a better illustration for this homily than Bernini’s great sculpture of the Chair of St. Peter in the apse of St. Peter’s Basilica: Peter’s chair is upheld by the great fathers of the Church; and, hovering over it all, the luminous alabaster dove, the Holy Spirit, bathing everything in the radiance of God’s love.
There is so much to be celebrated about the patrimony of Anglicanism, its liturgical, spiritual, and pastoral traditions, which the Catholic Church welcomes as a treasure to be shared. But let us be clear about our first principles. So many people during the 477 years that Anglicans have been separated from Rome have prayed fervently and made great sacrifices for this day to come. In obedience and trust they embraced whole-heartedly all that Jesus’ prayer for the unity of his disciples requires (Jn. 17:21). It is surely no coincidence that this reconciliation should come at the very time Pope Benedict has put the new evangelization at the top of the Church’s agenda. To be converted and conformed to the image of Christ means that his Church will be transformed and renewed through and through. I so much appreciate how our Chancellor, Dr. Margaret Chalmers, puts it: “Our patrimony is people.” We thus open our hearts, in humility and love, to all Christians divided by culture and circumstance and misunderstanding. We extend our hand in friendship to all who seek the Truth. These are our companions along the way. We begin with a strong faith that God has given us Peter, his hand firmly on the tiller, returning us to Jesus, “the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls” (I Pet. 2:25).
– Fr. Jeffrey Steenson
Fr. Jeffrey Steenson greets lay and clerical representatives of the
Anglican Use parishes and Ordinariate after the decree of his
nomination by the Holy Father was read out by Donald Cardinal Wuerl
of Washington, D.C.
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