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...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.

- Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, Homily on the Occasion of his Formal Institution as Ordinary

Friday, October 30, 2009

The Anglo-Catholic move to Rome will take time – and cost a lot of money. But it's going to happen

October 30, 2009

By Damian Thompson

When Pope Benedict XVI unveiled his scheme to create an entirely new structure for ex-Anglicans last week, over-excited commentators talked about the end of the Church of England. That’s nonsense: conservative Anglo-Catholics have been so marginalised since 1992 that their departure will hardly be noticed. It’s not true, either, that the traditionalist movement will march straight into the Ordinariate as soon as the Pope unlocks the gates. There is no possible scheme which could effect the mass transfer of most conservative Anglo-Catholics, clergy and laity, in a matter of months. I can’t see more than a handful of parishes voting overwhelmingly to accept the scheme in the short term – and, if they do, they will probably only be able to keep their parish buildings by borrowing them from the Church of England. Other Anglicans will take years to make up their minds. Many will never come...

Read the rest at Mr. Thompson's Holy Smoke blog.
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)