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

Anticipated by a Hundred Years...

With all the talk about Anglican conversions -- who? how many? where? -- let's not forget a very important conversion anniversary which took place on 30 October 1909. On that day Fr. Paul Wattson, Mother Lurana White, and fifteen others (including friars, sisters and laity) were received corporately into the Catholic Church. Originally founded as a Franciscan community within the Episcopal Church, the Graymoor Friars and Sisters were, as Fr. Paul said, "the first-fruits of our prayer for unity." The previous year they had begun what was then called the Church Unity Octave, afterwards renamed the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Read the rest on Fr. Phillips' blog Atonement Online
Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)