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

Monday, October 19, 2009

Catholic Chaplain Offers Mass in Iraqi Monastery

October 18, 2009

This is a great story. A friend of mine Father Jeff Whorton is a married Catholic priest (former Anglican priest under the Pastoral Provision) recently offered the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass in an abandoned monastery in Mosul, Iraq (allegedly ancient Ninevah). It is the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq and it was recently rediscovered (see Smithsonian article). In the 1700s, 150 were martyred at this location. Today it lies in ruins...

Read the rest and see a photo on Taylor Marshall's Canterbury Tales blog.
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)