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

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Kendall Harmon: Comments on the Latest Move from Rome

Kendall Harmon runs a blog called TitusOneNine. He is a Canon in the Episcopal diocese of South Carolina, and is well known to blog readers as a cleric of insight and considered judgment. Not surprisingly, most of those who post on comments on his blog follow his lead. Of all the sites I've looked at over the past couple of days, the comments on his are the most well-thought out and knowledgeable (although every blog attracts some thoughtful comments and some fairly odious ones); but T19 stands on the opposite end of the spectrum from online comment sites like those of The New York Times and The London Times.

Kendall begins his reflections thus:
I have a slew of emails and telephone calls asking what I think of this latest development. Herewith a few thoughts for starters.
(1) It represents a huge indictment of the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Many people question Rome's motivations, but I believe Rome, which has been watching Anglican developments like a hawk in recent years, wanted Anglicanism globally to succeed. Their response to the Windsor Report, for example, was quite favorable. This move to me shows they do not believe the Anglican moment in history to help global Christianity can take place sufficiently under Rowan Williams.

Read the rest at TitusOneNine.

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