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

Sunday, February 14, 2010

What is this “Personal Ordinariate”?

On the heels of his excellent essay “United in Communion, but not Absorbed: Understanding the Pope’s Welcome,” Bishop Elliott has hit another home run with the following address delivered earlier today in Melbourne. My emphases in bold and comments in blue.

* * *

WHAT IS THIS “PERSONAL ORDINARIATE”?

Bishop Peter J. Elliott, Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, on Understanding Pope Benedict’s Offer to Traditional Anglicans

An address given to Forward in Faith Australia at All Saints’, Kooyong, Melbourne, on Saturday, February 13th 2010.

Anglicans can no longer speak of “swimming the Tiber”. Pope Benedict XVI has built a noble bridge, a symbol chosen as the cover illustration for the Catholic Truth Society edition of his Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus. Today I want to try to describe where that bridge leads...

read the rest at The Anglo-Catholic blog.

1 comment:

  1. More news here:

    http://www.forwardinfaith.com/artman/publish/article_501.shtml

    Something like a "Friends of the Ordinariate"organization is what we could all do with as some of us prepare to join it.

    ReplyDelete