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, March 11, 2011

Will Traditional Anglicans [in the Torres Strait] enter Catholic Church?

The Bishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) Torres Strait Diocese, Church of the Torres Strait, The Right Reverend Tolowa Nona, has described Pope Benedict’s offer to Anglicans of full communion with the Catholic Church as “very generous”.

“It is perhaps the most-important development in the Christian history of the Torres Strait since the Coming of the Light,” Bishop Nona said.

For years, traditional Anglicans around the world have been asking the Holy See to consider whether they may be able to enter the Catholic Church, while retaining their liturgical forms and disciplines.

And it seems this may soon come to pass in the Torres Strait.

Bishop Nona recently wrote to his diocese describing the Pope Benedict XVI’s offer as a “wonderful provision”.

However he told the Torres News the Church of the Torres Strait had yet to make a decision on whether to enter into Communion with the Holy See.

“Every individual must first be consulted before any decision can be made,” Bishop Nona said.

“The Church of the Torres Strait will remain - retaining its autonomy, and continuing to preserve the Anglican heritage.

“I am very confident that the Vatican will respect that.”

“The kind of unity we sought with the Holy See was an ‘organic unity’, which means united but not absorbed.”

He said the delegate of the Pope, Bishop Peter Elliot, would be invited to the the Torres Strait along with his party at the Diocesan Conference on June 3-5 this year...

Read the rest at Torres News Online.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller

1 comment:

  1. Does the good bishop know, speak and understand English? His concerns have been answered. It's like he hasn't been listening. He's hedging his bets and i'll say "NO", they won't go.

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