Vatican lifts ban on married priests for Eastern Catholics in diaspora

Not exactly about the Ordinariates or Pastoral Provision, but this has relevance all the same. I wrote about the situation with the Ruthenians in my article "Whither the Anglican Use in the Catholic Church?" in the Lent 2006 issue of Anglican Embers; that article was also included as a chapter in the book Anglicanism and the Roman Catholic Church: Recent Developments.

BY  LAURA IERACI, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

• November 17, 2014

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican has lifted its ban on the ordination of married men to the priesthood in Eastern Catholic churches outside their traditional territories, including in the United States, Canada and Australia.

Pope Francis approved lifting the ban, also doing away with the provision that, in exceptional cases, Eastern Catholic bishops in the diaspora could receive Vatican approval to ordain married men. In recent years, however, some Eastern Catholic bishops went ahead with such ordinations discreetly without Vatican approval.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, signed the decree June 14. It was published later online in the "Acta Apostolicae Sedis," the official periodical through which Vatican laws and decisions are published.

The new law says the pope concedes to Eastern Catholic bishops outside their traditional territory the faculties to "allow pastoral service of Eastern married clergy" and "to ordain Eastern married candidates" in their eparchies or dioceses, although they must inform the local Latin-rite bishop in writing "in order to have his opinion and any relevant information."

"We are overjoyed with the lifting of the ban," Melkite Bishop Nicholas Samra of Newton, Mass., told Catholic News Service in a Nov. 15 email.

The Vatican decree explained that in response to the "protests" of the Latin-rite bishops in the United States, in 1890 the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples prohibited married Ruthenian priests from living in the United States. And in 1929-30, the Congregation for Eastern Churches extended the ban to all Eastern-rite priests throughout North America, South America and Australia.

The 1929 prohibition, known as "Cum data fuerit," had significant repercussions for the Eastern Catholic churches in the United States. Cardinal Sandri's decree noted that soon after the law was promulgated, "an estimated 200,000 Ruthenian faithful became Orthodox."

Ruthenian Bishop John Kudrick of Parma, Ohio, told CNS Nov. 16 that he sees the end to imposed celibacy for Eastern priests in the diaspora as an acknowledgement of the Eastern churches' "obligation to maintain their integrity" and "of the right of the various churches to equal responsibility of evangelization throughout the world."

"The world needs the church in its fullness," he said, adding he believes the "change of policy results from the longstanding experience of married priests in the Western world, especially the Orthodox, but also Eastern Catholic."

Bishop Kudrick said Eastern churches in the diaspora have a responsibility to minister to new immigrants, who are accustomed to married priests.

"Because of the dual responsibilities to maintain continuity with our past and to reach out to the society to which we are called, some degree of freedom is necessary," he said...

Read the rest at The Catholic Regsiter

Former Blogger Fr. Al Kimel resumes online writing

Many readers here may remember the blog "Pontifications" in which (then) Episcopal priest Al Kimel hashed out many theological topics, including his own situation in the Episcopal Church. Fr. Kimel eventually moved to the East Coast from Pittsburgh, and was ordained via the Pastoral Provision. And then he, and his blog, went to ground.

Yesterday, his blogging resumed. He writes in his first post:

Why eclectic Orthodoxy? Simply because I find it is impossible for me to be anything but an eclectic Christian believer. This may be a tragic flaw in my character. All I know is that I have been on a spiritual journey–from Anglicanism to Catholicism and finally to Eastern Orthodoxy. Yet not just any form of Eastern Orthodoxy but Western Rite Orthodoxy. Four years ago I thought I was on a purely Eastern trajectory, a trajectory that would probably require me to abandon my priesthood of thirty years, given the absence of either an OCA or Antiochian congregation here in Roanoke, Virginia; but at the last moment a door surprisingly opened...

So I have decided to begin reading the Church Fathers, beginning with St Gregory the Theologian. Why St Gregory? Because if he ain’t Orthodox, nobody is. In the Orthodox Church he is regarded as one of the Three Holy Hierarchs, along with St Basil the Great and St John Chrysostom. He has also been given the privileged title “Theologian,” a title that he shares only with the Apostle John and St Symeon. In the Latin Church St Gregory is acknowledged as one of the four Great Doctors of the Eastern Church. His writings decisively and formatively shaped the Church’s teachings on the doctrine of the Trinity, the divinity of the Holy Spirit, the hypostatic unity of the person of Christ, and theosis. Who better to learn the Orthodox faith from than St Gregory the Theologian?

There is one other reason I have decided to begin blogging again—for the sake of my sanity. On June 15th my second son Aaron died by suicide. His death has shattered my life and the lives of my wife and children. On June 22nd I preached his funeral homily and prayed the committal over his casket. Aaron’s death has changed and traumatized me at the core of my being, in ways that I have not yet begun to fathom. On most days I am overwhelmed by sorrow and grief. Curiously, only two things seem to provide some measure of respite—walking my dog, Tiriel, and theological reading. And so I continue to read St Gregory, for my sake and for the sake of my beloved son, Aaron Edward Kimel. Memory eternal.

And so for what it is worth, I will begin sharing with you my ruminations on the Church Fathers and other theologians. I can only offer my fallible, provisional opinions. I am neither a patristic scholar nor systematic theologian. I welcome discussion, analysis, criticism, scholarly documentation. I only ask one thing from you—civility. I have no interest in violently rehashing the polemical debates of past and present. If apologetics is your burning interest, then there are many internet forums and blogs you can visit. And I certainly have no desire to defend my orthodoxy against self-appointed guardians of doctrinal purity who deem me a heretic. My primary purpose here is to understand and learn from the men and women whose writings I will be discussing on this blog. Perhaps you would like to join in this conversation.

Read the full version of his initial post on his blog Eclectic Orthodoxy

Archbishop Ireland

Mr. Uher reflects on a sad chapter in the history of the Church in the U.S.A. by way of warning that it not be repeated.

Those among the Catholic bishops who are currently inclined to thwart or stop the Personal Ordinariates arising from Anglicanorum coetibus would do well to consider the legacy of Archbishop Ireland of Minnesota, or like him they may wind up reviled and on the wrong side of history. Archbishop Ireland has his defenders citing several things, but violating Church Law and causing a schism eclipses everything else.  He was not alone among the Irish Catholic clergy to greet the Greek Catholics with contempt bordering upon hate, but he is remembered as the very worst.  Who wants to be seen in his company?

Archbishop Ireland is personally responsible for the biggest schism in Catholicism in the USA.  His poor decisions and belligerence with regard to the Greek Catholics, his violation of the Law of the Church that went unchallenged, all of these issues sent large numbers of Eastern Greek Catholics into the Orthodox Church where they contributed significantly to the birth of the Orthodox Church of America.  In fact, with tongue planted firmly in cheek Archbishop Ireland is called "the Father of the Orthodox Church of America".

The US bishops had sought and received from Rome a prohibition on married priests serving among or being ordained to serve  the Eastern Catholics in the USA.  They were wrong, and for their error the bishops have had to apologise in our time.   During the "Russian Greek Catholic Schism" the US Latin-rite Catholic bishops stood with Archbishop Ireland in his attack on the legitimate Canonical rights of the Greek Catholics.  They were wrong to do so.  They learned nothing from the experience, and later another 100,000 Greek Catholics would leave for the Orthodox Church under the Patriarch of Constantinople.  Similar situations obtained in Canada...

Has the Church not learned from the Portuguese disaster in India? from the Greek Catholic exodus in North America?  Will we really find Anglicanorum coetibus thwarted and blunted at every turn leading those who had wished to be loyal sons and daughters of the Church to make a telephone call to the Polish National Catholics or the Antiochian Orthodox for a chat?  Please, Lord God, let everyone wake up to receive the gift they are being given through Anglicanorum coetibus.  May they listen to the aspirations of the new clergy and laity and help them realise their goals so they can enter the mission field that is their own nation fully furnished with what they need to be that part of the Church that cherishes and makes use of the Anglican Patrimony.

Read the full post at Tonus Peregrinus.

Are there are bishops in the U.S., U.K. or Autstralia attempting to thwart the will of the Holy Father as expressed in Anglicanorum coetibus? I have seen no proof of this, but it is certainlly a possibility, given the way that Pope John Paul II's Ecclesia Dei was flat out rejected by many in the episcopate, and the way Pope Benedict XVI's Summorum Pontificum has been resisted by too many. A few years ago I wrote an article on the history of the Latin-rite bishops' relationships with the Eastern Catholics in the U.S. and also with the Polish Catholics. That article, Whither the Anglican Use? is available on the AUS site on the Anglican Embers page. It reviews the same history Mr. Uher refers to in his piece. My conclusion was that a canonical solution was needed to protect the Anglican Use parishes, and while I was not imaginative enough to come up with the idea of a Personal Ordinariate, the world was fortunate that the Lord saw fit to put someone with more imagination in charge! I have rejoiced to see Anglicanorum coetibus first announced and then implemented, because I felt it would give the legal protection needed. But it is also true, as Mr. Uher implies, that it is not enough to have the law on your side; you must use the law and the avenues it provides to defend and vindicate the rights that law establishes.

Mgr Andrew Burnham: "We are doing very well"

01 March 2012

Monsignor Andrew Burnham, Assistant to the Ordinary, writes in the latest edition of The Portal:

The Ordinariate is sometimes attacked for being rather small, and therefore fairly insignificant in the ecclesiastical landscape. We are sometimes laughed at. We sometimes make others angry or bitter. Given that Anglicans are famous for being attached to particular churches, and part of particular communities, it sometimes amazes me that anyone at all joined the Ordinariate. Yet 1,000 people did so, barely twelve months ago, and others are presently undertaking the Lenten journey, with their eye on being received and chrismated this Easter. Meanwhile, we have 60 clergy, and there are some more on the way.

For fun, I thought I would have a look on the internet and see what a small church in this country should look like. Slightly larger than the Ordinariate – with 120 clergy, some sixty centres, and a considerable band of faithful – is the archdiocese (as we would call it) of the Greek Orthodox Church. The Russian Orthodox are in two groups. The diocese of Sourozh, linked with the Moscow Patriarchate, has a couple of dozen active clergy, serving the liturgy in a couple of dozen centres, and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) in this country is about half that size. So the Russian jurisdictions, combined, are smaller than the Ordinariate, though they have some property and a good number of lay people. I looked then at a Catholic diocese, and I looked at the one associated with our patron, Our Lady of Walsingham. In the diocese of East Anglia, there seem to be some 90 clergy and just over 100 places of worship: in terms of priests and centres, a bit bigger than the Ordinariate. In terms of laity, no doubt much bigger – but much more long-established.

In short, as a brand new particular Church, we are doing very well indeed. We are part of the universal communion tracing its history back to Caesarea Philippi, when Christ called Peter the rock and said, ‘on this rock I will build my Church’, (Mt 16:18). And we are learning what it feels like to be a Catholic. I now fully understand and increasingly share the feeling that mediæval churches and cathedrals are really ‘ours’, stolen by Tudor apostasy. I cannot see why their ownership and use, if it cannot be restored, cannot at least be shared. This is a view I have held since, as a cathedral chorister, I watched, fascinated, as a modern Catholic Church was built in Southwell. ‘Why duplicate?’, I thought.

The General Synod has made it entirely plain that, whatever space is given to Anglo-catholics, the historic justification for being an Anglo-catholic – bringing the whole Church of England to understand and embrace an inherent Catholic Faith and Order – has now gone for ever. Meanwhile we long for our Anglican brothers and sisters to come and join us in the full communion of the Catholic Church, not because of this or that issue, but because Rome is home. RITA – Rome Is The Answer – as people used to laugh at me for saying. And perhaps still do.

From the Portal Magazine, March 2012

Ecumenism and the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Fr Aidan Nichols, in an address to Forward in Faith in 2002, spoke of the Anglican Establishment ("The ecumenical conversations between this Anglicanism and the Catholic Church will inevitably be long and arduous") and added:
" There is another Anglicanism, more restricted in size but at the same time more compact and coherent in doctrinal outlook and sacramental practice. ... This is an Anglicanism which looks to pre-Reformation Christendom, to the apostolic See of the West and, further afield, to those of the East. It is an Anglicanism that has already received much from the Latin Catholic inheritance, liturgically and otherwise. It is an Anglicanism too that has often nurtured the hope of restoring union with the patriarchal church of the West from which it was sundered.

"This, I might add, should be on the understanding that the church of Peter and Paul does not wish the West to breathe without the East, without that 'other lung' in the metaphor of the Dominican ecclesiologist Yves Congar. 'The other lung' is a phrase which [Pope John Paul II] often repeated, and indeed turned into action, not least in the promulgation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, much of which, as has been said, reads as if written in Constantinople. With this other Anglicanism the ecumenical journey is, by any reasonable assessment, shorter and more secure"...

Read the rest at Fr. Hunwicke's blog Liturgical Notes.

Moving towards a united Christianity

Wednesday 2 December 2009
by Adrian Pabst


In the past two months, relations between the three main Christian churches have moved in more promising directions than perhaps during the past 50 years of uninspiring liberal dialogue. By opening a new chapter of theological engagement and concrete co-operation with Orthodoxy and Anglicanism, Pope Benedict XVI is changing the terms of debate about church reunification. In time, we might witness the end of the Great Schism between east and west and a union of the main episcopally-based churches.
First there was the Rome visit in September by the Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Moscow's man for ecumenical relations. In high-level meetings, both sides argued that their shared resistance to secularism and moral relativism calls forth a further rapprochement of Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Declaring that "More than ever, we Christians must stand together", Hilarion insisted that each side can appeal to shared traditions and work towards greater closeness in a spirit of "mutual respect and love".
That this was more than diplomatic protocol was confirmed by the Catholic Archbishop of Moscow, Monsignor Paolo Pezzi. In an interview with the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera...

Read the rest at The Guardian.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller.

Local Anglican-use Catholics hail Vatican move

10/30/2009
By Jim Lockwood

Members of a local congregation of former Anglicans who joined the Roman Catholic Church years ago, support the recent move by the Vatican that will establish a worldwide structure for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Church, while preserving distinct aspects of their liturgy and culture.

Father Richard Bradford, chaplain of the Congregation of St. Athanasius, the lone Anglican-use congregation within the Archdiocese of Boston, praised the action by the Vatican.

“It wasn’t the Catholic Church looking to steal from other Christian communities. It was a response to Episcopalians who wanted to be reunited with the Holy See,” Father Bradford said. “It shows the Church at her best. In her zeal for souls, she’s leaving no stone unturned.”

To read the article in full (including quotes of yours truly), see The Boston Pilot.