St. Edmund's Update: In praise of Benedict

The excellent Update from the Sodality of St. Edmund has just been published. While I commend all the content to you, I call your attention to this wonderful paen to Pope emeritus Benedict XVI by Monsginor Mercer:

ROBERT'S RAMBLINGS

 IN PRAISE OF BENEDICT

 There are many Benedicts. The name means "blest" or "blessed" (by God of course). There is St Benedict of Nursia (480 - 550), the patrician Italian who is considered to be the patriarch of Western monasticism. He wrote his famous Rule for men and women who wished to withdraw from secular society and live communal lives of prayer, study and manual labour. In the Dark Ages of Europe which followed upon the collapse of the Roman empire, monasteries became a civilizing influence, centres of peace in a violent world, places of agriculture, education, hospitality and medical care.

There is St Benedict Biscop (628 - 689), a patrician Brit who became a Benedictine monk in France and then founded monasteries back home in county Durham. He was famous for his learning and patronage of music and art. There is St Benedict Aniane of France (750 - 821) about whom similar things could be said.
There is St Benedict Labre (1748 - 1783), a holy tramp of no fixed abode who wandered about the famous shrines of Europe. It takes all sorts to build the communion of saints. There was a not dissimilar man in modern times, John Bradburne, who finally ended up in Zimbabwe living among lepers where he was martyred by Mugabe's freedom fighters. He too will be canonized one day ("Strange Vagabond of God" by John Dove SJ published by Gracewing).
Sixteen popes have been called Benedict. Number XV tried hard to be a peacemaker (Matthew 6,9). He attempted to stop the First World War before it began, he tried to end it sooner than it did, and afterwards he attempted to ensure there'd be no future wars. He might now be thought of as a "son of God" (Beatitude no. 6) but what can a mere clergyman do against bellicose politicians? So far as I know, Joseph Ratzinger has not told us why he adopted the name Benedict when he was elected pope. Perhaps he was thinking both of the civilizing and pacifying effect of St Benedict the Great, and of the eirenic attempts of Benedict XV? However, because he is orthodox and Biblical he came to be nicknamed the panzer cardinal or the rottweiler. Nothing could be further from the truth. He is courteous, gentle, modest, an excellent listener who can explain your own point of view better than you can yourself. If you are looking for somebody to tell your sins to, he's just the chap. He has written, "The Pope is not an absolute monarch whose thoughts and desires are law. On the contrary, the Pope's ministry is a guarantee of obedience to Christ and His Word. He must not proclaim his own ideas, but rather constantly bind himself and the church to obedience to Christ and to His Word".
He has had a powerful effect upon evangelical Protestants, Lutherans and Anglicans. He is responsible for an agreement with the Lutheran World Federation which says that whatever else might separate the two churches, the doctrine of justification by faith does not. He is responsible for an agreement with the Coptic Church of Egypt and its sister churches like the Armenian, which says that whatever else might separate their churches, the doctrines of Christ's divinity and humanity do not. He has tried hard for rapprochement with the Eastern Orthodox churches.
There is a lot of Thomist philosophy knocking about the RC church and the Vatican and many of us from the Anglican tradition are all at sea with it. Benedict once told a theologian at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "I am not a Thomist". But he is a Biblical scholar, and this is why so many Anglicans feel at home with him. Benedict knows and often quotes St Jerome who translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into Latin, "Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ". Benedict has written, "The normative theologians are the authors of Holy Scripture. This statement is valid not only with regard to the objective written statements which they left behind but also with regard to their manner of speaking in which it is God Himself Who speaks". Benedict has written, "Leading men and women to God, to the God Who speaks in the Bible, is the supreme and fundamental priority of the church". There are three introductions to Benedict's thought:
The Thought of Benedict XVI  by Aidan Nichols OP published in 1988 by Burns Oates. (I have written about this author in a previous "Update").
Ratzinger's Faith by Tracy Rowland published in 2008 by Oxford University Press. (She mentions the TAC and our desire for unity.)
Covenant and Communion: the Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI  by Scott Hahn published in 2009 by Brazos Press. (This author is a former Presbyterian minister whose rapprochement with the Catholic church was presumably by way of Benedict's writings.)
There is a special place in the heart of the Ordinariate for Benedict. He welcomed us to communion while at the same time allowing us to be ourselves. When we hang up his photographs we do so with personal affection and deep gratitude. Benedict himself would say that Catholicism is not about Popes but about Christ. He might therefore prefer us to read his three slim volumes about his dear Lord and ours, "Jesus of Nazareth".
To Whom with His Father in the unity of Their Spirit be thanks for evermore.

Monsignor Robert Mercer CR

Article on the Malines Conversations by Msgr. Mercer

The monthly Update from the Sodality of St. Edmund, King and Martyr in Cambridge, Ontario has been released, and has a wonderful article by Msgr. Robert Mercer, CR. The full Update may be read here.

Close to Brussels in Belgium is an ancient city which Walloons or Francophone Belgians call Malines, and which Dutch speaking Belgians or Flemings call Mechelin. Its archbishop is always Primate of Belgium. He therefore wears the pallium, about which I wrote last month, and is usually a cardinal. Archbishop Desire-Joseph Mercier made a name for himself during Germany's occupation of his country in the First World War.

In last month's column I observed how little some Anglicans know about Anglicanism. How many know that this Belgian city was once the scene of serious talks about rapprochement between Canterbury and Rome? I myself am frequently reminded of this fact. The slow train to Amsterdam stops in Mechelin/Malines. From its window I gaze at all the medieval churches and wonder which of them might be the cathedral. On one of its walls is a tablet commemorating the Malines Conversation. Some time between the mid 1970's and mid 1980's the Superior of the Community of the Resurrection, Father Eric Simmons, was invited to the unveiling of this plaque. Two Archbishops of Malines, Cardinals Suenens and Daneel, have visited Mirfield. The latter celebrated mass at our high altar, with all the brethren in choir, though of course not communicating. In our Church of the Resurrection are the tombs of our first two Superiors, Bishops Charles Gore and Walter Frere, who participated in those Conversations. So every time I enter our church, walking past the tombs, I am reminded of Mechelin/Malines and the quest for rapprochement. Father Frere's personal attraction was Eastern Orthodoxy. He visited Russia four times before the Bolshevik revolution of 1917. During the First World War he was acting principal of a Serbian Orthodox seminary in England. One of his last public acts was to sing the Anglican litany in the Russian cathedral in Paris. After his death a Russian nun stayed at Mirfield to paint a large icon to hang over his tomb. She fasted and made a retreat before painting our Lord's face. But it was Walter Frere who got the ball rolling for Malines.

Anglican bishops at the Lambeth Conference of 1920 issued An Appeal to All Christian People. In it they said that in the interests of reunion they would be willing to accept a form of commissioning from other churches in order that the ministry of Anglican clergy might be recognized by others. Frere noticed this and drew it to the attention of a Roman Catholic friend in France, Fr Fernand Portal. He in turn wrote to Cardinal Mercier. Viscount Halifax, a devout layman in Yorkshire, an enthusiastic ecumenist with a chapel in his manor house where he attended mass every day dark and early, got on with the practical arrangements.

Five Conversations took place between 1921 and 1926. Anglican participants were Gore, Frere, Lord Halifax, Dr Armitage Robertson, Dean of Wells cathedral, and Dr Beresford Kidd, Warden of Keble College, Oxford. Catholic participants were Fr Van Roey, vicar general of Malines, and three priests from France, Frs Portal, Pierre Batiffol, and Hemmer. In 1930 Halifax published The Conversations at Malines while Frere published Recollections of Malines in 1935. In 1996 Fr Bernard Barlow, a Catholic priest, wrote A Brother Knocking at the Door: The Malines Conversations 1921 - 1926. In 2011 there appeared a collection of essays called Walter Frere: Scholar, Monk, Bishop which covered many aspects of his multi faceted life, historian, liturgist, musician, one of the founders of CR, though curiously enough there is no chapter about his love of Orthodoxy. To this collection of essays Fr Barlow contributed a chapter on Malines.

One of Archbishop Mercier's friends and theological advisers was the Benedictine monk, ecumenist and liturgist, Fr Lambert Beaudin. So great was his love for Orthodoxy that he was founding Abbot of Chevetogne, a monastery in Belgium devoted to the rapprochement of Eastern and Western Christianity. Some of the monks observe the Rule of St Benedict and worship according to the rite of the Latin church, while other monks observe the Rule of St Basil and worship according to the liturgy of St John Chrysostom. But Abbot Beaudin was also benign towards Anglicanism. He wrote, "An Anglican church absorbed by Rome and an Anglican church separated from Rome are equally inadmissible". This later morphed into the mantra beloved of Anglicans, "United but not absorbed". Cardinal Mercier died of cancer in 1926, leaving his ring to Lord Halifax; it finally ended up in one of the chalices of York Minster. A signed photograph of Mercier hung in the Cloister at Mirfield.

The Conversations got nowhere at the time. Both churches took fright, "Lord give us unity but not yet", to misquote St Augustine of Hippo. But in October 2010 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a statement preparatory to the publication of Anglicanorum coetibus. The statement said: "Throughout the more than 450 years of its history the question of the reunification of Anglicans and Catholics has never been far from mind. In the early 20th century Cardinal Mercier of Belgium entered into well publicized conversations with Anglicans to explore the possibility of union with the Catholic Church under the banner of an Anglicanism "reunited but not absorbed". Since the Vatican Council, Anglican- Catholic relations have created a much improved climate of mutual understanding and co operation. With Anglicanorum coetibus the Catholic Church is responding to the many requests from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion. Anglicanorum coetibus has provided a structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates."

Deo Gratias!

Msgr. Robert Mercer CR

The Pallium

Fr. Robert Mercer, CR, writes in St. Edmund's latest Update:

Anglicans tend to know little about Anglicanism. How many are aware that the Archbishop of Canterbury's coat of arms displays the pallium? How many know what a pallium is? It is a Y shaped vestment, woven from lamb's wool, marked with crosses, worn by the archbishops of ancient, important or primatial dioceses. It hangs down back and front from the shoulders like a yoke over the chasuble. It is conferred on archbishops by the Pope and indicates the strong bond between himself and them. But the Archbishop of Canterbury is not in communion with the Bishop of Rome. Quite so. The arms of Canterbury therefore lie!

But as I say, the majority of Anglicans are ignorant of this lie. I myself am not offended. The lie is a reminder of what once was. The first Archbishop of Canterbury was sent to England by Pope Gregory the Great in 597 (when he brought with him the consecration prayer which we of the Ordinariate use at the eucharist). The lie I see as an expression of hope, or if not of hope, as an expression of what ought to be. The Archbishop of Canterbury ought to be in communion with the Bishop of Rome. The church should be one: bishops should express such unity by being in communion with all other bishops. They are, after all, supposed to be the ministers of unity. And a universal church needs a universal primate, president, presiding servant. Who can this possibly be if not the Bishop of Rome? The Eastern Orthodox recognize this and one Russian has added, "What use is primacy without jurisdiction?" What does the Archbishop of Canterbury do to foster unity? He advocates policies which drive the two churches further and further apart, the ordination of women, gay marriages, and he is evasive about the human right to life.

Then again, how many Anglicans know that off and on for some four hundred years there have been some modest attempts at Anglican Roman Catholic rapprochement? Admittedly such attempts have been more off than on. But Canon Bernard Pawley of St Paul's cathedral in London and his wife Margaret have published a history of these attempts, Canterbury and Rome Through Four Centuries...

Read the full article in this month's Update.

HT to Gary Freeman.

FORMER BISHOPS HONOURED BY POPE BENEDICT XVI

Pope Benedict XVI has elevated three priests of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness (Monsignor).

Monsignor Edwin Barnes, Monsignor Robert Mercer, and Monsignor David Silk, have all received the honour from the Holy Father, recognising their former ministry as Anglican bishops.

Mgr Barnes and Mgr Silk were received and ordained via the Personal Ordinariate in 2011, whilst Mgr Mercer was received and ordained in 2012.

The Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, said “By establishing Personal Ordinariates, Pope Benedict is seeking to be generous in making provision for those Anglicans who wish to come into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In every possible way he has sought to recognise the fruitful Anglican ministry which we undertook before entering the Catholic Church; this honour for these three distinguished men is a further sign of our Holy Father’s love and warmth toward this project”.

The announcement was made on Thursday morning as the clergy and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham met for their summer plenary at Allen Hall, the diocesan seminary of the Archdiocese of Westminster.

from the website of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Former Anglican bishop turned Catholic priest is star of anti-apartheid musical

A former Anglican bishop ordained a Catholic priest is one of the stars of an anti-apartheid musical in South Africa, it emerged today.

Fr Robert Mercer, 77, was deported from South Africa in 1970 for his stand against apartheid, along with several other Anglican priests.

He and other members of the Anglican Community of the Resurrection defied segregation laws by running a multi-racial parish.

They were, says Fr Mercer, “deemed to be a corrupting influence on students” at Stellenbosch University, where they worked as chaplains. One of the Anglican priests was jailed.

Their stand has been dramatised in a multi-media pop musical called Brothers, which ran for five nights at Stellenbosch University, the country’s top Africaans university.

The musical was performed in September 2010 in a mix of Africaans and English and was directed by playwright Peter Krummeck.

Fr Mercer, who grew up in Zimbabwe, went on to become Bishop of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, in the Anglican Province of Central Africa, in the midst of a civil war.

He was bishop for 11 years before leaving the Anglican Communion to join the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, part of the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion. He served as metropolitan bishop from 1988 to 2005, when he retired to England.

Fr Mercer became a Catholic in January and was ordained a priest for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham on Monday.

He said today that Pope Benedict XVI’s offer of an ordinariate to Anglicans in 2009 was “an answer to our prayers, to our dreams”...

Read the rest at The Catholic Herald.

Hat tip to Fr. Stephen Smuts.

Former Anglican bishop now Catholic priest

from the web site of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

26 March 2012

A sixth Anglican bishop has been ordained as a Catholic priest at a ceremony in Portsmouth today.

Fr Robert Mercer, who served as the Anglican bishop of Matabeleland and as a bishop within the Traditional Anglican Communion, was ordained to the Priesthood by the Right Reverend Alan Hopes in St John’s Cathedral in Portsmouth.

Fr Mercer will serve in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, in England and Wales. This is the first structure, set up in 2011, following the provision of Pope Benedict XVI to allow Anglicans, including members of the Church of England and the Traditional Anglican Communion, to become Catholics whilst retaining much of their own tradition and heritage.

Serving within the Isle of Wight & Portsmouth Ordinariate Group, Fr Mercer will minister especially to those worshipping at the historic Portsmouth church of St Agatha’s, Landport, who hope to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church this Easter.

Monsignor Keith Newton, the Ordinary (leader) of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, commented on Fr Mercer’s ordination, saying, “Fr Robert’s witness to the truth of the Catholic faith, and his commitment to the unity of all Christians, has led to this very happy day when we can welcome him as a brother Priest in the Catholic Church. His ministry in Africa, in Canada and here in Portsmouth, has been exemplary, and we look forward to his renewed ministry now - bringing many rich gifts from the Anglican tradition into the Catholic Church”.

Fr Jonathan Redvers Harris, who bears overall responsibility for the Isle of Wight & Portsmouth Ordinariate Group, said “As the Ordinariate continues to grow in Portsmouth, it will be good to have Fr Robert’s expertise and great wealth of experience. I welcome him warmly as a colleague and a friend”.

Former Anglican bishop ordained a Catholic deacon

By Catholic Herald Staff Reporter

Thursday, 22 March 2012


From left: James Bradley; Mgr Keith Newton, Ordinary; Robert Mercer; Bishop Alan Hopes; Daniel Lloyd

A former Anglican bishop has been ordained a deacon for the ordinariate.

Robert Mercer, who was received into the Catholic Church in January, was ordained by Auxiliary Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster at Allen Hall seminary in London. He will be ordained a priest on Monday.

Mr Mercer, 77, was Bishop of Matabeleland, Zimbabwe, in the Anglican Province of Central Africa. He was bishop for 11 years before leaving the Anglican Communion to join the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada, part of the worldwide Traditional Anglican Communion. He served as metropolitan bishop from 1988 to 2005, when he retired to England.

He is one of three former Anglican clergy to be ordained priests for the ordinariate. More than 200 former Anglicans are also expecting to be received into the Catholic Church in Holy Week.

Mgr Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, presented Robert Mercer for ordination. Other members of the Ordinariate, together with staff and seminarians from Allen Hall, were present for the celebration.

During his homily, Bishop Hopes said: “Robert, your life has been one of profound commitment and witness. Your formation and ministry within the Anglican tradition have provided you with a solid spiritual bedrock on which your life has been built … You have been a bold witness to Christ and to the truths of Catholic Christianity – often at great cost to yourself”.

“Coming into communion with the Catholic Church through the ordinariate, you bring with you some of the spiritual riches that are to be found in the Anglican church. You take on a new mission in your ministry of bridge building – that of building bridges between the Catholic Church and the ecclesial communities of the Anglican tradition”.

Mgr Newton, speaking after the ordination, said: “It is a great joy to be here today to celebrate Robert’s ordination. We hope and pray that it will be an encouragement to members of the Traditional Anglican Communion – an assurance of the respect and warmth of welcome, which the Ordinariate offers to them and to all Anglicans who are faithful to the vision of Christian Unity”.

Mr Mercer will be ordained to the Sacred Priesthood on March 26 in Portsmouth Cathedral.

from the Catholic Herald.

Hat tip to Mary Ann Mueller