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
Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Carolina. Show all posts

Sunday, April 15, 2012

US Ordinariate Web site sums up Holy Week and Easter Week Activity

First Ordinariate-Bound Canadian Group Received into Catholic Church, April 15, 2012

Forty Anglicans are being received into the Catholic Church in Ottawa on Divine Mercy Sunday, April 15, with the intent of joining the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. The Houston-based Ordinariate, under the guidance of Msgr. Jeffrey N. Steenson, will have oversight of Canada as well as the United States.

The 40 are members of the Cathedral of the Annunciation parish, part of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. They are being received by Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast, S.J. at St. Patrick’s Basilica in Ottawa.

Earlier this month, communities in Philadelphia and Indianapolis came into full communion with the Catholic Church and Jon Chalmers became the first of the candidates preparing for priestly ordination in the Ordinariate to be ordained a transitional deacon.

from the web site of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

New Ordinariate community in Greenville, South Carolina

Fr. Scott Newman writes on the web site of St. Mary's Church today:
Dear Friends in Christ,

Several items for your attention:

1. Last Wednesday, Jon Chalmers was ordained to the diaconate for service in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the pastoral structure created by Pope Benedict for former Anglicans who come into full communion with the Catholic Church. Deacon Chalmers will be ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Guglielmone here at St. Mary’s on Sunday 3 June 2012 at 6 pm, and all are welcome to attend.

2. In the weeks ahead, local Anglicans who desire to join the Catholic Church and preserve their patrimony will be organized into a community of the Ordinariate under the patronage of St. Anselm. This community will be meeting at St. Mary’s under the leadership of the once and future Father Chalmers, and in due course, he will be celebrating Mass on Sunday evenings according to the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite. Once it is established, this Mass will be open to any parishioner who wishes to attend, but it will be primarily for the benefit of the members of the Ordinariate. For more information about the newly forming community of St. Anselm’s, Greenville visit www.ordinarychurch.org...

Monday, January 16, 2012

Bulletin of St. Mary's Catholic Church, Greenville, SC on the Ordinariate and Local Ties

Second Sunday of the Year
15 January 2012

Dear Friends in Christ,

In November 2009, Pope Benedict XVI promulgated an Apostolic Constitution entitled Anglicanorum coeitbus, meaning “Groups of Anglicans”. This document was given by the pope in response to numerous requests he had received over the years from Anglicans for a pastoral structure to be created that would allow them to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church as groups rather than as individuals, and in responding to their requests, Pope Benedict also provided a new pastoral structure in the Church called a “Personal Ordinariate” which is a bit like a non-territorial diocese. To provide pastoral care for the laity who will be organized into parishes in these Ordinariates, former Anglican bishops and priests can be ordained to the priesthood in the Catholic Church, with a dispensation from the norm of priestly celibacy, and much of the Anglican patrimony will be preserved in each Ordinariate, including their liturgy through an Anglican Use of the Roman Rite.

Since Pope Benedict published Anglicanorum coetibus, two Personal Ordinariates have been established. In January 2011, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was created for England and Wales, and earlier this month, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was created for the United States. The priest who leads this new structure, Father Jeffrey Steenson, is a former bishop of the Episcopal Church who became a Catholic in 2007 and was ordained under the Pastoral Provision (like Father Longenecker) in 2009. Father Steenson has already received requests to join the Ordinariate from around 100 Anglican clergy and over 1,400 lay persons from around the United States. Two former parishes of the Episcopal Church have already been received into the Catholic Church as groups — one in Maryland and the other in Texas, and as this new structure expands, this will happen more often. In many cases, though, the first step is for an Anglican priest to become Catholic, and this we will witness here at St. Mary’s next week.

Father Jon Chalmers is a priest of the Episcopal Church (the main American branch of the Anglican Communion), and for the past two years he has been on the staff at Christ Church here in Greenville. On Sunday 22 January 2012 during the 11 am Mass, Jon Chalmers will be received into full communion with the Catholic Church and confirmed by Bishop Guglielmone, and the following week he will begin his formation for priestly ordination in the Catholic Church in Houston, Texas — the seat of the new Ordinariate. In the coming months, if sufficient numbers of Anglicans desire to be joined to the Ordinariate here in Greenville, Jon will be responsible for their pastoral care, and after his ordination as a Catholic priest, he will celebrate the Anglican Use liturgy as well as be available to assist local Roman Rite parishes.

To learn more about all of this, visit the website www.usordinariate.org.

Father Newman

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