His Hermeneuticalness has a good short post:
UK Traditional Anglican Communion says "yes please"
The South African Catholic blog Signum has an article reporting that TAC in UK accepts "Ordinariate"
At the 2009 Assembly of the Traditional Anglican Communion UK, the following resolution was passed:
That this Assembly, representing the Traditional Anglican Communion in Great Britain, offers its joyful thanks to Pope Benedict XVI for his forthcoming Apostolic Constitution allowing the corporate reunion of Anglicans with the Holy See, and requests the Primate and College of Bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion to take the steps necessary to implement this Constitution.
The Assembly also suggests Bishop Robert Mercer as a possible candidate for Ordinary.
I hear a lot of skeptical comments about the Holy Father’s offer of Personal Ordinariates, with the conventional wisdom being that it will not really attract many people. So it is good to hear news of twenty or so parish communities that will be interested. The TAC asked for the provision in the first place so it is to be expected that they would be first off the mark; but I think that there may well be plenty more to follow in due course.
REMEMBER: Keep referring to Pope Benedict as "The Pope of Christian Unity".
Catholic and non-Catholic liberals alike can’t stand this response of Rome to the request they received.
So keep your talking points and facts straight.
- What the Holy See has done is a response to Anglicans who made the request.
- This is about true ecumenism. Liberals only want ecumenical dialogue with people on their own side.
- Of course moves like this present new questions for us as Catholics! But we can be stretched without giving up anything of what it means to be truly Catholic.
Loading ...
But has the official constitution even been promulgated yet? These poor souls must have really been on the brink of despair?
Perhaps they were on the brink of despair, or perhaps they are filled with the supernatural virtue of hope, trusting in the guidance of Peter – an attitude that is most welcome in this skeptical age.
True ecumenism is about drawing people to the truth and bringing them into full communion with the Holy See. It really is one of the most responsible things the Church can do. Dialoguing to lead people to the truth and not just to hear ourselves talk.
It seems to me that many liberals would like to engage in an ecumenism that is more akin to finding out somebody’s opinion of something and affirming them in a “I’m okay, you’re okay” type of mentality. That type of dialogue is ultimately destructive and can bear nothing but rotten fruit.
I pray the Anglicans find a new and welcoming home within the Catholic Church and that will serve as an example to any others contemplating a return to the Catholic Church.
or….they’re just saying “take us, we’ll work it out in the edit…”.
I think the “nobody will take it” memes are wishful thinking. That said, I can’t guess how many will accept – though I suspect it will not take the form of a deluge but rather a steady light rain.
What I have found interesting in looking over Anglican sources is how much bitter anti-catholic sentiment has been brought to the surface in some quarters. People who regularly castigate the leadership of the Episcopal Church and the C of E suddenly roaring that pope is poaching – like Lord Carey. Others ostentatiously “declining” the invitation. Somehow they all neglect to mention that it is only a response. They also neglect to see that it is not really an ‘invitation’ rather it is just a structure being put into place. There is no need to ‘delcine’ only to accept – if you wish. If you don’t wish – nobody expects you to say anything.
Welcome aboard the Barque of Peter!
This is great news, not unexpected but still great
Wonderful!
My opinion on ecumenism… and it may be way off base…
is that the goal is to eliminate Salvation Through the
Catholic Church as Truth – that any and all religions are
really worshipping the same “god” in their own way… Similar
to what ChadS says above. Perhaps why so many Catholics move
on to other denominations/religous beliefs – what’s the
difference? – we all worship the same God. Dangerous “theology”,
indeed, especially for the children. Pope Benedict XVI is
practicing TRUE ecumenism – extending opportunity for Salvation
through Christ’s Holy, Catholic, Apostolic Church.
Interesting news indeed. I think there will be a lot more consideration by Anglicans the world over once the actual Constitution is issued. Here in our ACA Diocese, that is exactly what we are waiting for. Some of us just want to know exactly what we are committing ourselves to before we sign on the dotted line. As I often tell parishoners and concerned friends, while there are some things in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that bristle up against the Anglican theological tradition, there is nothing earth shattering in the way. Isn’t is time for us to put our money where our mouths and liturgical praxis have been for the last 150 years or so and step up to the plate of authentic Christian unity? It seems to me that an exchange of a lesser concern, say indulgences, for the far greater good of clear teaching authority found in the See of Rome could only be a good thing.
In reply to the first commentor above, yes some of our people really are on the brink of despair. Now there is real hope. Thanks be to God!
We in the TAC are not “desperate souls”. We know more about what Rome is offering us than what you can read in the press. We are confident, and we “draw near with faith”, and are now on the doorstep waiting for the door to open.
Many Anglicans are slowed down by the “hermeneutic of suspicion” because the official Apostolic Constitution is not yet out.
I hope these personal ordinariates will be a good prototype for Traditional Latin Mass communities, which – other than the Apostyolic Administration in Brazil – do not have their own Bishops and pastoral structures in most places.
I feel confident that I can say on behalf of us all in the TAC: Ad multos annos, Your Holiness! May God grant many more years to the Holy Father and may darkness never again descend on the Church!
Fr. Anthony
I think that, while this may start out small, it has the potential for considerable growth. Once there are congregations up and running, both estranged Anglicans and more protestant protestants may be attracted.
Robert Mercer is an altogether admirable man; he has an evident deep love for the Lord and is kind, wise, learned, and courageous. (I knew him slightly in my youth.) He tried to broker a rapprochement between the Holy See and the Anglican Province of Central Africa when he was Bishop of Matabeleland, then left the Canterbury communion to minister to Catholic-minded exiles. He worked for many years in Canada helping to stabilize the Anglican Catholic Church. All the while he remained a monk in the Community of the Resurrection, still part of the Church of England — I often wondered how they worked that out.
If led by men of this calibre, the ordinariate would have a good beginning.
Thanks be to God, and glad to have you!
I guess you UK folks sent some of your rain over to Ohio, because all of a sudden my eyes are wet….
Dr Mercer seems an admirable man, and probably should in due course be consecrated as a Catholic bishop, but he is going to be 75 years old in January. Canon 401 §1 states, “A diocesan bishop who has completed the seventy-fifth year of age is requested to present his resignation from office to the Supreme Pontiff, who will make provision after he has examined all the circumstances.” Now, that’s a diocesan bishop, not a personal ordinary, and the Holy Father makes the ultimate decision (many bishops have stayed on well past their 76th birthday), but it is something to consider, especially when there is Bishop Alan Hopes, an auxiliary in the Westminster Archdiocese, who is a former Anglican clergyman.
I sincerely hope that, should the Benedict’s project go through, all traditional Catholics would accept their new brethren in Faith generously, and accept their liturgy and clergy as fully Catholic liturgy and clergy, and act accordingly in practice.
Otherwise, the ecclesiastical communion would be only nominal.
I’m just wondering if there is a TAC parish near where I live
It’s not ecumenism, it’s conversion.
There is a TAC parish 20 miles from where I live!
“I sincerely hope that, should the Benedict’s project go through, all traditional Catholics would accept their new brethren in Faith generously, and accept their liturgy and clergy as fully Catholic liturgy and clergy, and act accordingly in practice.”
I agree with this sentiment but since a lot of Roman Catholics still have trouble understanding that Eastern Rite Ukrainian Catholics have fully Catholic liturgy and clergy, and we’ve been united with Catholic Church since 1596, it may take a while.
It’s not ecumenism, it’s conversion.
Conversion is ecumenism.
I sincerely hope that, should the Benedict’s project go through, all traditional Catholics would accept their new brethren in Faith generously, and accept their liturgy and clergy as fully Catholic liturgy and clergy, and act accordingly in practice.
Somehow I suspect that it will not be Traditional Catholics that have the most difficulty accepting the TAC members or liturgy.
I had the privilege of talking to an Anglican priest from Australia and a traditional Catholic nun over supper in a retreat I made last year. Many of his views were more in line with traditional Catholicism than the liberal, pro-choice, cafeteria Catholics wandering around among us – including some of the other priests at the retreat.
God bless him and keep him safe (he was a battlefield chaplain serving in the mid-east). If he is representative of the Anglicans wanting to return to Rome, we will ALL be spiritually richer for it.
Mamma B: “a lot of Roman Catholics still have trouble understanding that Eastern Rite Ukrainian Catholics have fully Catholic liturgy and clergy, and we’ve been united with Catholic Church since 1596, it may take a while.”
I can’t agree more, and it is a tragedy. We, the “Latins” do not consider the Eastern Catholics as real Catholics, but as a sort of half-way house; which is one of the main obstsacles to reunion with the main body of the East.
I wonder how many “traditionalists” have ever fulfilled their Sunday Obligation in the Eastern Catholic Church, not to mention received the Communion. Some would probably consider it as a matter for confession.
Ogard – with regards to your comment “We, the “Latins” do not consider the Eastern Catholics as real Catholics, but as a sort of half-way house…” – I am not sure what led you to this conclusion, but it appears that you are generalizing, and I must point out that you in no way speak for all (or probably even most) of the so-called “Latins”.
You also said “I wonder how many “traditionalists” have ever fulfilled their Sunday Obligation in the Eastern Catholic Church, not to mention received the Communion. Some would probably consider it as a matter for confession.” Perhaps you should talk with some of the older traditionalists who found a home in the Eastern churches during the 1970’s and 1980’s – there are a lot of them, many more than you suspect, who remain grateful to the Eastern churches for their welcome and their hospitality.
I did get a chuckle about your confession comment – in my diocese, we have had a Byzantine Rite priest assist our Traditional Latin Mass community by hearing confessions, so I can only imagine the dialogue of the confession you envision!
Maybe I am in the minority, but I too am one of the “traditionalists” who found refuge in a Byzantine Church when the only other option was a, shall we say, less than edifying “Latin” Mass.
Welcome home Fr. Anthony!
Ut unum sint!
The following, from the Washington Post, was written by Randall Balmer an Episcopalian “priest”:
The Vatican’s sudden overture to disaffected Anglicans strikes me as both cynical and opportunistic. Cynical in that the concession effectively to allow congregations to continue using Anglican hymns and liturgies seems to undermine decades of ecumenical discussions by suddenly removing these issues as impediments to union.
The move is opportunistic in that Rome is making the overture at what might be viewed as a moment of crisis or weakness in the Anglican Communion. The Vatican apparently is seeking to harvest those disaffected by the ordination of women and gays and by support for same-sex unions.
A cynical action calls for a cynical interpretation: Perhaps the Vatican is hoping to lure Anglican parishes – and their property – to compensate for its financial losses in the priestly pedophilia scandals.
I have no doubt that some disaffected Anglicans will see this as an attractive offer. At the same time, I wasn’t aware that Christians opposed to homosexuality or to women’s ordination were underserved in the religious marketplace.
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/randall_balmer/2009/10/vaticans_cynical_and_opportunistic_overture.html
Here is the Balmer website:
http://randallbalmer.com/default.aspx