Ordinariate Is A ‘Permanent Feature’ For The Church, Says Vatican Spokesman

From The Catholic Herald (UK)
By Madeleine Teahan

Fr Federico Lombardi Photo: Press Association

The Personal Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham will remain “a permanent feature in the life of the Church,” Fr Federico Lombardi has said.

Fr Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office told the Catholic Herald: “As the Holy Father said during his visit to the UK in 2010, they will continue to ‘set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion’. The Personal Ordinariates are a permanent feature in the life of the Church and a sign of our lasting and unswerving commitment to that ultimate goal”.

Fr Lombardi said that the establishment of the ordinariate was a project, “particularly close to the heart of Pope Benedict XVI.” He said: “The ongoing development of these structures in the future will be a lasting legacy of his pontificate, but also a continuing contribution to the work of Christian unity and ecumenism.”

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established on January 15 2011 following the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus.

Pope Benedict issued the apostolic constitution in order to, “guarantee the unity of the episcopate” by providing a structure through which Anglicans could enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Fr James Bradley, Press Officer for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham said: “We have been greatly touched by the guidance and love of Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, in the establishment and development of the Personal Ordinariates.

“In resigning as Pope, he has shown that the work and the office of the See of Peter is greater than one man. So, too, it follows that the actions of carried out in the name of that office are not simply policies akin to political strategy. We welcome Fr Lombardi’s words as a further testament to that.”

 

 

As a Catholic, the Church of England’s Troubles Sadden Me

And we should not think we are immune from such problems

From the Catholic Herald (UK)

By Francis Phillips

Whatever a Catholic’s views on the matter, it has been a sad spectacle watching the Church of England falling into increasing disunity, this time over the question of women bishops. Once you allow the principle of female ordination, you can’t, as someone remarked, then try to impose a stained-glass ceiling. I feel sorry for those women priests who, with sincerity, see the problem as one of continued inequality with men; I feel sorry for those who voted against women bishops on the grounds that this development is unscriptural; I also feel sorry for those who voted against the motion because they believe provision for conscientious objectors is not good enough; and I feel sorry for Justin Welby, future Archbishop of Canterbury, who is soon to enter this minefield. It is all a mess and does not serve the vigorous Christian witness that this country desperately needs.

New Questions, Challenges Confront Episcopal-Turned-Catholic Leader

Fr. Jeffrey N. Steenson

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien
Catholic News Service
 
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Father Jeffrey N. Steenson is finding that there are a lot of new roads to travel and new questions to resolve since his Jan. 1 appointment as head of the Houston-based Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter for former Anglicans who want to become Catholics.

The former Episcopal bishop of the Rio Grande, who was ordained a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M., in February 2009, was to be installed in his new post Feb. 12. Also in February, a class of about 40 former Episcopal priests will begin an intensive, Internet-based course of studies to become Catholic priests within the ordinariate.

Former Episcopal Bishop Jeffrey Steenson to Head American Anglican Ordinariate

Rome will formally announce appointment on New Year's Day

From VirtueOnline

By By Mary Ann Mueller

Former Episcopal Bishop of the Rio Grande, Jeffrey Steenson, is to be named the Ordinary when the Anglican Ordinariate is erected on January 1, 2012, sources tell VOL.

Word seeped out from the Vatican late last week that Steenson -- who left The Episcopal Church in 2007 over TEC's polity - has been tapped for the new post as the Ordinariate gets its first foothold in the United States.

Cardinal Reports on Progress Toward US Ordinariate for Ex-Anglicans

From CNS

By Nancy Frazier O'Brien

As many as 100 U.S. Anglican priests and 2,000 laypeople could be the first members of a U.S. personal ordinariate for former Anglicans who want to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington reported to his fellow bishops June 15.

Maryland Parish to Spearhead Anglican Ordinariate in US

Cardinal Donald Wuerl is overseeing the creation of a Personal Ordinariate in America

Saint Luke's Parish in Bladensburg, Maryland has announced its intention to be the first Episcopalian parish in the United States to come into communion with the Catholic Church since Pope Benedict permitted the establishment of national Anglican Ordinariates to acomodate former Anglican parishes seeking to enter the Catholic Church as a congregation.

The Saint Luke's community has obtained the permission of Episcopal Bishop John Chane of Washington to continue worshiping in their current church under a lease with an option to buy.  They are also working closely with the Catholic Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Wuerl, who is overseeing the establishment of the Ordinariate in the United States.

In England, three bishops, sixty priests, and nearly one thousand lay people have already been received into the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate established in that country.  Ordinariates are also being formed in Canada and Australia.

Saint Luke's parish announced its historic decision on the parish website:

We Are Ordinariate Bound!

+Welcome to St. Luke's Ordinariate Catholic Community website! It is with great joy St. Luke's announces its intention to join the Personal Ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church. We have been discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit since the Holy Father's announcement of Anglicanorum coetibus in October of 2009. Since that time we have been in close dialogue with both the Episcopal Diocese of Washington and the Archdiocese Washington.

Over the next few months the people of St. Luke's Ordinariate Catholic Community will undergo formal preparation to become Roman Catholics. This formal preparation will take place at St. Luke's primarily on Sunday's at 9:00am, and on Thursday evenings at 7:00pm. If you are interested in joining the people of St. Luke's on this journey you are encouraged and welcomed to attend.

We are deeply grateful to Cardinal Wuerl and to Bishop Chane for their support throughout this discernment. We look forward to continuing to worship in the Anglican tradition, while at the same time being in full communion with the Holy See of Peter.

These are exciting times! We will endeavor to keep you up to date with any information concerning our community and with the Ordinariate. Please browse through our website for the latest information.

A New Bridge Across the Tiber

From Crisis Magazine

By Father Dwight Longenecker

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has now been established in England. By Easter this year, three bishops, sixty priests, and nearly one thousand lay people had left the Church of England to be received into the Catholic Church. Archbishop Donald Wuerl is working with interested parties to establish the ordinariate in the United States, and progress is being made in Canada and Australia for ordinariates to be erected there later this year.

What will be the future of this new ordinariate? It could be that it will simply bring into full communion with the Catholic Church a small number of conservative Anglo-Catholics. They were an eccentric church within a church in the Anglican Communion, and some predict that they will continue to be an eccentric church within the Catholic Church. Around the world, there will be small groups of traditionalist Anglicans who will differ from all the other tiny Anglican schismatic churches, in that they will actually be in full communion with Rome. They will keep to themselves and be viewed by mainstream Catholics as an eccentric rump of dissident Anglicans who like incense and lace, old-fashioned language and splendid old hymns, who somehow managed to worm their way into the Catholic Church. They will be regarded with bemusement and some bewilderment. Anglicans will shake their heads and wish them well and wonder why they didn’t become “proper Catholics” if they wanted to swim the Tiber. Eventually, the theory goes, they will die out. Their descendants will be absorbed into the mainstream of the Catholic Church, and the whole thing will be a footnote in the history of ecumenism.

A second possibility is that the Anglican Church herself will eventually disintegrate or morph into something unrecognizably Anglican, and the ordinariate will be all that is left of historic Anglicanism. In this scenario, an increasing number of Anglicans worldwide will see that, if they want to be historic Christians within the Anglican tradition, the only place to do that will be within the ordinariate, and they will flee the sinking ship of Anglicanism to join it.

This is almost certainly not going to happen, for several reasons: First of all, the Evangelical Anglicans are Protestants. After they have made the polite ecumenical noises, they do not really understand or appreciate the Catholic Faith. Secondly, many Anglo-Catholics also do not really want to be Catholic: They want to be Anglican. They honestly do not see the importance of being in full visible communion with the Catholic Church. They have serious misgivings about some of the Catholic dogmas, and they continue to believe that they are “Catholic within the Anglican Church.” Thirdly, the liberal wing of the Anglican church certainly has no wish to be in full communion with Rome. They dislike Roman authority, dogma, and moral teachings and are increasingly anti-Catholic.

However, there is a third way. The ordinariate could develop in a very different and exciting direction. The way to understand this more dynamic possibility is to see the ordinariate as a new bridge across the Tiber for a whole range of Protestant Christians. Already, conservative, liturgically minded Lutherans are asking why there isn’t a Lutheran ordinariate, while some of them point to the formal intercommunion that already exists between Lutherans and Anglicans and argue that the Anglican ordinariate should naturally be open to Lutherans as well. 

Woldwide Day of Prayer for Anglicans Entering Ordinariates

The Anglo-Catholic has called for a day of prayer today for Anglicans seeking to enter personal ordinariates around the world.  Their message follows:

Several days ago we posted a request for your prayers on Thursday, April 14th. The general intentions for this Day of Prayer are:

1. The Holy Father
2. Anglican Clergy and postulants, for encouragement and strengthening of their faith, particularly when faced with uncertainty about what their future roles in The Church may be.
3. The laity for their encouragement and increase of faith.

An Ordinariate has been erected for England and Wales; however, we are waiting (with varying degrees of patience) for the establishment of Ordinariates in the United States, Canada and Australia. Also, there are Anglicans in many parts of the world who desire this, but who have not yet had a formal notification from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the process is beginning for them.

All this should be included in our prayers — and this really needs to be a world-wide effort. Send a notice to Sean Reed at 6@societyofstmichael.org, telling him during what hour you will be praying. And get the word out! Tweet this, or Facebook it. Send this link out to your email list. Do whatever you can to get as many people as possible praying about this on April 14th.

The Lutheran Landslide

From The National Catholic Register

By Tim Drake

Father Richard John Neuhaus

One of the most under-reported religious stories of the past decade has been the movement of Lutherans across the Tiber.

What first began with prominent Lutherans, such as Richard John Neuhaus (1990) and Robert Wilken (1994), coming into the Catholic Church, has become more of a landslide that could culminate in a larger body of Lutherans coming into the collectively.

In 2000, former Canadian Lutheran Bishop Joseph Jacobson came into the Church.

“No other Church really can duplicate what Jesus gave,” Jacobson told the Western Catholic Reporter in 2006.

In 2003, Leonard Klein, a prominent Lutheran and the former editor of Lutheran Forum and Forum Letter came into the Church. Today, both Jacobson and Klein are Catholic priests.

Over the past several years, an increasing number of Lutheran theologians have joined the Church’s ranks, some of whom now teach at Catholic colleges and universities. They include, but are not limited to: Paul Quist (2005), Richard Ballard (2006), Paul Abbe (2006), Thomas McMichael, Mickey Mattox, David Fagerberg, Bruce Marshall, Reinhard Hutter, Philip Max Johnson, and most recently, Dr. Michael Root (2010).

“The Lutheran church has been my intellectual and spiritual home for forty years,” wrote Dr. Root. “But we are not masters of our convictions. A risk of ecumenical study is that one will come to find another tradition compelling in a way that leads to a deep change in mind and heart. Over the last year or so, it has become clear to me, not without struggle, that I have become a Catholic in my mind and heart in ways that no longer permit me to present myself as a Lutheran theologian with honesty and integrity. This move is less a matter of decision than of discernment.”

It’s been said that “no one converts alone,” suggesting that oftentimes the effect of one conversion helps to move another along a similar path. That’s exemplified through Paul Quist’s story. He describes attending the Lutheran “A Call to Faithfulness” conference at St. Olaf College in June, 1990. There, he listened to, and met, Richard John Neuhaus, who would announce his own conversion just months later.

“What some Lutherans were realizing was that, without the moorings of the Church’s Magisterium, Lutheranism would ineluctably drift from it’s confessional and biblical source,” wrote Quist.

Many of the converts have come from The Society of the Holy Trinity, a pan-Lutheran ministerium organized in 1997 to work for the confessional and spiritual renewal of Lutheran churches.

Now, it appears that a larger Lutheran body will be joining the Church. Father Christopher Phillips, writing at the Anglo-Catholic blog, reports that the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church (ALCC) clergy and parishes will be entering into the U.S. ordinariate being created for those Anglicans desiring to enter the Church.

According to the blog, the ALCC sent a letter to Walter Cardinal Kasper, on May 13, 2009, stating that it “desires to undo the mistakes of Father Martin Luther, and return to the One, Holy, and True Catholic Church established by our Lord Jesus Christ through the Blessed Saint Peter.” That letter was sent to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Surprisingly, in October 2010, the ALCC received a letter from the secretary of the CDF, informing them that Archbishop Donald Wuerl had been appointed as an episcopal delegate to assist with the implementation of Angelicanorum coetibus. The ALCC responded that they would like to be included as part of the reunification.

Anglican Group Faces Uncertain Future as Ordinariates Begin

From VirtueOnline

By David W. Virtue

A personal ordinariate offered by Pope Benedict XVI for traditionalist Anglicans has divided the American branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) - the Anglican Church in America - causing an irreparable schism in that body of Anglo-Catholics.

The Traditional Anglican Communion was formed in 1991. Archbishop Louis Falk served as its first primate. He was succeeded in 2002 by Archbishop John Hepworth of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia. The TAC exists in Africa, Australia, the Torres Strait, Canada, Central and South America, England, Ireland, India, Pakistan, Japan and the United States. The vast majority of its members are in India and the Torres Strait.

The TAC is not recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury and is independent of the Anglican Communion. The TAC upholds the theological doctrines of the Affirmation of St. Louis (1977) with its members self-described as Anglo-Catholics in their theology and liturgical practice. Some parishes use the Anglican Missal in their liturgies. The TAC is guided by a college of bishops from across the communion and headed by an elected primate. TAC churches separated themselves from Anglicans principally over the ordination of women, liturgical revisions, the acceptance of homosexuality and the importance of tradition.

The Pope's offer to orthodox Anglicans, however, has produced unintended consequences.

Lutheran Group Expresses Interest in Ordinariate

From Catholic World News

An American Lutheran group, the Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church—has expressed a desire to enter an ordinariate established in the US for former Anglicans entering the Catholic Church. 

Leaders of the Lutheran group told Vatican officials of their wish “to undo the mistakes of Father Martin Luther and return to the one, holy, and true Catholic Church.” They were referred by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who is charged with overseeing the establishment of an American ordinariate. 

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• The Lutheran Landslide (National Catholic Register)

The Anglican Catholic Patrimony Which the Ordinariate Will Bring Has Been Enriching Us for Years

 Think of all those great translations of Latin hymns

From The Catholic Herald (UK)

By William Oddie

 High altar reredos by Sir Ninian Comper at St Mark's church in Primrose Hill, north-west London

There is an interesting Telegraph blog by the pianist Stephen Hough this week, about his conversion to the Catholic Church as a boy of 16. He and his mother were staying in a guesthouse, down the road from Buckfast Abbey:

“We went to Mass there, mainly because it was within walking distance, and immediately I had this feeling of entering an enormous, strange, fascinating new world.

“It wasn’t just the unfamiliar sight of sun streaming through stained glass windows and the sound of Latin chant. I felt I was in a forbidden place, an enclave of papism – really quite an exciting sensation for an awkward, rebellious teenager. I was about to leave all Christian faith behind when this window to a bigger truth opened: that beauty can be a path to God, and that a fixed, “impersonal” liturgy can seem less man-made than extemporary prayers"

His conversion was from an evangelical form of Protestantism, and as he puts it, “it might have caused less offence if I’d taken up smoking hashish”. Now, he says, “I no longer feel so separated from the tradition in which I grew up. If I want to attend Anglican evensong or sing Methodist hymns I can – and do, with pleasure. Our communities understand each other better. There’s room for a two-way exchange, and I hope the ordinariate will make that exchange even warmer.”

I also hope it will: all the same, it has to be said that in the case of mainstream broad church Anglicanism I really don’t think that our communities do understand each other better: what has happened is that Roman Catholics have begun to understand Catholic-minded Anglicans a lot better (it isn’t just that Anglo-Catholics have realised that any kind of understanding with Anglicanism as it has developed is now impossible for them): and the “Anglican patrimony” they bring with them is of a kind entirely compatible with the Roman patrimony of the mainstream English Catholic Church.

Australia Leading Way with UK in Anglicans Swimming Tiber

In a world where Christians are deemed unfit to be foster parents, Christians cannot afford to nurse the misunderstandings and divisions of long-dead generations.  The growing  unity among Anglicans, Orthodox, Lutherans and Roman Catholics is not only pleasing to the Father of us all, but essential to the survival of Christian civilization.

From The Record (AU)
By Anthony Barich

Interest in the Pope’s offer to Anglicans to join the Catholic Church via a unique arrangement is gaining momentum with up to 60 Anglican clergy to be ordained as Catholic priests in Australia and the Torres Strait by Pentecost this year.

 

Traditional Anglican Communion Bishop Harry Entwislte of WA offers Mass at Como Catholic Parish during the Festival introducing the Anglican Ordinariate on 26 February. Photo: Anthony Barich

That number – including 30 from Australia and 30 from the Torres Strait - is also expected to rise.

Archbishop Barry Hickey and his Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton showed their strong support for the Ordinariate by both attending the 26 February festival at Como Catholic Parish introducing the Anglican Ordinariate in Australia.

Archbishop Hickey said those participating in the Ordinariate and the festival are joining in the “important prayer” of Jesus Himself, who prayed to the Father that “all may be one, as You and I are one”.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols' Homily for the Ordination of Three Former Anglican Bishops

Ordination to the Priesthood of Reverend John Broadhurst, Reverend Andrew Burnham, Reverend Keith Newton 

Westminster Cathedral, Saturday, January 15, 2011

Archbishop Vincent Nichols

Many ordinations have taken place in this Cathedral during the 100 years of its history. But none quite like this. Today is a unique occasion marking a new step in the life and history of the Catholic Church. This morning the establishment of the first Personal Ordinariate under the provision of the Apostolic Constitution ‘Anglicanorum Coetibus’ has been announced in our hearing. So I too salute John Broadhurst, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton who are to be the first priests of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. In particular I offer my prayers and best wishes to Keith, chosen by the Holy Father to be its first Ordinary. 

This is indeed an historic moment. In these opening words I welcome you warmly, Keith, Andrew and John. You have distinguished pasts, full of real achievements. Now, ahead of you, you have an important and demanding future! In welcoming you I recognise fully the demands of the journey you have made together with your families, with its many years of thought and prayer, painful misunderstandings, conflict and uncertainty. I want, in particular, to recognise your dedication as priests and bishops of the Church of England and affirm the fruitfulness of your ministry.

I thank so many in the Church of England who have recognised your sincerity and integrity in making this journey and who have assured you of their prayers and good wishes. First among these is Rowan, Archbishop of Canterbury, with his characteristic insight, and generosity of heart and spirit.

First Anglican Ordinariate Established in Britain

From Catholic World News

Former Anglican bishops (L-R) John Broadhurst, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton stand during their ordination as Roman Catholic priests at Westminster Cathedral in central London, January 15, 2011. Three former Anglican bishops were ordained as Catholic priests on Saturday, to become the first priests of the Ordinariate of former Anglicans to join the Catholic Church, local media reported.  REUTERS/Andrew Winning (BRITAIN - Tags: SOCIETY RELIGION)

The Vatican has established the first personal ordinariate for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church. 

On January 15, as 3 former Anglican bishops were ordained to the Catholic priesthood, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a statement establishing an ordinariate for England and Wales. 

Rev. Keith Newton, one of the three former Anglican bishops, was named by Pope Benedict XVI as the first ordinary. The Vatican statement said that he, along with the other former Anglican bishops, “will oversee the catechetical preparation of the first groups of Anglicans in England and Wales who will be received into the Catholic Church together with their pastors at Easter, and will accompany the clergy preparing for ordination to the Catholic priesthood around Pentecost.” 

Rev. Newton said that the appointment was “not an honor that I have sought or expected but I pray that God will give me the wisdom and grace to live up to the trust the Holy Father has placed in me.” 

The personal ordinariate is a new ecclesiastical structure, established by Pope Benedict with his apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus as a means of welcoming those Anglicans who wish to enter the Catholic Church. The ordinariate will allow Anglican communities to maintain their distinct liturgical and pastoral traditions, while being fully in communion with the Holy See.The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith explained:

A Personal Ordinariate is a canonical structure that provides for corporate reunion in such a way that allows former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their distinctive Anglican patrimony. With this structure, the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be fully integrated into the Catholic Church.

The ordinariate will provide pastoral care for former Anglicans entering the Catholic Church in England and Wales, stretching across the lines of existing dioceses. The new structure will be known as the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman. 

The ordinary exercises many of the administrative powers of a bishop. However Rev. Newton, who is married, will not be consecrated as a bishop. The Vatican statement pointed out that while married men can sometimes be ordained to the Catholic priesthood, and the ordinariate allows for married priests, the Catholic Church never consecrates married men to episcopal office. All three of the former Anglican bishops who were ordained as Catholic priests on January 15 are married. 

During the ordination, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, who presided at the ceremony, said: “We offer a warm welcome to these three former bishops of the Church of England. We welcome those who wish to join them in full communion with the Pope in the visible unity of the Catholic Church.” 

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Erection of a Personal Ordinariate for England and Wales (VIS)
• Pope Benedict establishes world’s first ordinariate (Catholic Herald)
• Press Statement from Keith Newton - First Ordinary (Total Catholic)

Converting Anglican Bishop Says Papal Action Changed the Landscape

Anglican Bishop Keith Newton

From Catholic News Agency

The Anglican Bishop of Richborough told his flock that he plans to become Catholic because Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic constitution “completely changed the landscape” for Anglo-Catholics and he now believes that he must lead the way to union with the Universal Church.

Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough, England said in a pastoral letter to priests and people in the Richborough area that he will resign as bishop as of Dec. 31. He will not conduct any public episcopal services. This “difficult” decision followed much thought and prayer, he remarked.

“I will, in due course, be received into full communion with the Catholic Church and join the Ordinariate when one is erected in England, which I hope will happen early next year.”

Pope Benedict established the proposed Anglican Ordinariate, a special jurisdiction within the Catholic Church, in his apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus.”

Bishop Newton explained that although the issue of the ordination of women as Anglican bishops has been an important factor in his decision, it is “not the most significant.”

Noting the “surprise” of the Pope’s action on Anglican-Catholic relations, he said that most Anglicans have prayed for union with the Catholic Church. However, this union has seemed less likely because of “the new difficulties concerning the ordination of women and other doctrinal and moral issues affecting the Anglican Communion.”

“Although we must still pray for sacramental and ecclesial unity between our Churches that now seems a much more distant hope,” Bishop Newton said. The ordinariates provide an opportunity for “visible unity” and Anglicans are able to retain “what is best in our own tradition which will enrich the Universal Church.”

“I hope you will understand that I am not taking this step in faith for negative reasons about problems in the Church of England but for positive reasons in response to our Lord’s prayer the night before he died the ‘they may all be one’,” the bishop continued.

While expressing sympathy with the position that Anglicans with traditional views need leadership at a “vital” time, he rejected the example of a leader who should “stay to the bitter end like the captain of a sinking ship.” Rather, he noted the scriptural image of the shepherd, who must lead his flock from the front rather than follow it from behind.

“This is what I hope I am doing. I am leading the way and I hope and pray that many of you will follow me in the months and the years ahead,” he explained.

Bishop Newton acknowledged those who want to remain in the Church of England, but he said he could not continue to be their bishop “with any integrity” and cannot provide the episcopal leadership they deserve.

“You need a new Bishop of Richborough who has the same vision as you have and one for whom a solution in the Church of England is a priority. My priority is union with the Universal Church,” he added.

He said he has enjoyed being Bishop of Richborough for more than eight years and is grateful for the support he has received from so many Anglican priests and laity. The bishop asked forgiveness from those he has disappointed and sought continued prayers for himself and his wife.

Bishop Newton is one of three active Anglican bishops who are joining the Catholic Church. These so-called “flying bishops” have been serving Anglicans in different areas who do not accept the ordination of women to the priesthood and other changes in the Anglican Church.

Two retired Anglican bishops are also entering full communion with Rome.

Anglican Bishop Predicts 'Thousands' Will Enter Catholic Church

From Catholic World News

One of the five Anglican bishops who plans to enter the Catholic Church has predicted that “thousands, not hundreds” of lay Anglicans will make the same move.

Anglican Bishop John Broadhurst said that many Anglicans are watching carefully as plans for an Anglican ordinariate within the Catholic Church take shape. Roughly 1,000 Anglican parishes in Great Britain have voted not to accept women as priests: an indication that a substantial fraction of Anglicans would be in sympathy with the “Anglo-Catholic” approach.

Bishop Broadhurst said, however, that questions about women priests and bishops are not the only factor in the decision to enter the Catholic Church. He said that the offer extended by Pope Benedict in Anglicanorum Coetibus will prove irresistible for many of the Anglican faithful.

Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.

• Thousands tipped to desert Church of England and follow bishops to Rome (Herald Sun)

Five Anglican Bishops Convert

From the Catholic Herald (UK)
By Anna Arco

Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, right, pictured with the late Rev Raymond Bristow and Rector Neil Hibbins in 2007 (Photo: PA)

Five traditionalist Anglican bishops have officially resigned this morning with the intention of taking up an English Ordinariate when it is set up.

This morning, the Rt Rev Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury accepted the resignation of three flying Church of England and two retired assistant bishops in what is a major development in the move towards establishing an Ordinariate in Britain.

The Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough and Rt Rev John Broadhurst Bishop of Fulham as well as the Rt Rev Edwin Barnes the emeritus Bishop of Richborough and the Rt Rev David Silk, an emeritus assistant bishop of Exeter released a statement announcing their resignations.

They said: “As bishops, we have even-handedly cared for those who have shared our understanding and those who have taken a different view. We have now reached the point, however, where we must formally declare our position and invite others who share it to join us on our journey. We shall be ceasing, therefore, from public episcopal ministry forthwith, resigning from our pastoral responsibilities in the Church of England with effect from 31st December 2010, and seeking to join an Ordinariate once one is created.”

Bishop Newton has been tipped to be the Ordinary of an English Ordinariate when one is established.

Dr Williams said: “I have today with regret accepted the resignations of Bishops Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton who have decided that their future in Christian ministry lies in the new structures proposed by the Vatican. We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the Church and I am grateful to them for their faithful and devoted pastoral labours in the Church of England over many years.”

The Catholic liason officer for the Ordinariate, Bishop Alan Hopes, an auxiliary of Westminster said: “We welcome the decision of Bishops Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes and David Silk to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate for England and Wales, which will be established under the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.”

The bishops are due to discuss the Ordinariate at their plenary meeting next week.

Full statement of the resigning Church of England Bishops:

Like many in the catholic tradition of Anglicanism, we have followed the dialogue between Anglicans and Catholics, the ARCIC process, with prayer and longing. We have been dismayed, over the last thirty years, to see Anglicans and Catholics move further apart on some of the issues of the day, and particularly we have been distressed by developments in Faith and Order in Anglicanism which we believe to be incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for nearly two thousand years.

The Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum cœtibus, given in Rome on 4th November 2009, was a response to Anglicans seeking unity with the Holy See. With the Ordinariates, canonical structures are being established through which we will bring our own experience of Christian discipleship into full communion with the Catholic Church throughout the world and throughout the ages. This is both a generous response to various approaches to the Holy See for help and a bold, new ecumenical instrument in the search for the unity of Christians, the unity for which Christ himself prayed before his Passion and Death. It is a unity, we believe, which is possible only in eucharistic communion with the successor of St Peter.

As bishops, we have even-handedly cared for those who have shared our understanding and those who have taken a different view. We have now reached the point, however, where we must formally declare our position and invite others who share it to join us on our journey. We shall be ceasing, therefore, from public episcopal ministry forthwith, resigning from our pastoral responsibilities in the Church of England with effect from 31st December 2010, and seeking to join an Ordinariate once one is created.

We remain very grateful for all that the Church of England has meant for us and given to us all these years and we hope to maintain close and warm relationships, praying and working together for the coming of God’s Kingdom.

We are deeply appreciative of the support we have received at this difficult time from a whole variety of people: archbishops and bishops, clergy and laity, Anglican and Catholics, those who agree with our views and those who passionately disagree, those who have encouraged us in this step and those who have urged us not to take this step.

The Right Revd Andrew Burnham
The Right Revd Keith Newton
The Right Revd John Broadhurst
The Right Revd Edwin Barnes
The Right Revd David Silk

Bishop Alan Hopes’ full statement:

“We welcome the decision of Bishops Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes and David Silk to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate for England and Wales, which will be established under the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.

At our plenary meeting next week, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales will be exploring the establishment of the Ordinariate and the warm welcome we will be extending to those who seek to be part of it. Further information will be made known after the meeting.”

A New Idea of the Ordinariate is Emerging

It should no longer be seen as a halfway house for disaffected Anglo-Catholics ‘defecting’ from the Church of England

From The Catholic Herald

The plans for the Ordinariate for ex-Anglicans are gathering pace. One of the last things Pope Benedict XVI said before leaving Britain, and one of the most important, was to emphasise that the Ordinariate is the next step towards Church unity. It was not the step that we were led to expect during the years of negotiation with Anglicans about corporate unity. But it is prophetic – and the prophet in question is our present Holy Father, who believes that Anglicans who already accept the Magisterium of the Church should be given freedom to worship and evangelise in communion with Rome as a matter of urgency.

A new image of the Ordinariate is emerging. When Anglicanorum coetibus was first published, the media and some religious commentators depicted it as a halfway house for “disaffected” Anglo-Catholics who were “defecting” from the Church of England and other Anglican churches around the world. That language is increasingly redundant. The leaders of the Ordinariate project have passed through their stage of disaffection. As the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, the Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet and one of the architects of the scheme, made clear at an Anglo-Catholic synod held immediately after the Pope’s visit, we will soon see the formation of “small congregations, energetically committed to mission and evangelism and serving the neighbourhood in which they are set”. Similar plans are being drawn up in other countries with a strong Anglican presence: last week, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington was chosen to oversee the formation of Ordinariate parishes in America.

It is time to set aside, for the time being, the much-debated question of how many Anglicans will take advantage of the Apostolic Constitution. Let us focus instead on the core words of Bishop Burnham’s message: his flock is “energetically committed to mission and [local] evangelisation”. Future members of the Ordinariate are offering to help revitalise the Christian mission of the Catholic Church in England and several other countries. It is a wonderful prospect, made possible by their faithful witness to the Gospel over many years and the vision of the Holy Father. Ignore the cynics and hand-wringers who see only difficulties in this historic development: we live in exciting times.

The Catholic Herald is a Catholic newspaper based in London. It was founded in 1888.

Heading to Rome? Will Entire Maryland Episcopal Parish Become Catholic?

Mount Calvary Episcopal Church will vote in October on full-communion with the Catholic Church

From Catholic Online
By Randy Sly

The Process which brought the whole parish to this historic moment began with a Vestry retreat in October 2007 where it was decided unanimously that Mount Calvary should explore the possibility of becoming part of the Roman Catholic Church. Since then the All Saints Sisters of the Poor were received into the Catholic Church and the Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans coming into full communion was promulgated.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - In a letter to parishioners, the Reverend Jason Cantania, rector of Mount Calvary Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland, announced that the vestry of the parish had voted unanimously in favor of two resolutions. First, they have voted to leave The Episcopal Church (TEC) where they are a part of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, and, second, to become an Anglican Use parish in the Catholic Church through the new initiative from Rome - the Anglicorum Coetibus.

Under the terms of this apostolic constitution, the Church has provided opportunities for "personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering full communion with the Catholic Church." As an Anglican Use parish, they will be authorized to use an authorized version of the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer called the "Book of Divine Worship."

Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, founded in 1842, is located in the heart of the city of Baltimore. On their website they describe themselves as a parish that has "borne faithful witness to the essential truth of Catholic Christianity and the tradition of the Oxford Movement for over 150 years, and remains to this day a bulwark of orthodox Anglo-Catholic practice.

[Author note - The Oxford Movement was a movement in the early 1800's of "high church Anglicans" who were desiring to maintain faithfulness to essential Catholic teachings. One of the early principle proponents of the Oxford Movement was John Henry Newman, who, as a Catholic convert, received the red hat as a Cardinal. He was recently beatified by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to England.]

"From its foundation, Mt. Calvary has 'contended for the faith once delivered to all the saints,"'the Catholic and Apostolic faith grounded in Holy Scripture as interpreted by the Fathers and Councils of the undivided Church."

The church will come together for a special meeting on October 24th to vote on the vestry's resolutions.

Virtue Online published the letter from the Rector which was first published on another blog entitled The Bovina Bloviator.

LETTER FROM THE RECTOR OF MOUNT CALVARY CHURCH TO PARISHIONERS

September 21, 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,

I write today to inform you of a special meeting of the Congregation of Mount Calvary Church which has been called by the Vestry for Sunday, October 24, following the 10:00 am Solemn Mass. The purpose of this meeting is to vote on two resolutions which have been unanimously approved by the Vestry. They are as follows:

Resolved: In accordance with Article 12 of the amendment to the Charter of Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore, adopted April 10, 1967, the Vestry of Mount Calvary Church hereby determines that The Episcopal Church (formerly known as the "Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America") has clearly, substantially, and fundamentally changed its doctrine, discipline and worship, and that Mount Calvary Church should become separate from and independent of The Episcopal Church. The Vestry therefore calls for a special meeting of the Congregation of Mount Calvary Church to be held on Sunday, October 24, 2010, following the 10:00 AM Mass, to affirm and enact this resolution.

Resolved: That Mount Calvary Church, upon separation from The Episcopal Church, seek to become an Anglican Use parish of the Roman Catholic Church.

Most of you are fully aware of the history which has brought us to this point. That history extends all the way back to the 19th century, when Mount Calvary became well-known, throughout Maryland and throughout the Episcopal Church, for its adherence to Catholic faith and practice. Indeed, to some it was notorious for its "popish" ways, and in fact for many clergy and people over the years (including two of my predecessors as rector), Mount Calvary has been their last stop before "crossing the Tiber".

The immediate process which brings us to this historic moment began with a Vestry retreat in October 2007, where it was decided unanimously that Mount Calvary should explore the possibility of becoming part of the Roman Catholic Church. Since then, two crucial events have occurred. The first was the reception of the All Saints Sisters of the Poor, our own parish sisters, into the Catholic Church in September 2009.

The second was the announcement the following month of Anglicanorum Coetibus, the Apostolic Constitution calling for the creation of "personal ordinariates" (essentially non-geographical dioceses) for groups of Anglicans entering the Roman Catholic Church while retaining elements of their tradition. The result of these developments is that the Archdiocese of Baltimore now stands ready to welcome Mount Calvary as a body into full communion with the successor of St. Peter, and the process of establishing ordinariates in various countries, including the United States, has begun.

While I know that the vast majority of you are enthusiastic about making this transition, I realize that some may still have questions and concerns about the prospect of entering the Roman Catholic Church. In the weeks ahead, prior to the congregational meeting, I will invite a series of guests to speak about their experience of life in the Catholic Church and to answer questions. Some of these guests will be well-known to you; indeed they will include former parishioners and clergy of Mount Calvary. I think all of them will be helpful in allaying any fears there may be.

Let me conclude by saying how truly grateful I am to be leading Mount Calvary Church at this moment in time. When I became your rector over four years ago, I had not the faintest idea that this would be the journey we would take together. Nonetheless, there is not a doubt in my mind that this is the work of the Holy Spirit and truly the will of God, not simply for me, but for Mount Calvary.

This is not about rejecting our past and our heritage, but rather fulfilling it. We have before us the opportunity to carry with us the richness of the Anglican tradition into full communion with the wider Catholic Church. I therefore ask that each of you pray that God's will be done in this place which we all love so dearly as we approach this momentous decision.

Yours in Christ,

The Rev'd Jason Catania, SSC
Rector

Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.