Cardinal Wuerl: Ordinariate in the US is Imminent

From the Catholic Herald (UK)
By Liz Leydon

 

Cardinal Wuerl yesterday received an Episcopalian parish into the Catholic Church in anticipation of the ordinariate (Photo: CNS)

An ordinariate is close to being established in America, Cardinal Donald Wuerl said during his visit to Scotland last week.

As Vatican delegate for the US ordinariate Cardinal Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, said he had been watching developments in Britain with great interest and was confident that the establishment of the US ordinariate was imminent this autumn.

Washington National Cathedral Receives $25,000 from Roman Catholic Archdiocese

From Episcopal News Service

By ENS Staff

Members of faith communities locally in Washington and across the country have rallied around Washington National Cathedral in its time of need following last week's magnitude-5.8 earthquake. In the first gesture of a faith community's financial support, Cardinal Donald Wuerl sent a check for $25,000 on behalf of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington to help toward the costs of repair work, according to a press release.

Washington National Cathedral, the sixth-largest cathedral in the world and the second-largest such church in the United States, sustained millions of dollars in damage in the Aug. 23 earthquake, including significant damage to the central tower, where finials or capstones, which are shaped like fleurs-de-lis, fell off three of the four pinnacles. 

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.

Catholics Demand Vatican Action on Their Bishops

A group of Catholics met with church hierarchs in Rome to demand that the Vatican re-assign Archbishop Wuerl of Washington D.C. and Bishop Loverde of Virginia.

From Spero News

Randall Terry, Operation Rescue Founder, led a delegation of nine pro-life leaders in an unprecedented series of meetings with Vatican officials from March 2-6 in Rome.

The purpose was to ask Vatican officials to intervene decisively in the Catholic Church in the United States. Vatican officials were presented with evidence that Randal and his group claim would tend to show that a majority of US bishops refuse to uphold key teachings of their Church.

The entire document -- Oves Sine Pastore (Sheep Without a Shepherd) -- is at www.humbleplea.com.

Terry stated that "Our first request was that the Holy See relocate Archbishop Donald Wuerl (D.C.) and Bishop Paul Loverde (Arlington V.A.), and to replace them with bishops who will uphold the laws of the Church -- namely, bishops who refuse to serve Communion to any politician who supports the killing of children by abortion.

"Recent headlines proved our point. Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann, Kansas, recently excommunicated Governor Kathleen Sebelius. President Obama selected her to head Health and Human Services, where she will promote abortion. When she comes to DC, Archbishop Naumann will be scoffed at, she will receive Communion with Archbishop Wuerl's or Bishop Loverde's tacit approval, and American Catholics will descend further into scandal and confusion.

"If these two bishops are relocated, and Bishops of the caliber of Naumann are put in the D.C. area dioceses -- which are watched by the whole world -- it will show all humanity that the Holy See is serious about defending innocent life, and that the Eucharist is not to be profaned or scandalized. It will also tell all U.S. Bishops that the days of fear, equivocation, and outright disobedience are coming to an end."

The delegation met with:

His Excellency, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke, Prefect, Apostolic Signatura;

His Eminence, Antonio Cañizares Llovera, Cardinal, Prefect, Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments;

His Eminence, James Francis Stafford, Cardinal, Major Penitentiary, Apostolic Penitentiary;

Father Thomas Powers, Congregation for Bishops;

His Excellency, Rino Fisichella, Titular Archbishop of Voghenza, President, Pontifical Academy for Life;

Father Kevin Lixey, Pontifical Council for the Laity;

Father Victor Ghillo, Pontifical Council for the Family;

Monsignor Anthony R. Frontiero, Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; and

Monsignor Richard Soseman, the Congregation for Clergy.

Terry's delegation included Sue and Tom Cyr, Sandra and Mario Paveglio, and Joseph Landry.