Home! part 1

The first installment of the lecture given by Dr Benjamin Vallejo Jr to the Catholic students ministry of the University of the Philippines, January 25, 2012, Delaney Hall, UP Diliman. 

Home!

Who are the Anglicans?

I always believed that Anglicans do not convert to become Catholics. They just come home. After all the word “Anglican” means “of England” and could also be used to describe the Catholic faith as practiced by the English, especially before the Reformation. But then the Reformation happened.

Father Martin Luther, an Augustinian monk nailed his 95 theses on the west door of Wittenberg Church on October 31, 1517, a date so important in Church history which the Protestant Churches celebrate as Reformation Day. The theses are nothing but academic points of debate on certain church practices that Fr Luther found unacceptable. It is true that the Medieval Roman Church has abused its power to care for souls. Fr Luther objected the “sale of indulgences” simply because another priest Johann Tetzel made the whole idea of praying for the souls in Purgatory a business transaction. The Church needed the money to finish constructing St Peter’s Basilica.

If one day if you have the chance to visit Rome,  I bet that you will marvel at the priceless expression of the Catholic faith in St Peter’s especially in art but was St Peter’s worth the Reformation that made it possible?

Perhaps all Christians whether they be Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox or Anglican may have asked the question. St Peter’s is both a sign of our division and our unity as Christians. St Peter’s Basilica can both repel us with its ostentation and the cost of dividing the church but still unite us since all of this was made for God’s glory. But still we are drawn to St Peter’s and to  most of all to St Peter. St Peter is probably the wimpiest of the Apostles, yet even if he denied the Lord and was hesitant to lead, the Lord selected him and gave him a great responsibility. He was already old when he was crucified like Jesus but upside down exactly on the place where St Peter's Basilica stands today. Jesus foretold of this and even in his weakness Peter accepted the commission.  And for that the great church is built on Peter's grave.

The Church is built on Peter since he received that important commission from Christ which you can read or better yet hear in the Gospels at Mass. What we recall of that commission is the "Keys" and that Hell won't prevail over the Church. But the Reformation made it more difficult to see that truth since there was a Holy Catholic Church but she was run by sinners and the holy alike. But most of the time, it was the sinners who were on top.  But it is Faith that allows us to see beyond the shadows and darkness, thanks to the witness of the Saints, whose vocation was really authentic reformation. For that truth many Catholics gave their lives and for me the most notable would be Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher, who gave their lives when the Reformation came to England. Many followed Peter to martyrdom. Thus England has been blessed by the witness of hundreds of martrys some of which are known only to God. Of these we know probably at most 80, forty of which have been canonized as the "Forty Martyrs of England and Wales". 

King Henry VIII in 1536 since he had no male heir would do anything to annul his marriage to Queen Catherine who gave him only a daughter. For this he in a series of acts of parliament, separated the Church in England from the Catholic Church and made himself the “Supreme Head of the Church” in England. This is a new title for the Pope never had considered himself as the “Supreme Head” which is a title only for Christ. The Pope as we all know, even today is the Bishop of Rome (his most important title) and with it “Vicar of Christ”, which means only that he only acts in the name of Christ. King Henry appropriated a title which is not by the law of God, his. For this More and Fisher lost their heads and became Catholic saints. 

The Ecclesia Anglicana or the Church of England was created by the King’s wish. It considered itself as a continuation of  the Catholic Church but reformed by doing away with the perceived abuses of the Pope. The doctrine of the Catholic Church was held and Henry did not tolerate the Lutheran doctrine (much earlier the Pope granted his the title Fidei Defensor).  But the Reformed doctrine was influential among the aristocracy who benefitted from Henry’s dissolution of the monasteries. The English people resisted the Reformation for at least three generations that by the time of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558, a religious settlement had to be made since the people had shed much blood in matters of religion.  Mary I, Elizabeth’s elder half sister brought the English back to the Roman obedience but it was not to last. The Reformation had made its impact. The Church of England will have the Queen as “Supreme Governor”, a title roughly equivalent to the Pope’s title as “Vicar of Christ”.  Elizabeth’s title was granted by Parliament while the Pope was by Christ through St Peter’s. And as a result of the religious settlement Anglican belief would be defined in such a way that it is possible for it to be understood in both the Roman Catholic and Protestant sense.  The result is a large degree of ambiguity. This is so evident in the Anglican belief in the Eucharist which I shall touch on later.

After King Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I, the Roman Church had to meet the challenges of the Reformation in the Council of Trent which successfully reformed the Church in what historians would rather inaccurately call the Counter Reformation. The Anglican Church will go on its separate way and developing its own distinct liturgies and spirituality. Yet in this separate way, many elements of Catholic Church belief and practice were preserved. The Anglican Church preserved the ministries of the bishop, priest and deacons but the Eucharist was said in English and no longer in Latin. Anglican clergy can be married while Roman Catholic clergy can’t. The Roman Catholic Church insisted on Latin until after the Second Vatican Council when the Mass could be celebrated in the vernacular languages. Thus in a way the Catholic Church followed the Anglican reforms in liturgy, although 500 years late.

With England becoming a world power in the 17^th to the early 20^th centuries, she planted Anglican Churches in her colonies including what became the United States. These churches eventually became independent of the Church of England headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury. They became the Anglican Communion since they are in communion with Canterbury. In the United States, the Anglican Church is called the Episcopal Church since this church had its first bishop consecrated by the Scottish Episcopal Church (which is not under the Church of England).  When the Philippines became under the Americans in 1898, The Episcopal Church sent its missionaries to the Philippines and later on the Anglican/Episcopal church in our country became the Episcopal Church in the Philippines (ECP). The ECP is notable in our church history since right from the start in 1902, she refused to convert Roman Catholics instead focused her missionary efforts on non-Christians. The first Episcopal Bishop of the Philippines the Rt Rev Charles Henry Brent would not “build an altar over another”. Of all the non- Catholic (Protestant) missionaries in the Philippines, only Bishop Brent recognized that Roman Catholics were Christians too!

But with so much in common even if we are separated, it would be inevitable that many Anglicans would feel an affinity for the Church of Rome. Thus in the five centuries of separation, Anglican theologians would take great care in differentiating what they believed in from Protestantism while maintaining their difference from Roman Catholicism. They believed they are the middle way or in Latin “Via Media”.  Fundamental aspects of Protestant (Puritan) practice were suppressed as well as Roman Catholic devotions like those to the Virgin Mary. The Anglican Church is the church of the English state and any excessive emphasis on Protestantism (Puritan) or Catholicism was considered a threat to the state. Elizabeth I famously said she “won’t look into men’s souls” which meant that one can hold Roman Catholic or Puritan beliefs as long as one keeps this private.  If not Elizabeth I considered these grounds for treason.  Many martyrs both on the Roman Catholic and Puritan side lost their heads for their conscience since they rejected the idea that they should live their faith in private.

Of course the Via Media won’t hold as John Henry Newman realized. The Rev Dr Newman, perhaps the most renowned 19^th century Anglican theologian or Divine as the English would say it, was one of the founders of the Oxford Movement in the  mid 19^th century which sought to restore the Catholic element in the Anglican Church.  The Oxford Movement restored to the Church of England the Devotion to the Blessed Virgin especially in her title of Our Lady of Walsingham. It also restored a more sacramental way of celebrating the liturgy.  Thus many Anglicans today have a deep devotion to the Blessed Mother.  While this led many Anglicans to believe in many things Catholics believe in, but even so Newman in his studies and prayerful reflection realized that the idea of a Church of England would make no sense unless it is united with the Church of Rome, where she came from.  [It was a Pope, St Gregory the Great, who sent St Augustine to Canterbury to preach the Gospel to the English].  Newman also rejected the idea that the state should have anything to do with Christian doctrine. Newman became a Catholic, was ordained to the Catholic priesthood and became a Cardinal. Pope Benedict XVI beatified him in 2010. It was not only Newman who came home but many Anglican clergy and laypeople, some very famous, some are celebrities but most are ordinary men, women and children. And they are still coming home as of this minute. They reached the same conclusion as Newman did more than 150 years earlier.

And most of them don’t consider themselves converts but just people who came home!

Filipino Episcopalians debate about purgatory while Catholics no longer bother about it!

This is how the Medievals thought about Purgatory!

At the Pinoy Episcopalians Facebook group, someone posted if "Episcopalians are to believe in purgatory". This post sparked a lively discussion which has touched on the relationship of Scripture and Tradition and how classical Anglicanism has received these and if these are relevant to the 21st century. Of course the debate extended beyond Purgatory but to the importance of Authority in the Church. This is so related to the troubles plaguing Anglicans now and how the Anglican Communion may be able to preserve her unity.

Here is how one Filipino Episcopal priest has it

"Luther did not oppose the idea. he only opposed the wrong means on how to pass through it. Purgatory is not for the lost, only for believers already on the way to heaven yet have to take the long journey to life because of their attachment to the world that they live in and a world they are leaving. Purgatory is connected to fire purification, which is really meant the fiery trial a Christian has to experience due to sanctification."

Thanks to depictions by countless artists throughout the ages, many Catholics and Protestants think Purgatory is a place where there is fire to cleanse sinners. This has led to many misconceptions but the Catechism of the Catholic Church (1030-1032) states that Purgatory is a condition rather than a place and states Scriptural references that support this understanding. Blessed Pope John Paul II restated the teaching in a papal audience. The Church however teaches that there is a "cleansing fire" in Purgatory and tradition is that this is understood not in a metaphorical sense but in a real sense. Mystics have understood this as a purifying inner fire, an understanding that Pope Benedict XVI appears to endorse.

The Thirty Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England in Article XXII explicitly reject the doctrine of Purgatory as being without "warrant in Scripture" However, the Articles are not binding on Anglicans as the CCC is upon Catholics. For many Episcopalians, the Articles are of historical interest. Thus there is a wide spectrum of belief among Anglicans as as the debate on Pinoy Episcopalians would suggest, many still adhere to the idea that Purgatory is indeed a condition where  souls are purified. However many Episcopalians will still have difficulty in accepting the Roman Catholic belief on indulgences. This is at the root of medieval abuses that brought upon the Reformation. A famous Anglican, CS Lewis accepted belief in Purgatory in the way the Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman understood it.

But as I had posted I am amazed that Filipino Episcopalians debate about Purgatory when Filipino Roman Catholics hardly bother about it! In fact I have never heard the doctrine being the subject of a Sunday Mass homily in the last 20 years! It must be that the subject is too pre Vatican II and it deals with the afterlife rather than this life. And many priests don't want to scare the worshipers out of their wits with talk of eternal damnation and purification!

Some Roman Catholic priests tend to believe that we are experiencing Purgatory  right now, since we have a corrupt government and we ourselves are party to this and we have cut down all the trees and so we are in an environmental mess etc. Perhaps that is true but it misses out on what the Church teaches about it and the real costs of God's purifying love.

And so it takes our Anglican brethren to remind Roman Catholics of this teaching, at least to me. I have not bothered with that doctrine ever since I was received into the Church 25 years ago!

Know thy Mass!

This was from my Anglo-Catholic "lola" who bought it in 1952 when she was studying in Minnesota. If I am not mistaken, Anglo Catholics in the American Episcopalian biretta belt used the American Missal which is an almost exact translation of the Roman Missal. In fact I was able to follow the Tridentine Mass in a Cubao Catholic parish using her Missa Anglicana and this catechetical comic book!

Nonetheless, forty one years after Vatican II's reforms on the Mass, most people have no clue on what is happening in the Mass. No wonder they text during the service. The Mass itself has ceased to be an occasion for catechism, but rather as a ho hum service which is most likely even made worse by bad homilies. But pre Vatican II Mass books for the laity had always a bit of catechetical information on what the Mass rubrics really mean. The pre Vatican II Mass books are much much closer in ethos to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer than the Mass books and Missalettes Roman Catholic have today. Both the Roman Missal and the BCP had a didactic function and that is to hand in the Faith (in Latin "Traditio")

In the scanned image above, the comics explain the Creed. This is an act of  what is called in Latin as "renditio" which means to "hand over". We hand over our understanding of the Faith at this point of the Mass.

All these need to be recovered in both the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches. It is not surprising that modern Anglican prayer books and liturgies have taken cue from what Reformation historian Diarmaid MacCulloch calls "What the post Vatican II Roman Catholic Church threw out"

The saving grace is that Anglicanism preserved much of what the Roman Church threw out. And all hopes are with Anglicans on both sides of the Tiber to reflect and restore all these things of beauty and Faith.

Anglicans and Contraception

Filipino society is probably the last on earth to seriously debate on artificial contraception as part of the 2011 Reproductive Health bill (RH). However, debate on this is more than a hundred years old when as a result of worsening living conditions in England as a result of migration and the Industrial Revolution, in a classic Malthusian sense birth control was seen as a way to solve the problem.


The Anglican Communion at first opposed artificial contraception as stated in Resolution 68 of the 1920 Lambeth Conference


"We utter an emphatic warning against the use of unnatural means for the avoidance of conception, together with the grave dangers - physical, moral and religious - thereby incurred, and against the evils with which the extension of such use threatens the race. In opposition to the teaching which, under the name of science and religion, encourages married people in the deliberate cultivation of sexual union as an end in itself, we steadfastly uphold what must always be regarded as the governing considerations of Christian marriage. One is the primary purpose for which marriage exists, namely the continuation of the race through the gift and heritage of children; the other is the paramount importance in married life of deliberate and thoughtful self-control."


Then the Anglican bishops held on to the traditional belief on fertility regulation. However in the 1930  Lambeth Conference (Resolution 15), Anglicans approved contraception in particular cases.


"Where there is clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, the method must be decided on Christian principles. The primary and obvious method is complete abstinence from intercourse (as far as may be necessary) in a life of discipline and self-control lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Nevertheless in those cases where there is such a clearly felt moral obligation to limit or avoid parenthood, and where there is a morally sound reason for avoiding complete abstinence, the Conference agrees that other methods may be used, provided that this is done in the light of the same Christian principles. The Conference records its strong condemnation of the use of any methods of conception control from motives of selfishness, luxury, or mere convenience."


One hundred ninety three bishops voted "yes" and sixty seven voted "no".


The Anglican Communion was the first of the non-Catholic churches to allow contraception. Since then most non Catholic churches have allowed artificial contraception. A few small Protestant churches  more or less still hold the Roman Catholic position on the matter. The Orthodox churches hold varying views on the matter with some bishops lauding Humanae vitae and some allowing for a more liberal view. The Roman Catholic Church remains vehemently opposed to artificial contraception on moral grounds even if a sizeable number of Catholics do not agree with her.


However many Anglicans at the time opposed the resolution. You can find various positions opposing it here. Those opposed were mainly from the Anglo Catholic wing with some from the Evangelical wing of the Church of England. It is notable that in all these essays, the writers appealed to the unchanging practice of the Holy Catholic Church.


This opposition crosses into the history of Anglicanism in the Philippines. Father John Staunton of St Mary's Sagada was resolutely against the Lambeth decision and he became a Roman Catholic priest afterwards.


The Anglican Communion has based its stance on the practical difficulties of married couples and that by 1958, the bishops had accepted that many Anglicans use contraception and left the decision to use it on the couples themselves.


Today this is the general position of the Anglican Church. Many Orthodox churches hold a similar position to that of the 1930 Lambeth resolution. Many Roman Catholic laity, priests and even bishops and cardinals privately or publicly hold similar positions to that of the Anglican one.  The Episcopal Church in the Philippines has recently published its position on the RH bill. The ECP's support of the bill is consistent with the Anglican Communion's 1958 stance on the matter that the decision on what contraceptive to use lies with the married couple. This is also the general position of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) which the ECP is a founding member.


Nonetheless in the debates on the RH bill in the Philippines one of the Anglican divines in 1930 asks a question that is valid and relevant for us today.


"How far will the argument for contraceptives logically carry us?"

This same theologian also anticipates the Blessed Pope John Paul II's challenge on his election as pope. "Be not afraid"!

"The Church is right after all; we may not put asunder ends which God has joined together. And, if we think, with some timid persons of long ago, that "if the case of a man is so with his wife, it is not expedient to marry," we must leave the joy and the pain, the laughter and the tears, of home to those who are not afraid of them."

This is something Roman Catholics in the Philippines have lost in the debate on RH. We may be afraid to live and so we look for the easy way out!


The Anglo Catholic wing of the Church of England in 1930 even had a collect for pro life and against artificial contraception!


O Holy Father, enable us always to think and pursue such things as are pure, lovely and of good report; that by Thy grace we may become fit to glorify and enjoy Thee forever; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

What does Anglicanism really have to offer in restoring the Roman Church?

The following essays (the Ordinariates, the Pope and Liturgy parts 1 and 2) by Father Aidan Nichols OP read at the Ordinariate conference in Canada recently tells in a magnificent way the historical background of the Ordinariates and what their being Anglican can offer in the restoration of the Roman Church. The essays also tell us that the other passengers for the "ark" have their own gift to give in restoring the Catholic Church.

Some of Fr Nichols' highlights and my questions

What really has the Anglican Communion preserved which the post Vatican II Roman Catholic Church casually threw out?

"Unlike Roman Catholicism, Anglo-Catholicism in the twentieth century has been largely impervious to the seductions of architectural Modernism, and its iconographical and musicological equivalents, owing to the apologetic concern to demonstrate continuity with the Christian past by using neo-mediaeval forms or perhaps neo-Baroque ones.  One could think here of the patronage given by twentieth century Catholic Anglicans to such influential church designers as John Ninian Comper (whose work synthesises mediaeval, palaeo-Christian and Renaissance features) and (for the Neo-Baroque) Martin Travers."


On Benedict XVI and the Liturgy

" the Pope is aghast, in a manner Anglo-Catholics generally would appreciate, at the present state of much liturgical practice in the West.  The Liturgy has been invaded by politicization, as in milieux affected by Liberation Theology; it has suffered banalisation in populist environments where the mantra has it that modern popular culture just has to be followed; and in less ideologically freighted parish practice its manner of expression has been simplified in a well-meaning but misguided attempt to ensure instant intelligibility such that much of its richness has been lost.'

And perhaps this is what Anglicanism can help repair in the Roman Catholic Church so she can get on the way to a new evangelization

"Unlike the Latin clergy who are principally interested in their own flocks, and where apostolic outreach is concerned, the lapsed members of those flocks, there is something much more potentially universal in the pastoral outreach of the Anglican ministry.  The notion that evangelization should be directed to entire neighbourhoods, and be expressed in general visiting, as well as recognition of the need for involvement in civic life, in voluntary associations, and all the expressions of life together in a given locale, is typical of a Church that conceives itself as responsible for the soul of a society.  It is a Christendom outlook which has, thankfully, survived the disintegration of the mediaeval organism."

And that is why I am not surprised  and very gladdened that the Holy Mass celebrated ad orientem is more often celebrated at the Episcopal Cathedral of St Mary and St John at Cathedral Heights, Quezon City than in the Roman Catholic Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Manila! Also the community orientated pastoral concern of the Episcopal Church towards Filipino society.

Talks on the Anglican Use and the Ordinariate

The Anglican Use in the Philippines is currently hosted by the University of the Philippines Parish of the Holy Sacrifice through the kindness and generosity of the curate Fr Raymond Arre, the assisting clergy and the parish council. As such we have the obligation to contribute to the parish and student ministry's spiritual activities and formation.

We are considering holding talks on Anglicanism, the Anglican Use, Anglicanorum coetibus and the Ordinariate. The talks will give students a wider appreciation of the diversity in liturgical expressions in the Catholic Church, why there is a need for an Ordinariate and the current ecumenical environment and pastoral approaches of the Holy Father, Benedict XVI.

The talks will be in the first semester of next academic year, most likely in July. Please keep posted for details on this blog.

The 950th year anniversary of the Visions of Lady Richeldis at Walsingham

Father-Ordinary Keith Newton of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has made the announcement that this year will be the 950th anniversary of the visions of Lady Richeldis. It is believed that the Virgin Mary appeared to the Lady Richeldis in 1061, at Walsingham, England. In her visions, the Lady Richeldis received a message from the Holy Virgin under the title of the Annunciation. She was instructed to build a Holy House for the Virgin and was given the grace of a vision of Mary's home in Nazareth. You can read more about Our Lady of Walsingham in an earlier blog post here.

Celebrations for the 950th anniversary start on March 26, when the Archbishop of Westminster will celebrate an opening Mass in his London cathedral. The celebrations will reach its climax on September 24, when a Mass will be celebrated at the Walsingham Catholic Shrine. In the opening Mass, the image of Our Lady from the Slipper Chapel will be brought to Westminster Cathedral by three former Anglican nuns now with the Ordinariate together with the Anglican Guardians at the Walsingham Anglican Shrine. Our Lady of Walsingham may be considered as the Mother of Christian Unity. Prayers for her intercession always have an ecumenical dimension. She is venerated under this title in the Anglican and Catholic churches.

We plan to celebrate the event in our own little way in the Philippines. Please keep note on this blog for more announcements!

We call them Anglican Roman Catholics

In an earlier blog post, the question was asked "What do we do with the Anglicans?". With the Ordinariate up and running, what then do we call these Anglicans who have taken the papal offer and now are with the Catholic Church?

It is grossly inaccurate to call them former Anglicans. They aren't and Anglicanorum coetibus does not intend them to be such. They are accurately called former members of the Church of England (CoE) or the Anglican Communion. But the word "Anglican" is larger than the CoE or the Anglican Communion itself.

They are definitely cannot be described as Anglo-Catholics anymore. That hyphenated word is now too small to describe them.

These people can be best called Anglican Roman Catholics. They are Anglican in particular tradition, Roman in the essentials that are shared by all and Catholic, in unity as God willed them to be.

The Rorate Caeli blog tags articles about the Ordinariate as Anglicans IN the Church. This is right!

Our Lady of Walsingham

Our Lady of Walsingham, Pray for us to God!

The first Anglican Ordinariate in England is named in honour of Our Lady of Walsingham and is under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman. But what does the title of Walsingham mean?

Visions are the origin of most shrines to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Mary has appeared to people who never expected her. In 1061, the Virgin appeared three time to the Lady Richeldis (a noblewoman in the town of Walsingham). Mary showed to Richeldis a vision of her house in Nazareth and requested that Richeldis build a replica of this house. Mary told Richeldis

"Do all this unto my special praise and honor. And all who are in any way distressed or in need, let them seek me here in that little house you have made at Walsingham. To all that seek me there shall be given succor. And there at Walsingham in this little house shall be held in remembrance the great joy of my salutation when Saint Gabriel told me I should through humility become the Mother of God's Son."

Richeldis fulfilled Mary's request and this became the Shrine of our Lady of Walsingham. Soon thousands of pilgrims went to Walsingham, Many of them were healed. Medieval Walsingham became one of Europe's major pilgrimage sites together with Rome, Santiago de Compostela and Jerusalem. The English people had a strong devotion to the Virgin Mary and for that the country was known as the "Dowry of Mary"

When Henry VIII separated the English Church from Rome in 1534 by assuming the title Supreme Head of the Church in England, he initiated the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which transferred the monastery properties to the Crown. The Walsingham shrine was dissolved, the Holy House burned, the treasures confiscated and the statue of the Virgin burned in London.  For more than 300 years, a Protestant England forgot what the Shrine was all about. Of the places of worship associated with the medieval shrine, only the Slipper Chapel survived and that was used as a cowshed, until an English lady named Charlotte Boyd who converted to Catholicism bought it in 1896. She donated the property to the Downside Fathers. The chapel was restored and in 1897 Pope Leo XIII refounded the shrine and the first Catholic Mass was celebrated there. The image of the Virgin was copied from a depiction on a pilgrim's badge. The pilgrimage was then revived

Inside the Holy House at Walsingham

Anglicans were also drawn to Walsingham and in 1922 revived the Procession of the Virgin. Thereafter the Church of England revived the Shrine in 1931.  Today Walsingham has two Shrines. The Anglican one and the Catholic Slipper chapel. There is a strong ecumenical dimension to Walsingham. Pilgrims begin their pilgrimage at the Catholic shrine and end it at the Anglican shrine. Thousands still make the journey.

 Very few Filipinos know of Our Lady the Annunciation of Walsingham. Her appearance to the Lady Richeldis is one of the first recorded apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Walsingham commemorates the Fiat of Mary. If she had said "No", then we wouldn't have been ransomed.

Our Lady of Walsingham has healed many in the physical sense and many more in the spiritual sense. Many have been reconciled with their families and with God, through her intercession. I hope that this  short blog post will introduce Filipinos to Our Lady under in this title.

What do we do with the Anglicans?

I came about this interesting and faith nurturing episode in Father James Reuter SJ's essay entitled "Vatican City" in the University of the Philippines Los Banos centennial coffee table book. This episode of wartime internment tells us what Anglicanism is all about. This episode should be noted by Catholics and Episcopalians in the Philippines.

When the Americans surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, Allied nationals were interned in several camps. The largest of these was the one at the University of Santo Tomas. The clergy, religious and seminarians of different Christian denominations were interned at the UP Los Banos camp. The Catholic clergy (the largest group among them) were billeted in a separate barracks from the Protestants.  The nuns were billeted separately from all the men. The Japanese jailers asked "What do we do with the Anglicans?"

According to Fr Reuter the small group of Anglicans protested to the Japanese about being sent with the rest of the Protestants. The Japanese had no idea what these Anglicans meant and they sought the opinion of the Jesuit superior who said they were Protestants. And yet the Anglicans insisted they were Catholic and for that they stood 3 hours under the burning sun.

In the end, the Japanese arrived at an ingenious solution. They asked the Anglican clergy if they had wives and they admitted they had. The Japanese said "Catholic no wife, Protestant wife" " You Protestant"!

To me the episode demonstrates the faithful witness of the Catholic identity by the Anglicans. The Japanese could have had them shot or beheaded right there and then! This was war. If I were in their place, I could just told the Japanese I was plainly "Protestant"!

Fr Reuter writes that "The Anglicans were close to the Catholics. If you saw the Anglican ministers say Mass, you would think it was a Catholic Mass. The only difference was the language. The Roman Catholics said Mass in Latin and the Anglicans said Mass in English. Aside from that there was nothing that separated us. We were children of God." [Emphasis mine]

More than 70 years separate this small group of Anglicans from us, the Ordinariates and  Anglicanorum Coetibus. Under the Apostolic Constitution, the Ordinariates can have married priests not just at the start but forever. And in the Ordinariates the Anglicans will have the Mass in English (but this is not news really. Catholics have the Mass now in English!). But we can expect the Anglican Ordinariates to have the Mass in an English that is from an earlier use and provides a refreshing difference from the more Modern English of the Mass.

Father Reuter at 95, frail but young at heart still, is the last surviving cleric who was incarcerated. In the essay and other essays on the Los Banos camp he writes about the conversion of the most sadistic Japanese jailer a "Lt Konishi" who was eventually captured by the Americans, tried for war crimes and hanged. Before he was hanged, Konishi received the Sacraments and as Father Reuter notes "went straight to heaven" Such is the mysteries of the Divine workings even in the hell of a concentration camp.

I also found a link on a Roman Catholic site which posts once more the Easter homily of an Episcopal priest whose father was one of the Anglican clerics Fr Reuter wrote about. You can read the reflection on the "Undamaged Chausuble" here.

"What do we do with the Anglicans?" was a question that the Popes have faced. Of course the Popes did not mean to incarcerate them. Benedict XVI gave the now historic answer!

And if this small group of Anglicans were still with us. They would likely have accepted the Papal offer.

Looking forward into 2011

Anglican Use in the Philippines wishes readers a blessed and prosperous New Year ahead. This year promises to be a historical milestone in Church history and changes western Catholicism forever. The first Anglican ordinariates will set up in England, Australia and the United States. In England, the senior clergy and Bishops from the Anglican Church will be received first in January, ordained as Catholic priests and are expected to head the English ordinariate. The rest of the clergy and laity will be received before Pentecost. A similar schedule is expected for the Australian and American ordinariates.

In the Philippines, we expect to celebrate the first public Anglican Use liturgy (Evening Prayer)  in time for the Annunciation. We expect to get the local Catholic ordinary's formal nod this month. Our host parish, the Holy Sacrifice at the University of the Philippines will likely be the venue. Our Anglican Use group will start saying the prayers as a group before then. Updates and information will be posted on this blog.

The Annunciation is the most appropriate time, we believe since Our Lady of Walsingham is known under this title and she is the patron of Anglo-Catholics and her importance has taken on an ecumenical dimension. Also we would take this as an opportunity to make known Our Lady of Walsingham to Filipinos.

Because Anglicanism in the Philippines has historical connections with the American church, it is very likely that Anglican Use Philippines will be in close touch with the American Ordinariate.

The Bishop of Ebbsfleet preaches his last homily as an Anglican

The Rt Reverend Andrew Burnham preached his last Anglican homily on Nov 27. He will be received into the Catholic Church in the New Year and be ordained as a priest soon after.

At the end of the service, he laid his crozier and mitre at Our Lady's feet. What a quintessentially English way to honour a Queen!

Bp Burnham loved the Psalms and the Revised Standard Version and we hope all of us do.

Saint Andrew's Day

Saint Andrew's feast day is on November 30. Andrew is the brother of Simon Peter and like Simon Peter he was a fisherman. He is the first Apostle called by Christ. The Greeks call him as the Protokletos which means "first to be called".  He is the patron saint of fishermen, fish sellers, mariners, deck officers, captains, naval forces, marine scientists, marine aquarists, oceanariums, name anything that has to do with sea water, Andrew is the patron!  Andrew was martyred and crucified in a cross that looks like an "X". This figures in Scotland's national flag as the Saltire of St Andrew.

I think it was National Artist for Literature Nick Joaquin who wrote that Andrew is one of the Patrons of the City of Manila. I have been looking for a Church source that documents this but can't find any. Nonetheless Manila is a port city with a lot of mariners and fishermen who ply their trade in the bay. So Joaquin's statement makes sense.

Manila's hero is Andres Bonifacio, who was named for Andrew and born on his day. Thus the Feast has become a secular holiday as Bonifacio Day. St Andrew's day therefore will be forever linked with the birth of the Filipino nation.

St Andrew is famous as the patron of the following nations 1) Scotland, 2) Russia, 3) Greece, 4) Ukraine and 5) Romania. Nov 30 is Scotland's National Day. Manila has a St Andrews Society celebrating things Scottish in the Philippines and of course honouring Andres Bonifacio. Russia's naval jack shows its links with Andrew. The Diocese of Paranaque Metro Manila has Andrew as its patron. The cathedral is in his honour. Again Paranaque is a town of fishermen. Marine scientists like me have Andrew as the patron together with St Brendan. We all go to sea and catch fish for research and for the eating later! Andrew is also the first bishop of Constantinople. Thus he is the patron of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul. The See is called the See of Andrew.

Andres Bonifacio, Secular Patron of the Nationalist Revolution

And that is St Andrews for most of us. In the Episcopal Church of the Philippines, St Andrew is the patron of the Church's theological seminary. 

The Old Roman Missal celebrates Andrew in the Mass collect which goes

"We humbly entreat Thy Majesty, O Lord that as the Blessed Apostle Andrew was one a teacher and ruler of Thy Church, so he may be our constant intercessor before Thee. Through Jesus Christ our  Lord, Amen"

The 1928 American BCP has it as

"Almighty God, who didst give such grace unto thy holy Apostle Saint Andrew, that he readily obeyed the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him without delay; Grant unto us all, that we being called by they holy Word, may forthwith give up ourselves obediently to fulfil thy holy commandments; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"

My personal motto is Christ's words "Duc in Altum" which Andrew and Simon Peter heard. To "put out into deep water" is the vocation of marine scientists who give that order to marine biology students.

The First Anglican Ordinariate Website/Portal!

Check this out  for everything about the Anglican Ordinariate in the UK!

What is Filipino Anglican Patrimony?

From Anglo Catholic blog posts I learned that the phrase "Anglican Patrimony" was coined by none other than Pope Paul VI in a message to the Archbishop of Canterbury. This implies that the Pope had a sense of what that patrimony is. Now that his successor Pope Benedict XVI has come out with Anglicanorum Coetibus, which uses the same phrase, Anglicans everywhere are now trying to find out what this is all about.

I asked Fr Joe Frary of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines what this was all about. He wrote me that Anglicanism is a system of many religions (many patrimonies) linked by the Establishment. Now this makes me wonder which "patrimony" will Rome let board the Pope's boat. It happened that I came upon a copy of William Fry's  "History of the Mountain Province" which has a whole chapter about Episcopal missions in the Cordilleras. The book has old pictures showing how the newly converted Bontocs worshiped in the Episcopal way. Perhaps the most interesting one was the first Episcopal service said in a newly consecrated chapel which eventually in the late 20th century, was raised to the dignity of a cathedral. The priest was vested in a Gothic chausuble and was apparently saying the words of consecration when the photo was taken. The people were on their knees. And the priest was ad orientem!

This is the only photo of Filipino Anglican Patrimony I ever found. There are photos of Staunton's St Mary's, and the first Episcopal confirmations of Filipinos.  Do these photos say much of Filipino Anglican patrimony? Perhaps our friends from the Episcopal Church can share their thoughts.

Five Church of England bishops decide to join the English Ordinariate

The AngloCatholic blog reports that five Church of England bishops have resigned their posts and decided to join the Catholic Church. The five bishops had been long expected to get on the Pope's boat so the announcement wasn't a surprise. The response of Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury is here.

One of them, Bishop Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough is tipped to become the first ordinary of the English Ordinariate.

The resignation of the five Anglican bishops to join the Roman Catholic Church is the most significant since the former Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Graham Leonard upon his retirement joined the Catholic Church and was ordained a Catholic priest in 1994

The Prayer of Humble Access and the Centurion's prayer

The Prayer of Humble Access is a traditional prayer in the Anglican Eucharistic celebration which was part of the early Books of Common Prayer. It was said after the Canon of the Mass. In later revisions in many Anglican provinces it was moved to after the Paternoster is said but before the Agnus Dei. It is said before the Body and Blood of the Lord is given to the people.

It is analogous to the Roman Rite's Centurion's prayer

"Domine, non sum dignus, ut intres sub tectum meum: sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea"


Which is translated in the English Mass used in the Philippines as

"Lord I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed"

This isn't really so accurate. The Eastern Churches (the Orthodox and those Churches in communion with Rome) view the Eucharist as a "medicine of the soul". It is a medicine that first cleanses before the healing comes.

In the new translation authorized for US dioceses it goes like this

"Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, my soul shall be healed"

Which is quite close to the Latin of the Mass but in my honest opinion still misses out on an earlier understanding closer to that understood by the Early Church.. "Sed tantum dic verbo, et sanabitur anima mea"  I translate with my rusty Latin as "Just say the word, and my soul shall be cleansed"

We must receive the gifts of the Altar as spotless as possible!

Nonetheless we should be glad that the new translation captures much of the old understanding a form of which is used in the Anglican Use Mass.

The Prayer of Humble Access in the American Anglican Use Mass follows the words found  in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer.

"We do not presume to come to this thy Table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in thy manifold and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy. Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his Blood, that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen."


In the Anglican Use,  After the Prayer of Humble Access is said by the priest, the Ecce Agnus Dei follows  and then the Centurion's Prayer.


The Prayer of Humble Access and the Centurion's Prayer are two of my favourite prayers in the Anglican Eucharist and Roman Mass. The two prayers remind us how so unworthy of us to receive the Lord, now truly present under the appearances of Bread and Wine. The reference to the 'crumbs under thy Table" is from the Gospel story of the Syrophoenician Woman whose daughter was healed. In our politically correct world, it is extremely offensive to call another person "like a dog". But because of our sinful nature, we might as well be even worse than dogs, but Jesus raises us up, even to the extent that we are worthy to receive Him in the Eucharist. And like the Centurion's servant, we shall be cleansed and healed.

How will the Anglican Ordinariates be in communion?

This is an interesting take on the problem of communion from Melbourne auxiliary bishop Peter J Elliot, the Australian Catholic bishops' delegate for the Australian Ordinariate. While aimed at Anglo-Catholics both those who have signified taking the Pope's boat and those for conscience and other reasons, choose to remain in the Anglican Communion or the Continuing Communion, the address is also relevant for Traditionalist Catholics.

In Catholic ecclesial understanding, we can't ignore the bishop of the local church and the bishops in communion with the whole Church. Anglicanism carefully preserves this according to Bp Elliot even with the ordination of women as bishops.  The Jacobean insistence of "No bishop, No Church" remains as one of the foundations of Anglicanism.  Will traditionalist Anglicans end up as congregationalists, ignoring the whole idea and essence of episcopal polity? This is an interesting question.

We can also ask the same for Traditionalist Catholics. Even with Summorum Pontificum, some Traditionalist Catholics tend to be isolated in their congregations, some even expressing defiance against the local ordinary. Summorum Pontificum and Benedict XVI's letter to the bishops on the motu propio explicitly mentions the importance of the OF and the EF in the liturgical life of the church. This is premised on communion which is exemplified by Benedict's idea of both forms "mutually enriching" each other. Reconciliation is the first step in Communion. Benedict wanted an "internal reconciliation" within the Church. The bishop is the enabler of this reconciliation in the local church. The Pope is the enabler of this reconciliation in the Universal Church.

The Anglican Ordinariates can be the first witness of this "internal reconciliation" which we hope will happen in the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.

TEC parish votes to join the Catholic Church as an Anglican Use parish

The Mt Calvary parish in Baltimore, Maryland, USA recently voted to leave the Episcopal Church in the United States. The story is here. Mt Calvary is a parish founded in 1842 and has been staunchly Anglo-Catholic. Now begins the difficult part of their journey. The parish has to settle property issues with the Episcopal Church. We hope that this will be amicable. We pray to God that the Mt Calvary parish and the local Episcopal diocese comes into an agreement. The Episcopalians thanking and waving Godspeed and the Catholics receiving them with open arms.

A last Homily as an Anglican

Father Giles Pinnock preached his last homily as an Anglican. He will be received with his wife and kids in the Catholic Church in a few weeks.

Father Pinnock hits the nail on the head. When we finally make that decision to complete the Catholic faith in the Church that in all essence is Catholic, we bring only ourselves and prayer. In Fr Pinnock's case, it is the Morning and Evening prayers in the Book of Common Prayer.

While it may be good to bring the parish building and its furnishing with him, those are really non-essentials.

May all the saints who have made the same move, pray for Father Pinnock and his family.