Conference next week in Houston

The American Ordinariate, which includes Canada, will be holding a conference next week, Saturday, February 2 until Sunday, February 3, in Houston.

It will feature Archbishop Gerhard Müller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington; and Msgr. Steve Lopes, Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Secretary to the Anglicanae Traditiones Commission and will mark the first anniversary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

If you are anywhere near Houston, or can get to Houston, attend. Given the speakers, the anniversary and the location in the home state of the American Ordinariate and of Anglican Use,* it promises to be an impressive even foundation event with attendance by many of the key figures of Anglican Use worldwide.

The symposium will be streamed live on Saturday from 9:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. Central Time at  www.archgh.org/live

More information can be found at the American Ordinariate's website specifically at http://usordinariate.org/symposium/

*The world's first Anglican Use parish, Our Lady of Atonement, was founded in Texas three decades ago.

St. Thomas More Anglican Use Parish joins American Ordinariate

St. Thomas More

St. Thomas More is an Anglican Use parish in Scranton, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., lead by Father Eric Bergman. The parish was Episcopalian until several years ago when it left the Episcopal Church and left behind the building that the parish had built and maintained over generations.  

Their minister Eric Bergman became a Catholic priest and their parish became an Anglican Use parish, and further becoming a leading parish of Anglican Use especially on the East Coast. They have hosted an Anglican Use Society Conference and Fr. Bergman has traveled far and wide pastoring to interested Catholics, Anglicans and others.  

They recently officially joined the American Anglican Ordinariate and purchased their own building, a nearby closed Catholic Church where the Venerable Mother Maria Kaupas began her American ministry.  

Here is how the Ordinariate announced the news:

May 9, 2012: American Ordinariate Gets Its First Priest

Fr. Eric Bergman of Scranton Joins Ordinariate; Church Purchased for New Parish

The new U.S. ordinariate for Anglican groups entering the Catholic Church achieved a milestone on May 8, 2012 when Reverend Eric Bergman became its first priest.... 

The group will become St. Thomas More Parish at St. Joseph Church and will be located at the former St. Joseph property in Scranton’s Providence neighborhood starting in late August. The ordinariate purchased the property from the Diocese of Scranton for $254,000, with $200,000 of that amount raised by the St. Thomas More community during a three-week period this spring.... 

St. Joseph was established as a Lithuanian-language parish in 1895 and is a former home of Venerable Maria Kaupas, foundress of the Sisters of St. Casimir, who was a housekeeper at the parish in the late 19th century. A miracle attributed to her intercession is before the Congregation for the Causes of Saints that, if approved, will lead to her beatification. The parish property includes a church, parish hall, rectory, convent, school, parking lot and four garages.

Also in the above press release says this:

Approximately 60 current or former Anglican priests are preparing to be ordained Catholic priests for the ordinariate, with 30 ordinations expected in the next few months....

Here is the news from St. Thomas More in their own words from an email:

Dear Members and Friends,

St. Joseph's, their new home

We are writing to deliver the exciting news that Fr. Eric Bergman is now  a Priest of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and yesterday our congregation purchased the St. Joseph's property free and clear.  Here is some important information you'll need to know:

LOCATION: For the remainder of the spring and summer our worship and ministries will continue to be based at St. Clare Church and Rectory.  However, please begin using our new location's mailing address immediately for U.S. mail, which will be retrieved there daily:

St. Thomas More Catholic Parish

116 Theodore Street

Scranton, PA 18508

NEW WEBSITE: We have a new website, www.stmscranton.org.  Some of the content is still a work in progress which will be completed in the coming weeks, but the site is fully functional and already contains a good deal of informative content.

NEW EMAIL ADDRESSES: Our email addresses now conclude with our new domain name, stmscranton.org.  Our old stthomasmoresociety.org domain name will eventually be phased out, so please do start using our new addresses...

SAME PHONE NUMBER: The office phone will remain the same: 570-343-0634

Thank you so much for you faithful support, and please watch for a mailing soon regarding how you can help us reinvigorate our new property as a vibrant center of Catholic worship, teaching, ministry, and evangelization.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Eric Bergman, Pastor

Paul Campbell, Administrator & Music Director

Press release from the Ordinariate: http://usordinariate.org/ord_news_Scranton.html

The American Ordinariate is established, Rev Dr Steenson is the first Ordinary

On January 1, 2012, the Holy Father established the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter in the United States. The Ordinariate is for Anglicans/Episcopalians wishing to be part of the Catholic Church while retaining distinctive aspects of their liturgy and tradition.


The Pope named the Rev Dr Jeffrey Steenson, former Episcopal Bishop of the Rio Grande as the first Ordinary. Rev Dr Steenson is a noted scholar of the early Church Fathers, served the Episcopal Church for 25 years as a priest and 3 as bishop. In 2007 he was received in the Catholic Church and was ordained as a priest under the Pastoral Provision in 2008. Dr Steenson is married with three grown children.

Rev Dr Jeffrey Steenson

The formation of Anglican congregations wishing to enter the Catholic Church is a prime focus of the Ordinariate. Already several Episcopal parishes have signified their intention to join the Ordinariate. It is expected that the several Anglican Use parishes (which are under the local Latin Rite bishop) will join as well. The Principal Church or cathedral of the Ordinariate is an Anglican Use parish, Our Lady of Walsingham, in Houston, Texas. Answers to uestions on what the Ordinariate is and who can be part of it are found here.

The name of the Ordinariate is very significant and it reflects on how close to the Pope's heart is Anglicanism and the Anglican Communion.

Rev Dr Jeffrey Steenson, ex TEC bishop tipped to be first US Ordinary

Virtueonline reports that former TEC bishop of the Rio Grande, Rev Dr Jeffrey Steenson will be named as the first Ordinary of the US Ordinariate once it is erected on New Year's Day 2012.

Dr Steenson served the Episcopal diocese for just two years from 2005-2007 after which  he resigned his Anglican orders and joined the Roman Catholic Church. He was ordained as a Catholic priest on Feb 21, 2008. He teaches at St Thomas University. Upon the promulgation of Anglicanorum coetibus in 2009, Dr Steenson has been heavily involved with Cardinals Wuerl and DiNardo in how the apostolic constitution and its seminary formation program will be implemented in the United States.

Dr Steenson is married with three adult children. As such he cannot be raised to the Catholic episcopate but will have most of the jurisdiction, rights and privileges of a Catholic bishop except that of ordaining men to the priesthood. It is expected that he will be named as a Monsignor.

At present several TEC parishes have decided to join the soon to established Ordinariate. Around 67 priests and 2 Anglican bishops are expected to join as well as the Anglican Use parishes the largest of which are in Texas. These parishes are under the Latin Rite ordinary where they are located.

2011 Anglican Use Conference held in July

Back in July the Anglican Use Society held its annual conference.  This annual conference is always well attended by many of the key leaders in "the Anglican Use movement", if you will, and this year was no exception. Many of the key movers and shakers were there.  These are the leaders that will shape the future of Anglican Use, the Anglican Ordinariate, and even the Catholic Church as a whole.

Videos of many of the talks and services are online at Anglicanorum Channel on UStream.  Included there are videos of the Mass and Evening Prayer according to Anglican Use and of the address by Msgr. Keith Newton, the ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, the Anglican Ordinariate of England and Wales.

For a schedule of the conference go to the Anglican Use Society's website.

The conference was hosted by Saint Mary the Virgin, an Anglican Use parish in Arlington, Texas.

Our Lady of Walsingham, an AU parish in Houston, Texas, has posted photos.

The Anglican Use Society was founded in 2003.  From its website:

On February 23, 2003 a group of people met at St. Luke’s Church in Whitestone, New York, under the leadership of Father Joseph Wilson, a Catholic priest who is a long-time devotee of the Anglican Use.  The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the formation of an Anglican Use Congregation in New York City.  Out of those discussions came the sense that there might be many people in various other parts of the country wishing to do the same thing, and that they needed a vehicle by which to do it.  Father Joseph Wilson celebrated Mass, and the participants signed a document forming the Anglican Use Confraternity.  Joseph Blake was elected President pro tempore.  Since that time the name has been changed to Anglican Use Society, and has been incorporated in the State of Pennsylvania. 

I have had the pleasure of only attending one conference, in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was a memorable experience, simply one of the best conferences that I have ever attended.  I urge you to go and watch the videos.

We're on the map, the Emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariates Worldwide Google Map that is

View Emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariates Worldwide in a larger map
 

Where is the closest Anglican Use or Anglican Ordinariate-bound group?  How do I contact them?  How many groups are there or will there be? Google Maps has the answer at the Emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariates Worldwide Google Map run by Shane Schaetzel.  And we are on it!  Thanks Mr Schaetzel.  He also writes at the Anglican Catholics Blog.

"...the only group between the English Channel and Hawaii..."

At the moment, we are the only group between the English Channel and Hawaii to be plotted, but they are looking to rectify that situation and are seeking collaborators: "Currently we are seeking collaborators for the Australian and Pacific ordinariates. Interested persons should contact: shane.schaetzel@gmail.com"

Any group can be placed on the map, just email Mr. Schaetzel and provide "1. Name of your group, 2. Address where your group primarily meets, 3. phone number for your group, (and) 4. email and webpage for your group if applicable."

So, go and check it out if you want to visit a local group.  If you attend any service, remember that some of these groups are now in formal full communion with the Vatican while others have not completed the process and are still formally outside the Roman Catholic Church.


Some bloggers have taken the information provided by the map and did some number crunching.  Back in February 2011, Br. Stephen Treat, O.Cist. wrote on The AngloCatholic blog that, based on the then-current numbers, "an American Ordinariate—in a worst case scenario—(would be) larger than 21 of the domestic dioceses of The Episcopal Church (of the United States)" and that, "If an American Ordinariate were to grow to an (Average Sunday Attendance) of 5000, it would be either larger than or roughly the same size as 59 of the domestic dioceses of The Episcopal Church."  He concluded saying "These are still very small numbers in Catholic terms, but, in Anglican terms, I would say that an American Ordinariate looks quite credible."

Numbers are always tricky and the success or failure of any spiritual endeavor should not be measured in statistics, but I find it interesting to think about nonetheless. Some say that the Ordinariates will be too small to matter or to be sustainable.  Clearly even back in February neither was the case.

Update
I did a quick calculation.  As of today, August 22, 2011, 63 groups are listed in the United States. When Br. Treat did his calculations above there were 36 groups plotted on the map.

"...(L)ike those hushed moments before the dawn."

"...(L)ike those hushed moments before the dawn," is the way that Father Christopher G. Phillips describes the current state of affairs in the United States.  Over at The Anglo-Catholic blog, he writes:

Things have been pretty quiet on the blog of late. It’s not because nothing is happening. In fact, quite the opposite – at least here in the United States, where it appears that an Ordinariate will be established next. 

Things are fairly calm because everything seems to be falling in place. Cardinal Wuerl has delivered his final report to the Bishops’ Conference. The priestly formation program is ready to go. The dossiers are being examined. The Curial officials will be returning soon from their summer break.* Liturgical considerations are in hand. Things are stirring. 

We might consider this time to be rather like those hushed moments before the dawn....

Read the whole post, "To Those Preparing".

Fr. Phillips is in the position to know what is happening.  He is the founding pastor of Our Lady of Atonement parish in San Antonio, Texas, the United States, the world's first Anglican Use parish, founded in 1983, and one of the largest.  As an intelligent and experienced Anglican Use preist, and a former Episcopal priest himself, he has been among the most active of clerics in the last few years when it comes to implementing Anglicanorum Coetibus, and has been consulted by nearly everyone that matters, including Cardinal Wuerl who was appointed to lead its implementation in the U.S.


*July and August is the height of summer in the United States and Europe.  This is when nearly everyone tries to go on vacation, trying to squeeze in a few more days with the family before school starts at about the beginning of September. Nothing much happens then (unless you want to catch people unawares, in which case you might start a war). Traditionally in the United States, the unofficial end of summer is Labor Day, the first Monday in September, creating a long, three-day weekend.

Canada Ordinariate

There are four countries–four Catholic bishops' conferences–that are working towards being the first four Anglican Ordinariates. One has been established, in England, Wales and Scotland. Australia, the United States and Canada will likely be established within the next year or so. For an update on the U.S., see the earlier posts on Cardinal Wuerl's report to the USCCB. Cardinal Wuerl's counterpart in Canada is Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto.

Over the last few months, Archbishop Collins has been as busy as Cardinal Wuerl. In March there was a conference in Canada on the Ordinariate (another report here and here for the schedule).  A DVD was made for which the Archbishop taped an introduction where he summarizes the state of affairs and the process that he is following. You can view the intro on YouTube:

If you would like to hear the Archbishop's address to the March conference, you can download an MP3 here, provided by the Anglican Patrimony blog through its podcast.

The Archdiocese has also established a website dedicated to the Canadian ordinariate:

http://www.archtoronto.org/ordinariate/

The Canadian ordinariate is not as far along as the British or the American but it is still likely to be formed within the next 12 months or so, if I had to put a timeline on it.  Of course, the establishment of the Canadian ordinariate has not been without controversy.  Perhaps you have read blogs or online news stories purporting to report on various discussions.  Some of these reports have sources; some are based on rumor.  None are of great interest to me. In the daily ups and downs of relationship-building, there will be misunderstandings, wrong information, and even insults, intentional and unintentional.  People of good will will find a way through, a way over our human failings.  A Canadian Anglican Ordinariate will be established.  I pray that God will be pleased.

Additional thoughts on Cardinal Wuerl's report to the USCCB

Last week, I posted about Cardinal Wuerl's report to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. I had some further thoughts, in random order:

• From the comments it appears that many of the bishops are unaware of the details of Anglicanorum Coetibus, which is exactly what one would expect from busy bishops. Despite the history being made and the subsequent news stories, the Anglican Ordinariates will always be a small part of the world-wide Roman Catholic Church. At the beginning, and for perhaps the first few years, the number of Catholics in an American Ordinariate will likely be fewer than the largest of Catholic parishes. Indeed, some of these bishops are responsible for more Christians than all of Anglicanism in the United States, of all stripes – Anglican Communion, Anglican Continuing Churches, and all the others – combined.

• There will be initially, roughly, 100 clergymen and 2,000 members of the American Anglican Ordinariate. That is a large number of priests and is probably due to Anglican congregations being much smaller than Catholic (a few dozen to a few hundred versus a few thousand) and to clergyman being further along in their discernment process. Religion is their full-time job. Many interested laymen may have taken a wait-and-see approach, not wanting to leave a church they value for a (current) hypothetical. Once there is a place to go on Sunday morning, that will change.

• The historical importance of Anglicanorum Coetibus is out of proportion to its size, as is evidenced by the attention paid to it by the Vatican and the various bishops conferences.

• Some of the questions asked were clearly part of ongoing conversations among the bishops, conversations that have been going on for years and in both formal and informal settings, that I am not familiar with.

• The openness and transparency demonstrated by the live broadcast of speech and Q&A is wonderful and should be duplicated and expanded by conferences worldwide. Through the broadcast, we can see what bishops are discussing and how, and that strengthens the church by:

• Having more of the universal church involved in the conversation;
• Reducing the secrecy that plagues all such large bureaucracies, thereby increasing trust
• Modeling open, transparent decision-making for other institutions–religious, governmental, voluntary, profit-making, etc.; and
• Providing a teaching moment, a chance for them to be pastors, by allowing those interested to learn more about the Catholic Church.

• I wonder if the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines also records and shares their meetings. If they don't, I hope that they will start soon. It would be a great opportunity for them to teach interested Catholics a bit more and to model transparency in a culture that needs more openness.

Cardinal Wuerl: An American Ordinariate "would in fact be workable"

While I was on vacation, some news was made.  Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl (Washington, D.C.) who is tasked with overseeing the creation of an Anglican Ordinariate in America reported on his thoughts and progress to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) at their meeting in Bellevue, Washington State from June 15 to 17.  It was a positive report.

Below are highlights taken from the written report and an article from the Catholic News Service. Above is a video of his oral report to the USCCB which includes some details not in the written sources.

The highlights:*

• An Anglican Ordinariate in the United States "would in fact be workable."
• "(T)he Holy See has indicated its wish to establish an Ordinariate in the United States this Fall."
• "(E)very Anglican group and individual who has written has received an acknowledgement of their statement of intention. Anglican groups were sent a "Community Profile" questionnaire, based upon established criteria for assessing Anglican communities. Anglican clergy not associated with a larger group were sent a "Clergy Profile" questionnaire. Finally, Anglican laity not associated with a larger group were sent an acknowledgement to their letter, instructing them to await further instructions, should an Ordinariate be established."
• "In mid-April, Anglican clergy seeking ordination in an Ordinariate were directed as part of the process to submit dossiers to me by May 16 for eventual review by the CDF (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). Since that time, completed dossiers have been sent to Rome for evaluation," reported the Cardinal.  Additional information will be requested "includ(ing) the results of criminal background checks, a psychological evaluation, a letter of resignation from their Anglican entity" as well as letters from Cardinal Wuerl, the Catholic bishop in whose diocese that the clergyman lives, and if possible his Anglican bishop.
• When that dossier is submitted the clergy "will cease celebrating the Anglican Eucharist" and begin leading his congregants in preparation and study for their reception into the Roman Catholic Church.
• St. Mary's Seminary in Houston has developed an intensive nine-month program of priestly formation for Anglican clergy wishing to become Catholic.  Instrumental in this has been Father Jeffrey Steenson, a former Episcopal bishop who is on the seminary's faculty.
• "When a rescript has been issued and received, he may be ordained to the diaconate immediately, with the intention that his subsequent priestly ordination would coincide with the reception of his parish group into full communion."

*Here are my sources for this information and for the Cardinal's quotes.  Read them for more details:

• "Here Come the Anglicans: Cardinal Wuerl's Report on U.S. Ordinariate," Catholic Online, June 18, 2011
• "Cardinal reports on progress toward US ordinariate for ex-Anglicans," Catholic News Service, June 16, 2011

Update

In the video, at about the 20 minute mark, Cardinal Wuerl completes his remarks and the floor is opened to questions from the other bishops present. Many of the questions asked are the same questions many of use have.

What the Pope did to the BCP, TEC parish swims the Tiber and the Photoshop argument

What the Pope did to the BCP

Dr William Oddie has written something that makes for interesting reading at the Catholic Herald. Dr Oddie writes that the Pope has made the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) (well much of it) into a Catholic liturgy! This was something no one would have thought possible as late as 30 years ago.

Evensong is now sung at Roman Catholic places of worship in England, the United States, Canada and Australia, and soon, the Philippines. We prayed this office at the University of the Philippines.  What was considered quite Protestant is now wedded with a traditional Roman Catholic devotion, the Benediction. Evensong is now the Ordinariate's evening office .  Dr Oddie sums up what I have consistently reminded my Anglican/Episcopal friends. Anglicans will restore to the Roman Catholic Church what has been lost or forgotten.

Reformation historian Diarmid MacCulloch was more blunt. He was quoted saying that "The Anglican Communion preserved much of what the post Vatican II Catholic Church threw out"

And here writes Dr Oddie "these Anglican converts are bringing with them derives from Catholic sources that we have lost or at least temporarily mislaid"


Well that is what it really is. The BCP is as everyone knows was influenced by older Catholic liturgies such as the Sarum Use and the reforms of the Roman Breviary by Cardinal Quiñones of Spain.  While Archbishop Thomas Cranmer made sure that the denial of Catholic belief in the Mass was explicit, this was placed in a liturgical setting that resembled the Mass, but really wasn't. And only the theologically astute among the churchgoers could detect the difference. Thus the Anglican Eucharist could be celebrated with Tridentine panoply, or even in the most Protestant way of celebrating the valid Catholic mass called the Novus Ordo, which the present Pope calls the "Ordinary Form". While the former may impress 21st century Tridentine traddies, the latter does give them apoplexy!


Thus this are Anglican treasures being shared to the Catholics. I wonder if the Catholics will appreciate these?


This we will have to see. In the meantime I was shocked to hear from a Filipino cradle Catholic that he thought the Evening Prayer  we were saying was a Protestant invention!


Episcopal Parish swims the Tiber


St Luke's Episcopal Parish near Washington DC in Blandensburg, Maryland has decided to join the Catholic Church. The parish becomes the second Episcopal parish after Mt Calvary Parish in Baltimore to join the Catholic Church after Anglicanorum coetibus was published. St Luke's is now under the pastoral care of the Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Wuerl.  The parish was under the Episcopal Bishop of Washington John Chane who graciously supported (with the Catholic Archbishop of Washington), the parish discernment process. The parish will continue to worship in their church building, which will be leased to them by the Episcopal diocese with an option to purchase.


Both St Luke's and Mt Calvary will be Ordinariate bound and they will undergo a formation program before formally being received in the Church.


Why women cannot be priests: An image processing analogy!


Both the Catholic and Evangelical wings of the Anglican Communion are against the ordination of women as priests since it has no Scriptural basis and is not in accordance with the ancient tradition of the undivided Church.


Women's ordination is a very divisive issue in the Anglican Communion. However a majority of provinces allow it, with some provinces providing "alternative episcopal oversight" to parishes who don't agree with it.


The consecration of women bishops (which naturally follows if women become priests) has ignited more discord in the Church of England and threatens an irreparable Anglican split if no arrangements are made to protect the conscience of people who can't accept this.


Catholics and the Orthodox hold on to the "alter Christus" argument why women can't be priests. They believe that the Christ who sacrificed himself for us was a man, therefore the priest who offers the same sacrifice on the altar should be a man. The Evangelicals hold on to the "headship of the family" argument which says that the head of a natural order such as the family is a man and by extension, the church should be headed by a man.


Nonetheless I received an email from an Anglican who tends to accept the Catholic argument. He says that since the priest images Christ at the altar, a woman simply can't do. Then he gives the Photoshop argument. If we image process a man, and we expect him to look or do things like a man, then we don't do much to the image. But if we image process a woman and we expect him to look or do things like a man, then we have to tweak the image!


And no wonder why some people are never comfortable with the sight of a woman priest or bishop. She in those vestments made for men, will look male!