A important date in Church history: The first Ordinariate is erected

The Rev Keith Newton, First Ordinary of the English Ordinariate

Today, at the Mass of ordination of three former senior Anglican bishops as Catholic priests, the English Personal Ordinariate also known as the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was erected. The worship service was held at London's Westminster Cathedral.  The three new Catholic priests are the former Anglican Bishops of Richborough Rev Keith Newton,  formerly of Ebbsfleet Rev Andrew Burnham and formerly of Fulham John Broadhurst.  The Archbishop of Westminster the Most Rev Vincent Nichols read the Papal bull erecting the Ordinariate before the Mass.  Abp Nichols homily drew on the Blessed John Henry Cardinal Newman's faith journey and thanked the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England for the ministry of the three men. Abp Nichols' homily can be read here.

The Pope appointed the Rev Keith Newton as the first Ordinary of the English Ordinariate. Rev Newton's message upon being appointed is here. Rev Newton thanked the Church of England for his previous ministry and the Archbishop of Canterbury for being gracious.

It is expected that 50 Church of England priests and at least 35 lay congregations will join the Ordinariate. Their reception is expected by Pentecost Sunday. Two retired Church of England bishops, Edwin Barnes and David Silk are expected to be priested before then.

This momentous event marks a significant date in Church history. For the first time a part of the Anglican Communion has been reattached back to the Rock from which it was split almost 500 years ago. And for the first time Anglicans will be united but not absorbed into the Roman Church. In the past Anglicans had to leave their treasures when they went home to Rome. I have known Anglicans who have become Catholic to have left everything except the Prayerbook which they used privately as Catholics. However the Prayerbook was no longer authorized for them . But with the Ordinariate, the Prayerbook will become truly a treasure restored to the Catholic Church.

The establishment of the first Ordinariate is expected to herald the erection of Ordinariates in other countries. The American and Australian Ordinariates are expected to be organized soon. This will be followed by Ordinariates in Canada, Oceania, Asia and Africa.

Also as significantly, the Ordinariate is expected to provide a similar model for other Protestant communities to return to the Catholic Church. A group of Lutherans have asked Rome in the wake of Anglicanorum Coetibus. Since the other Protestant communities have a far more differing view of church polity and governance than Anglicans from the Catholics, it is more likely that a different scheme may be devised by Rome and this will take longer. But the Ordinariates do provide a precedent on how to proceed.

The Orthodox churches are looking with great interest on how the Ordinariates will work. While Rome has guaranteed the Orthodox that their different way of being church will be respected and preserved once they reconcile with Rome, the Orthodox like many Anglicans are suspicious of how this can be practically implemented. The Ordinariates provide a new way of bridging the separation of almost a thousand years.

We are seeing start the End of the Reformation. And the end of the Great Schism of 1054 is now on the horizon. Who would think this would happen as recently as five years ago?

Our Lady of Walsingham, we thank thee for thy intercession to thy Son, Jesus the Christ!
All ye Holy Men and Women, Martyrs of England and Wales, pray for us to God!
Saints Thomas More and John Fisher, pray for us!
Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us!
Blessed Pope John XXIII, pray for us! 


Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

Formal announcement of the English Ordinariate

Readers can find the formal announcement on the English Ordinariate from the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales here. The announcement has a lot of information on what and what not to expect from the Ordinariate.  It is a sort of FAQ. But one thing is really notable.

The English and Welsh bishops do not use the phrase "Anglican Ordinariate" to describe the new ecclesial structure. The bishops use "Personal Ordinariate" and in the future it will be simply just referred to as "The Ordinariate".

Perhaps this is to take into consideration Anglican sensibilities and to avoid confusion. And this is what is called in American English "the 64 thousand dollar question"

Will members of the Ordinariate still be Anglicans?

The bishops conference answers with a "No". Members of the Ordinariate are Catholics.

The English Ordinariate will be the trial balloon. Other Ordinariates will be established in other countries. In these countries where there is no religious establishment, the Ordinariates may be known as the Anglican Ordinariate (Roman Catholic).

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.

TheTraining of Filipino clergy in the Episcopal Church: A History of SATS

The main altar of St Andrews Seminary Chapel from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Andrew%27s_Seminary_Chapel_%28altar%29.jpg

The Rt Rev Edward P Malecdan, Prime Bishop of the Philippines has an interesting essay on the history of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines on the history of St Andrew's Theological Seminary (SATS). You can read it in the 3rd quarter of the ECP online newsletter the "Episcopalian" The question in a missionary endevour is when do we train an indigenous clergy?

This is the same question that faced the Roman Catholic friar missionaries at the onset of Spanish colonization in 1571. The King of Spain wanted native clergy but the friars were hesitant citing their experience in Mexico. So it took more than a hundred years before Filipino priests were ordained. The first priests were ordained in the early 1700s. The PECUSA mission considered training Filipino clergy as early as 1909 buts as Bp Malecdan writes "this was not one of the district missions and goals". ebven Bp Brent was not enthusiastic to the idea noting that Filipinos will have to learn much in governance. Brent also thought that resistance to American rule was latent and that the training of Filipino clergy held in abeyance.

As such the first deacons were ordained only in 1938. This proved a blessing for the church since with the Japanese occupation, all American clergy were interned. One of the deacons became the first Filipino bishop Rt Rev Edward Longid, who is the granddad of my dear friend Conyap Longid.
Rev Longid kept the faith alive by regularly conducting services at St Mary in Sagada. SATS seminary program of formation was monastic.

The rest of the postwar story is interesting to read especially when the ECP main seminary also trained seminarians of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI). There are more IFI clergy trained in the ECP seminary than ECP clergy.

Today, SATS faces the same problems faced by the Catholic seminaries. Vocations are decreasing as the Philippines becomes more secular. Also for those who have the vocation, they don't have the money to pay for the fees. There is a need for contributions, especially for scholarships.

Update on Anglican Use in Japan

This is an update to my previous post Rome-leaning Anglicans in Japan. 

Over on the Groups of Anglicans forum at The Anglo Catholic, Russ of the Nippon Kirisuto Sei Ko Kai, the Traditional Anglican Communion affiliate in Japan, has been updating me about things there.  He writes:

[Archbishop John Hepworth, primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC)] will be here for our Eucharist in Yokohama on February 11, which is a Friday and Japanese national holiday. There will probably be a meeting after the service. I don't know details, but I'm sure he will share information since we are all dying for news. Anything he says at the meeting will probably be in English followed by Japanese interpreter (so I will have the advantage of hearing everything twice). That's all I know, but anyone living in Japan who wants to know more can contact the folks on our web site.

This is indeed good news.  I urge anyone in Japan to get in touch with Russ either directly through the Groups of Anglicans Forum or through his church's website (in Japanese only but Google Translate will translate it for you). I am sure that anyone interested is welcome to attend the eucharist.

Strictly speaking under Anglicanorum Coetibus, Anglican Ordinariates will only be set up by country in countries with a critical mass of members, and will only extend to the borders of those countries.  It is unclear what the relationship will be between the Ordinariates and communities like us in the Philippines or like Russ's in Japan where such a critical mass is unlikely to be reached.  I am sure arrangements are being made and TAC members in Japan and similar countries will find out in due course.  Perhaps Russ will have more to report after Archbishop Hepworth's visit. Whatever arrangements are made there might or might not affect the Philippines.  We of course be following events.

Fiesta sa Quiapo: The Feast of the Black Nazarene

January 9 is the most famous patronal feast in the Philippines. On this day, the Manila commercial district of Quiapo celebrates the Feast of the Black Nazarene. The image of the Christ as the Black Nazarene was carved in Mexico and brought to Manila on a galleon from Acapulco. Popular tradition says that the black colour of the icon was a result of a shipboard fire that singed the image.

The image arrived on May 31, 1606 and was enshrined in the Recollect church in Manila. It was later transferred to the Church of San Tolentino in Intramuros (this church no longer exists). The Archbishop of Manila in 1790 ordered the transfer of the image to Quiapo Parish church (now known as the Basilica Minore of the Black Nazarene) where it remains to this day.

The Black Nazarene image is brought in procession around the district, where hundreds of thousands devotees walking barefoot in a sign of humility, follow it. The January 9 procession commemorates the transfer of the image from the Recollect church in Intramuros to Quiapo, across the Pasig River. Because of the passage of time and that many generations of devotees over the centuries have touched it, a replica of the image is processed through Manila's streets rather than the original Mexican image. Thousands of people many wearing the image's maroon dress, throw white handkerchiefs or towels, which people on the 'carroza" of the icon, wipe on the image. Devotees claim that by able to touch the image, they will be healed. Many claim that they were physically healed, but much more have claimed they were spiritually healed.

Traditionally, only men were allowed to process with the image. But in recent years, women have been allowed.

In 2010 the police estimated 5-7 million people attended the procession and religious services of the feast. The Quiapo fiesta has become notorious for devotees being trampled to death. Police and health services in recent years have made precautions to prevent a stampede but still a few people die each year.

An observer to this religious devotion may note that it is fanaticism, and that it may be un Biblical and contrary to the Gospel. Several Catholic theologians have reflected on this devotion and write that it reflects on an understanding of Christ's incarnation and suffering by a vast majority of inarticulate people (people who weren't formally catechized). To this day a majority of devotees come from the working classes.

And so the Archdiocese of Manila has initiated a catechetical program that accompanies the Black Nazarene feast. Church authorities worked closely with laypeople organizations organizing the celebrations, reminding the Gospel basis of their devotion, proper religious behaviour to fellow devotees and the importance of interior reflection during the vigil. This was so successful that no one was trampled to death in 2010.

Foreign observers have noted that the Black Nazarene fiesta is the closest Catholicism gets to having a pilgrimage that is like to Muslims going to Mecca. They still ask the question, why are there so many pilgrims and devotees?

For me the name "Nazarene" is enough explanation. Jesus was first rejected in Nazareth by his own townsfolk. This immediately caught on with millions of poor and disadvantaged Filipinos over the centuries. They were in a real sense 'rejected" by the rest of Filipino society especially the rich. Also in a deeper sense, the need to PHYSICALLY touch the Christ really has a basis in the Gospel. In St Mark 5:24-34, we read about the woman with a flow of blood, and as such was made ritually unclean and rejected by her own people. She believed that if she just were able to touch Jesus clothes, she will be healed. She did and Jesus sensed the power drain out of him and asked "Who touched me?"

The woman touched not just the Jesus the Man but the God that is Jesus. And trembling,  the woman told Jesus the truth. The woman was healed. Christianity is really an incarnational faith. There is really a need to touch another human being. The need to physically touch another human being is the first step in how we love!


If we are not afflicted, all our reason will tell us how unnecessary processing the Black Nazarene is. In the same way how it was not necessary for the woman to touch Jesus' clothes (she could have seen a doctor, which she really did!). But all this goes beyond reason.

Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams said it best in his homily at Lourdes on Saint Bernadette. He preached that Bernadette, who like the millions of Black Nazarene devotees was inarticulate and very poor, recognised that with the Blessed Virgin appearing "Here was life, here was healing, here was joy"

Rowan also writes what very well describes the faith of the millions of Black Nazarene devotees, where a devotion really is "heralding some future with Christ that we can't yet get our minds around."

The poor have a future with Christ which most of us can't get!

A blessed feast of the Black Nazarene to our readers!

Updates on Australia and England & Wales

This month events are fast moving and will probably remain that way until Pentacost, at least. Things will look very different six months from now. Here are three updates about Australia and about England and Wales.

First from the English Catholic blog, a blog from France by a TAC

clergyman who is intending to enter an Ordinariate, comes this update about Australia (formatting mine):

A Festival Introducing the Anglican Ordinariate for Australia

Learn about the Ordinariates! Celebrate the Anglican heritage! Meet those from all parts of Australia interested in the Australian Ordinariate!

Hosted by:

Bishop Peter Elliott, Delegate of the Holy See for the Australian Ordinariate

Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion

Venue: Saint Stephen’s College, Reserve Road, Coomera (Gold Coast) Queensland

Dates: Noon 1st February until 2.00PM 3rd February 2011

The post then gives all the details including the hour-by-hour schedule, costs and registration form. If you are at all interested, check out the post and attend the conference. Even if you are not sure that the Ordinariate is for you, even if you are leaning against joining, I am sure that your participation would be welcome. Use it as part of your discernment process.

Will there be a Papal decree setting up the England and Wales ordinariate this month? The National Catholic Registers (US-based) reports so in its article, "In London, three Anglican bishops received into church", on the recent reception held at Westminster Cathedral:

They will be ordained as Catholic deacons at Allen Hall seminary, London, Jan. 13, then as priests at a ceremony in the cathedral Jan. 15. They will be incardinated into the English ordinariate, which is expected to be formed by papal decree the second week of January, when Pope Benedict XVI is also expected to appoint an ordinary.

Finally, former retired Church of England Bishop Edwin Barnes has announced on his blog Ancient Richborough his and his wife's reception into the Roman Catholic Church and his ordination as a priest:

So it is good to be able to announce that the intention is that Jane and I should be received here in Lymington, at the Church of Our Lady and St Joseph, at the 9.30am Mass on January 21st. Bishop Crispian says he will ordain me Deacon in his private chapel on the morning of February 11th, and my ordination to the Priesthood will follow three weeks later at 2.30pm on Saturday March 5th in Portsmouth Catholic Cathedral.

Stay tuned for more updates during these exciting, history-making months.

In the Philippines, we celebrate Epiphany but Christmas never ends!

The Magi in Manila from http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Cynthia/festivals/three_kings.htm

Today is the traditional celebration of the Epiphany which commemorates the visit of the Magi to the infant Jesus. The Magi gave gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Prior to the reform of the Roman Calendar in 1970, the feast was celebrated on January 6, which is the 12th Day of Christmas and marked the end of the season. After the 1970 reform, Epiphany is celebrated on the first Sunday after New Year in places where Epiphany is not a Holy Day of Obligation. In the Philippines it fell on January 2 this year.

The Anglican churches and the Philippine Independent Church still celebrate it on January 6. It is expected that the Anglican Ordinariates will celebrate it too on January 6. In Spanish Philippines, this holiday was known more as the feast of the Three Kings. Before American practice was adopted, children received presents on this day. When I was very young, I received my presents from grandparents on January 6 (which also happened to be my grandmother's birthday). Children left their shoes by the window expecting the Magi to put in gold coins (not frankincense or myrrh mind you!). But when I was a kid, the old folks put Gold Goya brand chocolate coins.

In rural Philippines three men dressed as the Magi would ride into town on ponies and distribute trinkets and goodies to children. The custom survives in Ermita, Manila, where the Casino Espanol sponsors the Magi who distribute goodies to street children.

It was customary to put away Christmas decorations on this day and when I was small, it really meant the end of Christmas. But nowadays, Christmas has become too commercialized and Filipinos (since they really are children by heart even if they are old and grey) want to extend Christmas as long as possible. Catholic churches are not exempt. I know not of any Catholic parish church that really puts away their Christmas decorations at Epiphany. Many hold on to them until the Feast of the Santo Nino (the Sunday after Epiphany). This is really when the Filipino Christmas "ends" (It "began" on December 16).  The Feast of the Santo Nino is close to the Filipino people because Christianity in the Philippines really started when Magellan presented the Queen of Cebu with an image of the Holy Child in 1521. The image still is venerated in Cebu's Basilica. It is the oldest Christian icon in the Philippines

But of course, Filipinos are so fond of children and for that single reason alone, Christmas never ends! Well it almost never ends, since come Good Friday, all thoughts of merry making is put away at least for a day. And come July, you may hear Christmas carols sung ( and this really shocks the foreign visitor)!

"It's Actually Happening!"...English Anglican Bishops join Catholic Church, soon the priesthood

"It's Actually Happening!" is how Fr. Christopher Phillips, Our Lady of Atonement Anglican Use parish, titled his blog post on The Anglo-Catholic about the reception into the Catholic Church of three former Church of England bishops, two of their wives, and three Anglican nuns. You can read about it here, here, here, and here. The lede from The Telegraph of London was: "Priests and worshippers from around 20 Church of England parishes converted to Catholicism on Saturday at a ceremony in Westminster Cathedral."

A Reluctant Sinner was there (the photograph above is his): "As ever, my photographic skills let me down today, but I did manage to take these three discreet images of the event. They show the rite of reception and the sacrament of Confirmation being administered by Bishop Alan Hopes - himself a former Anglican priest, and de facto spiritual guide for those wishing to join the Ordinariate." Another eyewitness account, by Fr. Seán Finnegan, can be found on The Anglo-Catholic.

This is the first step towards creating an Ordinariate in England and Wales (Scotland is in a different Catholic Bishops Conference). The second step happens January 13th and 15th when the former bishops will be ordained to the deaconate and then to the priesthood respectively. The latter will be at Westminster Cathedral in London and is open to anyone to attend. Go, if you are in London. See Friends of the Ordinariate for more information (h/t The Anglo Catholic).

Succeeding steps will happen in rapid order before Easter and Pentacost. The BBC reports, "Catholic Bishop Alan Hopes said up to 50 Anglican clergy could convert before Easter."

The photograph is from a personal report on A Reluctant Sinner blog which can be found here.

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.