Seed of the US Ordinariate Begins to Sprout: Here Come those Groups of Anglicans

As we witness Church history unfolding let us take our lead from the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church

Into a world that is fractured, divided, wounded, filled with "sides" and "camps" at enmity with one another, the Church is called to proclaim, by both word and deed, the unifying love of a living God. The heart of the "Gospel" is the message that in and through Jesus Christ, authentic unity with God - and through Him, in the Spirit, with one another- is not only possible but is the plan of God for the entire human race. The Church is the way. It was not the Lord's plan that she be divided. It is His Plan that she be restored to full communion.

P>WASHINGTON,DC (Catholic Online) - Toward the end of his historic visit to the United Kingdom where he presided over the beatification of John Henry Cardinal Newman, an Anglican convert who prayed for the reunion of the Anglican communion with Rome, Pope Benedict XVI  gathered with all of the Bishops. At the end of the address he spoke these words:

"I asked you to be generous in implementing the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus. This should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics. It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all. Let us continue to pray and work unceasingly in order to hasten the joyful day when that goal can be accomplished."

Pope Benedict's use of the expression "prophetic gesture" was no accident. The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady Walsingham, placed under the Patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman in the United Kingdom is only the beginning of a prophetic chapter in Church history. Pope Benedict XVI is the Pope of Christian Unity. It was no accident that the seed of the healing of the divisions in the Body of Christ began in the land of John Henry Cardinal Newman. He prayed for this day. It is no accident that the Pope of Christian unity raised him to the altars. It was another prophetic act.

To be Catholic is to enter into the prayer of Jesus for the Unity of His Church. (John 17) In Pope Benedict XVI's first Papal message he signaled his  commitment to this unity: "Nourished and sustained by the Eucharist, Catholics cannot but feel encouraged to strive for the full unity for which Christ expressed so ardent a hope in the Upper Room. The Successor of Peter knows that he must make himself especially responsible for his Divine Master's supreme aspiration. Indeed, he is entrusted with the task of strengthening his brethren (cf. Lk 22: 32).

He continued, "With full awareness, therefore, at the beginning of his ministry in the Church of Rome which Peter bathed in his blood, Peter's current Successor takes on as his primary task the duty to work tirelessly to rebuild the full and visible unity of all Christ's followers. This is his ambition, his impelling duty."

Benedict XVI has placed the commitment to the full communion of the Church at the forefront of his Papacy. This is evident in his love, respect and repeated overtures toward our Orthodox brethren, whom we recognize as a Church and whose priesthood and Sacraments we also recognize.However, this love is also evident in his outreach to the separated Christians of the Reformation communities of the West, beginning with the members of the Anglican community, who are seeking a place within the full communion of the Catholic Church. The Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus allows for "groups of Anglicans" to come into full communion through a personal ordinariate while retaining elements of their Anglican patrimony, thus enhancing the legitimate diversity of the one Church within an uncompromised committment to orthodoxy and orthopraxy.  

Into a world that is fractured, divided, wounded, filled with "sides" and "camps" at enmity with one another, the Church is called to proclaim, by both word and deed, the unifying love of a living God. The heart of the "Gospel" is the message that in and through Jesus Christ, authentic unity with God - and through Him, in the Spirit, with one another- is not only possible but is the plan of God for the entire human race. The Church is the way. It was not the Lord's plan that she be divided. It is His Plan that she be restored to full communion.

As we witness Church history unfolding let us take our lead from the teaching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. These paragraphs are in the section entitled "Wounds to Unity": "[I]n this one and only Church of God from its very beginnings there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly censures as damnable. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and large communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic Church - for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame."

"The ruptures that wound the unity of Christ's Body - here we must distinguish heresy, apostasy, and schism - do not occur without human sin: Where there are sins, there are also divisions, schisms, heresies, and disputes. Where there is virtue, however, there also are harmony and unity, from which arise the one heart and one soul of all believers.

"However, one cannot charge with the sin of the separation those who at present are born into these communities [that resulted from such separation] and in them are brought up in the faith of Christ, and the Catholic Church accepts them with respect and affection as brothers . . . . All who have been justified by faith in Baptism are incorporated into Christ; they therefore have a right to be called Christians, and with good reason are accepted as brothers in the Lord by the children of the Catholic Church."

"Furthermore, many elements of sanctification and of truth" are found outside the visible confines of the Catholic Church: "the written Word of God; the life of grace; faith, hope, and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, as well as visible elements." Christ's Spirit uses these Churches and ecclesial communities as means of salvation, whose power derives from the fullness of grace and truth that Christ has entrusted to the Catholic Church. All these blessings come from Christ and lead to him, and are in themselves calls to "Catholic unity."

"Christ bestowed unity on his Church from the beginning. This unity, we believe, subsists in the Catholic Church as something she can never lose, and we hope that it will continue to increase until the end of time." Christ always gives his Church the gift of unity, but the Church must always pray and work to maintain, reinforce, and perfect the unity that Christ wills for her.

"This is why Jesus himself prayed at the hour of his Passion, and does not cease praying to his Father, for the unity of his disciples: "That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, . . . so that the world may know that you have sent me." The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit." (CCC 817 - 820)

Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington was designated by the Holy See to oversee the erection of an Ordinariate for groups of Anglicans in the United States. On June 15, 2011, Cardinal Donald Wuerl presented a report to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on the progress of the implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus (On the Groups of Anglicans) and the establishment of an Anglican Ordinariate in the United States of America.

A substantial number of Anglicans have expressed their intention to enter the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate, including a large number of men who will seek ordination to the Catholic Priesthood in keeping with the Apostolic Constitution and Norms for Implementation. In the last few days several exciting stories emerged. They can be read here and here Here are two examples. They are only the beginning of what promises to be an extraordinary Fall as groups of Anglicans enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church:

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1) Ft Worth, Texas Ordinariate Group to be received

Dear friends in Christ,

On Sunday, September 25, at 2 in the afternoon, the first of our group of people (The Community of St. Peter the Rock) who will be members of the Anglican Ordinariate within the Catholic Church will be received and Confirmed by Bishop Kevin Vann at St. Patrick's Cathedral in Fort Worth. I know not all of you can be with us for this joyous occasion. Of your charity, I ask that you remember us in your prayers at Mass on that day and that you give thanks with us to God for this wonderful blessing.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you."

Fr. Timothy Perkins
The Community of St. Peter the Rock
A Fort Worth-area Ordinariate Fellowship

2) St Luke's Bladensburg, MD  
 
St. Luke's will be received into the Roman Catholic Church at 9:30 am on October 9, 2011 in the Crypt Church at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC; His Eminence Donald Cardinal Wuerl celebrating. St. Luke's Episcopal Church Bladensburg, MD has its own property and sanctuary.

We are honored to announce Monsignor Keith Newton, the ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the UK, will be the celebrant and preacher at St. Luke's on October 16, 10:00am. This will be the first ever Catholic Mass celebrated at St. Luke's.

Msgr. Newton was formerly a bishop of the Church of England and served as the Bishop of Richborough in the Province of Canterbury from 2002 to 2010. On January 15, 2011, he and two other former Church of England bishops were ordained to the priesthood in Westminster Cathedral by Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. On this date Pope Benedict XVI appointed him the first ordinary of the Ordinariate in England and Wales.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is the very first Ordinariate established by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI. Ordinariates in other parts of the world are to be established in the near future.

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We urge our Catholic Online readers around the globe to pray that this wonderful news will hasten the healing of the divisions between all Christians. May this growth of the Personal Ordinariate for Groups of Anglicans be the first fruits of the coming full communion of the One Church of Jesus Christ.

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