Former York Minster Canon Chancellor to be received into the Personal Ordinariate

(Catholic Herald)

Dr Edward Norman...

... argues that Anglicanism has “no basis for its authority” as its confession “varies from place to place and person to person”. He says: “At the centre of Anglicanism is a great void.”

He adds: “The Church of England provides a masterclass in equivocation; it also, however, is the residence of very many good and faithful Christian people who deserve respect – for their perseverance in so many incoherent spiritual adventures.

“To leave their company is a wrench; to adhere to the Catholic faith is to join the encompassing presence of a universal body of believers in whose guardianship are the materials of authentic spiritual understanding… I have immense gratitude.”

Eight years ago he said that Anglicanism is going to tip into the sea.

It is not clear to me whether Dr Norman is already a Catholic and entering the Ordinariate as a layman or with a view to being ordained a priest for the Ordinariate. Either way, this is a piece of good news for the Catholic Church in England.

The Monarchy becomes "inclusive" - should we be glad?

It has been announced today that the "discrimination" against women and Catholics in the Royal Family will be brought to an end. The Monarch's first born will be first in line to the throne, regardless of sex. And a member of the Royal Family will be able to marry a Catholic without losing his/her right to succession.

The Archbishop of Westminster issued the following statement:

“I welcome the decision of Her Majesty's Government to give heirs to the throne the freedom to marry a Catholic without being removed from the line of succession. This will eliminate a point of unjust discrimination against Catholics and will be welcomed not only by Catholics but far more widely.”

“At the same time I fully recognise the importance of the position of the Established Church in protecting and fostering the role of faith in our society today.”

On the face of it this seems like progress. But I'm not so sure.

The Archbishop's statement contains within it the problem: can a monarch marry a Catholic and still take an oath to uphold the Protestant religion? Will the Catholic consort be dispensed by the Catholic Church from the obligations required by Canon Law under normal circumstances in a mixed marriage:

Can. 1125 The local ordinary can grant a permission of this kind [i.e. for a Catholic to marry a baptised non-Catholic] if there is a just and reasonable cause. He is not to grant it unless the following conditions have been fulfilled:

1/ the Catholic party is to declare that he or she is prepared to remove dangers of defecting from the faith and is to make a sincere promise to do all in his or her power so that all offspring are baptized and brought up in the Catholic Church;

2/ the other party is to be informed at an appropriate time about the promises which the Catholic party is to make, in such a way that it is certain that he or she is truly aware of the promise and obligation of the Catholic party;

3/ both parties are to be instructed about the purposes and essential properties of marriage which neither of the contracting parties is to exclude.

It is obvious that any children would have to be brought up in the Church of England since they would have a place in the line of succession and would be potential monarchs who would have to pledge to uphold the Protestant Religion. The establishment of the Church of England depends on this.

Any member of the Royal Family who converted to Catholicism would still have to renounce his/her right to the throne.

I happen to have a high regard for the Royal Family but I wonder if this attempt to make the Royal Family "relevant" will actually result in them becoming irrelevant and, eventually, to the disestablishment of the Church of England.

From the BBC:

On scrapping the ban on future monarchs marrying Roman Catholics, Mr Cameron said: "Let me be clear, the monarch must be in communion with the Church of England because he or she is the head of that Church. But it is simply wrong they should be denied the chance to marry a Catholic if they wish to do so. After all, they are already quite free to marry someone of any other faith."

The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, said the elimination of the "unjust discrimination" against Catholics would be widely welcomed.

"At the same time I fully recognise the importance of the position of the established church [the Church of England] in protecting and fostering the role of faith in our society today," he said.

Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond also welcomed the lifting of the ban but said it was "deeply disappointing" that Roman Catholics were still unable to ascend to the throne.

"It surely would have been possible to find a mechanism which would have protected the status of the Church of England without keeping in place an unjustifiable barrier on the grounds of religion in terms of the monarchy," he said.

"It is a missed opportunity not to ensure equality of all faiths when it comes to the issue of who can be head of state."

Mr Salmond's observation also has its problems: if every Act passed by Parliament requires the monarch's signature to become law, would a Catholic monarch refuse to sign into law Acts that are contrary to the moral law? Or would they do a Juan Carlos?

Have you received your invitation to "The Wedding"?

A question I am being constantly asked by the good folk of Marquette. I have no idea what coverage "The Wedding" is receiving in the UK but it is getting lots here. One parishioner said she will definitely be up at 4am on April 29th so she can see the dress. I said that I would save my early rise for the following Sunday for "The Beatification".

Am I just typical of those who are showing a remarkable lack of interest in "The Wedding"? It has been pointed out (see Catholic Commentary) that Catholic bloggers are perhaps demonstrating a certain disconnectedness - even disenfranchisement - from British national life. After all, this event is an historic event. Prince William is our future King and so Kate/Catherine will be our Queen. Prince William will also be head of the Church of England - and perhaps that has something to do with some of the lack of interest.

Do we know much about Prince William's faith? Is he a convinced Anglican?

Caroline Farrow has a great analysis of the situation. She particularly refers to the small matter of the fact that William and Kate have been co-habiting.

William and Kate reflected today’s society in which cohabitation is a fact of life, a try-before-you-buy policy and certainly in their case the balance of power seemed to be one way, with Kate potentially having a lot more to lose had things not worked out. I am able to speak from the fairly unusual position of having cohabited before a marriage, as in the case of my annulled marriage, and also of having remained chaste before marriage and I can testify to the effectiveness of the latter in optimising one’s chances of a successful union. Though the blame for the breakdown of my first marriage cannot be solely attributed to cohabitation, it doubtless did not help us to make the transition from simply living together and sharing a house, to the permanency of marriage. Marriage entailed a lavish and expensive day, but the day after, neither of us felt any different, nothing had really changed, and as we both languished on the sofa the day after the wedding, nursing our hangovers, we even debated whether or not it would be worthwhile to cancel the honeymoon, given neither of us had any energy. Once the excitement of the wedding was over, there was nothing different, nothing new to look forward to.

When I properly entered into the sacrament of marriage, things could not have been more different. Everything was a novelty to the pair of us and highlighted the new status of our relationship. Even doing things like sharing the washing-up together, and sorting out various household tasks, reinforced the new intimacy between us. It was no longer his vicarage, but our family home, and even now, a few years later, having spent a few years dating before marriage, just the act of sharing the same bed to sleep in, still hasn’t quite lost that sparkle. There was a definite demarcation between simply going out and actually being married, there was a positive decision on behalf of the pair of both of us, a saying “yes”, a leap of faith, “this isn’t going to be easy, we won’t always feel as we do now, but I love you, I trust you and I am going to do my best to be the husband/wife that God is calling me to be”. It’s decidedly different from “well I’ve lived with you for x years, we share everything, why not, I think I can risk it and if it doesn’t work out there’s always a get-out clause”. The problem with cohabitation is, as far as I can discern it, is that there is always that get-out clause and its easy to carry that forward into a marriage as well as slide almost unthinkingly into matrimony.

I suppose that, in my own case, I remember as if it was yesterday the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Di. It was so fairytale that I somehow sensed at the time that it was not going to work. Furthermore - and sadly, all except one of the marriages of Her Majesty's children have failed. So Royal Weddings have perhaps lost their currency somewhat.

Having said that, I shall pray for the couple on their wedding day. It's Easter Friday. It's also the feast of St Catherine of Sienna, who know something of a higher form of marriage - the Mystical Marriage with Christ.

Ash Wednesday: significant date for Anglican Ordinariate

This Ash Wednesday a good number of anglican clerics resign their offices in the anglican communion to begin the process of reception into the Catholic Church and eventual ordination as Catholic priests in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. On the one hand this is an occasion of great joy. On the other, as Fr Ray Blake points out, we should pray for those communities that are going through the pain of farewells. For their own reasons, not everyone will be following these clerics. So parishes will be depleted in numbers with the consequent effect on morale and future viability.

By the same token, I can think of several anglican lay people I know who would love their priest to take advantage of the Ordinariate process to join the full communion of the Catholic Church. And then they would follow. Why don't they become Catholics anyway? Well, it's complicated. There is huge attachment to heritage etc., which is precisely what Pope Benedict acknowledged in establishing an Ordinariate for these people.

The Ordinariate Portal gives news of the many resignations that are being offered at this time.

Anglican Priests from Sevenoaks to join the Ordinariate

Please read the final statement and blog post from Fathers Ivan D'Aquilina and James Bradley. They have made the inevitable decision to seek full Communion with the Catholic Church in the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Visit the blog, see what kind of community they have been pastors of, and assure them of your prayers.

The Ordinariate is proving to be a truly wonderful gift to the Church. I hope that the liturgical patrimony of these good people will provide for an enrichment of our Roman Rite.

Here is why they want to be in Communion with the Successor of St Peter:

Those of us joining the Ordinariate are being offered a very special gift. This gift is to be in communion with the Pope. Why is it a great gift? It is a great gift for us as in its turn the Papacy is a gift of supreme importance from Christ to the Church. In fact, it can be argued that, without the Pope you do not have the Church, and the papacy can only be understood in the framework of the Church.

The papacy grew out organically from the mission of the apostle Peter. Peter always appears first in rank and the representative of the Twelve (Mk 8:29; Mt 18:21; Lk 12:41; Jn 6:67). In the list of the Twelve in the Synoptic Gospels he comes first. (Mk 3:16-19; Mt 10:1-4; Lk 6: 12-16; Acts 1:13; Lk 9:32)

A most important point is the traditional formula used by Paul in 1 Cor 15: 5 where although chronologically Peter was not the first to see the risen Christ he is named as such by Paul. The Easter event is a revelation of Peter’s call, and 1 Cor 15 is an expression of the primordial conviction that Peter is the primary witness to the resurrection; and the resurrection is that event without which our Christian life is nonsense.

Three texts are vital. The first is Mt 16:13-19. Here Jesus gives Simon a new name: Peter (Rock). Jesus promises the Twelve that he is the rock foundation of the Church, Peter is to guarantee this stability, permanence, unity and security. Christ is the foundation of the Church which appears visibly in Peter. This function of Peter is further defined by the promise that the gates of hell will never prevail and also by the power of the keys. Peter is given authority to rule as representative of the Master! He holds the keys. The second text is Lk 22: 31-34. Here Jesus gives a special task to Peter, when the evil forces will hammer heavily on the Church, Peter will help them recover, he will provide support to his brothers, he is the stronghold of the faith. The third text is Jn 21: 15-19.

Peter is made the Shepherd of the flock, to defend it against attack and to preserve due order within it. When the Lord is not any more visibly present, Peter, his representative, will carry out this ministry. The book of Acts is peppered with instances where Peter is exercising this ministry. (See: Acts 1: 15-26; 2:14-41; 3: 1-26; 4:8; 5: 1-11; 5:29; 8:14-17; 8: 18-25; 9: 32-43 and 10: 9-33.)

Jesus did not appoint successors to Peter; the succession was an organic development of Peter’s mission which is to the end of time. (Mt 28:20) The Church holds that the successor of Peter is the Bishop of Rome. Myriad is the testimony to this faith by the Church Fathers. This testimony found focus in the teachings of Ambrose when he said: “Where Peter is, there is the Church.”

Since the word go, Peter was the focus of mission and unity, the guarantor of orthodoxy and above all the visible witness of the Resurrection. He is the visible head and shepherd of the Church on earth and his ministry lives in his successors.

Today Peter is known as Benedict XVI. Peter is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of faithful; he is the pastor of the Universal Church, the witness of the Risen Lord.

Can you see what a wondrous gift Peter is for the Church? That is why those joining the Ordinariate are blessed; they will receive this gift from Christ and be in communion with Benedict XVI – the witness of the Resurrection!

Indeed, what a wondrous gift Peter is for the Church!

David Silk - another Ordinariate Priest

The former Anglican Bishop of Ballarat in Australia was ordained deacon on February 15th and will be ordained priest at Buckfast Abbey tomorrow, as announed on the Portal for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Further information about David Silk can be found at The Anglo-Catholic.

A friend of mine tells me that when he was a curate at Lamorby/Blackfen, he preached occasionally at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church in Blackfen in the 1960's - Fr Finigan will no doubt know more.

The Ordinariate continues to develop.

Anglican Ordinariate Established

On the day when three former anglican bishops are ordained priests of the Catholic Church, the new Ordinariate is erected with one of their number, Father Keith Newton, as Ordinary. For further information about today's historic events visit St John the Baptist, Sevenoaks where Father James Bradley's sense of being part of history is made palpable: Archbishop Nichols' homily, Statement by the First Ordinary, Great Day Indeed, Done, Adsum, Priests for ever, Ite Missa est. And pray for Father Bradley and others who must be considering their positions.

VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2011 (VIS) - "In accordance with the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus' of Pope Benedict XVI (4 November 2009) and after careful consultation with the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has today erected a Personal Ordinariate within the territory of England and Wales for those groups of Anglican clergy and faithful who have expressed their desire to enter into full visible communion with the Catholic Church", reads an English-language communique released today. "The Decree of Erection specifies that the Ordinariate will be known as the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and will be placed under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman.

  "A Personal Ordinariate is a canonical structure that provides for corporate reunion in such a way that allows former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their distinctive Anglican patrimony. With this structure, the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus' seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be fully integrated into the Catholic Church.

  "For doctrinal reasons the Church does not, in any circumstances, allow the ordination of married men as bishops. However, the Apostolic Constitution does provide, under certain conditions, for the ordination as Catholic priests of former Anglican married clergy. Today at Westminster Cathedral in London, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, ordained to the Catholic priesthood three former Anglican bishops: Reverend Andrew Burnham, Reverend Keith Newton, and Reverend John Broadhurst.

  "Also today Pope Benedict XVI has nominated Reverend Keith Newton as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Together with Reverend Burnham and Reverend Broadhurst, Reverend Newton will oversee the catechetical preparation of the first groups of Anglicans in England and Wales who will be received into the Catholic Church together with their pastors at Easter, and will accompany the clergy preparing for ordination to the Catholic priesthood around Pentecost.

  "The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church. The initiative leading to the publication of the Apostolic Constitution and the erection of this Personal Ordinariate came from a number of different groups of Anglicans who have declared that they share the common Catholic faith as it is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and accept the Petrine ministry as something Christ willed for the Church. For them, the time has now come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion". OP/VIS 20110115 (460)

One good reason for leaving the Anglican "Church"

The Anglican bishop of Massachusetts, the Rt Revd M Thomas Shaw SSJE, witnesses the "marriage" of the Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale and Mally Lloyd, Canon to the Ordinary on New Year's Day 2011.

By Father James Bradley of St John the Baptist Church, Sevenoaks, Kent who, by the way, are using the Evangelium course to learn about the Catholic Faith.

Ordinariate diaconate ordinations in London today

The same Father James Bradley whose tweet I referred to yesterday has blogged about the diaconate ordination today of the three former anglican bishops who were received into the Catholic Church on New Year's Day. Priesthood on Saturday.

Father Bradley, who remains an assistant curate at the Anglican church of St John the Baptist in Sevenoaks, Kent, writes:

Where were you when JFK was shot? Where were you when the white smoke came from the Sistine Chapel that elected Pope Benedict? Where were you when the Ordinariate began?

Tonight, quietly and calmly - but with the beauty and splendour of the Mass - the face of English Christianity changed. Tonight the first three men were ordained for the Ordinariate in these isles and another step towards the fulfilment of Christ's prayer - that all may be one - was made.

John Broadhurst, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton are brave men of great integrity who, only a few days ago, left their old lives behind to follow Christ's call and to take up the great challenge laid out by the Holy Father in Anglicanorum coetibus. These three, now in the full communion of the Catholic Church, gave up all they had been given and this evening submitted humbly to 'the quiet rectification', in Aidan Nichols' words, of their orders.

It was moving beyond words to be present at this momentous occasion.

Go read more, and pray for Father Bradley and others who must surely be yearning for the fullnes of Christian Unity, as indeed we Catholics are yearning to have communion with him and others like him.

Questions the faithful ask

Much of what is happening in the Church is confusing to ordinary Catholics. Here is a question a good friend of mine has sent me (I hope she does not mind my quoting her):

There are lots of amazing things happening in the Church at the moment, though I am not sure what it all means. What does Ordinariate and Diaconate mean? Are the bishops and the nuns now Catholic? I am confused because I wonder what happens to their congregations. Several weeks ago, on the national and the local news, there was a parish, in Folkestone featured, where the parish priest and his congregation were going to convert to Catholicism. Would they then all leave their Anglican church empty and attend the Catholic church in Folkestone? I didn't quite know what to make of it. Anyway I havn't heard any more about that, so it seems that the media has gone quiet about it all.

It all seems too good to be true, that the Anglicans of England are coming back, slowly but surely, to the Catholic Church. We could end up as a Catholic country in the future, wouldn't that be something. I hope that Henry VIII is able to see all this happening, wherever his soul reposes!

What is an Ordinariate? An Ordinariate is a juridical structure, a bit like a diocese, which has a priest (who could also be a bishop) as its head, with priests, deacons, and laity (including religious brothers and sisters) as members. It is established for a particular group of people. The so-called "Anglican Ordinariate" is for Anglican clergy and laity who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while at the same time retaining their Anglican traditions and communities.

What does Diaconate mean? The diaconate is the lowest of the three levels of Holy Orders. Deacons belong to this order. The next rank up is that of the presbyterate to which the presbyters or priests belong, and the highest rank is that of the episcopate to which the bishops belong.

Are those former bishops and nuns now Catholic? Yes, they are. They were received into the Catholic Church on Sunday last. The ordinariate to which they shall belong once the ordinariate is established will be as much part of the Catholic Church as the diocese of Southwark is.

The case of the parish in Folkestone. If the priest and people there do become Catholics by being received into the Church and becoming members of the new ordinariate, the use of the building would depend on arrangements made with the Church of England. The C of E could still let them use that church but it would still be an Anglican church building. They would obviously not be able reserve the Blessed Sacrament there. Assuming that they were not permitted to continue using the church, or if they decided it would be better not to use it, then they would most likely hold their celebrations of Mass (according to the rites approved for them by Rome) in a Catholic church. They would of course have every right to attend and participate in Mass with the other Catholics in any Catholic parish.

There could well be quite a bit of pain involved in leaving a building that is dear to them. Maybe not all of the community will become Catholics in which case those who do will also be leaving people they know and love. We must pray for healing of any wounds and that those who do not feel they can make the move to becoming Catholics may one day be able to do so. Father Sean Finnegan has written very sensitively on this subject.

Corporate reunion with the Catholic Church is the goal of many good anglicans (see e.g. The Order of Corporate Union). It is only through communion with the Bishop of Rome that full Christian Unity can be achieved. And the Bishop of Rome, Pope Benedict, the Pope of Christian Unity, has been inspired by the Holy Spirit to provide this means of facilitating that Communion.

Wouldn't it be a wonderful thing indeed if England once again became a Catholc country? This is what we must surely pray for. As for the location of Henry VIII's soul, even the archbishop of Canterbury recently expressed some doubt about this!

Prayer for England

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God
and our most gentle Queen and Mother,
look down in mercy upon England, thy dowry,
and upon us who greatly hope and trust in thee.

By thee it was that Jesus, our Saviour and our hope
was given unto the world;
and He has given thee to us
that we might hope still more.

Plead for us thy children,
whom thou didst receive and accept
at the foot of the cross, O Sorrowful Mother.
Intercede for our separated brethren that, with us, in the one true fold,
they may be united to the Chief Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son.

Pray for us all, dear Mother,
that by faith, fruitful in good works
we may all deserve to see and praise God,
together with thee in our heavenly home.

AMEN.

Ordinariate for former Anglicans by October 9th?

The Catholic Herald carries two reports concerning developments on the Anglican Ordinariate question. Things would appear to be more advanced than is commonly known.

In his address to the Bishops of England, Wales and Scotland on the final day of his visit to the UK, Pope Benedict told them that the Ordinariates allowed for under his Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus

should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute postitively 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.

According to one of the Catholic Herald reports, the anglo-catholic Bishop Burnham has written a series of pastoral letters on the subject, preparing the people under his pastoral care for the eventuality of anglican clergy and laity 'coming over' to Rome by means of the Ordinariate.

October 9th, being the feast of the Blessed John Henry Newman, is hinted as a possible date for the erection of the first Ordinariate. Things would already need to be at an advanced stage of development for this to happen so soon.

But let's pray that one of the fruits of Pope Benedict's visit will be some movement on this important step to unity in the Church.

In the United States of American, according to another report in the same Catholic Herald, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington DC is the delegate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who will oversee the establishment of an ordinariate in the US and to guide the incorporation of anglicans groups into the Catholic Church.

The United States Catholic Conference of Bishops website carries an official statement.

Things are moving!

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Cardinal Newman's Prayer for Church Unity

For the last month or two I have been using a collection of prayers by John Henry Newman. It is entitled 'A Newman Prayer Book' published in 1990 by Vincent Ferrer Blehl, S.J., The Newman Secretariat, The Oratory, Hagley Road, Birmingham B16 8UE, England and contains a short prayer for each day of the month.

Here's the prayer for the 18th of the month:

Lord Jesus Christ, who, when you were about to suffer, did pray for your disciples to the end of time that they might all be one, as you are in the Father, and the FAther in you, break down the walls of separation which divide one party and denomination of Christians from another. Teach all men that the see of St. Peter, the Holy Church of Rome, is the foundation, centre, and instrument of unity. Open their hearts to the long-forgotten truth that our Holy Father, the Pope, is your Vicar and Representative; so that as there is but one holy company in heaven above, so likewise there may be one communion, confessing and glorifying your holy name here below.

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Anglicans becoming Catholics

Damian Thompson reports on the former assistant bishop of Newcastle, Paul Richardson, who has been received into the Catholic Church. He says “I’m very happy just being an ordinary Catholic,” attending Mass at St George's Cathedral, Southwark, with no fixed ideas about applying for ordination as a Catholic priest or joining any proposed Ordinariate. This seems, to me, an exemplary way of becoming a Catholic.

Yet the Ordinariate possibility is there for those who might wish to avail of it, and it seems that things are moving in Australia where Forward in Faith Austrlia has voted to see how things might proceed. (Daily Telegraph, Damian Thompson).

See also E F Pastor Emeritus.

Mgr Graham Leonard - May he rest in peace

The former Bishop of London who converted to the Catholic Church and was ordained a Catholic priest on 23rd April 1994 has died.

At the time of writing, the only websites carrying the news appear to be:

Damian Thompson:

I’ve just heard that Mgr Graham Leonard, the former Bishop of London who became a Catholic and was made a (married) Monsignor by Pope John Paul II, has died.

Mgr Leonard, 88, was a formidable and dignified champion of the Anglo-Catholic cause in the Church of England; when he converted to Catholicism after the vote to ordain women priests, he was ordained priest conditionally, having persuaded the Vatican that he might already possess valid orders by virtue of an Old Catholic apostolic succession.

Mgr Leonard had originally hoped that he could bring with him Anglican priests and faithful who could worship together after their reception; as it turned out, the time was not yet ripe. But it is now. The Ordinariate scheme, currently taking shape, will be a fitting memorial to this inspiring priest.

Ruth Gledhill:

Monsignor Graham Leonard, former Bishop of London who converted to Catholicism and became a Catholic priest, has died. He was such a great man, a great Bishop of London, a true Catholic priest. We had fun, those of us on the religion beat when he was not just in the news, but making it. The London diocese has a statement. Apologies for the brevity of this blog, more soon.

Here is the (Anglican) diocese of London's statement:

The Bishop of London has issued a statement on the death of Monsignor Graham Leonard.

"As Bishop of Willesden and then after a spell in Cornwall, as Bishop of London for ten years, Graham Leonard served the Diocese with faithfulness and a particular care for its large number of Church Schools.

"He will be mourned by his many friends and colleagues and our hearts go out in sympathy to Priscilla who played such a significant part in Bishop Graham's London ministry".

I'm sure our Miles Iesu (of which Mgr Leonard was a member) blogger will have a tribute to him in due course.

UPDATE: See Father Dwight Longenecker, Father Sean Finegan, Diocese of Westminster.

US Bishops in Conference - watch them live!

H/T to Kate. I too share her fascination with this openness.

Anglican Vespers and Benediction on Radio 3

from All Saints Church, Margaret Street, can be heard here for the next 7 days.


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Ordination of married Anglicans

Thanks to Fr Mildew and Damian Thompson for drawing attention to the clarification issued today on the Vatican website. The language of the text makes it difficult to interpret.

What I think it means is:

• that the current practice of ordaining former anglican ministers who are married and who are found eligible for ordination in the Catholic Church will continue;
• celibacy is still to be the norm for laymen being ordained;
• but married men who are currently seminarians can be considered for ordination.

Hopefully the final text will be clearer.

CLARIFICATION BY THE DIRECTOR OF THE HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE, FR. FEDERICO LOMBARDI, S.I., ON SPECULATIONS ABOUT THE CELIBACY ISSUE IN THE ANNOUNCED APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION REGARDING PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICAN ENTERING INTO FULL COMMUNION WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH , 31.10.2009

There has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by an Italian correspondent Andrea Tornielli, that the delay in publication of the Apostolic Constitution regarding Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, announced on October 20, 2009, by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to more than "technical" reasons. According to this speculation, there is a serious substantial issue at the basis of the delay, namely, disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy of the Provision.

Cardinal Levada offered the following comments on this speculation: "Had I been asked I would happily have clarified any doubt about my remarks at the press conference. There is no substance to such speculation. No one at the Vatican has mentioned any such issue to me. The delay is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language and references. The translation issues are secondary; the decision not to delay publication in order to wait for the ‘official’ Latin text to be published in Acta Apostolicae Sedis was made some time ago.

The drafts prepared by the working group, and submitted for study and approval through the usual process followed by the Congregation, have all included the following statement, currently Article VI of the Constitution:

§1 Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfill the requisites established by canon law and are not impeded by irregularities or other impediments may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. In the case of married ministers, the norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis coelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement "In June" are to be observed. Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy of CIC can. 277, §1.

§2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as a derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.

This article is to be understood as consistent with the current practice of the Church, in which married former Anglican ministers may be admitted to priestly ministry in the Catholic Church on a case by case basis. With regard to future seminarians, it was considered purely speculative whether there might be some cases in which a dispensation from the celibacy rule might be petitioned. For this reason, objective criteria about any such possibilities (e.g. married seminarians already in preparation) are to be developed jointly by the Personal Ordinariate and the Episcopal Conference, and submitted for approval of the Holy See."

Cardinal Levada said he anticipates the technical work on the Constitution and Norms will be completed by the end of the first week of November.

See also
Whispers in the Loggia
Kate

Anglicanism has become a joke

It is not me who says this but a bishop of the Church of England: the Rt Rev John Broadhurst, the Bishop of Fulham.

Having been away I'm catching up on further developments since the announcement of a Personal Ordinariate for Anglicans wishing to come into full communion with the Catholic Church.

You can find a fuller report at the Daily Telegraph where it is revealed that the Bishop of Chichester, Rt Rev. John Hind might be preparing to join Rome:

"This is a remarkable new step from the Vatican," he said. "At long last there are some choices for Catholics in the Church of England. I'd be happy to be reordained into the Catholic Church."

While the bishop stressed that this would depend on his previous ministry being recognised, he said that the divisions in the Anglican Communion could make it impossible to stay.

"How can the Church exist if bishops are not in full communion with each other," he said.

H/t to Kate.

Important note: recognition of ministry is not the same as recognition of Orders. I gather that, when a convert Anglican clergyman is ordained a Catholic priest, prayers are included giving thanks for the ministry previously exercised.

Former Anglicans and Celibacy - good response on the Sunday programme

Unsurprisingly the Pope's latest provision for Catholic-minded Anglicans was featured on this morning's Sunday Programme. One of Roger Bolton's interviewees was Mgr Andrew Faley, assistant general secretary of the Bishop's Conference of England and Wales. Bolton tried to catch Mgr Faley out on the celibacy issue, but failed completely. Here's what was said (more or less):

Bolton: "You don’t have a choice as priest within the Roman Catholic Church"
Faley: "I did have choice. I made that choice when I was ordained."
Bolton: "Yes, when you were ordained. After you are ordained you no longer have a choice. Those who are coming over from the Church of England will continue to have a choice."
Faley: "They won’t still continue to have a choice because committed as they are within their vows of marriage to live that particular vocation to its fullness they have already made their choice and within that context the Church is recognising the richness of their ministry and that’s part of the invitation that the Holy Father has offered..."

I thought that was an excellent response.

You can listen here for a week. The above snippet occurs about 31 minutes into the programme.

The Tablet and the Personal Ordinariate

As expected The Tablet this weekend covers the latest response of the Holy Father to the requests made by traditional Anglicans.

The editorial is quite balanced but typically nuanced.

But this Vatican initiative will make the work of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity more difficult, for partners in dialogue could well be suspicious that the agenda of the Catholic Church, while seemingly about Christian unity, is otherwise.

Well, surely the agenda is unity and erecting structures that enable people to pass from a non-catholic community to the Catholic Church is an excellent way of achieving this.

It will also cause concern that the pontifical council (for Christian unity) is being left out of the loop on matters of huge importance affecting its dialogue partners, given that its officials were not kept up to speed on the issue by the CDF, and despite the fact that the council’s president, Cardinal Walter Kasper, is also is a member of the congregation.

Fr Tim Finigan appears to have some inside information about votes etc. when he writes:

The process leading to the new Apostolic Constitution has been an extraordinarily complex, in-depth study, involving widespread consultation, and including communications with sitting Bishops of the Anglican Communion who were in favour of some such arrangement. The Holy See could not simply refuse to talk to such parties clamouring for full canonical union with the Catholic Church. Naturally the process of consultation involved the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, whose Secretary (Bishop Brian Farrell) is a Consultor of the CDF, and whose President (Cardinal Kasper) is one of the 15 Cardinal Members of the CDF. Some elements within the Pontifical Council were obviously not too happy with the whole notion of corporate reunion, however, in the end they were outvoted.

The Tablet continues:

One Church’s loss is inevitably another’s gain. Few would deny that the influx of new blood brought many benefits to the Catholic Church last time. The requirement of celibacy was waived in the case of ordained Anglican clergy, which means there are now a significant number of married priests happily serving the Catholic community in England and Wales with no real problems. More of the same will no doubt sharpen the sense of anomaly concerning Catholic priests who have had to accept laicisation as the price of marriage. There are many things in Anglicanism from which Catholicism can profit, not least an enhanced role for the laity in church government and a rich liturgical heritage. What the Anglicans may gain, in return, is a deeper sacramentality. And they may even discover, once it ceases to be such a neuralgic point, that they can be more open to the ministry of women.

I don't think the erection of a Personal Ordinariate with married former anglican clergy being ordained as Catholic priests has anything to do with the theologically founded discipline of clerical continence which will always remain the norm in the Latin Church. Neither will the norms on the roles of laity and clergy in parish pastoral councils, finance committees etc. change. The current Code of Canon Law sets out clearly how laity can co-operate in the exercise of the Church's power of governance and lay people occupy incredibly influential positions in Schools Commissions, Finance Offices, etc, which were the domain of the clergy in the past. And will the Traditional Anglicans be looking to take on armies of women to carry outtraditionally clerical functions? I doubt it.

Parallels are drawn, not unsurprisingly, with Pope Benedict's overtures to the SSPX, made in the name of the same desire for the unity of the Church, but The Tablet goes too far in mentioning Tony Blair in the same sentence as John Henry Newman. The latter held firmly to the Catholic doctrines of the Fathers of the Church. The former does not, and many are still scandalised by his reception into the Catholic Church.

Earlier this year, in response to the lifting of the excommunications of four Lefebvrist bishops, Pope Benedict wrote: “Leading men and women to God, to the God who speaks in the Bible: this is the supreme and fundamental priority of the Church and the Successor of Peter at the present time” – a sentiment which will resonate with Anglicans accepting the Petrine ministry. The most important issue for all Catholics is that anyone of good conscience who seeks to join their Church, be they John Henry Newman, or Tony Blair, or the vicar of an Anglican parish or his flock, should be given a generous and hospitable welcome to their new home.

Archbishop Nichols is quoted in another article in the same edition of today's Tablet:

I salute the courage and generosity of Pope Benedict, who has again shown an open and loving heart, just as one would expect of a Holy Father.

Amen!