THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: We've seen it coming for a long time. Ever since the election of Bishop Gene Robinson back in 2003, the demise of the US Episcopal Church (ECUSA) was inevitable. Now after multiple warnings from Anglican provinces around the world, as well as a stern warning from the Lambeth Council not to continue gay ordinations, the US Episcopal Church has openly defied the consensus of the worldwide Anglican Communion by voting for more gay ordinations as well as blessing gay "marriages." The US Episcopal Church has effectively thrown itself out of what remains of the former Anglican Communion. As of right now, thanks to the actions of the ECUSA's governing body, there is no officially recognized Anglican province in the United States.A small group of Episcopalians have been working to create an orthodox alternative to the US Episcopal Church, and in time they may be recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury. However a growing number of orthodox Episcopalians are beginning to realize that no matter what final resolution occurs, the Anglican Communion has now been wounded beyond repair. The end of an era has come.
(CNA) - Prominent biblical scholar and Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright has said the Episcopal Church’s recent decision to allow homosexuals to be ordained as bishops will mark a “clear break” with the Anglican Communion and formalizes a “schism.” He also insisted that chastity is not “optional” for Christians.A growing number of Episcopalians are beginning to understand that the only way Anglo-Catholicism can be fully realized in this post-modern world is within the communion of the universal Catholic Church and under the protection of the Bishop of Rome.
On Tuesday the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (TEC) voted by wide margins to pass a resolution allowing homosexuals to enter “any ordained ministry” in the church...
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(Virtue on Line) - New Liturgical Movement is reporting that the Anglican All Saints Sisters of the Poor in Catonsville, Maryland have announced their intention to be received into the Catholic Church on September 3. These are wonderful women and this is wonderful news.It's not just clergy and religious who are making the switch, but individual laymen and entire congregations too. Some of them are making a clean break with Anglicanism and starting over as Roman Catholics. When the new English translation of the liturgy is released between 2010 and 2012, the ordinary form of the Catholic mass will become strikingly similar to the traditional form of the old Anglican liturgy. So transition from Anglican to Catholic will be significantly smoother in the years ahead.
As an Anglican, I made two retreats with the sisters when the men's order I was an associate of held it's chapter at Catonsville and I've visited one or two other times. One of their sisters was assigned to St. Anna's, the small house they maintain in Philadelphia, and I knew her quite well from my days at S. Clement's.
The sisters have been in discernment about their future and the rumor mill has been churning for some time, so this is not unexpected, but it is very good to hear. Their resident chaplain, Rev. Canon Warren Tanghe, announced his submission some time ago. Their previous chaplain was also received four or five years ago. They've been in my prayers and those of many others.....
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However, a growing number of Anglicans converting to Catholicism are bringing their English customs with them, and believe it or not, Rome has already made provision for this.
It's called the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision. While not a full rite within the Roman Catholic Church, it does maintain many similar characteristics, which allows US Episcopalians to essentially do everything the same way they have always done it, except now they are under the pastoral protection of the pope. They are free from liberal influences, openly homosexual clergy, gay marriages, and even women priests. Those Anglican Use Catholic churches already established essentially run themselves the same way the Episcopal Church used to do things fifty years ago, before the radical changes and the overwhelming influence of modernism.
The Anglican Use Society was formed to help Episcopalians integrate their Anglican customs into the Catholic Church under the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision. By contacting the Anglican Use Society, Episcopalians seeking pastoral protection can be directed to an Anglican Use parish, or to an Anglican Use community that is in the process of starting a parish. Furthermore, if a group contacting the society is large enough, the Society can give instructions for the process of starting their own Anglican Use community and parish.
CLICK HERE to learn more about the Anglican Use Society.
9 comments:
Anglican-use I believe is a way station for Catholic Anglicans. The Church cannot deny that the 16th century Anglican schism from Rome has resulted in an authentic expression of Christianity that is distinct from the Latin and Eastern Catholic expressions. Even if historically the Church in England belonged to the Latin Church, the post-Reformation history of that church has taken it from a different path from the Latin Church of today.
Thus Anglican use should evolve into an Anglican Rite that will allow Catholic Anglican bishops to elected and confirmed by the Holy Father to shepherd the flock. So far it is Latin Rite bishops who look after Anglican use parishes. Catholic Anglican bishops are in the best position to preserve the Anglican liturgy and customs in the Catholic Church. An Anglican Rite would allow the Church to have Catholic Anglican parishes anywhere. At present it is only in the USA where we have the Anglican use. The Catholic Church in England never allowed something like it for fear of upsetting the Established Church of England. But with recent developments in TEC and the Anglican communion, this is becoming moot.
Also Catholic Anglican bishops provide a strong witness against TEC innovations like a Katherine Jefferts-Schori! Anglican use despite the criticism that it borrowed heavily from the 1979 BCP (which I don't really like) and fusing this with the faulty English translation of the Novus Ordo, has managed to be more faithful to Catholic practice than many Catholic parishes some of which have pastors and members whose beliefs no differ from that of the TEC as we know it now after the 2009 General Convention! This is the Catholic Anglican witness to the larger Catholic church. Only when it has its own bishops that preserve its heritage and liturgy can this witness be much heard.
Bishop agree for same sex union but really sorry I'm not agree with this bloody decision.
from a purely aesthetic point of view, the higher quality of the Anglican Use should definitely permeate the flat, stale, mediocre language and hymns of the typical novus ordo parish (oops, "worship center") The more widespread return of the ancient Tridentine rite is the true path to liturgical unity.
With due apologies to all sincere Anglicans, a church that was born as a result of a corrupt, immoral King's egotism and forced upon a nation can not seriously claim divine protection. Much less its total discarding of all historic, biblical and apostolic teachings on morality and church governance serously affects its credibility. IT is the surest sign that it is a man made religion.
BTW Sir Knight, have you heard our "esteemed" ex PResident Carter has quit the Baptist "church" over its failure to ordain women?
Classical Anglicanism did not totally discard Sacred Tradition even with the 39 articles. After all the Church of England held on to an episcopal polity and believed in the Apostolic succession. That we have Anglican-Use congregations is proof of this.
However the innovations introduced by the US Episcopal Church are a different matter. Female priests and bishops are not part of Sacred Tradition. The problems of the Anglican Communion today spring from TEC innovations.
Classical Anglicans are now trying to recover what is left of their Catholic inheritance and this increasingly means forming a new Anglican Church in the USA. Even in the primacy of Dr Jefferts-Schori, there are many Anglican/Episcopal parishes that have preserved the Catholic tradition.
All hope will never be lost.
I think the beauty of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form will unite all Catholics who love graceful language and a reverent attitude.
Check these pictures out from the ECUSA 2009 convention. Third row down. A female Franciscan OFM.
http://picasaweb.google.com/virtueonline/TECGeneralConvention2009#
probably an Anglican "franciscan?"
Sir Knight, i discovered something QUITE amazing by pure chance. I am a member of the Latin Liturgy Associaton of Philadelphia, and the head of the group posted a list of churches with the TLM, but he included two which at first glance i knew to be High Church episcopal. When i inquired he told me that they have since been accepted into communion with Rome and do ONLY the TLM and were doing so even before being received into the church. This is utterly amazing. God bless them. I will follow up with the post from LLA for your enjoyment. Pete Frey
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