As for our Catholic bishops, there is now more sympathy for the Anglo-Catholic dilemma. The appointment of Archbishop Vincent Nichols to Westminster is significant; for, although he has never been a “traditionalist”, nor has he ever been at the heart of the dialogue between liberal Catholics and liberal Anglicans that has wasted so much time since the ordination of women priests made reunion impossible. As a young Westminster bishop, he unobtrusively cleared the path to Rome of at least one Anglican priest; there is no reason to think that he will not do the same again.

But the crucial change is that the present Pope, unlike his predecessor, is an admirer of the conservative Anglo-Catholic tradition – and open to the idea that doctrinally orthodox Anglicans should convert together, bringing with them spiritual gifts. He is aware that the practical obstacles to such a move (or series of moves) are immense. But he will not be dissuaded by a Catholic ecumenical lobby that, even now, pays court to liberal Anglicans.

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It’s been about three months now since we heard of Alberto Cutie, the former Roman Catholic priest who was caught kissing his girlfriend on a Miami beach. No sooner was he removed from his post than he left the Catholic Church altogether for the local Episcopal diocese, which welcomed him with much fanfare and sent him to pastor a local church.
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As I looked at photos of Cutie, I realized there was something very familiar about the background: I used to attend that church.

That was when I was a reporter for the Hollywood Sun-Tattler, a daily of about 35,000 circulation when I moved there in 1983 as a general assignment reporter. Hollywood is a few suburbs to the north of Biscayne Park, where sits the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, Father Cutie’s digs.

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Archbishop Rowan Williams, the leader of the Anglican Communion, has spoken to the decision of the Anglican church in the United States to go forward with ordaining homosexual bishops and blessing same-sex unions.

In his statement Monday, Archbishop Williams addressed the decisions made at the Episcopal general convention, held early this month.

The declaration, titled “Communion, Covenant and our Anglican Future,” expressed concern about the U.S. church decisions regarding same-sex lifestyles, noting that “a realistic assessment of what [the] convention has resolved does not suggest that it will repair the broken bridges into the life of other Anglican provinces; very serious anxieties have already been expressed.”

The archbishop said the issue is a matter of “whether the Church is free to recognize same-sex unions by means of public blessings that are seen as being, at the very least, analogous to Christian marriage.”

“In the light of the way in which the church has consistently read the Bible for the last 2,000 years,” he said, “it is clear that a positive answer to this question would have to be based on the most painstaking biblical exegesis and on a wide acceptance of the results within the Communion, with due account taken of the teachings of ecumenical partners also. A major change naturally needs a strong level of consensus and solid theological grounding.”

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In a statement July 29, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity noted Archbishop Williams’ concern for maintaining the unity of the Anglican Communion through common faith and practice based on Scripture and tradition.

The Vatican office “supports the archbishop in his desire to strengthen these bonds of communion, and to articulate more fully the relationship between the local and the universal within the church,” the statement said.

“It is our prayer that the Anglican Communion, even in this difficult situation, may find a way to maintain its unity and its witness to Christ as a worldwide communion,” it added.

The Episcopal Church’s general convention adopted two resolutions that may further strain relations within the Anglican Communion and with the Catholic Church: One affirmed that all ordained ministries, including the office of bishop, are open to all the baptized, including gays and lesbians; the other called for the collection and development of theological resources for the blessing of same-sex unions.

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Because the blog went caput this series was not able to be finished. But did you notice how almost no aspect of the ecumenical dimensions of our decisions came into play, esepcially in the two highly publicized decisions?

Last evening the Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations Committee held a hearing on three resolutions, concerning relations with the Methodist and Presbyterian churches and the Church of Sweden. According to Massachusetts deputy Rebecca Alden, who is marking her third General Convention on the committee, things “got quite involved.” The upshot is that she and two fellow deputies will be filing a new resolution today to replace the proposed A072, “Interim Eucharistic Sharing with the United Methodist Church.”

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His Beatitude, the Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) announced recently that his church has ended its ecumenical relations with The Episcopal Church, and will establish instead formal ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA).

Metropolitan Jonah of the OCA made the announcement June 24 at a plenary session of the ACNA’s founding convocation at St Vincent’s Cathedral, Bedford, Texas.

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Catholics are humbled by the stories of former Anglicans who were faced with a decision and stepped out in faith to join the Catholic Church, said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

“The Catholic Church understands and appreciates the sacrifices made by former Anglican clergy and laity who have made the journey as individuals or as communities to full communion with the Catholic Church,” he said June 12.

“Truly, Rome is home and a place of abiding in our pilgrimage to the father,” noted the cardinal in a keynote address at the 2009 Anglican Use Conference in Houston.

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The Vision Before Us, subtitled ”˜The Kyoto Report of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations 2000-2008’, records the Commission’s work of maintaining an overview of the Anglican Communion’s engagement with Christians of other traditions, and of giving encouragement and advice to the ecumenical activities of the Communion and the Provinces.

Described by the Rt Revd Gregory Cameron, Bishop of St Asaph, and former Anglican Director of Ecumenical Affairs, as ”˜a chocolate box of delights’, the book contains all the Resolutions of the Commission, along with its statements, papers, advice and other key texts. These include an extended study on Holy Orders in Ecumenical Dialogues and Guidelines on Ecumenical Participation in Ordinations. It details all the Communion’s bilateral and multilateral dialogues, as well as various regional developments, and the ecumenical dimensions of other areas of the Communion’s life.

Read it carefully and read it all.

Catholics and Anglicans sat down in Cincinnati on May 25-26 to hold establish a dialogue on two issues that feature prominently in modern society: debt relief and contraception.

The event marked the second meeting of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue in the United States (ARC-USA). The theme of this meeting was “Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment: Common Ground and Divergences.”

The dialogue was hosted by the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio and was co-chaired by Episcopal Bishop Thomas Breidenthal of Southern, Ohio and Catholic Bishop Ronald P. Herzog of Alexandria, Louisiana.

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But when Cutié’s new bishop, the Rt. Rev. Leo Frade, stood inside Miami’s Trinity Cathedral to announce the news to dozens of international reporters, he created his own waves.

The ”Inquisition is over,” Frade said in widely broadcast remarks after Catholic Archbishop John C. Favalora admonished him for a disrespectful “public display.”

The style is typical of Frade’s nine-year tenure, say those who know him well: casual, off-the-cuff and, to some, a bit too in-your-face.

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On Thursday, Mr. Cutié mercifully brought it to a close. By joining the Episcopal Church and announcing plans to marry the woman to whom he has been romantically linked, the 40-year-old former Roman Catholic priest made a decision that should put an end to the story. It was, in retrospect, where the story has been heading all along. As long as Mr. Cutié refused to renounce his temporal love, he could not continue on the same spiritual path.

The Catholic Archdiocese took his action to mean that he had ex-communicated himself. It’s a shame that Mr. Cutie did not reach out to the Catholic bishop to announce his intention to join the Episcopal Church. Still, his decision should bring the affair to a tidy end.

Now the archdiocese can concentrate on its more fundamental and worrisome problems — finding a way to keep struggling parishes and charities alive in a time of shrinking collections.

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On his return to the pulpit Sunday, Rev. Alberto Cutié tried to say hello to his new congregation.

He couldn’t.

First came the standing ovation. Then, cheering. And the cameras, held high in the air, as though at a rock concert, capturing every moment. Inside the tiny Episcopal Church of the Resurrection of Biscayne Park, more than 300 people — more than three times the normal attendance — turned out to greet him for Sunday morning service.

Cutié looked out at the crowd and said, “I am humbled by your presence here.”

The priest nicknamed ”Father Oprah” gave his first sermon since famously leaving the Roman Catholic Church after published photographs showed him nuzzling a woman on a Florida beach. Unlike in Catholicism, Episcopal priests can marry.

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The celebrity Miami priest known as “Father Oprah” converted from Catholicism to the Episcopal Church on Thursday (May 28), weeks after pictures surfaced of the cleric canoodling with his girlfriend on a Florida beach.

The Rev. Alberto Cutie and his girlfriend were received into the Episcopal Church at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Miami on Thursday, according to the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida.

Unlike Catholic clerics, Episcopal priests are allowed to marry, and Cutie, 40, plans to wed his girlfriend and pursue ordination in the Episcopal Church, according to the diocese.

The diocese said Thursday’s ceremony culminates a “two year discernment process” for Cutie, indicating that he had considered converting long before photos revealing his relationship with the woman were published by Spanish-language media earlier this month.

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At a press conference late Thursday afternoon, Archdiocese of Miami officials expressed disappointment in Cutié and had strong words for the Episcopal Church, especially Bishop Frade.

”This is truly a setback for ecunemical relations and cooperation between us. The Archdiocese have never made a public display when for doctrinal reasons Episcopal priests have joined the Catholic Church and sought ordination,” said Archbishop John Favalora. He said he had not heard from Frade about the transition and had not spoken to Cutié since May 5, adding that Cutié never told the archbishop he wanted to get married.

”Father Cutié is removing himself from full communion with the Catholic Church and thereby forfeiting his rights as a cleric,” Favalora said, later adding that Cutié is still “bound by the promise to live the celibate life which he freely embraced at ordination. Only the Holy Father can release him from the obligation”

Not so, Bishop Frade said Thursday afternoon. ”That promise is not recognized by our church. If you can find it in the Bible that priests should be celibate, that will be corrected,” Frade said. “The only thing we can say is that we pray for ecumenical relations. . .I am sorry they are sorry, and we love them.”

I am going to leave comments open on this, having had a night to pray on it, but I would request please that you be respectful. Read it all

Father Alberto Cutie, an internationally known Catholic priest who admitted having a romantic affair and breaking his vow of celibacy, is joining the Episcopal Church to be with the woman he loves.

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I will take comments on this submitted by email only to at KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

This commission has met in Tanzania, Canada, and India. Sweden was chosen as the venue for this meeting in order to allow sustained engagement and deepening theological reflection on the theme of diakonia, which has been emerging as the central theme on which this commission wants to make its contribution. The discussion discovered strong links between the “six marks of mission,” which provide a framework for Anglican engagement in God’s mission, and developments in Lutheran understandings of diakonia, as seen in the Diakonia in Context handbook which Kjell Nordstokke from the LWF introduced to the group.

The life of the Christian Church has diaconal character, this commission believes. Using a diaconal lens has allowed the commission to examine issues of ecclesiology and ministry from fresh perspectives. Diakonia and koinonia (communion) are two faces of the same reality, two sides of the same coin on which God’s image is stamped. The commission believes that a renewed and full understanding of diakonia will strengthen the mission and unity of the Church at every level. God is now calling Anglicans and Lutherans to find concrete diaconal expressions for the growing communion between them.

The inseparable relationship of diakonia and communion is integral to the church in every context, but it is expressed in particular ways in each place. As part of its mandate, the commission received regional reports, which reflect a diversity of contexts, needs, and responses. The commission is learning that there is no single pattern for growth in communion; promising initiatives are found in many forms. In some places, the prophetic dimension of diakonia has particular urgency, and in fact is the leading impetus toward greater unity. In others, the most pressing challenge is to bring diakonia closer to the heart of the churches’ life together.

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It’s the putting right that counts”¦

The Anglican-Methodist Covenant, to be signed this Sunday, May 24, is a significant step towards the healing of a broken relationship.

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THE leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland has pledged his full support for work with Irish Anglicans in combating the joint challenges of sectarianism, racism and secularism.

Cardinal Sean Brady made this solemn commitment yesterday when he spoke officially in the Church of Ireland cathedral of St Patrick in Armagh at a Eucharist ceremony closing its annual General Synod.

The Cardinal made his pioneering inter-church pledge in response to an earlier address by the Anglican Bishop of Limerick, Trevor Williams, who informed him of a three-year ‘Hard Gospel’ project by the Church of Ireland to tackle a range of problems that have divided Catholics and Protestants in the North.

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The Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations (IASCER) on May 7 asked the 14th ACC meeting here to endorse a set of resolutions, including one that urges the resumption of the Anglican Communion’s dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox Churches of the Middle East.

The resolutions and documents, compiled in a book, The Vision Before Us, also asked the ACC to commend to member provinces for adoption, “key sections” which include matters ranging from the administration of baptism and eucharist, to guidelines for ecumenical participation in ordinations to the Four Principles of Anglican Engagement in Ecumenism.

Gregory Cameron, who is bishop of the Welsh diocese of St. Asaph and former IASCER director, likened the book to “a box of chocolates” that offers many delights and surprises.

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REPRESENTATIVES of Beaudesert’s Anglican and Catholic parishes arrived together for the joint Act of Repentance at St John’s Cathedral in Brisbane capturing the spirit behind one of the key sesquicentenary celebrations of 2009.

Catholic parish priest Fr Bernie Gallagher and Rev David Lunniss, of the Anglican parish, made the trip with 24 of their parishioners by bus, sitting together in the cathedral later for the event.

Nearly 500 people attended the Act of Repentance on March 27 at St John’s Cathedral. A combined choir from St John’s and St Stephen’s Cathedral took part.

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The Anglican Church of Canada’s management team met with National Bishop Susan Johnson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and her senior staff on March 18 and 19 to discuss ways to strengthen the relationship between the two churches, including plans for a joint General Synod/National Convention to be held in Ottawa in 2013 and the possibility of sharing national office space in the future.

“If full communion is really going to have some sense of visibility across the Canadian church, there have to be some pretty bold steps that we take together to help people realize that we are, in fact, churches in full communion,” said Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, noting that it has been eight years since the two churches reached an agreement to be in full communion.

Officers from both churches will meet next fall, followed by a joint meeting of the Council of General Synod, (CoGS, which governs the church between General Synods) and the Lutheran National Church Council, “probably in March 2011,” said Archbishop Hiltz. This would culminate in 2013 with a joint gathering of the governing bodies of each church. “It is exciting to see the momentum,” he said.

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The head of that Vatican office, Cardinal William Levada, wrote Hepworth in July 2008, saying he was giving “serious attention” to the TAC’s proposal. But he noted that the situation within the broader Anglican Communion, with which the Vatican has an official dialogue, had “become markedly more complex.” The Anglican Communion is on the brink of schism because of internal rifts over how it should interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships and other issues.

Hepworth has called the letter a sign of “warmth and encouragement,” and the traditional Anglicans posted the note on their Web site. But Monsignor Marc Langham, who is in charge of Anglican relations at the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, said that Levada’s letter was a “standard Vatican holding letter” and suggested interpreting it with caution.

“It’s very easy to turn expectation and hope into hard fact,” Langham said in a recent phone interview.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed that the traditional Anglican group and the Vatican have been in contact for some time and would continue to talk.

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The “request” was made by the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, which is the central governing body of the Catholic Church handling most affairs relating to official public worship.

In a joint statement, the Right Reverend Brian Farran, Anglican Bishop of Newcastle, and the Most Reverend Michael Malone, Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, said the congregation had “expressed concern about a simultaneous celebration and the possibility of confusing messages being given to the people”.

In the statement, Bishop Malone said he believed that since a similar celebration had been held in England in 1989, a precedent had been established, and he apologised to those who would have been involved.

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The Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor today spoke of his regret at the divisions in the Anglican Communion that have taken it to the brink of schism.

Addressing the General Synod in Church House, Westminster he said the Anglican Church’s struggles affected all churches or “ecclesial communities”, as the Pope has instructed Catholic bishops to refer to non-Catholic and non-Orthodox churches.

“Divisions within any church or eccclesial community impoverish the communion of the whole Church,” he said. “We Roman Catholics cannot be indifferent to what is happening to our friends in the Anglican Communion and, in particular, in the Church of England.

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(ACNS) Following a private meeting with the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, His Holiness Pope Shenouda III, the Coptic Pope, received the Primates of the Anglican Communion at the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Alexandria on Saturday evening, 31 January. The Primates are meeting in Alexandria in the latest of their series of regular meetings.

In thanking Pope Shenouda for his warm welcome and hospitality the Archbishop of Canterbury drew attention to the significance of meeting together in the city where many of the universal doctrines of the Christian faith were formed and where the seeds of the Christian monastic movement had been sown in the fourth century.

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Catholic Online promised to up date our readers on this extraordinary story. So, we now pass this on: The National Catholic Register cites a “Vatican Source” as saying that “nothing’s been decided” by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Reports abound that the Congregation has recommended the creation of a personal prelature as the vehicle through which to receive the members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Register contends that an official at the Congregation spoke with their correspondent Edward Pentin today saying,“It’s something that has appeared on the blogosphere and then been reiterated, but the truth is nothing’s been decided.”

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We owe this choice of the passage from the prophet Ezekiel to our Korean brothers, who felt the call of this biblical passage strongly, both as Koreans and Christians. In the division of the Jewish people into two kingdoms they saw themselves reflected, the children of one land who, on account of political events, have been divided, north from south. Their human experience helped them to better understand the drama of the division among Christians.

Now, from this Word of God, chosen by our Korean brothers and proposed to all, a truth full of hope emerges: God allows his people a new unity, which must be a sign and an instrument of reconciliation and peace, even at the historical level, for all nations. The unity that God gives his Church, and for which we pray, is naturally communion in the spiritual sense, in faith and in charity; but we know that this unity in Christ is also the ferment of fraternity in the social sphere, in relations between nations and for the whole human family. It is the leaven of the Kingdom of God that makes all the dough rise (cf. Matthew 13:33).

In this sense, the prayer that we offer up in these days, taking our cue from the prophecy of Ezekiel, has also become intercession for the different situations of conflict that afflict humanity at present. There where human words become powerless, because the tragic noise of violence and arms prevails, the prophetic power of the Word of God does not weaken and it repeats to us that peace is possible, and that we must be instruments of reconciliation and peace. For this reason our prayer for unity and peace always requires confirmation by courageous gestures of reconciliation among us Christians.

Once again I think of the Holy Land: how important it is that the faithful who live there, and the pilgrims who travel there, offer a witness to everyone that diversity of rites and traditions need not be an obstacle to mutual respect and to fraternal charity. In the legitimate diversity of different positions we must seek unity in faith, in our fundamental “yes” to Christ and to his one Church. And thus the differences will no longer be an obstacle that separates but richness in the multiplicity of the expressions of a common faith.

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NATIONAL and international dis­cussions about church unity have been largely replaced by local action, church leaders say this week. The Archbishop of Canterbury confesses that he “finds echoes” of impatience with national bodies within himself.

Five church leaders ”” Dr Willi­ams, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Dr Martyn Atkins (Meth­odist), the Revd Jonathan Edwards (Baptist), and the Revd Roberta Rominger (United Reformed Church) ”” responded to a set of four questions asked by the editors of the Baptist Times and the Church Times. Their replies are also published in the Methodist Recorder and Reform.

They acknowledge a loss of impetus in national efforts to bring about unity. Dr Atkins talks of “less enthusiasm for unity as an end in itself”; Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor speaks of “a slowing down of progress”, des­pite increased commitment; and Dr Williams says: “You won’t find much interest in what you might call the ”˜negotiating’ side of unity.”

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Discussing relations with other Christian confessions, Metropolitan Kirill said: “unfortunately, differences in religious doctrines and practices have increased between orthodoxy and other confessions.”

“With some Protestant communities, such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden and the Episcopal Church of the United States, we have come to a complete break, due to the official recognition of homosexual relations,” he continued.

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