We have received the Archbishop of Canterbury’s letter informing us of the Pope’s offer of an ”˜Apostolic Constitution’ for those Anglicans who wish to be received into the Roman Catholic Church. We believe that this offer is a gracious one and reflects the same commitment to the historic apostolic faith, moral teaching and global mission that we proclaimed in the Jerusalem Declaration on the Global Anglican Future and for this we are profoundly grateful.

We are, however, grieved that the current crisis within our beloved Anglican Communion has made necessary such an unprecedented offer. It represents a grave indictment of the Instruments of Communion whose very purpose is to strengthen and protect our unity in obedience to our Lord’s clear command. Their failure to fully address the abandonment of biblical faith and practice by The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada has now brought shame to the name of Christ and seriously impedes the cause of the Gospel.

The Primates Council of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans (GAFCON/FCA) is convinced, however, that Anglicanism has a bright future as long as we remain grounded in the Holy Scriptures and obedient to our Lord Jesus Christ’s call to reach the lost and make disciples of all nations teaching them to observe the whole Gospel. We also believe that there is room within our Anglican family for all those who hold true to the ”˜faith once delivered to the saints’. We would like to encourage those Anglicans who are considering this invitation from the Roman Catholic Church to recognize that Anglican churches are growing throughout the world in strength and offering a vibrant testimony to the transforming work of Christ.

We are convinced that this is not the time to abandon the Anglican Communion. Our Anglican identity of reformed catholicity, that gives supreme authority to the Holy Scriptures and acknowledgement that our sole representative and advocate before God is the Lord Jesus Christ, stands as a beacon of hope for millions of people. We remain proud inheritors of the Anglican Reformation. This is a time for all Christians to persevere confident of our Lord’s promise that nothing, not even the gates of hell, will prevail against His Church.

(signed)

+Peter Abuja (Archbishop Peter Akinola),
Chairman,
GAFCON/FCA Primates Council

Anglicans who have sought communion with Rome are giving a positive initial reaction to the apostolic constitution released today that outlines how their personal ordinariates will be established.

In a report posted today on the Messenger Journal, the Great Britain province of the Traditional Anglican Communion said they are “the first to accept” the Vatican initiative.

The vote was unanimous including mail-in votes from those not present, and took place before the constitution was even released, the report explained.

Read it all.

Swedish press reports that the Church of England and Church of Ireland will boycott the consecration of a partnered lesbian priest as Bishop of Stockholm are not true, spokesmen for the Archbishop of Canterbury and Archbishop of Armagh told The Living Church.

Nevertheless, no episcopal representatives from the Churches of England or Ireland, the Church in Wales or the Scottish Episcopal Church will be present for the Nov. 8 consecration of the Rev. Eva Brunne by Swedish Archbishop Anders Wejryd of Uppsala.

The Swedish Christian newspaper Dagen reported on Nov. 3 that the Church of England and Church of Ireland will boycott the ceremony as a sign of their displeasure with the ordination of Pastor Brunne, who lives with her partner, a fellow Church of Sweden pastor, the Rev. Gunilla Lindén.

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–Former Catholic priests who became Anglicans can’t be priests, and likewise men in “irregular” marriages are ineligible.
–Former Anglican bishops not recognized as bishops in the new ordinariates may nevertheless take part in bishops’ conference meetings (with the status of a retired bishop), and may ask Rome’s permission to wear the insignia of a bishop.
–Priests will be permitted to have a “secular” job outside the church, with the permission of their ordinary ”“ perhaps a concession to the reality that at least at the beginning, these ordinariates are likely to struggle with financial resources.

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I am unaware of any clergy or lay people in the Diocese of St Albans who have decided to take up this offer of joining one of the ”˜Personal Ordinariates’ yet. Personally, I will feel sad if anyone decides to leave us. However, there has always been two-way traffic between the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England. I expect that we will still see a small but steady stream of Roman Catholics being received into the Church of England. Meanwhile, the overwhelming majority of people in St Albans Diocese will continue to worship and serve their communities as before and are preparing for enthusiastic and joyful celebrations of Advent and Christmas.

Read the whole statement.

While acknowledging the correct stand taken by Anglo-Catholics against theological liberalism (the features of which do not represent true, Biblical Anglicanism), it should also be noted that the true doctrine of the Church of England does not embrace any of the teachings or practices which characterise the Church of Rome. For instance, the Church of Rome is fundamentally flawed in its claims about its own nature and authority and in its teaching about the means of salvation.

A proper rejection of theological liberalism should therefore not be accompanied by a turning to the Church of Rome and its unbiblical teachings and practices. Rather, both theological liberalism and the unscriptural teachings and practices of the Church of Rome are contrary to the Bible and to the historic doctrines of the Church of England as a Protestant, Reformed, Evangelical and catholic church.

The longing of Church Society is that all Anglicans, whether in England or elsewhere, would see and understand both the destructive nature of theological liberalism and the false nature, teachings and practices of the Church of Rome.

Read it all.

From here:

I had thought the original notice from Rome was extremely generous. Today all the accompanying papers have been published and they are extremely impressive. I have been horrified that the Church of England while trying to accommodate us has consistently said we cannot have the jurisdiction and independent life that most of us feel we need to continue on our Christian pilgrimage.

What Rome has done is offer exactly what the Church of England has refused. Indeed it has offered the requests of Consecrated Women? with the completion of its ecumenical hopes. We all need now to ask the question ‘is this what we want?’ For some of us I suspect our bluff is called! This is both an exciting and dangerous time for Christianity in this country. Those who take up this offer will need to enter into negotiation with the Church of England about access to parish churches and many other matters. This situation must not be used to damage the Church of England but I do believe we have a valid claim on our own heritage in history.

The doctrinal standard demanded by Rome is the New Catechism which most of us use anyway. We would be allowed to use Anglican or Roman rites and our ordinaries would have jurisdiction. We will all need to meet and talk. I would hope that this could take place in collaboration with the PEVs and other Catholic bishops. It is not my style to give a expansive analysis of a document that I have only received today nor will I answer the question ‘What are you going to do?’ That is something we need to work out together.

Every Blessing,

–(The Rt. Rev.) John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham

Anglican clergy claim the rules set out in the document make the offer seem more generous than it first seemed.

Fr Geoffrey Kirk, the national secretary of Forward in Faith, which represents Anglicans sympathetic to Catholicism, said more clergy would probably convert as a result.

“Of the 450 parishes I knew would take it (the Pope’s invitation) seriously, I said between 150 and 200 would convert. Now I think it’ll be more than 200.”

The details published today confirm that Church of England priests who are married will be allowed – on a case-by-case basis – to serve as Roman Catholic priests.

Read it all.

4. What is the role of former Anglican bishops?
A married former Anglican bishop is eligible to be appointed Ordinary. In such a case he is to be ordained a priest in the Catholic Church and then exercises pastoral and sacramental ministry within the Ordinariate with full jurisdictional authority.

A former Anglican bishop who belongs to the Ordinariate may be invited to participate in the meetings of the Bishops’ Conference of the respective territory, with the equivalent statutes of a retired bishop.

A former Anglican bishop who belongs to the Ordinariate and who has not been ordained in the Catholic Church, may request permission from the Holy See to use the insignia of the episcopal office.

5. What is the role of former Anglican priests?
Former Anglican priests who are married may be re-ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. “Those who have been previously ordained in the Catholic Church and subsequently have become Anglicans, may not exercise sacred ministry in the Ordinariate,” the constitution says. “Anglican clergy who are in irregular marriage situations may not be accepted for Holy Orders in the Ordinariate.”

Read it all.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is pedaling smartly back on his proposal for a financial transactions tax or ‘Tobin Tax’ after his surprise presentation, delivered at a Group of 20 finance meeting in Scotland, was met with a chorus of criticism over the weekend.

It is believed that Brown’s handling of the issue provoked renewed dispute with the Treasury. Chancellor Alistair Darling is said to be frustrated by the prime minister’s promotion of a plan he already knew would be publicly shot down by the US.

The American rejection of the proposal – “A day-by-day financial transactions tax is not something we are prepared to support,” said US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner (above, with Alistair Darling) – was followed by rejections from Canada, Russia, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

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The enrichment is mutual: the faithful coming from Anglicanism and entering into full Catholic communion receive the richness of the spiritual, liturgical and pastoral tradition of the Latin Roman Church in order to integrate it into their own tradition, which integration will in itself enrich the Latin Roman Church. On the other hand, exactly this Anglican tradition ”“ which will be received in its authenticity in the Latin Roman Church ”“ has constituted within Anglicanism precisely one of those gifts of the Church of Christ, which has moved these faithful towards Catholic unity.

What is involved in this provision, therefore, goes beyond what was envisioned in the Pastoral Provision adopted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by John Paul II on June 20, 1980. Whereas the Pastoral Provision foresaw that the faithful coming from Anglicanism would be members of the Diocese in which they were domiciled, although receiving special care from the diocesan Bishop, the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus considers them as members of a Personal Ordinariate and not of the Diocese in which they are domiciled. Furthermore these Ordinariates will be composed of faithful from every sate of life (laity, priests and members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and of Societies of Apostolic Life) coming from Anglicanism either in groups or individually, or receiving the sacraments of initiation within the Ordinariate itself (Ap. Cons. I § 4).

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Religion News & Commentary, Anglican Provinces, Archbishop of Canterbury, Church of England (CoE), Ecumenical Relations, Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Roman Catholic

Indeed, it’s time for us to dust off James Baker’s line: “When you’re serious, give us a call: 202-456-1414. Ask for Barack. Otherwise, stay out of our lives. We have our own country to fix.”

The fact is, the only time America has been able to advance peace ”” post-Yom Kippur War, Camp David, post-Lebanon war, Madrid and Oslo ”” has been when the parties felt enough pain for different reasons that they invited our diplomacy, and we had statesmen ”” Henry Kissinger, Jimmy Carter, George Shultz, James Baker and Bill Clinton ”” savvy enough to seize those moments.

Today, the Arabs, Israel and the Palestinians are clearly not feeling enough pain to do anything hard for peace with each other ”” a mood best summed up by a phrase making the rounds at the State Department: The Palestinian leadership “wants a deal with Israel without any negotiations” and Israel’s leadership “wants negotiations with the Palestinians without any deal.”

It is obvious that this Israeli government believes it can have peace with the Palestinians and keep the West Bank, this Palestinian Authority still can’t decide whether to reconcile with the Jewish state or criminalize it and this Hamas leadership would rather let Palestinians live forever in the hellish squalor that is Gaza than give up its crazy fantasy of an Islamic Republic in Palestine.

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The Vatican said on Monday that its new rules facilitating the conversion of Anglicans, including married Anglican priests, did not “signify any change” in its rules for priestly celibacy.

The announcement seemed aimed at dampening recent debate about whether in creating a new Anglican rite within the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican had brought in a kind of Trojan horse ”” married former Anglican clergy ”” a practice that might someday normalize the acceptance of married Catholic priests.

In a watershed in Catholic-Anglican relations, Pope Benedict XVI announced three weeks ago the creation of a new structure in which Anglicans could convert to Catholicism yet keep certain parts of Anglican ritual, including liturgy. The move was widely seen as aimed at traditionalist Anglicans uncomfortable with the ordination of women and gay clergy members.

Read it all

[Oliver] Karsitz, who works as a cameraman for German TV, is unsentimental about that night. “I always try to look to the future and live for today,” he says.

His daughter, who is about to turn 20, is training to be a Web designer. His relationship with her mother didn’t last. Karsitz’s father still lives in what was East Germany.

Karsitz says that his generation lived with the East-West tensions every day, but they are “meaningless” today to his daughter and her friends.

“My daughter has no inkling of what it was really like then. Our generation is still working through it all, to some extent. East and West come together everywhere in this city now. At your job, for example, you work with people from both sides of the wall, and you notice the divisions a little bit, the different outlooks. But for her it plays no role whatsoever,” he says.

Read (or better) listen to it all.

Former Anglicans entering the Catholic Church can preserve their liturgical traditions, married priests in some circumstances and even a shade of their consultative decision-making processes, according to Pope Benedict XVI’s document on new structures for welcoming the former Anglicans.

The pope’s apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus” (“Groups of Anglicans”) was published Nov. 9 at the Vatican along with specific norms governing the establishment and governance of “personal ordinariates,” structures similar to dioceses, for former Anglicans who become Catholic.

As previously announced by the Vatican, the text said there could be exemptions to the church’s celibacy rule to allow married former Anglican priests to be ordained as Catholic priests. However, it emphasized that this would be done on a “case-by-case basis.”

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It is the mid-1760s, and in Dublin’s grand St. Patrick’s Cathedral the famed revivalist John Wesley is preaching with all of his might. He is aware that the congregation of St. Patrick’s is filled with the city’s more successful, comfortable, perhaps self-satisfied souls. And so he thunders against their self-centeredness, rails against their disregard for the poor. “Oh who has courage to speak plain to these rich and honorable sinners?” Wesley writes afterward in his journals.

In the congregation is a young businessman who only a few years before has begun to make his mark in the city. Born in nearby Celbridge and raised on the archbishop’s estate that his father managed, this young man has gained something of a reputation for his skill at brewing beer. In fact, he has purchased a defunct brewery at St. James’ Gate, along the River Liffey, and, having married well and embedded himself skillfully in Dublin’s merchant class, he fully intends to rise.

Now, listening to John Wesley speak of the obligations of wealth, of a God-given duty to care for the hurting of the world, this gifted young man is reminded of values he learned on that archbishop’s estate and at his father’s knee. They are values that resurfaced in the Reformation of Calvin and Luther and that were set aflame and made personal in the Methodism of John Wesley. This rising entrepreneur hears and allows Wesley’s words to frame a vision for his fledgling company: a vision for producing wealth through brewing excellence and then for using that wealth to serve the downtrodden and the poor.

We should be glad that he did, for that young man was Arthur Guinness, the founder of the renowned brewery whose 250th anniversary we celebrate this year.

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A Catholic journalist has suggested that the name of the “personal ordinariate” in England and Wales may be linked to John Henry Newman, a famous former Anglican priest and theologian whose beatification is expected in 2010 when Pope Benedict XVI visits England. Other reactions have been very mixed: from many Anglicans of anger and from some atheists of protection and protest. Perhaps the atheists in England deep down are Protestant atheists?

The long term consequences of this announcement are difficult to see at the moment, but the achievements of the dialogical approach of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and of the International Anglican-Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) need to be safeguarded. The profoundly reconciling legacy in Liverpool and England of the friendship between Bishop David Sheppard and Archbishop Derek Worlock needs remembering and developing.

It may well be that the number of Anglican Catholic bishops and other clergy in England who take this up is likely to be low, and the number of congregations in England will be even lower.

Read it all.

The Apostolic Constitution has been published. It is all that Catholic Anglicans hoped for and more.While it officially keeps the door closed on any relaxation of the norms on celibacy – former Catholic priests who became Anglicans, married or no, will not be permitted to join the new Ordinariates – it is clear from Article 11 that former Anglican bishops can become Catholic bishops in all but name, even where they are married. They will officially retain the status of presbyter, but will be allowed to be the Ordinary or head of the Ordinariate, will be allowed to be a member of the local Bishops’ Conference with the status of retired bishop and, significantly, will be allowed to ask permission from Rome to use the seal of episcopal office. This leaves the path clear for Bishop of Fulham Father John Broadhurst, married father of four, to head the new Ordinariate in Britain. Heady stuff indeed – and I mean that theologically and metaphorically.

This document is in essence a practical working out of the embracing spirituality expressed in Pope Benedict XVI’s first encyclical, Deus Caritas Est.

It shows once again a passionate man, this time one who is passionate for unity.

Read it all.

We meet tonight through Wednesday.

From here:

Responding to today’s publication of the Apostolic Constitution and its complementary norms by the Vatican, the Rt Revd Christopher Hill, Bishop of Guildford and Chairman of the Church of England’s Council for Christian Unity, said:

“We note the publication of the text of the Apostolic Constitution and its complementary norms today. It will now be for those who have requested and at this point feel impelled to seek full communion with the Roman Catholic Church to study the Apostolic Constitution carefully in the near future and to consider their options.

The Vatican response to certain requests from individuals and groups across the world does not deflect us from either the continuing mission of the Church of England in its parishes and dioceses throughout the land, or its longstanding commitment to seeking the unity of all the Churches, including the Roman Catholic Church.”

If not, why not? Write a sign up to try it for a year.

I’m going to analyse the Constitution in detail later, but let me draw your attention to an intriguing detail which demonstrates just how far Rome is prepared to go to make special provisions for ex-Anglicans. Married ex-Anglican bishops will not be ordained Catholic bishops ”“ but, if they become Ordinaries, they will be able to join Bishops’ Conferences with the status of retired bishops, and may be allowed to use “the insignia of the episcopal office”.

Read it all.

Read it all.

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There are two pieces, one pro and one con, see what you think.

Archbishop Williams, whose case history demonstrates that it is easier to be a theologian than an archbishop, was his usual irenic self in his official statement: “It would not occur to me to see this as an act of aggression or statement of no confidence, precisely because the routine relationships that we enjoy as churches will continue.”

Pope Benedict XVI is no ecumaniac (as we used to call enthusiasts for the unity of the Christian churches in the ’50s and ’60s). Remember that when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, he led the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for 24 years. I used to characterize him as more Catholic than the pope because he was more conservative theologically than John Paul II. He wasn’t called the “Pope’s Rottweiler” for nothing.

And he has been interested for years in building ties with Anglicans who are in agreement with Rome on what he considers the crucial issues concerning gays and women. He plans to visit the U.K. next year.

What does all this mean for Anglicans or Episcopalians in the United States? Not much.

Read it all.

It could be the start of a groan-worthy joke.

A Catholic priest, a rabbi, an Episcopal rector, a Methodist minister and a Lutheran pastor sit down for some interfaith dialogue.

But yesterday at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in East Liberty, there was no joking about the discussion topic, the death penalty.

The Judeo-Christian religions have come a long way from the Old Testament notion of an eye for an eye, the panelists said. Representatives of the five religions said their churches have officially come out strongly against America’s use of the death penalty.

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But its narrow passage in the House, where the Democrats have a large majority, underscores the difficulties ahead. Senate Democrats are struggling to agree on how to pay for the overhaul and whether to create a new public insurance plan to compete with private insurers, as the House did. Friction over how the bill treats abortion, which almost derailed the House vote, is likely to divide the Senate too.

“If the public option plan is in there, as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote,” Sen. Joe Lieberman (I., Conn.) said on Fox News Sunday.

With the passage of the House bill, Congress moved closer than ever to providing Americans with near-universal health insurance — a goal that has eluded many presidents since the days of Theodore Roosevelt.

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A majority of Charleston County teachers surveyed say they don’t feel valued by the school district, evidence of a serious morale problem among those on the front lines of education.

The Charleston Teacher Alliance, a teacher advocacy group, asked its roughly 1,000 members to answer questions related to the start of this school year, and 845 responded. About 3,500 teachers work for the district.

The new survey revealed that 60 percent of teachers who responded don’t feel valued by the school district while 76 percent think the district views them as expendable. The alliance represents a large group of teachers, but district leaders don’t respond to their requests or seem to hear their feedback, said Kent Riddle, chairman of the alliance and a kindergarten teacher at Angel Oak Elementary.

“They need to start listening to teachers,” he said. “It feels like we’re being ignored.

Read it all.

Clergy and lay representatives from seven dioceses in The Episcopal Church, as well as six bishops with Episcopal jurisdiction, met in Charleston, S.C. on November 3-4, 2009 to consider ways they might assist each other in more effectively reaching their communities and the world for Christ. More specifically, in keeping with General Convention resolution B030, which encouraged domestic Dioceses within The Episcopal Church to enter into missional relationship, this meeting encouraged the dioceses to consider what resources they can share with each other and work more closely to further the Gospel mission. Evangelizing and reaching the unchurched; catechizing and discipling the converted; assisting members in generational faithfulness; renewing, strengthening and growing existing parishes; and planting new congregations to reach their communities with the Gospel were the areas of greatest interest.

To this end, through the work of some of the Communion Partner bishops and rectors, along with others, these Dioceses in Missional Relationships will begin by hosting two initiatives for the purpose of encouraging and equipping missionally focused dioceses, congregations and individuals through:

1. Establishing a website for sharing resources and networking for ministry and mission. It is their intention to have this ministry-networking initiative functioning in an initial stage during Epiphany 2010; and,
2. Sponsoring a large venue three day event in Dallas, September 23””25, 2010. This event will be for the purpose of encouraging, empowering, emboldening and equipping missionally focused individuals, congregations and dioceses, as well as providing resources to assist each other to be more effective in reaching their communities for Christ and his Church.

Dioceses presently involved in this Gospel initiative are Albany, Central Florida, Dallas, North Dakota, South Carolina, Springfield, and Western Louisiana.