The Houston priest appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to lead what amounts to a nationwide diocese for Anglican converts to Catholicism said Monday that the new Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter represents a momentous step toward healing the rift between the Vatican and the Anglican church.
“For, perhaps, the first time since the Reformation in the 16th century, a corporate structure has been given to assist those who in conscience seek to return to the fold of St. Peter and his successors,” said the Rev. Jeffrey Neil Steenson, a married former Episcopal priest and father of three.
I think that the statement headlined here is grossly disingenuous. There is no effort at “healing a rift.” All this is doing is simply making it a bit easier for Anglicans to convert to Roman Catholicism. It will in no way bring the Anglican Communion closer to Rome. It’s rather akin to Rome “healing the rift” with the Orthodox via Uniatism.
I don’t fault Rome’s approach here. It is quite consistent and reasonable for those holding that Rome represents the OTC. I just object to the patently silly statement about healing a rift.
AO –
I agree with you about the headline, but note that Fr. Steenson said nothing about ”healing” or ”rifts”. He speaks of a unique corporate structure, which is accurate.
And you know, Rome regards Orthodox Churches as True Churches, so not sure how we could be the ONE True Church. 🙂
[sigh, clenched teeth]
I . . . I . . .
I . . . I agree . . .
[i]I agree with Ad Orientem.[/i]
[gasp, thud, clatter clatter clatter, thump . . . ]
[i][deathly silence][/i]
#3, miracles happen!
AO/Sarah,
Somewhere in the Book of Revelation, there is probably a veiled allusion to this momentous, unique agreement between the two of you, and how it is but one more indicator of the End of Days.
I have observed that headlines don’t always accurately reflect the articles underneath them. Occasionally they actually contradict them. A recent headline about the re-opening of the Natalie Wood drowning case said “Robert Wagner Breaks Long Silence about Natalie Wood’s Death.” The quote from Robert Wagner was basically “I have nothing more to say that I haven’t already said.”
That’s because headlines that say “Robert Wagner Has Nothing More to Say About Natalie Wood’s Death” (or “Perhaps, For the First Time Since the Reformation, A Corporate Structure Has Been Given to Assist Those Who Seek to Return to the Fold of St. Peter and His Successors”) rarely sell a lot of newspapers (or garner a lot of mouse clicks).
The AC/RC can never heal their “rift” whilst ordaining women and calling boy-boy or girl-girl “married” or “unionized” by the former remain hurdles, not to mention the theological differences.
Off-topic(by me) but I’ll quickly comment on #6, as that leads down a public safety road. I’ve spent my whole life on boats of various sizes, and even married a guy who knows how to drive 600+ footers. Natalie Wood’s death was a huge tragedy, but I can guarantee it’s what happens when lots of people(especially those “in charge”) are intoxicated on boats.
The union sought here between Rome and Anglicans I believe can only be accomplished by Christ himself. Is he in this movement? I am not sure – but I hope so. Nevertheless, I think we ought to be patient to see what God is doing at this time – test the spirit and see if there is truth and love in it.
While I am Anglican, I love my Roman brethren deeply and am thankful for their witness in and throughout the world. I pray that we will not let some of the man-made aspects of our institutions (and let us be honest about what they are) separate the people of God – the Body of Christ in the world.
Something I wrote in October, 2009:
Holy Mother Church
Once, at The Church of The Holy Spirit in Orleans, Massachusetts,
David preached a sermon in which he referred to us as “Holy Mother Church.”
On the way out, I told David that I left HMC a long time ago;
He said Holy Mother Church never left you!
Now, in October 2009, the mountain has come to Mohammed,
That is, HMC is reaching out to co-opt and ingather traditional Anglicans
By offering to receive Anglican parishes as “discrete bodies”
Into the arms of the Holy Roman Empire, i.e., the Roman Catholic Church.
Little do the Vatican officials who hatched this plot
Realize that they have opened the door to cataclysmic change in their Church.
Heretofore, they have received only individual Anglicans, who “swim the Tiber.”
Including married Anglican clerics who are retreaded as Catholic priests.
When they get a whole bunch, nothing but trouble will result.
Their own clergy will begin to demand the right to be married, too.
Their bishops will have to deal with fractious vestries,
Who are used to functioning independent of church hierarchy.
Anglican parishes call their own clergy, subject to diocesan approval,
And do not hold still for having someone assigned by outside authority.
Anglicans do not accept theological precepts they do not agree with,
Certainly not from a foreign-born bishop in a palace in Rome.
No doubt the Vatican is looking for substantial revenue from affluent Anglicans.
They will find all such funds specifically reserved for pet causes of donors.
Anglicans are a stiff-necked people, who will not behave like Catholic sheep,
Who bend the knee, bow the head, and reach into their pockets.
Revolt will spread.
Free thought will infest the Catholic faithful.
The specter of women’s ordination will arise
To haunt the planners at the Vatican.
#7 As one who basically grew up on sailboats, I know very well that alcohol and water are a deadly combination. However, to keep this on topic, when, for example, Anglicans who have joined the Ordinariate get completely drunk and then get into violent fights with their spouses on boats, such that the captain of the boat has to turn up his radio to drown out their screaming, and then 15 minutes later one of them is reported to the captain as “missing,” generally a search light is turned on and the Coast Guard is called immediately as opposed to waiting four hours to do so. Especially when the non-drunk (possibly Lutheran) captain on board knows very well what to do in such circumstances. Natalie Wood, who, to keep this on topic, was actually Russian and raised in the Russian Orthodox Church, was found miles away with bruises on her body. The official explanation was that she “must have heard the dinghy banging on the boat and went to tie it up.” My experience, as a Roman Catholic, is that a wealthy member of the Russian Orthodox Church who was on a boat being operated by a professional captain and who was drunk and had just concluded (or not) a screaming match with her husband wouldn’t give a rat’s rear-end about the dinghy banging on the boat. But when two drunken people of whatever denomination are standing on the deck of a boat and shoving each other, it is very likely to end up with one or both of them in the water.
How true. That’s why I crossed the Tiber and became a Catholic – DIY theology just became too much. The foreign-born bishop, of course, would describe St Peter and all his successors bar one, though where they live is not as important as their apostolic descent.
Re #3
Hmmm maybe I need to rethink this… 😉
#10, I’d bet money the Lutheran was drunk, too–not to mention, that might be how we got the Concordat. 🙂
Dear Number Nine,
Rome knows well who will win and how small and feeble the Anglican Rite will be. Anglo-Catholics, especially in America, have always had an entirely disproportionate sense of their importance in Christ’s Church and that has been and will be their downfall.
Charles52 at #2 wrote: “I agree with you about the headline, but note that Fr. Steenson said nothing about ‘‘healing’’ or ‘‘rifts’‘.”
According to the article he did, it just doesn’t report it in the first person: “[Fr Steenson] said Monday that the new Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter represents a momentous step toward healing the rift between the Vatican and the Anglican Church.”
Did the journalist report Fr Steenson’s sentiments accurately? That’s another matter…!
Profpk wrote at #9,
[blockquote] “Heretofore, they have received only individual Anglicans, who “swim the Tiber.â€
Including married Anglican clerics who are retreaded as Catholic priests.
When they get a whole bunch, nothing but trouble will result.”[/blockquote]
According to the article, there are about 100 priests going over. I think the RCC in USA has about 40,000 priests. So, a “whole bunch” of 100 into 40,000…. ;o)
You might find England more congenial to your case – only one tenth the number of RCC priests as there are in USA, and about 65 ex-Anglican priests going over to the Ordinariate. But its still a miniscule proportion.
[block]Rome knows well who will win and how small and feeble the Anglican Rite will be.[/block]
I guess it depends on what you mean by “small and feeble.” Will they be any smaller (in terms of numbers) then they were before they joined the Ordinariate? Will they be more or less likely to dwindle to the vanishing point than they were before? I don’t know the anwer, but it seems to me that the situation for them before they joined was pretty grim in terms of numbers. As far as feeble — are you speaking in terms of influence and power? Did they have any real influence and power before or was that also dwindling to the vanishing point? I would guess that for most people and parishes joining the Ordinariate, the issue is not “this will make us bigger and more powerful” but “this will keep us safe and alive, at least for my generation.” I suspect it will be an enormous relief for them.
#14 and #15 –
I assume the quote from Fr. Steenson (included above) is what he said and the Chronicle interpreted it into “healing the rift”. That would be consistent with the obsessions of American journalism and their general inability to understand religion.
I didn’t read #9 as supportive of the RCC or the Ordinariate, but I do agree that the numbers are small, and will remain small, particularly viewed as a percentage of the whole.