Former Anglican monk and bishop, Robert Mercer, has been received into the full communion of the Catholic Church by Monsignor Keith Newton through the Personal Ordinariate of
Our Lady of Walsingham.
On Saturday 7 January, Mgr Newton celebrated Mass according to the Book of Divine Worship at the historic church of St Agatha’s, Portsmouth, by kind permission of the Reverend John Maunder, who cares for the Traditional Anglican Communion faithful in that area.
This is no surprise. After all, when a former MONK becomes an RC, it’s hardly shocking. But it’s still a significant development. Anglicanism’s loss is Rome’s gain. Hopefully, the presence of a growing number of admirable Anglican leaders on the other side of the Tiber will continue to forge ever stronger bonds between our two world communions.
The annual Week of Prayer for Christian Unity is just around the corner (from the Feast of the Confession of St. Peter on Jan. 18th to that celebrating the Conversion of St. Paul on the 25th), and it’s significant that this week of ecumenical prayer for the Church to become one started with the so-called Graymoor Fathers, a group of Episcopal monks who all converted to Roman Catholicism at the same time.
So the total is now up to six. SIX bishops of the CoE have joined the Ordinariate. How many more will follow still remains to be seen, but I suspect that we haven’t seen the last yet. I wouldn’t be at all surprised, e.g., if the highly-regarded bishop of Chichester were to swim the Tiber after his imminent retirement.
David Handy+
Very nice — but is there a reason he’s dressed like somebody who just popped in to drop off the mail, or is that the monastic thing?
David+, I think Robert Mercer was a TAC bishop.
CM, I thought the same thing. No habit, cassock, or even a jacket & tie?
It’s interesting to note that Mgr Newton is wearing a mitre.
Bishop Mercer served as bishop in southern Africa and then in one of the continuing churches. I think that the ordinaries of the Ordinariates may wear episcopal robes. I think of them as mitered abbots.
I believe that he’s being received as a layman (?) — so wouldn’t expect to see a habit or cassock, but how about taking the jacket off? Looks like he’s only got a minute and then has to get back to raking leaves. 🙂
The mitre threw me for a minute too. I was thinking “OK, there’s some bishop, now which of those other guys is Msgr. Newton?”
One of the things that fascinated me about the Ordinariate is that the bishops (or Bishop-like authorities) are being allowed to dress and behave just like a normal bishop, though Bishops are always suppose to be celibate according to Roman Catholic canon law. I am not sure what sort of legal acrobatics are going on to allow this; I am shocked the Vatican is looking the other way on this because it does call into question legitimacy of sacramental functions if the acting bishop is not technically a full bishop in the canonical legal sense.
Archer, as TomRightmyer said above, in many ways Ordinaries are like mitered Abbots. Abbots in some religious communities have the privilege of wearing the same regalia as a bishop to show their rank as a Religious hierarch, but they are not bishops. In fact, in history there have also been RC mitered abbesses. It does not require any legal acrobatics for the Vatican to do this – they are according the Ordinary, who will have at least as many priests as many Monastaries would have, the same dignity and allowing him to exercise about the same amount of authority as one would for a mitered abbot who also is not a bishop. This is well within the historical and theological tradition of the RCs. Also, the Ordinary is not able to exercise any of the sacramental functions that only bishops can perform – he cannot ordain, for instance. He can confirm, however RC priests can also be given the faculty to confirm. There is no impropriety or illegality here.
Yes, but Abbots can only dress like that in the confines of their monasteries and cannot perform the sacramental functions of a regular bishop. Abbots cannot ordain unless they have been regularly ordained as a Bishop.
Archer, there is no question of sacramental defect in the case of the Ordinariate. The very term ‘Ordinary’ means quite simply the one who has jurisdiction. An Ordinary is usually a bishop, but it can be a major religious superior such as an Abbot or Minister Provincial or (in the case of remote and sparse Catholic populations) an Administrator Apostolic, a priest who runs a proto-diocese. In the case of Mgr Newton he does not have the power to ordain, although he does include the power to admit to ordination, which would be carried out by a bishop at his request. As regards confirmation, any parish priest can confirm. I do so routinely each Easter Vigil. He sits in the Conference of Bishops of England and Wales and wears a pectoral cross and mitre, but these are marks of inclusion and of honor respectively.
Here in the States as I understand it, Steenson is being referred to as an Ordinary. The Ordinariate charter says that the Ordinariate has all the functions and powers of a regular diocese. Check the official US Ordinariate Website. I’m sorry, but this is not kosher according the the US House of Bishops rulebook. Perhaps they are getting around it by saying they have a special dispensation from the Pope and are therefore not warranted as being under the American rules. If so, that’s fine, but the song and dance of saying a Bishop Ordinary who is married meets these rules does not square with the actual rules.
All I am saying is that it is a song and dance. That’s why I find it interesting.
Archer: He is not a bishop, so there is no breach of the rules.
I shoudda added in my earlier post: like others above I was taken aback by what looks like an anorak worn on an occasion of some solemnity.
Incidentally the church in question was the place of pioneering ministry by a famous 19th C Anglo-Catholic priest, Fr Dolling, whose autobiography Ten Years in a Portsmouth Slum is a gripping read. He tackled problems like prostitution (the church is near dockland) appalling housing and poverty while simultaneously uplifting the people by giving them a vision of God’s love through the rituals and teaching of the catholic faith. One big difference between the Anglo Catholic movement then and now: then it had pockets of strong support in working class areas. Today that has all but vanished and the poorer and more deprived the area the harder it is to get responsiveness to the gospel in Britain today, although charistmatic evangelicalism seems to be making some progress. The vast church of St Agatha’s Landport Portsmouth was closed by the C of E in 1954 and survived two proposals to demolish it to widen a road (sic transit gloria Ecclesiae). It seems to have fallen into the hands of the Traditional Anglican Communion, but it seems that they do not own the freehold and hence, if they join the ordinariat, the future of the church is once more imperilled.
Archer: Not sure what “song and dance” you are referring to. Father Steenson is not a bishop, he cannot ordain or participate in a consecration. What specifically is the rule you think is being broken? An Ordinary can (and does) run an Ordinariate. Father Steenson is an Ordinary. What is it he’s doing that you think is “not kosher”??
He is acting like a bishop in everything but he really is not technically a bishop. He is basically a de facto bishop and not a de jure bishop. As someone interested in possibly joining the ordinariate, I was instructed by the Archdiocese of Washington to refer to him as a bishop when I am speaking to him. That what I’m saying. Something just doesn’t seem quite right about all this.
I have followed the whole thing very closely and admire the way the whole thing is developing. For the purposes of the present discussion, I especially admire the way each of form and substance is being applied in its own way. For readers surprised by this aspect of these developments, I urge you to jump over to Wikipedia’s “Mitre” and note the usage described for abbots and personal ordinaries.
For those preoccupied with song and dance, I hope you will also have a look at that link. I would be very interested to read your thoughts on the disuse of the papal tiara.
All in all, I watch with wonder the contrast in how the Roman Catholic Church ‘Does a New Thing’.
Of all the possible ordinaries, Fr. Steenson is one I would be honored to address as ”Your Excellency” and hope I get the chance to do so someday.
Archer, I think you would refer to him as Father Steenson, or after his installation, Msgr. Steenson. Never Bishop Steenson – that would be inappropriate. Maybe someone was trying to be sensitive to his prior status (and it is hard sometimes to remember not to address him that way, because so many of us think of him that way) but as an RC priest he is Fr. or Msgr., not bishop. Whoever said that to you told you wrong. He also is not a de facto bishop. He can’t ordain. Also, his power is vicarious – which means that he takes his power from the Holy Father. In some ways the position of the Ordinary is to the Pope like a Vicar General is to a Diocesan Bishop. The language in the decree is confusing because it compares the Ordinariate to a diocese, but the powers of the Ordinary are not exactly similar to that of a diocesan bishop. They are more limited.
David Handy+ at #1,
Good post, however this is not quite accurate:
[blockquote] “So the total is now up to six. SIX bishops of the CoE have joined the Ordinariate.” [/blockquote]
So far as I am aware, Robert Mercer has never been a priest in the CofE, let alone a bishop. He was consecrated a bishop in Rhodesia in the 70s, and then in 1988 transferred to the TAC in Canada. Although he lived in England, he always remained in the TAC HOB until he joined the Ordinariate.
So its still five CofE bishops that have joined the Ordinariate, and at least fourteen I can think of that remain in CofE (the twelve that signed the inaugural letter of the Society of Hilda and Wilfrid last January, plus +Nazir-Ali and +Jupp have joined SHW since then).
Archer of the Forest, to my admittedly protestant exterior view it seems pretty simple – if the Pope permits Msgr Newton to wear a mitre, then he can wear a mitre. Don’t you need to take this up with the Holy Father, if it really worries you? I note that many other RCs don’t seem concerned.
Archer-
RE: Ordinaries dressing like bishops
Canon law allows certain individuals who are not bishops to dress like bishops. This is called the permission to “wear pontificals” (miter, ring, etc.).
Prior to Vatican II, it was more common to grant the permission for non-bishops to wear pontificals. Vatican II, however, restricted this permission: paragraph 130 of Sacrosanctum Concilium legislated, “It is fitting that the use of pontificals be reserved to those ecclesiastical persons who have episcopal rank or some particular jurisdiction.”
Because the Ordinary of an Anglican Ordinariate has “particular jurisdiction,” such a person is a prime candidate for the permission to wear pontificals (dress like a bishop), as sanctioned by tradition and by Vatican II.
Must have been very chilly indeed. Mr. Newberry looks comfortable in his great coat.
No. 21 the roman, I think you’re right about that, and I suspect that Robert Mercer’s rather casual-seeming attire might simply indicate a monastic preference for humble or inexpensive clothing — he may be wearing the best or even only warm clothing he owns. His expression is certainly very solemn, as befitting the occasion.