Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo has urged Roman Catholics attending a one-of-a-kind Catholic and Episcopal church to worship at a nearby parish because he has not been able to find a “suitable priest” to serve the blended congregation.
It was the latest round of adversity for a church that has battled to maintain its ecumenical mission in the face of flagging support in the Catholic hierarchy.
In a letter read Sunday to members of the Church of the Holy Apostles, DiLorenzo noted that the 36-year-old congregation’s interim Catholic priest is in poor health and has been unable to serve consistently.
The fact that this parish apparently has two altars, two liturgies, and two versions of Holy Communion would seem to be a real impediment to unity in this parish. It seems to me they need to commit to a single institutional identity and confession.
Well, I’d see it as a bold experiment that never panned out. The fact that the experment was never repeated anywhere else in the country is a significant sign tha it always was a long shot. But unfortunately, the reality is that Holy Apostles in Virginia Beach doesn’t exist in vacuum. It was always intended to be a harbinger of what was possible on a wider scale, but the idea never caught on. The dual denominational church remained small and isolated.
Meanwhile, the Episcopal Church has recklessly moved in a direction farther and farther from the mainstream Christian tradition,and especially from the doctrinal and moral conservaism of the Roman Catholic Church. That dramatic divergence doomed this ecumenical venture.
Sad, but predictable demise of a laudable, but futile endeavor.
David Handy+
I remember at Taize in France, ooh some 40 years ago, there would be one eucharistic liturgy for the thousands of youth pilgrims. The young folk … and I was young then … flocked to Taize for discussions about faith in the contemporary world, meditation, and sung morning and evening prayer with rich harmonies. The daily eucharist would be celebrated in turn by a Protestant or Catholic pastor, and communion was given from the reserved sacrament. In theory you were supposed to line up in front of your respective tabernacle but like I suspect most young pilgrims I was never completely clear which was which. Years later, ordained myself, at Hengrave Hall Ecumenical Centre I was the RC celebrant in a ‘two altars’ eucharist in the manner described here. I found it deeply disturbing – it seemed to dramatise and elevate the division between us. Never again.