From Crisis Magazine:
The Pastoral Provision has been in existence for 25 years. Since then, only a handful of Anglican Use parishes have been established, and the number of married Episcopal priests to be ordained is currently less than 100.
Is this really a movement to be reckoned with? Is it the stroke of genius that it seems? Have these first 25 years been a time of quiet foundation-building for a great tidal wave of Anglican clergy and laity into the Catholic Church, or is the whole movement just an interesting idea promoted by a few eccentric enthusiasts?
Much depends on the success of the newly reformed and updated Pastoral Provision Office””whether it will continue to be proactive in promoting the Pastoral Provision; whether it will be able to publicize and promote this creative option successfully, along with committed men like Father Bergman; whether it receives support from the conferences of bishops and the Vatican; and whether it will be given the resources to reach out confidently to the various Anglican groups worldwide.
If so, what it has done so far may well be a solid foundation for an exciting development in the Catholic Church’s relationship with worldwide Anglicanism. If not, the Anglican Use will become merely an interesting footnote in the history of ecumenism.
This article really needs to be read by every Anglican who values the unity of all Christians. The ball is in our court.
Were there an Anglican Use parish within driving distance, I’d convert in a minute!
Only 100 married men currently in line to be ordained throughout the Episcopal Church? How many people in total? I would like to know how Fr. Longenecker came up with his number.
With all due respect, if the liturgy is the main reason for converting, or not, then better not. If you believe the Faith of the Catholic Church, which includes those historic sticking points such as the Immaculate Conception, Assumption, Papal Infallibility, and so on, you must join the Catholic Church. If you don’t believe those things, accepted on the authority of the magesterium of the Church, don’t join however good the liturgy.
Dear Words Matter.
I don’t think most Catholics would view the liturgy as the main reason for converting but rather the Holy Eucharist. The Orthodox Church is an alternative if one doesn’t believe in the Faith of the Catholic Church.
I don’t understand why the article is titled Anglican Right when Anglican Use is a small part of it. What am I missing?
John, #6, I suspect the headline should read: “Anglican Rite” and not “Right”! Cheers!
I don’t see the purpose in complaining about low utilisation… After all, it is called a “provision”, not a “campaign.” Provisions generally exist specifically because those who need them fall outside of the mainstream.
If the Roman Catholic Church were really serious about seeking Anglican converts, they would start a whole lot more Anglican Use parishes in the U.S. But the American Catholic establishment has long been ambivalent about such things.
Connecticutian makes a good point, but so does Wilfred. I think if the Pastoral Provision is to be considered a failure, it is because Rome has failed to make it availible.
#5 –
My comment #4 was written as a specific response to #2. It was also written in a rush, as the phone man was cutting off service to make a repair. 🙂
RE: # 8 and 9 –
Yes, this is a provision, not a recruiting campaign. Parishes are started on local initiative by a priest and a group of local layfolk.
I have been a member of two Anglican Use parishes, the second one suppressed due to the priest shortage. My current parish is led by a former Episcopalian; our liturgy is rich and reverent. You might say I am a fortunate man. However, I was Catholic for many years before all this and I have my own parish horror stories. Which is all to express gratitude for these 20 years, and the provision of a God who is faithful, even when I fail.
Please note that Anglican Right is the title Crisis magazine has for the article; I would have preferred something different.
It may come as a surprise to many that in the American Catholic community, still heavily Irish with an Irish suspicion of all things English, and Euro-ethnic with a visceral dislike of waspiness, there is prejudice against and resentment of high-toned Episcopalians. American Catholics, at least until recently, being largely what Kendall calls reappraisers, are not exactly overjoyed at the prospect of an influx of traditionalists. (Why they might even ask for a Tridentine Mass!) And why should an RC padre whose formation took place in the era of Fr Groppi and the Berrigans, who has struggled to live out a vocation of celibacy while unjustly humiliated by recent sex scandals, be enchanted to have as his colleague a theological conservative who not only has a wife but an annulment from his first marriage? The title “Anglican Right,” obviously, is a very clever play on words. And as one RC told me, the pope proposes and the Church disposes. The Holy See may be keen on this Anglican thing, but the 70ish Monsignor down at Church of the Little Flower may have other ideas. So may the trendy editors of Catholic magazines.
Focloir,
I am hopelessly in love with Anglican liturgy (especially from pre-1979 Prayer Books) but it is theology, not liturgy, that is bringing me to the Catholic Church. The liturgy at the nearest Catholic Church to me is pathetic (no bells, no smells, mediocre music, among other things). :-S I expect to be in an RCIA class soon at the one parish in this diocese that is authorized to do the Tridentine mass.
Fr. Longenecker makes several good points about the prospects for the Anglican Use and Mr. Wells makes some very important cultural points.
Since crossing the Tiber a year-and-a-half ago, I have been asked many questions about Anglicanism by Roman Catholics and many questions about what it is like on the other side by friends who are still Anglican. In the end, I tried to sum up the experience in a brief essay, which touches on many of the points of this thread and can be found here with some related links:
http://jdtreat.com/anglicansandromans.htm
-Treat
I enjoyed and was bemused by Mr. Wells’ observations on the Anglican Use and it’s acceptance by some members of the American Catholic church. I’m sure there’s a lot of truth in what he says. The opening line about the Irish mindset (“It may come as a surprise to many that in the American Catholic community, still heavily Irish with an Irish suspicion of all things English, and Euro-ethnic with a visceral dislike of waspiness, there is prejudice against and resentment of high-toned Episcopalians.”) is dead on but I have one minor quibble: I think one would be hard pressed to find many Irish Catholics who would be able to distinguish “high-toned Episcopalians” from Methodists from Baptists and thus carry an especial resentment toward them. All these groups are simply lumped together as Protestants and they let it go at that. This is perhaps a deficiency in the theological training of the great Catholic unwashed. Ask the average Catholic what he or she thinks of the various solas and you are bound to get blank stares or some stab at a new heat source. Indeed, in my fifty-five years of attending Mass I cannot recall ever having heard the word “Protestant”, let alone a denomination, mentioned from the pulpit. I’m sure it must have happened at one time but I just don’t remember.
I also don’t disagree that the toniness of some Episcopalians would draw the ire of many Irish but isn’t that the case no matter what groups are involved? It certainly isn’t that the Irish don’t respect and even revel in word play – I believe it was one of the Plinys that said that Celts had an inordinate love of battle and subtle language.
But in reading some of the official postings on this website (my favorite, by the way) I have noticed, on more than one occasion, a degree of highfalutin’ pretention and smarminess that I have not encountered elsewhere. Don’t get me wrong, I take great delight in such self-congratulatory excesses, must be the whimsy in me. On the other hand, this same narcissistic puffiness from a Mother Teresa, or a Billy Graham, or those students from Columbine High School who chose martyrdom rather than renounce Christ would be jarring and border on sacrilege.