Tension builds between the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and orthodox Catholics.
By Dominic Scarborough
6 hours ago
Showing posts with label England. Show all posts
Showing posts with label England. Show all posts
Tuesday, 30 November 2010
Thursday, 11 November 2010
As Bishops convert, Vatican moving on plan to welcome Anglican
From Zenit - Today 12th November 2010
Vatican City, November 10 (CNA/EWTN News) .- Just weeks after a papal pilgrimage to England, the announcement that five Anglican bishops plan to resign by year's end and join the Catholic Church is setting wheels in motion at the Vatican.
The Nov. 8 announcement seems to have caught Vatican officials by surprise. And the question of just how these bishops and other former members of the Church of England will enter the Catholic Church has quickly become an important topic of discussion inside the Vatican.
The bishops — Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, Keith Newton of Richborough, and John Broadhurst of Fulham, along with retired bishops Edwin Barnes and David Silk — cited Pope Benedict XVI's "generous" invitation last year to Anglicans who are seeking "full communion" with the Catholic Church.
In Nov. 2009, the Pope issued the invitation in an apostolic constitution, "Anglicanorum Coetibus." The document proposed that former Anglicans could enter into "full communion" with the Church as members of specially-tailored jurisdictions, or "personal ordinariates."
According to the Pope's plan, these jurisdictions would be under the authority of local Catholic bishops, but members could maintain their "liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions," including the traditional permission for priests to be married.
With the five bishops' announcement, eyes are now on the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has yet to provide details on the final shape these ordinariates, might take.
But a timetable does seem to be on the horizon. The doctrine office's head, Cardinal William Levada, will be leading a special closed-door discussion of the matter with the College of Cardinals on Nov. 19.
One of the resigning bishops, Bishop John Broadhurst, told CNA that his decision to leave the Church of England came after many years of hoping that the Anglicans would move closer to Rome.
Instead, he said, Anglicans have distanced themselves further by embracing such radical departures from Christian tradition as permitting women bishops and blessing homosexual unions.
But Bishop Broadhurst, who has been a priest for 40 years and heads the traditionalist group, Forward in Faith, said disaffection with Anglicanism did not lead to his decision.
As one who "believed in unity with the Catholic Church for a very long time," he said, "I don't think I can say no to it. It's as straight forward as that. You can't become a Catholic because you don't like being something else. That's not where we are, any of us."
The difficulties facing Anglicanism, he said, have less to do with issues such as gay clergy or women bishops.
"The problem with Anglicanism is the nature of authority — we have no proper concept of authority so decisions are made that tear us apart," he said.
In their joint letter of resignation, the five bishops said they were "distressed by developments … in Anglicanism which we believe to be incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for nearly two thousand years."
They said Pope Benedict's invitation was "a generous response" to distressed Anglicans and "a bold, new ecumenical instrument in the search for the unity of Christians. … It is a unity, we believe, which is possible only in eucharistic communion with the successor of St Peter."
Bishop Broadhurst said there remains a debate in more traditional Anglican parishes in England. Priests and lay people alike are contemplating their next steps. "Lots of people are interested" in pursuing the Pope's invitation, he said.
Auxiliary Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster is the point man on the Anglican issue for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. He said the bishops will be considering the new "personal ordinariates" in their countries during their annual meeting next week.
Vatican Radio reported Nov. 10 that the head of the English Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, will travel to the Vatican next week. He is to take part in celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Nov. 17.
Archbishop Williams is not scheduled to meet with the Pope. However, last year, when tensions arose after the Pope's invitation to Anglicans, Archbishop Williams did travel to Rome for a private meeting with the Pontiff.
Archbishop Williams greeted news of the five bishops' resignation with "regret." In a statement, he said: "We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the Church." he said.
Whatever shape the ordinariate takes, for now, they are interested in having a good relationship with English Catholic hierarchy and maintaining their friendship with the Anglican Church, Bishop Broadhurst said.
He compared it to a failed marriage in which the spouses "break up." Some "are nasty," while in others "people manage to be decent to each other. Well, I hope as Christians that we can be respectful."
"I really do think that it's got to work, but it's a sensitive situation both within the Church of England and in the Catholic Church," he concluded.
Msgr. Marc Langham of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told CNA that the new Anglican jurisdictions may produce some unexpected fallout in Catholic-Anglican relations.
"It perhaps will mean that there will no longer be a voice within Anglicanism ... speaking in defense of that relationship with the Roman Catholic Church," he said.
Pope Benedict has repeatedly said that he has no interest in encouraging the further splintering of the Anglican communion, Msgr. Langham said.
As for the unprecedented question of ordinariates, Msgr. Langham said that the interested Anglicans he has spoken with "really want to wait and see what the ordinariate looks like."
Questions such as "how it will work, how it will run, how it will be financed, what it's relationship will be to the local Catholic community" are on the top of their minds.
"Anglican ministers are going to give up a great deal before moving to this, and so I think are waiting really for a bit more information about it," he said.
The "short answer," Msgr. Langham said, is that no one knows how many people might eventually join the U.K. ordinariate.
An interesting ecumenical point for him so far in the dialogue about the creation of ordinariates is that Catholic authorities are receiving advice from their Anglican counterparts on how best to do so. This, he said, "is a great thing."
"It means that the ordinariate is helping to bridge the ecumenical divide rather than to exaggerate it."
Vatican City, November 10 (CNA/EWTN News) .- Just weeks after a papal pilgrimage to England, the announcement that five Anglican bishops plan to resign by year's end and join the Catholic Church is setting wheels in motion at the Vatican.
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| Anglo Catholic - High Mass |
The bishops — Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, Keith Newton of Richborough, and John Broadhurst of Fulham, along with retired bishops Edwin Barnes and David Silk — cited Pope Benedict XVI's "generous" invitation last year to Anglicans who are seeking "full communion" with the Catholic Church.
In Nov. 2009, the Pope issued the invitation in an apostolic constitution, "Anglicanorum Coetibus." The document proposed that former Anglicans could enter into "full communion" with the Church as members of specially-tailored jurisdictions, or "personal ordinariates."
According to the Pope's plan, these jurisdictions would be under the authority of local Catholic bishops, but members could maintain their "liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions," including the traditional permission for priests to be married.
With the five bishops' announcement, eyes are now on the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which has yet to provide details on the final shape these ordinariates, might take.
But a timetable does seem to be on the horizon. The doctrine office's head, Cardinal William Levada, will be leading a special closed-door discussion of the matter with the College of Cardinals on Nov. 19.
One of the resigning bishops, Bishop John Broadhurst, told CNA that his decision to leave the Church of England came after many years of hoping that the Anglicans would move closer to Rome.
Instead, he said, Anglicans have distanced themselves further by embracing such radical departures from Christian tradition as permitting women bishops and blessing homosexual unions.
But Bishop Broadhurst, who has been a priest for 40 years and heads the traditionalist group, Forward in Faith, said disaffection with Anglicanism did not lead to his decision.
As one who "believed in unity with the Catholic Church for a very long time," he said, "I don't think I can say no to it. It's as straight forward as that. You can't become a Catholic because you don't like being something else. That's not where we are, any of us."
The difficulties facing Anglicanism, he said, have less to do with issues such as gay clergy or women bishops.
"The problem with Anglicanism is the nature of authority — we have no proper concept of authority so decisions are made that tear us apart," he said.
In their joint letter of resignation, the five bishops said they were "distressed by developments … in Anglicanism which we believe to be incompatible with the historic vocation of Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church for nearly two thousand years."
They said Pope Benedict's invitation was "a generous response" to distressed Anglicans and "a bold, new ecumenical instrument in the search for the unity of Christians. … It is a unity, we believe, which is possible only in eucharistic communion with the successor of St Peter."
Bishop Broadhurst said there remains a debate in more traditional Anglican parishes in England. Priests and lay people alike are contemplating their next steps. "Lots of people are interested" in pursuing the Pope's invitation, he said.
Auxiliary Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster is the point man on the Anglican issue for the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. He said the bishops will be considering the new "personal ordinariates" in their countries during their annual meeting next week.
Vatican Radio reported Nov. 10 that the head of the English Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, will travel to the Vatican next week. He is to take part in celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Nov. 17.
Archbishop Williams is not scheduled to meet with the Pope. However, last year, when tensions arose after the Pope's invitation to Anglicans, Archbishop Williams did travel to Rome for a private meeting with the Pontiff.
Archbishop Williams greeted news of the five bishops' resignation with "regret." In a statement, he said: "We wish them well in this next stage of their service to the Church." he said.
Whatever shape the ordinariate takes, for now, they are interested in having a good relationship with English Catholic hierarchy and maintaining their friendship with the Anglican Church, Bishop Broadhurst said.
He compared it to a failed marriage in which the spouses "break up." Some "are nasty," while in others "people manage to be decent to each other. Well, I hope as Christians that we can be respectful."
"I really do think that it's got to work, but it's a sensitive situation both within the Church of England and in the Catholic Church," he concluded.
Msgr. Marc Langham of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told CNA that the new Anglican jurisdictions may produce some unexpected fallout in Catholic-Anglican relations.
"It perhaps will mean that there will no longer be a voice within Anglicanism ... speaking in defense of that relationship with the Roman Catholic Church," he said.
Pope Benedict has repeatedly said that he has no interest in encouraging the further splintering of the Anglican communion, Msgr. Langham said.
As for the unprecedented question of ordinariates, Msgr. Langham said that the interested Anglicans he has spoken with "really want to wait and see what the ordinariate looks like."
Questions such as "how it will work, how it will run, how it will be financed, what it's relationship will be to the local Catholic community" are on the top of their minds.
"Anglican ministers are going to give up a great deal before moving to this, and so I think are waiting really for a bit more information about it," he said.
The "short answer," Msgr. Langham said, is that no one knows how many people might eventually join the U.K. ordinariate.
An interesting ecumenical point for him so far in the dialogue about the creation of ordinariates is that Catholic authorities are receiving advice from their Anglican counterparts on how best to do so. This, he said, "is a great thing."
"It means that the ordinariate is helping to bridge the ecumenical divide rather than to exaggerate it."
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
SUMMUM SILENTIUM
I have not blogged in recent weeks prefering rather to observe a self imposed silence at a time when so many voices where raised for and against the Holy Father. His words and actions in England are a sufficient response to his detractors and a consolation to me.
I have followed keenly, events on the blog "theanglocatholic.blogspot.com" - my heart goes out to all those who have been cast out to sea - talk about a "tempest tossed church"! Waiting on the shore to welcome the weiry pilgrims, it is as disheartening as it is anticipated that further fracturing and splintering of this kind continues.
Time for more silent prayer...
I have followed keenly, events on the blog "theanglocatholic.blogspot.com" - my heart goes out to all those who have been cast out to sea - talk about a "tempest tossed church"! Waiting on the shore to welcome the weiry pilgrims, it is as disheartening as it is anticipated that further fracturing and splintering of this kind continues.
Time for more silent prayer...
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
New Communities continued...
The Contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate
Lanherne Convent in Cornwall, in the far south west of England, is the home of the Contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate in the UK.
This branch of the Franciscan Order has four contemplative houses for women religious in the world. Two in Italy (Citta Di Castello and Albenga), one in the Philippines, and Lanherne. Someone with a vocation first enters the apostolic sisters where she does her postulancy, novitiate and takes temporary vows and probably final vows also. It is only after some years – perhaps five, six or seven - that a sister feels her vocation is to the contemplative life. Perhaps the superiors think that this sister is called to the contemplative life. Therefore at this stage a sister might well pass from one way of the religious life to the other vocation. My point being one does not enter the contemplative life direct from “the world”.
In Choir - Chantresses at the Ambo
_48.jpg)
The High Altar and Grille to the Left
.jpg)
Grace before Meals in the Refectory
Lanherne Convent in Cornwall, in the far south west of England, is the home of the Contemplative Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate in the UK.
This branch of the Franciscan Order has four contemplative houses for women religious in the world. Two in Italy (Citta Di Castello and Albenga), one in the Philippines, and Lanherne. Someone with a vocation first enters the apostolic sisters where she does her postulancy, novitiate and takes temporary vows and probably final vows also. It is only after some years – perhaps five, six or seven - that a sister feels her vocation is to the contemplative life. Perhaps the superiors think that this sister is called to the contemplative life. Therefore at this stage a sister might well pass from one way of the religious life to the other vocation. My point being one does not enter the contemplative life direct from “the world”.
The recently aquired former Carmel in England
THE HORARIUM
Rise at midnight - Matins and Lauds at 12.10 am
5.35 am - Lauds of Our Lady (in cell)
6 am - Prime followed by Little Office Prime
Meditation and Terce and Little Office Terce
7.30 am - Conventual Mass (sung daily)
12.20 pm - Sext (+ Little Office Sext)
1.20 pm - None (+ Little Office None)
3 pm - Vespers (Little Office – in cell)
3.15 pm - Vespers
3.45 pm - Rosary and Litany
4.15 pm - Meditation and anticipated Little Office Matins until 5.40 pm
8.25 pm - Compline (followed by Little Office Compline in cell)
Stations of the Cross – Fridays at 8.20 pm
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament and Benediction – Fridays 8.40 am – 1 pm
The Sunday timetable varies very slightly – the main difference is that the Conventual Mass is at 10 am
In Choir - Chantresses at the Ambo_48.jpg)
The High Altar and Grille to the Left.jpg)
Grace before Meals in the RefectoryAfter the promulgation of Summorum Pontificum in 2007 the FSI superiors decided that these four contemplative houses would take up the full and exclusive use of the 1962 liturgical books.
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