Ordinariate reaches out to Anglicans after women bishops vote

[McCall1981]

Ordinariate reaches out to Anglicans after women bishops vote

By STAFF REPORTER on Tuesday, 15 July 2014

The leader of the ordinariate has issued an invitation to Anglicans following the Church of England’s vote to create women bishops.

Mgr Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, invited Anglicans “considering their future” to attend an “exploration day” in September.

“Having agreed to permit women priests in 1992, the Church of England’s decision to allow women bishops is the next logical step. What is undeniable is that both developments make harder the position of those within the Church of England who still long for corporate unity with the Catholic and Orthodox Churches,” he said.

“Benedict XVl’s decision to set up the ordinariates – allowing former Anglicans to enter the full communion of the Catholic Church, bringing with them much of the Anglican heritage and tradition – was made in response to repeated requests from Anglicans who longed for unity with the Catholic Church. It was a prophetic and generous ecumenical gesture because it demonstrated the possibility of unity of faith with diversity of expression.”

The exploration day, known as Called To Be One, aims to make the ordinariate more widely known and understood. Groups across the country will stage different events on September 6.

“Each event will be different – it may be Choral Evensong followed by refreshments and a presentation about the ordinariate or it might be a debate or a talk – but all the events will focus on the vision for Christian unity at the heart of the ordinariate,” said Mgr Newton.
“All who are interested – whether because they are considering their future or just because they would like to see more of what we are and what we do are warmly invited to attend.”

In response to the Church of England’s decision, Archbishop Bernard Longley, chairman of the Department for Dialogue and Unity of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said : “The Catholic Church remains fully committed to its dialogue with the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. For the Catholic Church, the goal of ecumenical dialogue continues to be full visible ecclesial communion.

“Such full ecclesial communion embraces full communion in the episcopal office. The decision of the Church of England to admit women to the episcopate therefore sadly places a further obstacle on the path to this unity between us. Nevertheless we are committed to continuing our ecumenical dialogue, seeking deeper mutual understanding and practical cooperation wherever possible.”

 

[shawnbm]

It seems to me to be a logical progression for Anglicanism, but it means that formal reunification with the Catholic and Orthodox is not considered by Anglicans to be that important. The nod to modernist desires is more important to institutional Anglicanism and it wishes to remain a Protestant denomination with beautiful liturgical history. This was a conscious repudiation of historic Catholic Orthodoxy or Orthodox Catholicism (whichever one prefers–two terms I got from one of Jaroslav Pelikan’s books) by the CoE.

 

[commenter]

Ordinariate reaches out to Anglicans after women bishops vote

By STAFF REPORTER on Tuesday, 15 July 2014

The leader of the ordinariate has issued an invitation to Anglicans following the Church of England’s vote to create women bishops.

Mgr Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, invited Anglicans “considering their future” to attend an “exploration day” in September.

“Having agreed to permit women priests in 1992, the Church of England’s decision to allow women bishops is the next logical step. What is undeniable is that both developments make harder the position of those within the Church of England who still long for corporate unity with the Catholic and Orthodox Churches,” he said.

“Benedict XVl’s decision to set up the ordinariates – allowing former Anglicans to enter the full communion of the Catholic Church, bringing with them much of the Anglican heritage and tradition – was made in response to repeated requests from Anglicans who longed for unity with the Catholic Church. It was a prophetic and generous ecumenical gesture because it demonstrated the possibility of unity of faith with diversity of expression.”

The exploration day, known as Called To Be One, aims to make the ordinariate more widely known and understood. Groups across the country will stage different events on September 6.

“Each event will be different – it may be Choral Evensong followed by refreshments and a presentation about the ordinariate or it might be a debate or a talk – but all the events will focus on the vision for Christian unity at the heart of the ordinariate,” said Mgr Newton.
“All who are interested – whether because they are considering their future or just because they would like to see more of what we are and what we do are warmly invited to attend.”

In response to the Church of England’s decision, Archbishop Bernard Longley, chairman of the Department for Dialogue and Unity of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said : “The Catholic Church remains fully committed to its dialogue with the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. For the Catholic Church, the goal of ecumenical dialogue continues to be full visible ecclesial communion.

“Such full ecclesial communion embraces full communion in the episcopal office. The decision of the Church of England to admit women to the episcopate therefore sadly places a further obstacle on the path to this unity between us. Nevertheless we are committed to continuing our ecumenical dialogue, seeking deeper mutual understanding and practical cooperation wherever possible.”

The response of the Ordinariate is great. The response of the Department of Dialogue and Unity is weak, and unrealistic in my opinion.
The primary charge to the Church is evangelism. Ecumenism can be a means to that end, but it was never intended as an end in itself. Catholics have a responsibility of charity towards persons in the Church of England, or the Mormons for that matter, and to avoid any attacks on persons or organizations. But we also have a responsibility to the Truth, and to individuals who are in denominations that have changed drastically - moved far from the Catholic Church - since some of these ecumenical dialogues began.

It’s wrong that some (not all) ecumenical experts act as if it is still 1966, that there is “progress” going on towards unity when just the opposite is true. This encourages some in the C of E to postpone a conversion decision that might bring them to more reliable guidance than what they have now. The Ordinariate rightly prioritizes the spiritual welfare of those individuals, without in any way attacking persons in the C of E who believe differently from Catholics. That is the loving response.

 

[shawnbm]

Sadly, there is truth to what is written above by commentator. The Anglicans have surprised me by going in this (what one would think would be an Episcopalian move) direction, which knowingly removes the communion from the ecumenical table with the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. If one reads the commission reports from the sixties and seventies, THAT Anglicanism was quite different in purpose and ecclesiology (as well as theology) from modern Anglicanism. This is an unfortunate development, in my view, and only presages further erosion of theological norms such that it won’t be long until the CoE has its first openly gay prelate a la Gene Robinson.

 

[7_Sorrows]

The anglican communion was so beautiful and rich.
I am sorry to see what has happened over the past 40 years.
There is no going back. If they already have female priests it seems eventually they would make this decision.

 

[commenter]

It seems to me to be a logical progression for Anglicanism, but it means that formal reunification with the Catholic and Orthodox is not considered by Anglicans to be that important. The nod to modernist desires is more important to institutional Anglicanism and it wishes to remain a Protestant denomination with beautiful liturgical history. This was a conscious repudiation of historic Catholic Orthodoxy or Orthodox Catholicism (whichever one prefers–two terms I got from one of Jaroslav Pelikan’s books) by the CoE.

Perhaps formal reunification isn’t their goal, but it is significant that they keep that goal on the books, or in the media, so to speak. The leaders - in England, and USA - seem to go out of their way to present this as if it were still a work currently making progress. Some of the articles about this seem to promote the idea that having the Catholic and Anglican leaders at the same press conference saying something like “Poverty is wrong!” is the REAL ecumenism, that other things like Holy Orders, sexuality and prolife are just side issues that distract people. The impression they try to give is that they are moving, 2 steps closer, and (yes) sometimes one step back. This is misleading, there are no steps closer in recent years.

In my city, some Catholic parishes keep up their Lenten tradition of sharing pulpits, or mixed prayer services between congregations, that began decades ago when the TEC had beliefs much closer to Catholicism. Nobody wants to be the unpopular guy who says:

“We Catholics respect the TEC or the C of E, and we will discourage any kinds of attacks on any church. But we encourage your members to consider joining the Ordinariate, or ACNA, or the Anglican Continuum, or another tradition such as LCMS that is prolife and doctrinally orthodox. We respect those who choose to remain in the TEC or C of E. But our ecumenical priorities will shift now.”

In my (Catholic) diocese, it appears all the Catholic priority is to maintain “friendly” relations with the TEC bishop and clergy. To my mind, Catholic leaders should be more “friendly” to the spiritual interests of the average Episcopal families.

 

[ProVobis]

Perhaps formal reunification isn’t their goal, but it is significant that they keep that goal on the books, or in the media, so to speak. The leaders - in England, and USA - seem to go out of their way to present this as if it were still a work currently making progress.

Except that in England the Church of England isn’t exactly totally separate from the government.