Posted on 02/04/2016 2:11:38 PM PST by NYer
HOUSTON — In a majestic Mass at Houston’s Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on Tuesday evening, history was made for the Anglican ordinariates established by Pope Benedict XVI: Their first bishop was ordained.
“In a nutshell, it means we’re here to stay,” summarized Msgr. Harry Entwistle, the ordinary of Australia’s ordinariate, which is under the patroness of Our Lady of the Southern Cross.
The new bishop, Stephen Joseph Lopes, 40, a native of California, was in fact instrumental in the creation of the ordinariate that he now leads — the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.
The ordinariates were established as the Vatican’s pastoral response to repeated and persistent inquiries made by Anglican individuals and groups who desired full communion with the Catholic Church, in a history that goes back to at least Pope Pius XII.
In November 2009, in response to these inquiries from Anglican groups worldwide, Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus. This document authorized the creation of “ordinariates” — communities that would be fully Catholic yet retain elements of Anglican heritage and liturgical practice.
So far, there are three ordinariates globally: The first was established in the United Kingdom (the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham) in 2011. The following year, an ordinariate was established here in the United States, with jurisdiction also including Canada, and another in Australia.
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
Pope Benedict was one of a kind.
He restated (from previous people) that RELATIVE MORALITY was the greatest danger of these times.
He hit the proverbial nail on the head.
The Anglican Ordinariate priests can be married. Bishops cannot??? That I don’t know. Good for Pope Benedict for setting up this wonderful process.
Pope Benedict XVI made it possible for Anglican priests to become Roman Catholics, even if married, and to bring their parishioners with them should they choose. Many were torqued because the Episcopal/ Anglican church had ordained a gay man (who left his wife and children to ‘marry’ another guy) and then a woman, both as Bishops. Theology by committee, they do.
I believe his point is that the Orthodox and the East in general has a general tendency to follow rules, while the west, when push comes to shove, is quite open to ignoring what they don’t like.
Many thanks for posting! Mrs FE attended, I had to miss out because I was ill - it was spectacular per the photos she took.
I met Bishop Lopes 2 years ago in Rome (at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), he is a fine man. This ordination is a wonderful validation of the Ordinariate and outreach of the Catholic Church to anglicans: Mrs FE and I swam the Tiber 3 years ago to escape the wayward/now-sanctioned Episcopal Church in which I was raised (although, baptized Catholic before my parents became Episcopalian - that church left us behind with the whole shift to cultural relativism as long ago predicted by Cardinal John Henry Newman).
Our Lady of Walsingham, where we are members now, will be designated a Cathedral as the seat for Bishop Lopes, on Sunday. It will be a very big event too!
My daughter blazed the trail for the family into the Catholic Church, as a convert sponsored by her then-fiance, now husband. They in turn sponsored my wife and I, and also my son and other daughter, and all 3 grandchildren are Catholic. The Ordinariate paved the way for my family, and the installation of Lopes as Bishop completes, we believe, our acceptance and true membership into the universal church.
We love Our Lady of Walsingham, soon-to-be, Cathedral, and really admire how Popes John Paul 2, Benedict, and Francis, have nurtured and supported this outreach. It has changed our lives. Also, the support of Cardinal Meuller in Rome, and Cardinal DiNardo here in Houston, have been essential and much appreciated... what a journey for us, in God’s perfect time. Administrator/Ordinary Monsignor Jeffery Steenson (former Episcopal Bishop) and Father Hough and his dad Father Hough Sr, and Monsignor Larry Gipson (our former Episcopal priest at the largest church of that denomination in Houston) all worked very hard to create a home for us to take our anglican liturgical heritage and conform it and our faith to the Catholic Faith in true communion with Rome. By any measure, their work is a huge accomplishment.
I think you or I would be eligible to join Opus Dei tomorrow, if we wished to. Not so with the Ordinariate, which appears to be quite exclusive:
This "particular", and obviously exclusive, church disturbs me. What happened to the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church? For instance:
With their own bishop, said Msgr. Entwistle [the ordinary of the U.K. ordinariate], "we have become a particular Church. This is a statement of confidence from the Holy Father."
As far Dinardo's Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, I'll never darken it's doorways with my shadow until it is reconsecrated as a Catholic church.
Loved the pic of Cardinal Mueller, Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith riding the horse, and the blurb, “During the festivities, the Cardinal attended a barbecue, during which he wore the native dress of Texas: A cowboy hat while riding a horse.
I am not sure if the link will open as even though I an doing the link correctly with the umlaut U, it displays funky. I mean I even backspaced and typed it in since FR has terminal character funkiness problems
Good grief. That is horrible. Using the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart for the Houston-Galveston Diocese to be used for a Woman Methodist Bishop’s Ordination? Even if it occurred in 2013, I am surprised I never heard about it.
If that “disturbs” you, how much more must the Byzantine Catholic particular churches disturb you? Or are they OK, since they preceded Vatican II?
Thanks. Wow. This Pope seems to be not so good for the Catholics.
This Pope is awfully liberal, imho, and not very orthodox. The last two were just wonderful, and there will be good ones again. We are thankful that JP2 served for so many years. Still, the Anglican Ordinariate is a lovely gift for the Anglicans/ Episcopalians; their church seems to be ‘theology by committee’ these days and they are wise to jump ship.
No way Benedict stepped down on his own volition. He was ousted in a coup.
“I trust the new Bishop is NOT married.”
Unmarried. He was never an Anglican minister. That’s why this was somewhat of a surprise in that he was never an Anglican. He worked so well with those shaping the ordinariate, however, that the clergy and lay people of the ordinariate felt like they were getting one of their own as bishop.
They also needed a young man - he’ll be logging a lot of flight miles - and they got one. He’s only 40!
I think this is good that the new bishop was not an Anglican. He will bring a Roman Catholic phronema to the Ordinariate which will be good for it in these early years.
“I think this is good that the new bishop was not an Anglican. He will bring a Roman Catholic phronema to the Ordinariate which will be good for it in these early years.”
That’s a good point. I also think it will help the ordinariate to be taken seriously by Catholic bishops because this bishop has much the same general background they have. He is their equal rather than some sort of out-of-the-ordinary ordinary (pun intended).
I have the photo on my phone, my wife took one. Meuller is the archangel of the whole deal, one of Ratzinger’s good friends. Do you go to OLW?
Lopes was never an anglican, but while in Rome at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, he worked closely with Dr. Clint Brand of the University of St. Thomas in Houston to write all the liturgy, tied to the anglican tradition from the Catholic line, which is really quite beautiful. I imagine the mass to be very similar to what was in England before things fell apart with Rome.
Lopes is a brilliant man, and also knows very well each of the anglican/episcopal priests who converted to Catholicism, because he was the man in Rome in charge of interviewing them and confirming their education/eligibility to convert. I will say, however, that Rome is quite uncertain what to do with all these anglican priest-wives. Not a social class with built in activities there in Rome.
” I will say, however, that Rome is quite uncertain what to do with all these anglican priest-wives. Not a social class with built in activities there in Rome.”
Eh, they’ll go shopping or visit museums!
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