(Episcopal) Bishop Steenson Will Become a Roman Catholic

The Living Church Foundation ^ | 09/23/07

[monkapotamus]

Bishop Steenson Will Become a Roman Catholic
09/23/07

The Rt. Rev. Jeffrey N. Steenson, Bishop of the Rio Grande, will resign from his position and become a Roman Catholic, The Living Church has learned.

In a letter to the clergy of his diocese, Bishop Steenson said a pastoral letter to all the people of the diocese would follow in a few days. He said he had invited Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori to attend the Rio Grande clergy conference Sept. 26.

“I … have sensed how important it is for those of us in this position to model a gracious way to leave The Episcopal Church in a manner respectful of its laws,” he wrote.

Bishop Steenson was attending the House of Bishops’ meeting in New Orleans and plans to make an announcement concerning his decision on Monday.

In an interview with The Living Church to be published in a forthcoming issue, Bishop Steenson said the meeting of the House of Bishops at Camp Allen in the spring had a major effect on his decision.

“The spring meeting of the House of Bishops, when the majority said that The Episcopal Church was fundamentally autonomous and local,” he said. “This is not the Catholic doctrine of the Church, and it will lead to many unfortunate consequences.”

The bishop has been the diocesan in the Albuquerque-based diocese since 2005. He was canon to the ordinary under Bishop Terence Kelshaw for five years before being elected to the episcopate. Prior to that, he was rector of All Saints’ Church, Wynnewood, Pa., Good Shepherd, Rosemont, Pa., and St. Andrew’s, Fort Worth. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of Nashotah House and the Board of Directors of the Living Church Found

“My conscience is deeply troubled,” he said in a statement prepared for the House of Bishops, “because I sense that the obligations of my ministry in The Episcopal Church may lead me to a place apart from scripture and tradition. I am concerned that if I do not listen to and act in accordance with conscience now, it will become harder and harder to hear God’s voice.”

Bishop Steenson said he had spoken with the Presiding Bishop “for her counsel and prayers,” and said he would ask the House of Bishops for permission to resign as the ordinary of his diocese. He said he would do this by the end of the year, and added that he hoped then to be released from his ordination vows in The Episcopal Church.

He called the bishops’ meeting last March “a profoundly disturbing experience for me. I was more than a little surprised when such a substantial majority declared the polity of the Episcopal Church to be primarily that of an autonomous and independent local church relating to the wider Anglican Communion by voluntary association. This is not the Anglicanism in which I was formed, inspired by the Oxford Movement and the Catholic Revival in the Church of England … honestly, I did not recognize the church that this House described on that occasion.”

Regarding his move to the Roman Catholic Church, Bishop Steenson said, “I believe that the Lord now calls me in this direction. It amazes me, after all of these years, what a radical journey of faith this must necessarily be. To some it seems foolish; to others disloyal; to others an abandonment.”

Bishop Steenson will be the third bishop of The Episcopal Church to become a Roman Catholic this year. Bishop Dan Herzog of Albany moved shortly after his retirement in January. Bishop Clarence C. Pope, retired Bishop of Fort Worth, returned to Roman Catholicism in August.

[AnAmericanMother]

But that prayer, although it’s in the BCP, was written by a Catholic — fellow named Newman. You have heard of him, surely.

[k omalley]

You will find his picture in post #32.

[AnAmericanMother]

I think you are misinformed.

The Anglican Use Rite is based on the old prayer book, probably 1662, NOT the 1979 abomination. The translation of the Eucharistic Prayer is Coverdale's rendering of the original Latin.

To call Coverdale and Cranmer "tin-eared" is just silly.

I am absolutely certain of this, because I've got the DVD of the Anglican Use as celebrated at Our Lady of Walsingham, and I was an Anglican layman for the first 40-odd years of my life. My parents were in the Cathedral choir, so I was at 2 services a day with the '28 BCP until I went off to college in the 70s. Then I wound up in a choir myself for 25 years or so, so I have got both the old and the new services pretty much committed to memory.

The AUR could use some minor adjustments, since it was put together pretty quickly, but I think you're letting your spleen at the Catholic church get in the way of the facts.

[ichabod1]

Pain inflicted? The only pain involved is self-inflicted by those who cannot bring themselves to let us worship as we believe.

[ichabod1]

Don’t get me wrong. If I think we have issues, it is not our liturgy with which I find fault, only our execution. We’re a relatively new parish, and I am becoming more and more impressed by the length of time and effort it takes to make good liturgy look seamless and effortless.

[AnAmericanMother]

When he was a young "Oxford Movement" Anglican:

[Huber]

For a pretty strong and well argued, albeit opinionated, view of the other side, check out Hillaire Belloc’s “How the Reformation Happened”. It’s one of those books that those on all side of the argument need to be acquainted with, and “Old Thunder” is a master of conservative rhetoric!

[maryz]

but I doubt they'd be interested in an Anglican layman's input

Well, certainly not a traditional Anglican layman -- they're not much interested in traditional RC input! ;-)

Now, if you were one of those modernist, Wicca-sympathizing loons, . . .

[PAR35]

Is it better that he stay and FEED his flock to the wolves?

I'd be a bit more generous to the man if I didn't know his track record. He recently charged one congregation of about 500 members a $2 million fee when they wanted to depart from the ECUSA. http://www.episcopalchurch.org/81803_90100_ENG_HTM.htm

[Mr. Lucky]

That’s realy, really, creepy.

[Claud]

The Anglican Use Rite is based on the old prayer book, probably 1662, NOT the 1979 abomination. The translation of the Eucharistic Prayer is Coverdale's rendering of the original Latin.

That's Rite I of the Anglican Use, which is what most (all?) AU parishes use, and is what's on the DVD. But there's also Rite II, which from a cursory inspection looks just like the ICEL Novus Ordo (thus also the the 79 BCP abomination). I think they threw that in there because they didn't want to preclude the possibility that more "modern" Episcopalian parishes could swim the Tiber.

I don't think many AU folks are all that happy with Rite II (who can blame them). I think that is what sionnsar is talking about.

[AnAmericanMother]

Thanks for the clarification. It just didn't make sense to me -- I was totally unaware of the "Rite II".

But it sounds like a makeweight to me. I've never heard of anyone using it (and WHY would anybody use it, if it's just like the ordinary Catholic version?).

Besides -- it can just be ignored the way "Rite I" is ignored in almost every ECUSA parish.

[Claud]

But it sounds like a makeweight to me. I've never heard of anyone using it (and WHY would anybody use it, if it's just like the ordinary Catholic version?).

There are probably some differences...I'm not well versed in the various editions of the BCP to pick those out, maybe I can take a look when I get home tonight. I went looking for the text online but couldn't find it...which shows how well it is regarded! ;)

Besides -- it can just be ignored the way "Rite I" is ignored in almost every ECUSA parish.

Exactly.

[ichabod1]

Thank you for that. I had a spiritual experience at that shrine long before I became a Catholic, and I started feeling like I was having one yesterday, and then they said that prayer, and I just started buzzing all over. Mom had been sick for such a long time and it was such difficult work, and the recognition of that in the prayer was enormously moving.

[marshmallow]

What's with all the foliage and flowers?

It looks like they've just emerged from the bushes after a bit of furtive rumpy-pumpy.

[Huber]

lol

I’ver had many a tear in my own eyes observing many start-up attempts to master the liturgy. It’s not for the faint of heart or those lacking a sense of humor and humility!

[Huber]

If someone were to post the “rite I” version of AU here, we could have a “layman’s” (and “laywoman’s”) on line collaborative workshop (just for fun.)

[MarkBsnr]

Funny and sickening, really epitomizes in one picture the lowest, vainest, most perverse level two men can sink to.

-----------------------------------------

I know what you mean.

[miele man]

Ah, you surely do know that I know who Newman is. I don’t have time to check right this moment since I’m just doing a drive-by check of FR for any messages, but, when did Newman write this prayer? Was he still an Anglican or after he became a RC?

[nanetteclaret]

Really, sionnsar, that was a very uncharitable post! Have you ever even looked at the “Book of Divine Worship” or seen an Anglican Use Mass? Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio has a DVD of the Mass (which you can order) and it is quite Roman Catholic and traditional Anglican! Bells, smells, ad orientem priest, Elizabethan English (Rite I), and beautiful Anglican music. The Roman Canon (words of Consecration) in Rite I comes from the Latin Mass in use in England at the time Cranmer was messing it up. I have looked at it and compared it to the TLM, and they are quite similar. I don’t know where you are getting your information - just because you don’t like the 1979 BCP is no reason to say such ugly things about Anglican Use. For us former Episcopalians, Anglican Use is a great gift from Our Lord. To be able to sing the old hymns, hear the glorious music, say the words of the prayers, and know that we have Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament because the priests are valid Catholic priests, is an awesome consolation. The only problem with Anglican use parishes is that there aren’t enough of them!