Posted on 09/23/2007 1:53:20 PM PDT by monkapotamus
Bishop Steenson Will Become a Roman Catholic
09/23/07
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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.
I'm sorry, I do not understanding this issue. It was the comment about bringing blood from protestant eyes that caught my attention.
Who is denying you the right to worship as you believe?
How did you come up with that? She was talking about the myriad of independent “we will do what we like” apostate congregations.
Unfortunately, my parish, St. Mary the Virgin, uses Rite II at High Mass (choral). The church actually began as St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal, then changed its name to St. Mary the Virgin, then converted, as a parish, to Rome. I don’t really know why they use Rite II. The Roman Canon in Rite II is the Roman Canon out of the current Novus Ordo Missal (Eucharistic Prayer I). I don’t really care for it, but at least the music is beautiful, the hymns are familiar (1982 Hymnal), and a lot of it is in Latin anyway (Creed, Our Father, Sanctus, etc). The priest celebrates ad orientem, there are “bells and smells,” and we can receive kneeling at the altar rail, so there is definitely a vast difference between it and a regular NO Mass!
you know, there are a lot of lessons for us in other Churchs to learn about what has befallen the ECUSA. I wish those faithful still in it (and I’m sure there have been many faithful episcopals) the best — I hope they take back their church, or if not, I wish they find a place of refuge.
A relative of mine was raised Episcopalian...Although he attended a Reformed church for years, and now a Methodist church, he insists the pope is really the vicar of Christ...
Apparently the Episcopalians are just closet Catholics anyway...Seems the great Tiber is nothing more than a trickle of a stream...
Oh yes, and we're in full communion with Rome, with the Pope, the Successor of Peter, and thus members of the one true Church established by Jesus Christ.
Isn't THAT the point?
You know, when you have the truth, you can pretty much put up with anything else, even bad translations.
"What doth it profit a man if he gain the whole Prayer Book but . . . . "
Searching For Authority (A Methodist minister finds himself surprised by Truth!)
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part VI: The Biblical Reality (Al Kresta)
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part V: The Catholics and the Pope(Al Kresta)
The Hail Mary of a Protestant (A true story)
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part IV: Crucifix and Altar(Al Kresta)
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part III: Tradition and Church (Al Kresta)
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part II: Doubts (Al Kresta)
Why I Returned to the Catholic Church. Part I: Darkness(Al Kresta)
Conversion Story - Matt Enloe (former Baptist) [prepare to be amazed!]
THE ORTHODOX REVIVAL IN RUSSIA
Conversion Story - David Finkelstein (former Jew)
Conversion Story - John Weidner (former Evangelical)
12 Reasons I Joined the Catholic Church
Conversion Story - Tom Hunt
The Tide Is Turning Toward Catholicism: The Converts
John Calvin Made Me Catholic
Journey Home - May 21 - Neil Babcox (former Presbyterian) - A minister encounters Mary
Going Catholic - Six journeys to Rome
My (Imminent) Reception into the Roman Catholic Church
A Convert's Pilgrimage [Christopher Cuddy]
From Pastor to Parishioner: My Love for Christ Led Me Home (to the Catholic Church) [Drake McCalister]
Lutheran professor of philosophy prepares to enter Catholic Church
Patty Bonds (former Baptist and sister of Dr. James White) to appear on The Journey Home - May 7
Pastor and Flock Become Catholics
Why Converts Choose Catholicism
From Calvinist to Catholic
The journey back - Dr. Beckwith explains his reasons for returning to the Catholic Church
Famous Homosexual Italian Author Returned to the Church Before Dying of AIDS
Dr. Francis Beckwith Returns To Full Communion With The Church
Catholic Converts - Stephen K. Ray (former Evangelical)
Catholic Converts - Malcolm Muggeridge
Catholic Converts - Richard John Neuhaus
Catholic Converts - Avery Cardinal Dulles
Catholic Converts - Israel (Eugenio) Zolli - Chief Rabbi of Rome
Catholic Converts - Robert H. Bork , American Jurist (Catholic Caucus)
Catholic Converts - Marcus Grodi
The Scott Hahn Conversion Story
FORMER PENTECOSTAL RELATES MIRACLE THAT OCCURRED WITH THE PRECIOUS BLOOD
Conversion Story - Rusty Tisdale (former Pentecostal)
I was talking about spiritual consolations. We live too far away from our Anglican Use parish to go every Sunday, so we attend very bland NO Masses on a regular basis. It took me a long time to convert, because I didn’t want to leave the beauty of the BCP for the desert of the NO (the TLM is even more unavailable than Anglican Use), but I finally realized that the ECUSA was a “whited sepulchre” and that it was obvious by their actions that they didn’t have Apostolic Succession. The concept of the Holy Father and the Magisterium keeping the Church from error suddenly made sense. You are right - being in the true Church became more important than the externals. But the opportunities of being able to worship God in the beauty of holiness are few and far between, and I miss that vision of Heaven.
Hmmm...I didn't know that. Thanks for the info. When it was Episcopal, did it use rite II of the '79 BCP? Because I can see it being easier to simply retain that little-t tradition in the parish if that's what was already being done, rather than disrupting everything by switching to Rite I when it didn't use Rite I to begin with. Just speculation though on my part.
LOL...that would be fun, and perhaps a little too much so. A few months ago was working out in my head what would be THE PERFECT MISSAL (TM) right about the time when I saw a website promoting a corrected version of the 65 missal. That kinda woke me up to where my armchair liturgizing problem was leading. :)
I don’t know if it was Rite II when it was Episcopal. It would make the most sense, though. I think it is the only Anglican Use church which uses Rite II. According to their websites, Our Lady of Walsingham and Our Lady of the Atonement are both Rite I. I highly recommend the DVD of the Anglican Use Mass which you can get from Our Lady of the Atonement. They also have the “Book of Divine Worship” if you’re interested in looking at it.
Here is the Mass page from Our Lady of the Atonement’s website showing the Rite I version:
http://www.atonementonline.com/orderofmass/Rite1.html
“except for the Catholic Church, Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Communion or the Assyrian Church of the East.”
You’re certainly correct in terms of continuing institutions. However, why is that that so many under the Bishop of Rome act as if (and say all the time) their institution alone is the original...when the Eastern Churches have an equal or even more valid claim to that?
Mainly I cannot buy either that there has been a continually faithful chain of curia, from the pope of Rome on down...Too many generations of medieval popes appear, in my opinion—from the Roman Catholic sources of history—not to have behaved as if they were Christians at all, let alone passing down the authority and holiness of St. Peter. The schism, and the Babylonian Captivity of the 14th and 15th Centuries comes to mind. (not to mention the burning at that time—by a council, not simply a pope, of a good man named John Hus)
Suffice it to say I believe institutional structures of all kinds are not identical to the one true universal Church of Jesus Christ, made up of faithful believing Christians from a myriad of denominational names. Starting historically yes with the five original patriarchies, but branching out from there—and the gates of hell, either within or without the human institutions, have not prevailed.
Already got both! :)
That DVD is great!!! It would be a great thing to raise money and send it to parishes throughout the country.
God bless him. Would that all Anglo-Catholics follow in the great Cardinal Newman’s footsteps!
I wouldn’t caracterize “Anglican Use” as a matter of “trolling”, but rather a matter of recognition by the bishops granting its use as to how seriously flawed the ICEL English translations of the Order of Mass in the early 70s really were, and offering Episcopalian refugees something a little better. By the way, ICEL has been restructured in recent years and the ordinary Mass English translations are in the process of revision according to translation principles that give more weight to accuracy and nobility of language than was the case previously. Plus, with the pope liberalizing access to the traditional Latin mass, there seems to be an increasing appreciation in the Church leadership and the broader Church (not just the Anglican Use community) for the beauties of liturgical tradition that didn’t seem present in the 70s and 80s. I think the trend is overall in a positive direction within the Church for those who value tradition, beauty and orthodoxy in liturgy. While I personally might prefer the Elizabethan language of the Prayer Book and the KJV for English liturgies, I would settle for decent, accurate and relatively euphonious modern translations without a leftist/feminist ideological axe to grind, along with the Revised Standard Version for the Lectionary. I think we’re moving toward something like that.
The Anglican Use is one facet in an ongoing process to recover the dignity of the mass lost in the wake of the Vat. II reforms. Three major developments in English since the 1970 sacramentary:
1980’s Anglican Use
2007 Liberation of the Extraordinary Form
2008? New more faithful English translation of the sacramentary.
By the end of the decade, a whole new spirit should permeate the liturgy even in an average parish. Praise God.
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