Posted on 10/10/2011 12:03:16 PM PDT by NYer
... the guidelines established for the Anglican ordinariate by Pope Benedict XVI's in his 2009 apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum coetibus his 2007 Apostolic Letter "Summorum Pontificum" is St. Luke’s, in Maryland:
“This truly is a historic moment,” said Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl, the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, who led Sunday’s conversion Mass, which he called “a joyful moment of completion.”
Fifty-eight of St. Luke’s roughly 100 parishioners were confirmed at the applause-filled Mass, during which they were anointed by Wuerl — one by one, old and young, white and black.
Osita Okafor, a 56-year-old Nigerian immigrant, found himself first in line before Wuerl for the rite of reception. His reaction? “Oh, my God, I must be blessed.” ...
The parish’s conversion made international headlines when it was announced in June. After all, St. Luke’s had been an Episcopal church for more than a century. But it wasn’t too much of a leap for the parish, which for years had been part of Anglo-Catholicism, a movement that embraces various Catholic practices and theology but still treasures aspects of Anglican ritual, such as kneeling to receive Communion.
At the basilica, before the archbishop, parishioners stood for Communion. But at St. Luke’s, they’ll be allowed to kneel under the guidelines laid out by the Vatican in 2009 when it announced plans to create a special body that would let American Anglicans keep some of their traditions, including their married priests.
Read the entire Washington Post article, "Episcopal parish in Bladensburg converts to Roman Catholic Church" (Oct. 9, 2011). for more about the ordinariate, see the book, Anglicans and the Roman Catholic Church: Reflections on Recent Developments (Ignatius Press, 2011), edited by Stephen Cavanaugh. Here is the Introduction:
Pictures at link.
As I understand it, the new Anglican Rite of the Catholic Church keeps its services and married priests.
The Anglican Rite is modelled after the Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church. For example, I have a Lebanese Catholic friend whose church has married priests.
At a Mass in the Crypt of Washington's Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the Vatican's American delegate for Anglicanorum coetibus, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, welcomed into full communion some 76 members of the former Episcopal parish of St Luke's in the Maryland suburb of Bladensburg, just outside the capital. Yet while some published reports have sought to relay that St Luke's is the first US parish to be received post-Anglicanorum, the DC group is more accurately seen as the nation's second community to complete its Tiber-swim in anticipation of a domestic Ordinariate.
And in other news...
Last week two believers escaped Rome.
And every week, still others cross the Tiber TO Rome, as my wife and I did a little over 5 years ago. Are we no longer to be regarded as Christian for having fallen into captivity in Rome?
It is similar but different. The Eastern Catholic Churches are overseen by a Metropolitan or Patriarch. While they allow married men to become priests, the majority of the eastern churches only send celibate priests to serve in the US. That is the case, at least, in the Maronite Catholic Church. I am guessing that your Lebanese catholic friend is Melkite which has chosen to disregard the norms of the western church.
In the Anglican Rite model,
The Apostolic Constitution does not dispense from the provisions of the Code of Canon Law of the Catholic Church forbidding ordination of women and ordination of those in irregular marriages, but it does make provision for ordination of married former Anglican clergy to the orders of deacon and priest in the service of an ordinariate: "Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, [...] may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church″,[26] Ordination to the priesthood in the Catholic Church is also open to married former Anglican clergy: "In consideration of Anglican ecclesial tradition and practice, the Ordinary may present to the Holy Father a request for the admission of married men to the presbyterate in the Ordinariate.”[27] This request is granted on a case-by-case basis,[28] not as a matter of course but by exception: "The norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis coelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement In June are to be observed."[29] On the basis of objective criteria determined by the ordinary in consultation with the episcopal conference and approved by the Holy See, the ordinary may petition the Pope, on a case-by-case basis, to admit married men to the priesthood as a derogation of canon 277 §1[30] of the Code of Canon Law, but the general rule is that the ordinariate will admit only celibate men.[31] No married man may be ordained a bishop.
source.
Lol ... a picture is worth a thousand words :-)
Thanks!
Very interesting.
Quite possibly. But, only Christ knows for certain the folks given to Him by the Father.
This gives rise to two additional questions:
1) does that mean you don't subscribe to the doctrine of eternal security? I repented of my sins and made a decision to follow Christ in 1997 when invited to do so by a pastor at an evangelistic event in Washington D.C., and have sincerely followed Christ since then. If I was saved then, and if it's impossible to lose that salvation, I don't see why I should be worried merely by having changed ecclesiastical addresses.
2) How can one be saved and remain in a church from which one should, in your words, "escape?"
Although it is not widely known in our Western world, the Catholic Church is actually a communion of Churches. According to the Constitution on the Church of the Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium, the Catholic Church is understood to be "a corporate body of Churches," united with the Pope of Rome, who serves as the guardian of unity (LG, no. 23). At present there are 22 Churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The new Code of Canon Law, promulgated by Pope John Paul II, uses the phrase "autonomous ritual Churches" to describe these various Churches (canon 112). Each Church has its own hierarchy, spirituality, and theological perspective. Because of the particularities of history, there is only one Western Catholic Church, while there are 21 Eastern Catholic Churches. The Western Church, known officially as the Latin Church, is the largest of the Catholic Churches. It is immediately subject to the Roman Pontiff as Patriarch of the West. The Eastern Catholic Churches are each led by a Patriarch, Major Archbishop, or Metropolitan, who governs their Church together with a synod of bishops. Through the Congregation for Oriental Churches, the Roman Pontiff works to assure the health and well-being of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
While this diversity within the one Catholic Church can appear confusing at first, it in no way compromises the Church's unity. In a certain sense, it is a reflection of the mystery of the Trinity. Just as God is three Persons, yet one God, so the Church is 22 Churches, yet one Church.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes this nicely:
"From the beginning, this one Church has been marked by a great diversity which comes from both the variety of God's gifts and the diversity of those who receive them... Holding a rightful place in the communion of the Church there are also particular Churches that retain their own traditions. The great richness of such diversity is not opposed to the Church's unity" (CCC no. 814).
Although there are 22 Churches, there are only eight "Rites" that are used among them. A Rite is a "liturgical, theological, spiritual and disciplinary patrimony," (Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches, canon 28). "Rite" best refers to the liturgical and disciplinary traditions used in celebrating the sacraments. Many Eastern Catholic Churches use the same Rite, although they are distinct autonomous Churches. For example, the Ukrainian Catholic Church and the Melkite Catholic Church are distinct Churches with their own hierarchies. Yet they both use the Byzantine Rite.
To learn more about the "two lungs" of the Catholic Church, visit this link:
The Vatican II Council declared that "all should realize it is of supreme importance to understand, venerate, preserve, and foster the exceedingly rich liturgical and spiritual heritage of the Eastern churches, in order faithfully to preserve the fullness of Christian tradition" (Unitatis Redintegrato, 15).
A Roman rite Catholic may attend any Eastern Catholic Liturgy and fulfill his or her obligations at any Eastern Catholic Parish. A Roman rite Catholic may join any Eastern Catholic Parish and receive any sacrament from an Eastern Catholic priest, since all belong to the Catholic Church as a whole. I am a Roman Catholic practicing my faith at a Maronite Catholic Church. Like the Chaldeans, the Maronites retain Aramaic for the Consecration. It is as close as one comes to being at the Last Supper.
Of course not. And it is most tiresome that some have co-opted the meaning of “Christian” to apply only to their own narrow definition. Very cultish.
I agree. But the majority of evangelicals I've personally known would disagree. A friend and fellow convert once approached our former pastor to offer him some material to help him understand why we converted to Catholicism, and he refused to talk to her, then turned and walked the other way. That's been my experience with all but a small handful of kind and charitable evangelicals. Scandalous behavior, really.
1. Eternal security is a concept which Christ assured those who had been given to Him by the Father. Your confession, decision, or ceremonial celebration have little to do with whether the Son has adopted you or not. Notice in Matt. many will be outside of the door, pounding to get in having done all kinds of deeds for Christ. He says, "Depart, I never knew you." Not, "You never knew Me." I have no idea if He adopted you. Too much "evangelical" ferver has been attached to Billy Graham Crusades & "decisions made for Christ" to the neglect of a clear understanding of the Gospel.
2. Your movement toward an organization which traffics in self-determination is a substantial bit of evidence that you never really understood the Gospel in the first place. Otherwise you would understand how this particular organization does not represent the Gospel of the Scriptures. There is no question that they claim the numbers, the power, the authority and all of the rest...they just lack Christ. If this does not make you nervous, then it might be good indication that you were not among the elect to begin with and you are simply seeking others of like mind. It is done all the time. Read the entire letters to the Romans, Galatians and Ephesians and notice that there is no transaction given among men by which you may be saved. It is unmerited grace granted to those chosen before the foundation of the world. If the Father has given you to the Son, then you are safe irrespective of how screwed up the organization you join really is. Joining them is not advisable, but it even they cannot keep you out of His care...if He has laid hold of you.
Of course, the Catholic Church can impose whatever requirements it wishes upon its adherents, but how do they square the requirement listed above with 1 Timothy 3:2?
"A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;"
Self-determination???? Not in the Catholic Church. Pelegianism and semi-pelegianism were rejected a few years ago if I remember correctly. I teach spiritual theology, using a text by Fr. Garrigou Lagrange (who directed JP II’s doctoral dissertation)—he is pretty well as establishment as you can get within the Church. It is spelled out quite clearly that there is a continual stream of grace from God that we can cooperate with or not. If one is cooperating with grace, that is not self-determination, and if one isn’t cooperating with grace, one isn’t headed in the right determination.
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