The Ordinariate Rumour Mill

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  In the quiet that seems to fall in the interim period between the naming of the new U.S. ordinary for Anglicans and his consecration, there has arisen the customary worries and fears that have sadly become all to common to this process.  I'm sure our Anglo Catholic brethren in England could attest to similar experiences, and our Anglo Catholic brethren in Australia should take note of this, as it will inevitably come to their shores.

At the centre of the controversy is a concern that 'dark forces' have infiltrated the ordinariate structure (which as far as I know consists of only two people right now) and are conspiring to thwart the work of the Holy Father by keeping admission to the ordinariate limited so as to insure its failure.  The main concern right now seems to be the notion that the nominated Ordinary and his assistant will not allow Anglican Use Pastoral Provision parishes into the ordinariate.

Okay, I know I may have oversimplified things here, but I think I captured the essence of people's concerns.  So let's break this down and analyse it a bit in a logical and dispassionate way.

First and foremost, the fears are understandable.  I will not sit here at my keyboard and disparage those who come up with such worries.  Considering the history from which many of these people came, their paranoia is justified.  Many of the Anglo Catholics entering the Church through the ordinariate have been traumatised by liberal Modernism in the Anglican Communion.  In addition, some have dealt with endless politics, division and strife following their exit from the Communion and their stay in the Anglican Continuum bodies.  Anglicans have been fighting a long, hard and losing battle that has lasted a generation.  They are shell shocked.  It is what I can only compare to a type of spiritual post-traumatic stress syndrome.  They need healing.  That is not going to come until they've been safe within the Catholic Church for a number of years.  In addition to that, we have those Anglicans who entered the Catholic Church some years back.  They too still carry some scars left over from their experience in Anglicanism, plus some minor battles with Roman bishops hostile to the Anglican patrimony.  As the creation of the U.S. ordinariate for Anglicans gets under way, it is understandable that tensions would arise.  There is a lot at stake here, everyone knows it, and above all, people just want to make sure this thing works!  So it only makes sense that this period of silence might be interpreted in a negative way, especially when some have been told to remain silent, and others have been told to wait on their local bishop.

Second, let us accurately assess the situation.  Both Father Jeffrey Steenson (the nominated Ordinary) and Father Scott Hurd are former Episcopalian priests who entered the Catholic Church through the Pastoral Provision.  Granted, neither of them adopted the Anglican Use as their speciality, but neither of them were ever required to.  That doesn't mean they have a problem with the Anglican Use.  It only means that it didn't suit the type of ministry they pursued.  It should be noted however, that both men were nevertheless Pastoral Provision priests, and that alone PROVES that the ordinariate is open to priests from the Pastoral Provision.  It proves it beyond the shadow of a doubt actually.  For if the ordinariate is not open to Pastoral Provision priests, than neither Father Steenson nor Father Hurd can be a part of it.  Thus the ordinariate does not exist!  In fact, however, it does exist, because Pope Benedict XVI says so.  Therefore we must conclude that the notion that Pastoral Provision priests cannot be part of the ordinariate must be false.  The very existence of Father Steenson and Father Hurd in the ordinariate demonstrates this beyond any shadow of a doubt.  Furthermore, by nominating a Pastoral Provision priest as Ordinary, the Holy Father has himself set the precedence of admitting Pastoral Provision priests to the ordinariate first, before all others, and demonstrated beyond the shadow of a doubt that the ordinariate is open to them.

Third, the headquarters for the U.S. Anglo Catholic Ordinariate has been selected.  It is Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church in Houston Texas.  What is this parish?  Why it's an Anglican Use Pastoral Provision parish of course!   So if it is true, as some have suggested, that Anglican Use parishes will not be permitted into the ordinariate, are we then supposed to believe that the Ordinary has decided to set up headquarters in a parish that he cannot admit to the ordinariate?  Are we supposed to believe that the Ordinary will set up his cathedral in a parish not even owned or controlled by him?  Are we mad!?!  Of course Our Lady of Walsingham parish will become part of the ordinariate!  To think otherwise is insane!  Yet once again we have a precedence here.  The very first parish admitted to the ordinariate will be -- are you ready? -- an Anglican Use parish of course!  If this is the precedence, indeed if this is the pattern already established, than it looks to me like the Anglican Use parishes are first in line.

Fourth, based on the rumours that I have heard, and I am open to correction here, it sounds as if the nominated ordinary is simply trying to engage in proper episcopal protocol.  Currently, Anglican Use parishes, missions and societies are owned by the bishops of the respective dioceses they find themselves in.  Therefore, the bishops of those dioceses are in control.  That means they must ask permission to become part of the ordinariate, and wait until such permission is given and the Ordinary (Father Steenson) invites them to become part of it.  This is nothing more than showing respect to those with authority, and it is a central part of being Catholic.  If you don't like episcopal authority than go be a Baptist!  This is how it works in the Catholic Church.  One need not worry about those bishops being unfriendly to Anglican Use groups, because if they were, such groups would not exist in their dioceses.  They would have forbidden them.  So here is the good news.  Cheer up!  If you're part of an Anglican Use parish, mission or society in your area, than chances are you already have a bishop who is friendly to the Anglican Use tradition and is more than likely willing to cooperate with the pope's Anglican ordinariate vision.  If you're a member of a traditional Anglican parish seeking the ordinariate, than have no fear, you were who this ordinariate was designed for.  As for those of you who have nothing, but have been 'watching from afar' as they say, than you might have to wait until an ordinariate mission is available in your area, or else you can apply to the ordinariate and request one.

Now while we are waiting is the time to talk to your pastors.  If you're part of an Anglican Use parish, mission or society, ask him to petition your bishop to be transferred to the ordinariate, assuming that's what you want.  That's really all there is to it.  Once the petition is made, you need to give a little time for episcopal procedures to take place.  Then wait and see what happens.

For now, let's put aside the rumour mill.  It hasn't even been a month since Fr. Steenson was named Ordinary.  He's still trying to put things together I'm sure.  He probably hasn't even finished moving his office yet.  Relax.  Give things a little time to work.

U.S. Anglican Ordinariate Plants Seeds for Anglican Rite And Renewal of Roman Rite

The mass according to the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  Today is the Feast of Mary, the Holy Mother of God, in the season of Christmastide.  On this first day of this first month, in the year of our Lord 2012, the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, creates the United States ordinariate for Anglicans, which has been named the 'Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter' - see official website here. Former Episcopalian Bishop, now a Catholic priest, the Reverend Dr. Jeffrey Steenson, has been nominated for the position of the new Ordinary. 

Fr. Jeffrey Steenson

Fr. Steenson is married with three grown children.  The Catholic Church has been admitting married men into the Catholic priesthood for at least some thirty years now.  Fr. Steenson was received into the Catholic Church in 2007, and ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 2009.  Pope John Paul II created the 'Pastoral Provision' in 1980, which opened the door for married Protestant clergy to enter the Catholic Church and be ordained Catholic priests.  Currently, there are over one-hundred such men serving as priests in the United States, most of them came from The Episcopal Church USA (American Anglicanism), but some came from Lutheran and other Protestant traditions.  Because the Anglican Ordinary will likely be a married priest, he cannot be consecrated as a bishop at this time.  This is a tradition going back to the earliest days of Christianity.  However, the U.S. Anglican Ordinary, if he is not a bishop, is instead granted all the powers of a mitred abbot.  He will have the full authority of a bishop, except he cannot ordain men to the priesthood himself.  Instead regular Roman bishops may do this upon his request.  He may even wear episcopal vestments during liturgical events and carry a crosier, just as if he were a bishop.  That's because these are symbols of his shepherding role in the ordinariate.   The Ordinary will be given an equal seat with the other prelates at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

This condition of a non-episcopal Ordinary is in all likelihood a temporary one.  It is designed to prepare the way for something different later on.  Originally, when traditional Anglicans first opened communications with Rome, the idea was to create a whole new rite for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church, however, this proved impossible at this time because of the condition Anglicanism currently finds itself in. In order to have a full-fledged rite, there must be celibate bishops with real apostolic succession, an undisputed patrimony, and no ambiguity on the sacrament of holy orders.  Historically, Anglicanism has not possessed these things, in any clear fashion, even though it has demonstrated an certain affinity toward English Catholic liturgy and sacramental life.

So what the pope did was create an incubator called the 'Anglican Ordinariate.'  It is similar to the military ordinariate for Roman Catholics.  The idea of the Anglican Ordinariate is to create a 'space' (if you will) within the Catholic Church, wherein traditional high-church Anglicans (i.e. Anglo Catholics) can further develop their patrimony with absolute clarity, in an environment where holy orders are no longer in question. The position of Ordinary may be occupied by a married priest for as long as these Anglo Catholics require one. However, it is envisioned in the long run that there will be some celibate men ordained into the Anglo Catholic priesthood eventually. These men will eventually become candidates for the position of Ordinary when the time is right. When that day comes, a celibate bishop will be consecrated as the next ordinary (someday in the future). Once that happens, the ordinariate becomes a 'particular church,' a full-fledged diocese (if you will), and the Anglican patrimony is well on its way to become a full-fledged rite within the Catholic Church, just as soon as all the ordinariates worldwide are similarly prepared.

As for time frame, your guess is as good as mine. Speculatively, one would think one to two generations would be ample. However, that is not a job for this pope or this generation. This pope plants the seeds of a future Anglican Rite. Another pope, someday in the future, will harvest the crop, and actually make it happen. Just as Pope John Paul II cleared the field with the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision some thirty years ago, so this pope (Benedict XVI) is laying the foundation with the Anglican ordinariates. Other popes will help build the structure as Anglo Catholics supply the living materials, and someday the Anglican Rite within the Catholic Church will be completed.  Personally, I would think at least thirty to forty years will be required before this happens, perhaps longer, but you never know.  The Lord works in mysterious ways.

As for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church, the ONLY thing they need to do is just keep the Anglican Patrimony and be good Catholics.  As for a future Anglican Rite, that is a job best left to the Holy Spirit.

In the mean time, the Holy Father has a much broader plan for the Anglican ordinariates.  First and foremost, of course, they provide an easy point of entry for Anglicans (Episcopalians) into the Catholic Church.  They also provide a similarly easy point of entry for some Lutherans, as well as other traditional protestants.  Second, because the ordinariates will have their own traditional English liturgy, and their own rubrics in which that liturgy MUST be celebrated, they provide yet another means through which the Holy Father can further his liturgical "reform of the reform" of the Western Church.  Traditional Anglo Catholics are more than eager to help the pope in this regard, as it is primarily their love for liturgy that has driven them to the Catholic Church over the last two centuries.  Third and finally, the ordinariate structure, as provided for under the Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans, puts ordinariate members under Roman canon law, and for the time being anyway, considers the Anglican ordinariate patrimony a subdivision of the Roman Rite.  This allows clergy and laity to easily cross over between any Roman diocese and the Anglican ordinariate.  Thus, any ordinariate priest can fill in as a substitute guest priest in a diocesan parish.  The same is true vice versa.  Likewise, any Roman Catholic layman can take up membership in an Anglo Catholic parish.  The same is true vice versa.  This crossover is designed to alleviate some of the strain caused by the priest shortage, and to give traditionally-minded Roman Catholics some more liturgical options, as well as give some ordinariate Anglo Catholics easy access to diocesan life should they prefer it.  This allows for some regularisation and normalisation between the ordinariate and local dioceses as things get under way.  It also introduces Catholics from both groups to opportunities to help each other out.  With these Anglican ordinariates, the Holy Father has done nothing short of helping both Catholics and Anglicans, giving both groups more tools at their disposal to further nourish their spiritual needs during a period of dark times for Western Christianity.

Finally, I would like to offer a word of admonition to both Roman Catholics and Anglicans entering the Church through the ordinariate.

To Roman Catholics I say this.  DON'T BE STUPID.  The Holy Father has structured these ordinariates in such as way as to help struggling Roman dioceses in their time of need.  Make no mistake about it.  Dioceses that are accommodating to Anglican ordinariate parishes and groups will be blessed.  New vocations may arise from these communities, and those vocations will likely be of service to both the diocese as well as the ordinariate.  Anglo-Catholic priests are fully permitted to celebrate the Roman Rite liturgy as well as their own.  This means with your local bishop's permission, they can do a regular mass in any diocesan parish, and you can be sure they will celebrate the Roman liturgy with the highest level of respect and honour given to your traditional customs.  That can only serve to strengthen your local parish's Roman Catholic identity.  This is a win-win situation for Roman dioceses.  Don't pass the opportunity up when it arises.  Embrace the Anglican ordinariate, in the true spirit of Vatican II (a spirit of continuity not rupture), and your diocese will be blessed because of it.

To all those entering the Church through the ordinariate, most especially to Anglicans for whom these ordinariates are being created, I would like to admonish you to fully embrace the Catholic faith as well as the Anglican Patrimony.  Most especially, nurture the Anglican Patrimony, which is primarily liturgical of course, but can also include personal and family customs that are unique to Anglican history and English culture.  The Holy Father has made it ABSOLUTELY CLEAR that he EXPECTS us to build something new and unique in the universal Church.  He does not want us to be absorbed into the Roman Rite as a community.  Granted, if individuals (or families) want to be absorbed into the general Roman Rite, than that is fine, and that is their choice.  As an Anglo Catholic community however, those of us who choose to remain part of that, should endeavour to be unique and distinct, keeping with our Anglican Patrimony and forging ahead in Traditional development.  Remember, it was our most conservative Anglican traditions that brought us INTO the Catholic Church, and it is those same conservative Anglican traditions that will help us move forward WITHIN the Catholic Church. As for today however, let us celebrate and give thanks to the Lord. Today history is made. Today marks a new beginning not only for Anglicans (Episcopalians) in the United States, but also for Roman Catholics as well, as we will both mutually benefit from this ordinariate arrangement.

U.S. Anglican Ordinary Named?

Father Jeffrey Steenson

(Virtue Online) -- "It is being noised Jeffrey Steenson, the former Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande in the Episcopal Church, who was received into the Catholic Church in 2007 and is now a priest, will be named Ordinary of the American Anglican Ordinariate on January 1, 2012," the Bovina Bloviator posted under an Ordinariate Buzz header.

Steenson's Anglo-Catholic pedigree comes from being an Episcopal priest for 24 years including stints as the curate and rector at two Pennsylvania parishes -- All Saints' Church in Wynnewood, and Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont, before going on to St. Andrew's in Fort Worth, Texas. From there he was elected, in 2004, to be bishop coadjutor for the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande under Bishop Terence Kelshaw. The former Rio Grande bishop has the distinction of being the 1000th Episcopal Church bishop consecrated with his "lappets" stretching all the way back to the first Bishop of Connecticut, Samuel Seabury who was consecrated in 1784. Steenson's consecrators included then Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, his predecessor Bishop Terence Kelshaw, Anglo-Catholic Bishop Clarence Pope, indigenous Bishop Mark McDonald, and ecumenical Bishop Anthony Burton from the Anglican Church of Canada. Steenson became the eighth diocesan bishop in 2005. He was an Episcopal bishop for two short years before swimming the Tiber.

The Anglo-Catholic Bishop of the Rio Grande shed the purple in December 2007 and was received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. This was done in Rome, Italy, at the Basilica of Saint Mary Major during a private ceremony officiated by Bernard Cardinal Law, the former Catholic Cardinal of Boston and then archpriest at a Roman basilica.

The former Episcopal bishop embraced the Pastoral Provision that allows for former Anglican clergy to become Roman Catholics and eventually recoup their priesthood. The Pastoral Provision is the precursor to the unfolding Anglican Ordinariate and will operate along side of it for those converting priests who do not wish to become a part of the Ordinariate yet want to become Roman Catholic....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I would like to remind my readers that this is all 'unofficial' at this time, as Rome has not actually made the official announcement yet. I provide it here only because the information has already been leaked onto the Internet. It should be considered a highly credible RUMOR. However this information is allegedly confirmed by multiple inside sources, and is being accepted as factual by some who are supposedly 'in the know.' I suppose we will all know for sure on January 1st.

Novena for the U.S. Anglican Ordinariate

Our Lady of the Atonement
Anglican devotion to Mary -- the Mother of God

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: On January 1st 2012, on the Feast of the Holy Mother of God, Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to create an ordinariate for Anglicans in the United States of America, and name an ordinary for its leadership. Let us pray a novena for the Holy Father, requesting of our Blessed Mother her intercession, that the Holy Father will receive the grace of strength and wisdom to complete this historic event.

The creation of the U.S. ordinariate for Anglicans will turn the restoration of authentic Anglo Catholicism into an international movement. This will demonstrate Pope Benedict's Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus is truly a prophetic document and now a permanent fixture of the Catholic Church -- literally an authentic fulfilment of the ecumenical vision of the Second Vatican Council according to how the conciliar fathers intended. (Not the liberal ideas of syncretism that developed after the council.)

The U.S. Catholic Church will benefit from the U.S. ordinariate in many ways, helping to coax U.S. Catholics into a more traditional way of viewing the liturgy and sacraments. A door will be opened not only for U.S. Anglicans/Episcopalians, leading to full unity with the Catholic Church, but also for U.S. Lutherans and other liturgically-minded Christians who may wish to be a part of this historic movement. An international means will have been created to preserve the Anglican patrimony, under Catholic orthodoxy, which will certainly outlast the Anglican Communion and the Anglican Continuum.

Please join The Catholic Knight in praying the following Novena December 23 through December 31 of 2011, as we await the historic announcement on January 1st.

This novena is to be said along with a daily rosary...

Our dearest Mother Mary, behold us, your children, in prayer at your feet. Accept this Holy Rosary, which we offer you in accordance with your requests at Fatima, as proof of our tender love for you, for the intentions of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in atonement for the offences committed against your Immaculate Heart, and for this special favour which we earnestly request in this Rosary Novena: That the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, be aided with divine grace in the creation of the U.S. ordinariate for Anglicans.  Amen.

The New English Paradigm

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I received this note from a friend this morning by email...

Personally I think the new English translation of the mass is wonderful, but I have already heard some people complain about it. If you don't like it you can always worship at an Anglo-Ordinariate parish in Old English instead. I mean it's not like you're stuck with just one English translation of the mass. You do have a choice you know.

I happen to like the new English translation too, but I hadn't given this full consideration until reading this note. It seems that along with Advent 2011 comes the beginning of a new English paradigm in Catholic liturgy. The old 1970s English translation is gone, but English-speaking Catholics are not locked into one single English version of the mass. There are two! There is the new English translation of the Novus Ordo mass, and there is the classical English mass according to the Book of Divine Worship. Both are equally valid and approved by Rome. If some Catholics are terribly displeased with the new English translation of the Novus Ordo, or they are displeased with some other aspect of the general English celebration, there is always the Anglo-Ordinariate liturgy. All a regular Roman Catholic would need do is simply show up to an ordinariate parish for mass, as regular Roman Catholics can receive communion freely in any ordinariate parish. Such ordinariate parishes can be found at this website (here) in the United Kingdom, and at this website in the United States (link will be posted when available), or by simply using this map below. In the United States, all the parishes and groups in this map should be in full-communion with Rome sometime after the first of the new year (January 2012). You should call the local priest in advance for complete information. There is still no word yet on the Canadian ordinariate, however, one should call the pastors of these parishes anyway for complete information. I have heard rumour that some of these Canadian parishes may enter the U.S. ordinariate until the Canadian ordinariate is created. If this is true, it would bring them into full communion with Rome much sooner, simultaneously with the Americans...


View Emerging Anglo Catholic Ordinariates Worldwide in a larger map

Pope Approves US Ordinariate for Anglicans

Cardinal Donald Wuerl addresses the U.S. Bishop's Conference
on November 15, 2011

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, has just approved the creation of a U.S. Ordinariate for Anglicans seeking to enter the Catholic Church. The ordinariate will be erected on January 1st, 2012. The name of the ordinariate and the ordinary will be released at that time. Cardinal Wuerl made the announcement today at the USCCB Conference, though the pope had actually made the approval on October 28, 2011 in the presence of Cardinal Levada. Cardinal Wuerl was authorised to make the announcement today at the bishops conference. The full text of Cardinal Wuerl's report can be viewed HERE. Another blogger has prepared a general Q&A for Roman Catholics here.

They Shall Be Called Anglo Catholics

The Mass According to the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite
THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Here in the United States, Anglicans entering the pope's personal ordinariate for 'Groups of Anglicans' will likely have to be called 'Anglo Catholics' or 'Anglo-Catholics,' with or without the hyphen.

The reasons for this are complex. The first reason has to do with the name 'Anglican Catholic' itself. The Catholic Knight has recently learned from a fellow blogger that some small splinter-group of traditional Anglicans, not interested in the ordinariate, are claiming a legal service mark to the term 'Anglican Catholic' and may be threatening legal action against anyone else who dares to use it. While in my opinion it is unlikely that this group can really service mark such a general term, I believe it is equally unlikely that the ordinary of the U.S. ordinariate will seek a legal challenge to it. Though I think he would likely win such a legal challenge, it's probably not worth the fight. The second reason has to do with the fact that there are more than just Anglicans entering the American ordinariate. A small contingency of Lutherans, calling themselves the 'Anglo-Lutheran Catholic Church' will also be joining the ordinariate. It would be inaccurate to describe this group as 'Anglican' per se' because they are not. They are Lutheran, and while they've obviously adopted some Anglican customs, they come from a form of Protestantism that originated in Germany under completely different pretences than the English Reformation. So to imply that they are 'Anglican' under an 'Anglican Catholic ordinariate.' Is somewhat of a misnomer.

The term 'Anglo,' coming from the Latin for the British tribes of 'Angles,' simply means 'English' and in a religious sense, it refers to the form and style of Christian worship that developed in the British isles. It is the same religious form used by high-church Anglicans, Anglo-Lutherans and the 'Anglican Use Pastoral Provision' parishes in the U.S. Catholic Church. So the term has a more broad base. While the ordinariate itself may be called anything under the sun, such as the 'Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham' as in England, and may possibly include the word 'Anglican' if that is the desire of those who control it, the term 'Anglo Catholic' might better be used as a loose, quick and informal way to refer to those Catholics who become members of the ordinariate.

The term 'Anglo-Catholic,' usually with a hyphen, has a long tradition of being used to describe high-church Anglicans anyway, and these are the type of Anglicans who are most likely to find interest in the pope's ordinariate. Removing the hyphen might be an easy way to loosely distinguish between those who are in the ordinariate and those who have yet to join. Those outside the ordinariate might be hyphenated 'Anglo-Catholic' while those inside the ordinariate might dispense of the hyphen 'Anglo Catholic.'

If the term 'Anglo Catholic' seems inappropriate, than about the only other term left is 'Anglican Use Catholic' as it is the term already used in the United States by the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision parishes.

Of course if none of these seem suitable than there is yet one last suggestion. The full Latin term for Anglican could be applied creating the term 'Anglicanus Catholic.'

ASSUMED

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Today is the Holy Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  The Feast of the Assumption is when Catholics, Anglicans and Eastern Orthodox Christians remember that the Blessed Virgin Mary was Assumed (Translated or Raptured) into heaven at the end of her life.  This is similar to the way in which the Patriarch Enoch and the Prophet Elijah were Assumed to heaven in a similar way, having never tasted death or corruption.  Belief in the assumption of Mary was widely accepted by the early Christians, in spite of what our Evangelical friends would have us believe, and to this day there are no relics left behind of the Blessed Virgin.  This is highly unusual when one considered that the early Christians saved and venerated every bone and fragment of high profile Christians who had died.  The skeletons of Saints Peter and Paul can be found in Rome to this day.  Likewise, portions of all the original apostles and Biblical characters are venerated in shrines all throughout Europe and the Middle East.  Yet nothing remains of Jesus and Mary.  Their bodies are gone, having left this earth behind in total.  Jesus having ascended into Heaven, and Mary having been assumed (translated or raptured) into heaven.

Pray for England & the Anglican Ordinariates

In the wake of the recent riots and civil unrest in England, we should take note that this is not a random incident.  It has been carefully planned and coordinated, not just by the perpetrators, but by the very legions of Hell themselves.  In 1857 Dom Bosco related to Blessed Pius IX a vision of St. Dominic Savio:

'One morning, while I was doing my thanksgiving after Holy Communion, I was taken by a strong distraction. It seemed that I was on a very vast flat land surface, full of people surrounded by thick darkness. They were walking, but did so as though they had lost their way and could not see where they set their feet. Someone beside me said, "This region is England."

'Then I saw the Supreme Pontiff, Pius IX. He was dressed in a majestic fashion, carrying in his hands a splendorous light, and advancing amidst the multitude of people. As He advanced, the darkness gradually disappeared and the people were bathed with so much light that it seemed noon time.

'The friend said, "This light is the Catholic Religion, which must illuminate England."'

What is the significance of Pope Pius IX in today's day and age? Well, it was Pope Pius IX who gave us both the infallible dogma of the Immaculate Conception AND the famous Syllabus of Errors, both of which could do wonders for England right now. There is more...

In 1854, the famous Curé d’Ars was talking to Archbishop Ullathorne, of Birmingham, England, when suddenly the saintly curé interrupted him and said: "But, Monsignor, I believe that the Church in England will recover her ancient splendour."

It was not only Saintly visionaries who saw this, but the Blessed Virgin Mary herself who prophesied it. In her apparition at La Salette, France, on the 19th day of September in 1846, the Blessed Virgin Mary said to the boy Maximin (one of the two seers):

"A Protestant nation in the north shall be converted to the Faith, and through the means of that nation, the others shall return to the Holy Catholic Church."

Yet it was Pope Leo XIII, who in 1895 put it quite bluntly in his Encyclical letter Amantissima Voluntatis...

Thus, we firmly believe that the reunification of all baptized Christians is of the essence. As long as our separated brethren in baptism remain fragmented into thousands of denominations, with a wide variety of creeds and moral codes, all claiming to derive their interpretations from the Bible, Christianity - weakened as it is by the influence of secularism and the Culture of Death - will not stand a chance against Islam.

That Secular Europe is now being overrun in many places by Islamic Shariah cannot be denied.  We all know what multiculturalism has wrought upon all of Europe, but why this focus on England?  What is so significant about this Protestant nation, among so many others secularized over the last century?  The answer is really quite simple and it all has to do with the history of the altar and the throne.  You see, when King Henry VIII set England onto a Protestant course, (which was later furthered by his daughter Queen Elizabeth I), the newly protestantized Church of England became intimately tied to the British monarchy.  In fact, the monarch was nothing short of the "English pope" with the Archbishop of Canterbury serving as his/her spiritual prime minister.  As England became an empire, so the Church of England became a worldwide Protestant religion.  On whatever soil the crown placed it's royal claim, so the Church of England did evangelize, creating colonies and a colonial religion to service them.  The United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, etc.  All of these are primarily Protestant nations for one reason, and one reason only, and that reason is the Church of England which serves at the pleasure of the British monarchy.  The majority of Protestant denominations also come from England, primarily the Anglicans of course, but also splinter groups which later became their own denominations, such as the Methodists, Puritans and Baptists.  For centuries, the majority of the world's anti-Catholic propaganda was printed in England, and to this day history textbooks, influenced by English historians, relate a skewed interpretation of the crusades and inquisitions that can only be explained as English Protestant folklore.  By the beginning of the 20th century, the sun never set on Britannia, as the empire controlled colonies in every corner of the world, and with those colonies, the Church of England planted her seed.

However, something else also happened within the Church of England.  In the middle 1800s, the Oxford Movement came to the forefront, making a huge push to restore Catholic traditions and doctrine to the Anglican patrimony.  The movement was largely successful in the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia.  This caused many Anglicans to return to the Catholic Church individually, including such notable persons as Blessed John Henry Newman.  Still, many hoped for a corporate reunion with Rome.

Toward the end of the 20th century, hope for corporate Anglican reunion with Rome began to fade as the Church of England, and other Anglican provinces (particularly The Episcopal Church USA), began ordaining women and openly practicing homosexuals to the priesthood.  The Vatican made it clear that this hindered ecumenical relations, and by 2009 all hopes of corporate reunion were lost when the Church of England voted to consecrate women to the office of bishop.  However, while corporate reunion with mainstream Anglicanism became unrealistic, there were large groups of non-mainstream Anglicans who sought to fulfill the corporate reunion vision of the Oxford Movement.  These smaller groups, led primarily by the worldwide "Traditional Anglican Communion" (or TAC) had been for decades petitioning Rome for corporate reunion.  So on November 4th of 2009 the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, released an apostolic constitution entitled Anglicanorum Coetibus (pronounced: Ang-lic-an-OR-um CHAA-tee-boos) meaning "groups of Anglicans."  He later described this document, and the structure it provides, as "prophetic" in nature.

It is no coincidence that England should be rocked by widespread riots, and Islamist calls to topple the British government, just weeks before this ordinariate structure is set to go international.  (Yes I said "weeks.")  The Evil One, and Enemy of all our souls, coordinates his attacks very precisely.  God is preparing to do a marvelous work with the Anglican Catholic ordinariates, and these structures threaten to usurp England's Protestant culture, so the Enemy of us all must step up his game.

Now is the time to pray for England.  Now is the time to pray for the ordinariates.  Now is the time to pray for the conversion of souls and of nations...

Prayer for our English Brethren To the Blessed Virgin

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our most gentle Queen and Mother, look down in mercy upon England thy Dowry and upon us all who greatly hope and trust in thee.

By thee it was that Jesus our Saviour and our hope was given unto the world; and He has given thee to us that we might hope still more. Plead for us thy children, whom thou didst receive and accept at the foot of the Cross.

O sorrowful Mother! Intercede for our separated brethren, that with us in the one true fold they may be united to the supreme Shepherd, the Vicar of thy Son.

Pray for us all, dear Mother that by faith fruitful in good works we may all deserve to see and praise God, together with thee, in our heavenly home.
Amen.

“We grant, that is, to all those who piously recite this prayer, to whatever nation they may belong, an indulgence of three hundred days; moreover, a plenary indulgence once a month on the observance of the usual conditions to those who have recited it daily”.

-- Pope Leo XIII.

England Is The Key To Save Europe (and the West)

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: We are all familiar with the Fatima prophecies concerning the conversion of Russia, and the necessity of this in the restoration of the world after the godless hell of Marxist atheism and Secular humanism. However, Our Lady of Fatima specifically stated that the conversion of Russia is contingent upon the actions of the pope. Russia must be consecrated to Mary's Immaculate Heart, in union with all the bishops of the world, and then Russia will be converted. By "converted" it is generally assumed to mean the Russian Orthodox Church (and the state as well) will be reconciled to Rome. We do not know when, or exactly how, this will happen, but it is an action reserved almost exclusively for the pope. As for the rest of us, all we can do is pray, considering Our Lady's message to live holy and chaste lives. To show our love and obedience, we may practice the devotion of "the First Saturday" as well as pray the Fatima prayers of the Holy Rosary frequently. This however is all we can do for Russia at this time.

Our Lady of Walsingham

However, many Catholic mystics across the generations have pointed to another crusade much closer to home, and one in which we can do a whole lot more. The Nation of England, Great Britain, otherwise known as the United Kingdom (U.K.) is pointed out by the Catholic seers and mystics across multiple generations as the "key" or the "linchpin" to the reconversion of Europe (and the West) after the great Western apostasy of the 20th century. Once considered "Mary's Dowry" this great Catholic nation fell into the Protestant Reformation, quite unwillingly and brutally, due to the apostasy of a king who could no longer see beyond his own political assumptions. Because of this, England fell into a 500 year spiritual death spiral. Today it is barely recognizable as a Christian nation, ruled by godless secularism and moral relativism, while Islam threatens to become the dominant religion on the island. England is spiritually dead now. It has reached the end of it's long death spiral. Now it faces a striking and painful choice. Shall it rebuild it's Catholic heritage? Or give up! allowing the Muslims to rebuild England for them into an Islamic state? Yes, it really has come to that, and yes, now is the time for decision.

I will leave you with the following video in two parts. They are stirring to say the least. If you want to help, you can! If you speak English as your native tongue, than you are connected to the restoration of Catholic England by virtue of your heritage. I will leave links for you to explore just below the video...




THE WALSINGHAM PROJECT (website)
THE WALSINGHAM PROJECT (pdf download)
PRAYERS FOR ENGLAND OUTSIDE THE UK (pdf download)
PRAYERS FOR ENGLAND INSIDE THE UK (pdf download)
HENRY VIII's BOOK "Defense of the Sacraments" (website)
JOIN THE WALSINGHAM PRAYER CRUSADE (website)
.

U.S. Anglican Ordinariate Emerges!

This symbol resembles the shield
of The Episcopal Church in the USA,
the traditional symbol for U.S. Anglicans,
except the stars in the blue canton
have been replaced with the papal
seal, symbolizing reunification
with Rome

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The U.S. personal ordinariate for Anglicans is now officially underway. On June 15, 2011 Cardinal Donald Wuerl addressed the USCCB about the widespread interest in the United States for the pope's offer to traditional Anglicans. He announced the ordinariate would be erected in the fall of 2011.

The U.S. Anglican ordinariate will be a welcome addition to the U.S. Catholic Church, and a necessary tool for Pope Benedict XVI's liturgical "reform of the reform." Traditional Anglicanism is modeled after traditional Catholicism, with a particularly Old English ethos called the "Anglican Patrimony." Essentially, Traditional Anglicans have much more faithfully preserved the liturgical traditions of pre-conciliar Roman Catholicism, even though they were outside the communion of the Roman Catholic Church. The Traditional Anglican mass resembles in many ways the traditional Latin mass. The language used is usually Elizabethan English. Imagine, if you will, a traditional Latin mass translated into English by Shakespeare. This would be very similar, though not totally identical, to the Traditional Anglican mass. The priest usually celebrates in the ad orientem posture, communion rails are common, women are usually veiled, and communion is always served on the tongue while kneeling. The emergence of Anglican ordinariate parishes around the United States will not only serve as a bridge for mainline traditional Protestants seeking full-communion with Rome, but they will also offer general Roman Catholics a viable alternative to the typical Novus Ordo mass celebrated in the usual banal manner. The timing of the emerging ordinariate will coincide with the reformed English translation for the ordinary form of the mass in the general Roman Rite. This will create a two prong pincer assault on the post-conciliar Novus Ordo culture. This combined with the pope's instruction on his motu proprio, creating a generous provision of the traditional Latin mass, seals the deal of reform. The Modernists have nowhere left to run. They can either conform to the Holy Father's "reform of the reform" or they can leave the Church for a more liberal schismatic sect.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl
reported on the emerging
ordinariate to the USCCB

General Roman Catholics in the United States will be free to attend Anglican ordinariate parishes, societies and missions. They may even become members of such groups, though they themselves will remain under the episcopal authority of their diocesan bishop. They will not be eligible for ordinariate membership unless they have immediate family who are already within the ordinariate. That being said, Roman Catholics who marry Anglican Catholics, or who baptize their children in an ordinariate parish, will then have access to membership in the ordinariate in addition to parish membership. Let me reiterate, a general Roman Catholic DOES NOT need to be a member of the ordinariate to be a member of an ordinariate parish. Parish membership and ordinariate membership are separate. That being said, a young Roman Catholic married couple could easily join an ordinariate parish as full members, even though they would still be under the episcopal authority of their Roman diocesan bishop. Then the couple could baptize their newborn children in that same ordinariate parish, if they so desire, and that would make their children automatically ordinariate members as well as parish members. Then the parental couple could themselves apply for ordinairate membership, if they so desire, because their children are already members of the ordinariate by baptism. The reason why I am spelling out this process here is so traditionally-minded Roman Catholics have a means to access both pastoral shelter in an ordinariate parish, and if absolutely necessary, full episcopal shelter in the ordinariate itself. This may be necessary in such diocese where the Roman bishop is openly hostile to traditionally-minded Catholics.

Traditional Catholics of the Extraordinary Form (traditional Latin mass) will find kindred spirits in the emerging Anglican ordinariate. Anglican Catholics, as they will be called, have a particular affection for pre-conciliar traditions and customs. They will become the natural allies to traditional Roman Catholics, even though they will retain many of their own unique characteristics of the English patrimony. We can expect to see a good amount of crossover of Traditional Catholics attending Anglican Catholic masses, and vice versa, with Anglican Catholics attending Traditional Catholic masses. This is inevitable. So it behooves both Traditional Catholics and Anglican Catholics to reach out and make contact with each other, build friendships and work together toward common goals. (Perhaps a joint-community picnic might be a good place to start? Wherein Traditional Catholics can "welcome" their new Anglican Catholic brethren.)

The Anglican Use Pastoral Provision was created by Pope John Paul II thirty years ago, and is in many ways a precursor to the new ordinariate template. Through the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision, priests from The Episcopal Church USA were able to convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and then receive holy orders even if they were already married. This special provision was considered an "Anglican Use of the Roman Rite." The ordinariate template is based on this. It is not a separate rite within the Church but rather a subdivision of the Roman Rite. Anglican Catholics will be under the same canon law and will use the same catechism as Roman Catholics. The canon of the mass will be identical to the general Roman Rite, but the rest of the liturgy will be based on the Anglican patrimony, which as I said above, bears striking resemblance to the pre-conciliar Roman liturgy. Again, I should point out here; it is not identical to the traditional Latin mass. There are differences. These differences have, however, a much greater continuity with the pre-conciliar Roman liturgy. In comparison to the Novus Ordo "ordinary form" mass, there really is no comparison. The Traditional Anglican mass is in continuity with the pre-conciliar liturgy, while the Novus Ordo mass is not, at least not as it's typically celebrated. The new reformed English translation will "help" the Novus Ordo, but it will not fix it. The Novus Ordo needs a make over, and indeed something like that will eventually happen, but probably not for a long time.

In the mean time, traditionally-minded Catholics can now find shelter in two places. The first of course is the traditional Latin mass communities spawned by Ecclesia Dei and Summorum Pontificum. Assuming a traditional Latin mass community exists in the area, and assuming this community is not being suppressed by the local diocesan bishop, than traditionally-minded Catholics will be able to find refuge there. However, in such cases where a traditional Latin mass community is not formed, or is suppressed by an unfriendly bishop, than traditional-minded Catholics may still possibly find refuge in an Anglican ordinariate parish.

Unlike the traditional Latin mass communities, the Anglican ordinariate communities will not need to rely on the friendliness of the local diocesan bishop. Anglican ordinariate missions and parishes can be erected with or without a local diocesan bishop's approval. While the U.S. Ordinary for Anglican Catholics will of course seek cooperation and feedback from the local bishop, permission for the creation of a group is not required. Between the Latin mass Catholics citing canon law that requires a bishop to provide a traditional Latin mass, and Anglican Catholics creating new traditional-style parishes nearby, unfriendly Catholic bishops are going to find themselves between a rock and a hard place.

Elevation during the
Anglican Use mass

Of course, there is the other side of the coin. Diocesan bishops who are friendly to historical tradition will have much to benefit from all of this. I have it on good authority that the U.S. Anglican ordinariate will have no shortage of priests for the immediate short term. In fact, there will likely be a surplus -- a significant surplus. Furthermore, the U.S. Anglican ordinariate will have twice as many resources to draw upon for more vocations, both among married and unmarried men. Rome has made it clear that it intends to indefinitely maintain the Anglican tradition of allowing married men into the priesthood, in spite of what you may have recently heard at the bishop's conference in Seattle today. So while traditionalism will attract more ordinariate men to the priesthood anyway, the pool to draw upon will be exponentially greater because of the availability of married men. While Rome will not allow Roman Catholics to transfer over to the ordinariate for the sake of ordination, Rome has made it clear that so long as married men have a legitimate connection to the Anglican patrimony, either through membership in the ordinariate or a previous Anglican sect, the priesthood will remain open to them on a case-by-case basis. So the long and short of it is this. The ordinariate is going to have PLENTY of priests to go around, both for the short term and the long term. Initially there will be more priests than assignments, and for diocesan bishops friendly to tradition, those priests will be available for work. There is nothing preventing a diocesan bishop from hiring an ordinariate priest for regular diocesan work -- that is -- so long as he doesn't mind the Novus Ordo mass celebrated in the most traditional way possible. Assuming that bishop doesn't mind these priests celebrating mass ad orientem, and distributing communion on the tongue, as such ordinariate priests would be inclined to do, than it is likely there will be plenty of diocesan work to go around.

So begins the Pope Benedict's "reform of the reform" in the United States.

Anglicanism Implodes While Anglican Catholicism Rises

Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams
No, I don't know what he's doing. 

(Telegraph) - Here’s the reality. The Anglican Communion has disintegrated on Rowan Williams’s watch, partly thanks to his habit of saying one thing to fundamentalist Africans and quite another to liberal Americans. His own bench of bishops is hopelessly divided on key moral issues, and Rowan’s hand-wringing isn’t uniting them.

Out of four bishops commissioned to look after traditionalist congregations, three have left the C of E to become Catholic monsignors. Over fifty Anglican ministers are being ordained RC priests this month.
You may or may not sympathise with their decision. But one thing’s for sure. When Pope Benedict is confronted by a major crisis in his Church, he doesn’t take time off to guest edit a secular magazine in the hope of impressing his mates...

read full story first

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Yes, Anglicanism is imploding around the world, not just in England, but the Anglican Communion is in good company. Lutheranism is on it's last leg too, as well as Methodism, Presbyterianism, etc. In fact, the only two Christian denominations that are growing right now are the Catholic Church and Evangelical/Pentecostal communities. Everything else is in decline. So Anglicans shouldn't feel too bad about that. It's nothing specific to their brand of Christianity. That being said however, Anglicanism does present an interesting microcosm of what is happening in the entire Protestant world.

Before I go on, let me say what this is NOT about. This is not about English Christianity or English Christians in general. It certainly has nothing to do with English heritage. So this is not an attack on Anglicanism in particular. What this is about is Protestantism in general, and specifically, it is about the very premise of what Protestantism is built on. It's taken about five-hundred years, but in that time we have witness the complete and total erosion of the Christian faith.

The problem goes right back to the Protestant Reformation itself (AD 1517 - 1648). It really begins with Martin Luther actually, and believe it or not, his Ninety-Five Thesis has little to do with it. It actually begins in 1520 with a declaration made by Martin Luther of Sola Scriptura or "Scripture Alone" which teaches that the Bible is the ONLY inspired word of God, that it is the ONLY source of Christian doctrine, and that the Bible requires no interpretation outside of itself, meaning that anyone may interpret it authoritatively. This is in direct contradiction to the historic teaching of Christianity that the Bible can only be authentically interpreted in the context of Apostolic Tradition and by the successors of the Apostles themselves. This idea of Sola Scriptura was later adopted by the Church of England in the Westminster Confession of Faith in 1646...

VII. All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all; yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them.

So began a "hermeneutic of rupture" with historic Christianity in the Protestant world that began with Martin Luther, spread across all of Europe, and found it's way into the Church of England. Now the Church of England, and the broader Anglican Communion, has undergone many transformations over the centuries, and I don't propose to suggest the Westminster Confession captures the heart and soul of Anglicanism today. I simply mean to say this was one of the seeds that started it all.  By adopting Sola Scriptura, the Anglicans set themselves up for a train wreck in slow motion that would take hundreds of years to see it's final devastation.   If scripture, tradition and reason are all anyone needs, than by one man's reason, Scripture can be reinterpreted anyway one wants based on the tradition one chooses.  So began the formula of Anglicanism's demise.  In the Oxford Movement the Anglicans saw a brief reprieve of hope, in which for a moment, it looked as if things might turn around, but this hope was soon lost in the twentieth century with the Anglican adoption of artificial contraception, followed by liberal attitudes toward abortion, feminism and homosexuality.  The only thing the Oxford Movement provided was a way out for those Anglicans who wanted it -- a way to step off the train wreck before the final crunch -- a way that is seeing it's completion in Pope Benedict's personal ordinariate for Anglicans.

With the rise of the Anglican ordinariate in the UK, English Christians are now faced with a crystal clear choice.  Pope Benedict has effectively adopted the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (or 98% of it anyway) as an authentic Catholic liturgy.  He has created a means for Anglo-Catholics to govern themselves within the hierarchy of the Catholic Church.  He has given English Christians everything that could possibly be given, and now the ball is squarely in their court.  Aesthetically, the ordinariates are in every way English.  They fully embrace the Anglican Patrimony of the last five-hundred years and beyond. The clergy of these ordinariates are autonomous, in the sense that they cannot be absorbed by the larger Roman Rite.  It is everything the Oxford Fathers could have imagined and then some.  So now, with that being said, what will English Christians choose?  That is a matter for history to decide.  The choice is no longer between English and Roman.  Rome has retreated, shall we say, at least liturgically, but it has done so with dignity, and the English ethos now permanently rules through the ordinariate.  Of course the general Roman Rite will always be available for those who want it, but no more will English Christians have to choose between Rome and their Anglican heritage.  Now, if they want it, they can have both.

The choice is no longer between Rome and Canterbury, but it is now simply a choice between Catholicism and Protestantism.  All the Church of England, and the broader Anglican Communion, has to offer now is a difference in doctrine.  Anglicans can no longer boast of a unique Christian culture, heritage and ethos.  All of this now exists in the ordinariates.  So the real choice is simply between doctrine and nothing more.  Is Scripture subject to one's own private interpretations, or is it part of a broader Christian Tradition that should be interpreted by the successors to the apostles?  Is Christ only spiritually present in the Eucharist, or is he really truly there in a physical sense?  Does moral relativism rule Christianity, or is there really such a thing as absolute right and wrong?  These are the questions that face English Christians now.  This is the choice they must now make.  It is no longer an issue of "being English."  That can be done within the ordinariates.  The question is now one of being Christian.  What would the apostles do?

As for the Church of England, and the broader Anglican Communion, I think we all know what it's future holds.  The Communion is now in the process of being shattered.  The Africans and Asians will go the way of the Evangelicals, breaking communion with Canterbury and England just as they already have with The Episcopal Church in the United States.  These Anglo-Evangelicals will follow the rest of the world's Evangelicals into their own discovery of the inadequacies of Sola Scriptura.  As for what remains of Anglo-Catholicism in England, North America, Australia and New Zealand, it will continue to follow the path of Liberal Modernism to it's ultimate conclusion -- which is total relativism and final apostasy -- creating an anti-church that in every way looks and sounds Catholic but in reality teaches an entirely different gospel.  Like all liberal churches, it will eventually shrink to practically nothing, and then rely on inter-communion with other liberal churches to shore up it's lost numbers.  The irony of the whole thing is this.  Liberal Anglicans make the accusation that Rome will eventually absorb the ordinariates into the Roman Rite, leaving nothing of the Anglican patrimony behind, even though Rome has already made such action impossible though canon law.  While at the same time, the Canterbury communion has itself consigned itself to it's own absorption of relativist syncretism through denominational inter-communion. 

Anti-Papal Anglicans Attack Emerging Ordinariates

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's not everyday one finds conservative traditionalists fighting against the pope. Usually such strange manifestations are contained to groups such as the SSPX and various Sedevacatist orders. Of course, in the Protestant world we could point to Evangelical Fundamentalists, though not very traditionalist as far as Christian standards go, they are usually conservative. I suppose if we really look hard enough, we can find traces of such lunacy in the conservative relics of mainstream Protestantism. I'm thinking of the two Lutheran synods in the United States for example, which still technically claim the pope to be the Antichrist, at least on paper anyway. However, it has been my experience that in these cases it is simply a matter of doctrinal technically, referring to the office of the papacy (as they misunderstand it), and not necessarily the man himself. Most conservative Lutherans I know tend to find this doctrinal technicality a little embarrassing. So on the conservative side of the Protestant world that's pretty much it. If you want to find anymore Protestant opposition to the pope, you're going to have to look on the liberal side, of which there is plenty to go around.

Occasionally however, we run across something a little unusual. Such is the case with the bitter Anglo-Catholic opposition developing against the emerging Anglican ordinariates within the Catholic Church. The Anglo-Catholic opposition seems to exist mainly in North America for now, as the English Anglo-Catholics were considerably more friendly about it. In the UK, the Anglo-Catholics each went their own way after the decision to consecrate women bishops in the Church of England. Some chose to stay and fight it out in the Church of England. Some chose to go with a breakaway continuing Anglican group. While some chose to venture into the pope's ordinariate for Anglicans. For the most part the parting of ways was bittersweet. Each side was sorry to see the other depart, but understood the reasons why and were generally respectful of their respective decisions. For the most part, the situation remains that way in England, with only a few very minor exceptions. To find real opposition to the pope's ordinariate plan in the UK, one must look to the liberal side of the spectrum.

In North America it's a different story. A very small, but vocal group, of Anglo-Catholics in the United States and Canada are putting up quite a stink. The American branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion, (the “Anglican Church in America” or “ACA”) has broken into two bodies, those who are for the ordinariate and those who are against. Those who are for it have reorganized under an umbrella organization titled the “Patrimony of the Primate.” While those who are against it are now in firm control of of the ACA. The Patrimony of the Primate is a considerably large chunk of the former ACA, and when combined with other groups aspiring to enter the ordinariate, the list is rather large.

Sadly, the ACA, along with a few sympathizers in Canada, have done much to harass those entering the ordinariate, even to the point of claiming that embracing the pope's offer is nothing short of abandoning one's Anglican heritage and is altogether a “dishonest” way of becoming Catholic. Not less than a few articles have been written, on blogs that cater to such groups, which have consistently misled readers with fabricated information, or at the very least distorted data cited out of context. One such blog even had the audacity to publish a private email exchange between a Roman Catholic bishop and the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion. (I wonder who leaked that email and if that person still has a job.) This is probably the worst example of anti-papal Protestantism I've ever seen in a group that claims to be “catholic.”

I only bring this up so my readers may be aware of what's happening. This is a very small, but very loud, group that is doing this. Unfortunately, many Catholic and Secular news sources are unaware of the politics behind the stories, and are publishing links to those news stories on their news aggregation websites. I think it's only fair to warn those news sources to beware and consider where the news is coming from. Even some of the news coming from the Apostolic Delegates, for the American and Canadian ordinariates, isn't entirely accurate. That's not to say there is any malicious intent there, as I don't believe there is, just that I think some of the information they're letting out is a bit obsolete and sometimes incomplete. We have to remember, the job of the pope's apostolic delegates is to gather information and report on the emerging ordinariates, not guide or direct them, so we shouldn't expect them to have all the answers.

I'm not going to point out the problematic blogs and news sources here. Rather I prefer to point my readers in the right direction. To the best of my knowledge, the most reliable source for information on the emerging Anglican ordinariates is The Anglo-Catholic Blog, and the Ordinariate Portal Blog. Anything written by Damian Thompson on the Telegraph Blog is usually pretty good stuff. Of course, yours truly (The Catholic Knight Blog) will endeavor to bring you the most accurate information as well. Beyond that, I wouldn't trust anything else unless it comes directly from Rome.

Novus Ordo Mass Set For Extinction

Elevation during the (Tridentine) "Extraordinary Form" of the Roman Rite

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The Novus Ordo mass, as we know it today, has been selected for extinction. That's the word from one high-ranking official in the Vatican...

(Catholic Culture) - The Instruction issued this week, underlining Pope Benedict’s desire for wider use of the “extraordinary form” of the Mass, is part of the Pontiff’s overall plan for a liturgical “reform of the reform,” according to one top Vatican official.

Cardinal Kurt Koch, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, said that the Pope hopes for the eventual development of a newly reformed liturgy, combining elements of both the traditional Latin Mass and the Novus Ordo liturgy...

read full story here

This "newly formed liturgy" does not necessarily imply an extinction of the Tridentine mass as we know it. Rumors have been circulating in Rome for years now that an entirely new Roman Missal is in the works, and some claim to have seen a prototype of it. If indeed such a prototype does exist, it is more likely a working model for development, and not anything that will be released anytime in the near future. The existence of "two forms" of the Roman Rite, both ordinary and extraordinary, is an odd development in the history of the Catholic Church. It is the result of what Pope Benedict XVI referred to as the "hermeneutic of rupture" following the misinterpretations and misapplications of the Second Vatican Council. By bringing the Tridentine liturgy back to the forefront of the Church as the "extraordinary form" of the Roman right, the pope hopes to reintroduce a "hermeneutic of continuity" back into the mainstream Church. By allowing the "ordinary form" and "extraordinary form" to exist side-by-side for a set period of time, the Holy Father hopes to allow a natural and organic development of tradition to unfold, drawing the two forms closer together in practice, as priests learn to celebrate the ordinary form with more extraordinary reverence. This coupled with better vernacular translations and liturgical guidance from the Vatican, will in a relatively short time revive the historical tradition of the Roman Catholic ethos.

The idea here is that a time will come, someday in the not-too-distant future (perhaps in another 8 to 16 years) when the separation of the two forms will no longer be necessary. A new missal will be released, which will essentially be Tridentine in nature, but with an expanded lectionary, tightening the rubrics for the Liturgy of the Eucharist in comparison to today's Novus Ordo, and loosening the rubrics for the Liturgy of the Word in comparison to today's Tridentine mass. Thus the Liturgy of the Eucharist would be set in stone, thoroughly Tridentine in nature, while the Liturgy of the Word would have some flexibility. Priests who want to make their celebration as traditional as possible will be able to do so easily, and exclusively in Latin if they prefer. While priests who want to make their celebration a bit more contemporary will also do so easily, likely using the vernacular translations. The Liturgy of the Eucharist would remain constant for all priests, regardless of their persuasion, and the canon of the mass (the consecration itself) will likely be said exclusively in Latin, regardless of the vernacular translation being used for the rest of the liturgy. This is what the 'Knight' has heard will be the framework of a future Missal for the Roman Rite.

Meanwhile the pope has made it clear that the Anglican ordinariates are to develop their own exclusive liturgy which will be based loosely on 'Rite One' from the Book of Divine Worship. This new liturgy will be used throughout ALL the Anglican ordinariates, without exception, not excluding the two forms of the Roman Rite which may be celebrated as well. Elements from the Sarum Use will likely be introduced to this Anglican ordinariate liturgy as well as some very "Tridentine-like" rubrics. In time, it is possible this will become a very popular liturgy for the English-speaking people throughout the world.

The Novus Ordo mass, as we know it today, has been slated for extinction. The horrid English translation of the Novus Ordo mass will expire later this year. The liturgical abuses and innovations that followed it, will likewise be dealt with one by one in the coming years. The clergy that gave us the Novus Ordo culture and the "hermeneutic of rupture" are likewise slated for retirement in the years ahead. The new seminarians coming out now are far more traditional and orthodox in nature. A fundamental paradigm shift has just occurred with the release of Summorum Pontificum (2007), Universae Ecclesiae (2011) and Anglicanorum Coetibus (2009). It's a paradigm shift that is unstoppable now, but won't be realized in it's fullness for at least a decade. By then the Catholic Church will have been so radically transformed from what it is today that it will be barely recognizable to the modern Catholic, but strikingly familiar to the ancient Catholic.

What becomes of the Novus Ordo mass, and poor vernacular translations, we are all so painfully familiar with today? They will live on of course, just no longer in the Catholic Church. They will become the designated liturgy for wannabe-catholic Protestant denominations and schismatic-liberal Catholic sects that left full-communion with the Church in rebellion over women's ordination and other heretical notions.

U.K. Ordinariate Website

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's official!  The pope's personal ordinariate for Anglican Catholics now has it's own place on the Internet.  This of course simplifies things for people seeking more information and possibly reconciliation with Holy Mother Church.  The number of parish groups forming in the U.K. has exploded over the last two weeks.  You can visit the website by clicking here or on the image to the right.

The U.K. ordinariate was established on January 15, 2011 after Monsignor Keith Newton (a former Anglican bishop) was installed by the pope as the designated Ordinary for England and Wales and ordained into the Catholic priesthood on the same day.  On March 17, 2011 he was elevated by the Holy Father to the rank of Protonotary Apostolic.   Other Anglican clergy have also come over to the Catholic Church and the U.K. ordinariate now promises to become quite a considerable force in a rather short period of time.  The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, as it is officially called, will begin in earnest after Easter of this year.  It is expected that other ordinariates will soon follow in the United States, Canada, Australia and other parts of the world.

The emerging U.S. ordinariate has also seen a significant increase in the number of parishes and groups that have committed to the cause.  As it stands right now, the U.S. ordinariate could not be established quickly enough, as it already has a working model in place with the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision.  One can only hope the Holy Father does not wait too long to establish the American ordinariate as a growing number of American Anglicans are extremely eager, practically chomping at the bit really, to come into full communion with Rome.  It would be tragic for such enthusiasm and zeal to be hampered by a protracted "waiting period" before Rome makes it's next move.  The United States was historically the first Anglican province outside the Church of England and has once again demonstrated it's readiness to stand side-by-side with her ordinariate brethren in the U.K.  May God hasten the establishment of the U.S. personal ordinariate for Anglican Catholics.

The Lutherans Are Coming!

Shield of the Anglo-Lutherans

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  A quick look at the Anglican Ordinariate Google Map reveals an interesting trend.  It looks like some Lutherans are availing themselves of the opportunity to join the pope's emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariate here in the United States.  The trend can be verified on The Anglo-Catholic blog. The development signifies something startling. The Anglican Ordinariates are beginning to cross denominational lines - specifically Protestant denominational lines. No longer are traditional Anglican congregations the only one's interested in entering the Catholic Church through the pope's personal ordinariate. Now we see traditional Lutherans following through as well. This is not a separate ordinariate mind you, it's the SAME ordinariate! It would appear the Traditional Anglicans and Traditional Lutherans are patching things up between them as they head toward Rome...



View Emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariates in a larger map
What was an unexpected development for 'The Catholic Knight' was apparently anticipated by the Holy Father. At the end of his historic visit to England last year, the pope referred to the Apostolic Constitution and the creation of the first ordinariates as a "prophetic gesture." In this phrase one can only wonder if the Holy Father had an inkling of what might occur. That inkling is starting to unfold before our very eyes now. Many Protestants in the original denominations, after 500 years of experimentation, are beginning to realize the futility of it all. It has been half a millennium of one epic failure after another, resulting in schism after schism, culminating in the virtual apostasy of modern denominations that accept abortion, contraception, homosexual priests and sodomite marriages. Though the failures of modern Protestantism have been broadcast loudly on the television, radio and Internet, a quiet phenomenon has been going on behind the scenes.

Small factions of conservative and traditional Protestants (mainly Anglicans and Lutherans so far) have realized the futility of endless schism to preserve the moral teachings of the gospel. They've come to understand that the only way to beat the 'tyranny of relativism' is to get back to their ancient Christian roots, and that can't happen without an honest evaluation of Catholic Christianity. Drawing upon the Catholic remnants in their own traditions, they began to move back toward Rome, and now we are beginning to see the results. Indeed, the Apostolic Constitution creating the Anglican Ordinariates is a "prophetic gesture," an open embrace, for all Protestants willing to accept historic doctrinal orthodoxy and come home to Rome.

U.S. Anglican Ordinariate Surpasses The Episcopal Church USA

View Emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariates in a larger map

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Br. Stephen Treat has made an interesting observation over at "The Anglo-Catholic" blog. According to his calculation, even in a worst case scenario, assuming that there would be no further interest in the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States other than what already exists (an assumption that runs against all observations and expectations so far), the average Sunday attendance (ASA) of the emerging Anglican ordinariate already surpasses that of The Episcopal Church U.S.A. ever so slightly. Now let me be perfectly clear. Br. Treat is not claiming the emerging U.S. Ordinariate will be larger than The Episcopal Church, not yet anyway, he's just saying that the estimated ASA is larger. The average national ASA of the emerging U.S. Anglican ordinariate currently ranks at about 69. While the average national ASA of The Episcopal Church U.S.A. currently ranks at about 66. This of course assumes zero growth of the emerging U.S. Anglican ordinariate, and zero interest in ordinariate parishes by Catholics of the general Roman Rite.

Of course the last thirty years of observation of the Anglican Use in the United States tells a different story. Anglican Use parishes have grown, some gradually, some rapidly and one explosively! (The presence of a parochial school helps explain the explosive growth in that one case.) Regardless of the cause, virtually all of the Anglican Use parishes have grown somewhat, and that is in spite of virtual obscurity.

What does this mean? It means that regardless of the rate of growth of the U.S. Anglican Ordinariate, it's size in average Sunday attendance (ASA) will surpass that of The Episcopal Church U.S.A. within a very short period of time, if indeed it hasn't already surpassed it!

The Episcopal Church U.S.A. is the official U.S. branch of the worldwide Protestant Anglican Communion.

The Anglican Missal

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: The Anglican Missal is an alternative to the Book of Common Prayer used by many Anglo-Catholics. It's based almost entirely on the pre-1962 Roman Missal (Tridentine mass), but revised slightly to reflect Anglican heritage. It is profoundly Catholic in form and style, as one would expect of a pre-1962 Roman liturgy. In many respects, the Anglican Missal is a perfect complement to the Anglican Breviary referenced in the previous blog entry. These in turn are prefect complements to the Roman Missal and Roman Breviary (pre-1962). It is widely speculated that these two texts (Anglican Missal and Breviary) will play a foundational role in the creation of a universal liturgy for the emerging Anglican ordinariates.

Various editions of the Anglican Missal are used by Traditional Anglican parishes throughout the world, this in conjunction with their older prayer books.  Roman Catholics would do well to at least skim over this particular version of liturgy, as it will likely be one major foundation for the future mass of the emerging Anglican ordinariates.  The Anglican Missal may be viewed online here should the iframe version below not function properly on your computer, or downloaded as a PDF here.

A Spanish version of the Anglican Missal has also been produced as well, and is used by some Traditional Anglican churches in Central America.  Interestingly enough, the Anglican Missal is also used by some High-Church Lutherans in various European nations.

THE ANGLICAN MISSAL