I think I had better share with my friends the distressing news that my ordination within the Catholic Church has been "deferred".
I think there has been some misunderstanding about the content of my blog, which I regret. Regular readers of the blog will be aware that its main characteristic is that of total submission to the Church's Magisterium, and of profound admiration for the person and writings of the present Sovereign Pontiff; and so my prayer is that present misunderstanding will very speedily be resolved. In the meantime, I am closing down this blog with immediate effect, and I shall promptly delete any comments on it (or emails sent to me) which are in any way whatsoever critical of the Catholic Church, or any of its officers, or of the Ordinariate; or which recommend me to adhere to any other ecclesial body.
Despite everything, I remain convinced that the Ordinariate is the only means of achieving the great vision of the Catholic Revival, longed for by so many great and holy men an d women, learnedly described in our own time by Fr Aidan Nichols: an Anglicanism reordered after heresy and schism, an Anglicanism United But Not Absorbed.
Today - the anniversary of my priestly ordination in 1968 - I ask the prayers of all those who wish me well, at a time which is the most unpleasant I have ever had to live through in my 43 years of priestly ministry. I ask them to pray also for my brethren in the Sacred Priesthood who are, in these early days of June, entering the presbyterate of the Ordinariate, as well as for our courageous deacons. And for Keith our Ordinary. And I thank the many - religious communities as well as individual clergy and laity all over the world - who have so lovingly kept me in their prayers.
Is there some Spanish word venceremos?
Fr John Hunwicke
was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies, been a Parish Priest, and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. Now incardinated into the Personal Ordinariate of our Lady of Walsingham, he has his base within the Oxford Ordinariate Group. This blog now replaces the Blog Father Hunwicke's Liturgical Notes. Its main purpose is to explore, ad mentem Summi Pontificis, the possibilitiesfor mutual enrichment between three forms of the Roman Rite: the Extraordinary Form, the Ordinary Form, and the Anglican Use. I have been told that my previous blog was disliked because of some the comments on the 'thread'. I take the point. In this blog, all comments will be moderated, and anything which is even implicitly critical of the English Hierarchy or of any member of it, will not be published.
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191 comments:
I am most distressed to hear your news. I pray for a speedy and happy resolution.
Dear Fr Hunwicke,
God bless and sustain you at what is - to put it mildly - a strange moment. I will keep you most heartily in my prayers. I look forward to happier news in the very near future.
Every good wish,
Dorothy
Please be assured of my prayers and support for you at this time, and that matters be speedily resolved in the 'consistent light of truth' - Bl. John Henry Newman.
I will keep you in my prayers, Father.
I too am distressed to read this, I have never understood anything you have written be unkind or ever contrary to the Faith.
Indeed you have helped me a great deal to understand the richness of Anglican Parimony and the wisdom and depth of the Magisterium.
Your blog has been very important to me in my own spiritual and theological growth.
Be assured of my prayers.
Prayers readily forthcoming.
My prayers at this time.
Please be assured of my prayers
You are in my prayers too. If there had been a problem, Christian charity says it should have been dealt with months ago. To do this at the last moment is most unkind. The RC priesthood is being deprived of a scholar who has much to offer. This Anglican will certainly pray.
Dear Father,
With all your friends and admirers on both sides of the Tiber I assure you of my continued prayers at this sad time. Over so many years, articles and essays of yours have enlarged my understanding of the Faith and its context, and in recent times your blog has extended this ministry. I am so grateful to you for this.
(And, while you might feel the need to prune back some comments, please don't remove your amazing store of essays from the blog. They are a wonderful resource.)
I join those who hope and pray for better news soon.
Blessings
+David
You are in my prayers.
Geoffrey
Your news gives me sorrow. Your erudite blog has given me many insights into the origins of liturgy and has been helpful in my work. I pray for you.
You have no idea how much your faith and wry humour have helped me. You are in my prayers and Masses.
I hope that your situation will be resolved with the utmost speed. What a loss that your blog should be lost to the many who have found it helpful and erudite. I can't understand how it could have been so misunderstood.
Fr. Blake expressed my thoughts, above.
I am so sorry that you have fallen foul of the hypersensitivity about blogs by clergy. Some don't like free expression and debate among faithful and loyal Catholics even in these days,though they do tolerate free expression and debate among dissenters. This is a sad reality. Why do you think that faithful and loyal seminarians have to keep their views to themselves while others hold their futures in their hands? You are in my prayers
Very sorry to hear this and pray that it will be resolved quickly.
Be assured of my prayers at this most distressing time. Like so many others I have been deeply impressed by the happy combination of erudite scholarship and humble submission to the magisterial judgement of the Church that you have consistently displayed on this blog. The latter has only become more perfect in recent months, and so I have no doubt that this is a misunderstanding which can be happily resolved. I pray that Holy Mother Church may be merciful to you in her justice, as the Lord will surely be in His.
Father,
I cannot imagine a more loyal son of the Church. This is a great sadness to many. Our prayers are with you as you walk this mile.
In the very near future may you echo the words of Calaf in Puccini's Turnandot as he sings sings of his beloved:
"Dilegua, o notte! Tramontate, stelle! Tramontate, stelle! All'alba vincerò! Vincerò! Vincerò!"
"Vanish, o night! Set, stars! Set, stars! At dawn, I will win! I will win! I will win! "
Mike Cliffson said...
Is there some Spanish word venceremos?
There is. But I feel you would be unhappy with the company of many of its recent (trendy/leftie/rentamob) shouters on the public square.Martin Luther King was a dignified, albeit rather protestant, character, to associate with"we shallovercome/ conquer", his soidisant hiers, well...
Fr, I don't want to join an indignation meeting in your support: I reccomended your blog to (orthodox) doubters of the Ordinariate here, as a proof of what we're gaining. Nuff said.
I have no erudition, just experience. The Lord will preceed you in Galilee, that's all I know.
Father: As a Catholic priest who himself was delayed for ordination, I sympathize wholeheartedly. I look forward
to the day when you will be a brother priest in full communion. Your writings have been a blessing to me and have immensely helped my ongoing theological study. I beg you not to remove them! This is but a temporary cross, from which shall come abundant grace. Be assured of a daily remembrance at the altar.
I am utterly mystified.
¡Venceremos!
My prayers are with you.
As you know, your vocation comes first. Sometimes we're asked to give up things that are very dear to us, so as to follow Him.
I am so sad to hear this news. God bless you, dear Father.
So sorry to hear this. I pray that the deferral will be short-term. An Ave offered for your intentions.
Rev'd Sir:
No reasonable person could doubt your fidelity to Holy Church. I am confident this will be sorted out.
I shall keep the matter in my prayer, Fr Hunwicke. I am profoundly saddened that your ordination has been deferred. Holy Mother Church needs you.
I have found it important to allow the Scriptures to hallow one's pain (both physical and that pain piercing the heart of one's soul) with the wisdom of the Apostles:
Rejoice! ... & Count it all joy.
I pray, in time, such words of Scripture will prove a consolation and an encouragement to you to press on in this upward call of God in Christ.
O magnum mysterium.
Whatever shall we do without your insights and wry humour?
Assured of prayers. I hope this passes quickly.
Dear Fr. Hunwicke: I really am baffled about possible misunderstandings about this blog. Whenever you have spoken lovingly of the riches of the Anglican tradtition, or criticised the 1973 English Translation of the Ordinary Form of the Roman Missal, you have been doing nothing other than what the Ordinariate or Pope Benedict are currently doing. You have also explained, perhaps more eloquently than any other and fully in line with RC teaching, the reasons for Priests formerly in the CofE being ordained afresh in order to continue as Priests of the Ordinariate; your continued use of the Title "Fr. Hunwicke's Liturgcal Notes" for this blog is entirely consistent with this rationale.
Lest I fall prey to the sins of intemperance and anger I shall refrain from commenting bar to say that I add my voice to those who have already posted their support. My prayers are with you and God willing this disgraceful mess shall be resolved posthaste.
Good-natured intelligence and wit are not the virtues most cherished or even understood by Higher Church Authorities, and sadly there are Wormtongues ready to report on and exploit institutional two-dimensionality, lack of imagination, the herd instinct. I very sorry. I have been edified here.
You have our earnest prayers,
Oremus pro invicem.
I too am praying for you and the speedy resolution of this problem.
I have always found your blog thoroughly orthodox from a catholic perspective and your scholarship enormously helpful for my own work.
These are difficult times indeed that we live in.
Is there an "Et Tu, Brute?" somewhere in this?
This is unfortunately an historic "deferral" - I presume there is no misunderstanding of terms. For the sake of Ordinariates integrity, I pray for a correction of a yet to be revealed misunderstanding of what "deferral" means or implies.
Massive commisers, Father. Just a blip, surely - but no less ditrssing for that, I dare say.
B(eads) A(-rattlin')
Your intentions will be taken to the altar each time I offer Mass until the situation is brought. I pray, to a speedy resolution.
There was Another who earnestly prayed that a cup pass from Him.
Nevertheless, know that you are surrounded by the prayers of a great crowd of witnesses, both those who have passed beyond the veil and those who labour here below. Be of good cheer, Master Hunwicke. When a woman is in travail, her pains are much, but as soon as she is delivered, her pains are forgotten for the joy that a child is brought forth.
With heartfelt thoughts and prayers,
John U.K.
Curiously, the word verification was Tardedin!
Ad vesperum commorabitur fletus et in matutino laus.
This news is most distressing and I hope that whatever
'difficulties' have arisen will soon be smoothed and your ordination will take place soon. And, above all, I hope thereafter you will resume your blogging. Your website is one of the best on the Internet and of enormous value.
You're in my prayers on this side of the Atlantic, Father. I am sure that Holy Mother Church's pause will only reveal through your current difficulty your love and faithfulness to her. Christ and his Bride, the Church shall be victorious in this, and you shall be proven worthy.
I also wish you congratulations on your anniversary of ministry. I know it may be a bittersweet one for you this year, but your work in that now distant vineyard of the Lord is still laudable.
I shall miss your entries until you return soon (I have no doubt).
Amazing.........quite amazing.
I was under the impression that the "37 degree" rule still applied to ordination to the Catholic priesthood in most English speaking countries. IOW, if you can fog a mirror, you're in. The only caveat to this rule being in cases where a prospective ordinand is suspected of harboring traditionalist tendencies or an unhealthy attachment to Latin liturgies.
Now as I perused your writings over the past week or two, I do recall feeling a little apprehensive during your unrestrained rejoicing over Universae Ecclesiae and my lib-o-meter danger detector registered a reading of 11 (on a scale of 10), when you mentioned "bully boys" both with regard to UE and also in the entry which discussed the removal of the Bishop of Towoomba.
Rest assured Father, everything will be fine. First however, you must bear a heavy cross occasioned by the rage of those who know not Joseph. Your sufferings will be the fertilizer which stimulates the growth of the Ordinariate. Hard though this may be to believe right now, this is a very good sign.
May the God Lord and His Blessed Mother watch over you and keep you at this time. You are most certainly in my prayers.
"Cradle" RC praying for a speedy resolution to this sad and incomprehensible situation. Please do not delete your own writings, except where legitimate authority demands as much. This blog contains so much that is good and valuable.
Dear Fr Hunwicke,
I have lit a candle for you and your family in the Carmelite Monastery next to my home. We don't know why you have been deferred and it is unhelpful of people to speculate. I only know that when, in what will surely be a short time, you stand at the altar and again say the words of Consecration, all this will be as nothing.
Venceremos Spanish for we will conquer, although I think a better translation (a là Comme le prevoit :) in this instance would be "We will overcome" (which, as all Americans know, is now the de riguer "gathering song" for any type of march, witness or protest in the civil sphere).
My prayers for you in this difficult time, and that light will show all the way forward. And that this will not interfere with your speaking at the Anglican Use Society Conference in Texas in July.
Steve
You have my prayers, too.
Dear Father Hunwicke
I remember you in my prayers and at the altar as a spiritual benefactor, father and friend.
Fr. Michael Mary
I only recently discovered your blog and have been edified by its gracious tone.
Please be assured of my prayers and intentions at Holy Mass.
Fr. N
A candle is burning for your intentions at the shrine of Blessed John Henry Newman at Our Lady of the Atonement Church in San Antonio, Texas.
Rest assured of prayers from this side of the Atlantic, Father.
My whole family and I are praying.
Ah...
I don't know whether to be sorrier for you, feeling (I imagine) as though someone has just thrown you into a lift crashing through twenty floors, or us, without the blog to which we're totally addicted.
Novena coming your way.
Another candle is burning for you at Mater Ecclesiae. Hope and Prayers.
FXR2
Dear Father,
I'm sorry to hear this news and assure you of my prayers.
CA
This is very distressing news. I have read your blog almost daily for a couple of years now and very much appreciate both the content and style of your writing. As a Roman Catholic I have never found anything that you have written objectionable in any way. I will miss your erudite and amusing posts very much.
Please be assured of my prayers at this difficult time.
Sad news all around: first for you and your situation; and then for those of us who have greatly enjoyed your gracious and edifying writings and their wonderful wit. We shall certainly pray this is speedily overcome so that we can soon have a hearty round of singing AXIOS for you.
I am stunned but hopeful.
Stunned, because I cannot imagine how such a misunderstanding might have occurred. Your spirit of submission comes through in every post, as clearly as your deep commitment to Tradition. So too does your more-than-evident vocation for the priesthood.
But hopeful, because such an obvious misunderstanding can only be temporary. You will be a priest (again) soon enough.
If the blog does not return, and one must conclude that it may not, the result will be a great loss -- both to the Ordinariate itself, and to us many skeptics outside it, for whom your have often provided the most convincing case for the existence of such an institution.
Existimo enim quod non sunt condignæ passiones hujus temporis ad futuram gloriam, quæ revelabitur in nobis.
... id enim quod in praesenti est momentaneum et leve tribulationis nostrae supra modum in sublimitatem aeternum gloriae pondus operatur nobis.
Dear Father,
The Church needs your witness and your faithful readers are offering their compassio in union with the sublime Sacrifice for the happy outcome of this difficulty and as a pledge of consolation and hope in the Risen Lord.
New York
This is most distressing. As a cradle RC, you and your blog have helped me through many issues of faith. I sincerely pray that this be resolved forthwith so that the Church may benefit from the great fruits of your ministry.
As a priest of the TAC, I assure you of my solidarity in prayer - that this temporary difficulty may soon be resolved, so that you may serve as a priest in the English Ordinariate. I also deeply appreciate your writings and find them perfectly orthodox and loyal to the authorities of the Church.
Fr Anthony
The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is a blessing for the Catholic Church, and particularly in England and Wales. My prayers are with you, Ad Multos Annos.
I share the general distress and am at a loss to account for such a turn of events. As a Catholic priest who is, hopefully, considered in good standing, I have yet to find any view expressed in your online musings which could be construed as harmful to the faith. Indeed, I have derived considerable intellectual and spiritual benefit from your online apostolate. Let us hope and trust that 'omnia cooperantur in bonum.'
Profoundly distressed at your news. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble.
Dear Father
I only commended your blog to a fellow priest yesterday!
I hope you will keep it going when possible, though I only understand some of it!!
You give blogging a good name.
Dominus vobiscum
Father,
My prayers for you at this time.
Prayerful good wishes. I suspect the problem may be with using the title "Father" in you blog!
Until now I had not realised you were not a Catholic priest.
I'll offer my Divine Office for you today, that light may be shed and you might be soon ordained a Catholic priest.
You are in prayers, Fr Hunwicke.
Your voice is one of soundness, inspiration and hope. May your travail be brief and may the Universal Church come to benefit from your rich ministry for many, many years.
With every good wish,
Fr Lee Kenyon
St John the Evangelist, Calgary
Prayers from me too. All manner of things shall be well.
Best wishes on your anniversary!
Why ordinations on Trinity Sunday rather than Pentecost?
As you know, you have my prayers and my continued support. Mass today for your intentions.
Fr.
You know you can find a bishop who will and can petition the Pope to change the unfathomable decision against you. I pray you will do so at once. You are too good a priest to remain outside the inner circle (Cardinal Jouet). Mary will help, rest easy.wayses
Strange and painful news. The Ordinariate needs your priestly ministry; and the whole parish of St Blog's needs your wit, erudition and sanity. Blessed John Henry, who knowest what it is to be misunderstood, pray for us.
I shall miss your wise and learned blog.
Praying for you of course, that all will be happily resolved.
God bless!
Dear Father, I can only add my voice to those of all the others who have posted here and assure you of my fervent prayers for a quick and happy resolution of the matter. Your blog has been one of the first that I go to every day, for its wit and wisdom, with which I find myself in total agreement. It is a great help to me in my own spiritual life, so I hope that (a) the ordination matter will be satisfactorily resolved, (b)the blog will restart soon, and (c) the exitsing texts will remain available for the edification of us all.
Please do NOT delete your blog posts. Go to Settings>Permissions>Blog Readers and tick the box that makes it visible only to you. Then, if it turns out that there are any specific posts that need to be removed, you can do that - and when everything has been resolved and the time seems right, you can draw back the curtain and let the rest of us in again. Some of your posts transcend blogdom and are worthy of being preserved - or, perhaps, published elsewhere.
Very distressing. I found your blog a few months ago, and being attached to the Extraordinary Form and very interested in your comments and essays on the liturgy, I am appalled.
I smell one big stinking rat behind this and its name is modernism. You're just too orthodox and you explain things too well. That makes you a powerful weapon against the obfuscation of those who live the philosophy of rupture with tradition. Please stay strong and bring back this blog. We need your knowledge and clarity in the Catholic Church, plus your British wit and humor. I was considering how blessed we are to have you become a priest in the Church.
Dear Father,
I felt that you would be the greatest blessing to the Church. I surely cannot be alone in saying that I smell the smoke of satan in all this. In God's eyes you are a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And who is more important? I will miss your teaching, but be assured of my continuing prayers
Father, please know there are a lot of Catholic laymen praying for you. We especially petition the Patron of Priests, St. Vianney and our Holy Defender St. Michael. Our family regulary reads your blog as often as we can. Anglican Patrimony and Love has saved our Faith. O Mary, Queen of Heaven, pray for Fr. Hunwicke. johnofthecrumbs
Dear Fr. Hunwicke,
I met you at St. Mary the Vigin in Fort Worth over a year ago, a true delight. Your blog has been Gilead's balm and I will pray for you with fervor
In the resotred Anglican Use since 1983 (with Fr. Phillips) I have seen ups and downs, but always perseverance and pray has moved the cause continually forward.
Very disturbed to hear this. Be assured of my prayers.
"But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first."
I cannot wait to have this humble man in the true Church! The Church of Christ!
Prayers,
Dear FXR2 in Christ,PRCAGD.
I trust you're made of sterner stuff than surrender or despair.
My prayers are with you for a speedy and joyous ordination.
St Thomas More, Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us.
Dearest Father,
I can only echo the well-written and touching comments that others have left. I will remember you at the altar most especially and devotedly during the Octave of Pentecost. Here's to a speedy end to all this unwarranted distress!
Fr. Capreolus
I commend you to the intercession of Blessed John Henry Newman (who himself underwent misunderstanding) and Our Lady of Walsingham (ever powerful in her prayer for priests).
Very upsetting to hear this. Praying for a speedy resolution. O:)
Dear Father: most Spaniards would recognise "con la iglesia hemos topado" - we've come up against the Church - as a quotation which resonates today. It's a misquotation from Chapter 9 of Volume II of Don Quixote - he's looking for Dulcinea's castle but realises that the great tower casting a shadow isn't a castle but rather the church in the town:
"Guió don Quijote, y habiendo andado como doscientos pasos, dió con el bulto que hacía la sombra, y vió una gran torre, y luego conoció que el tal edificio no era alcázar, sino la iglesia principal del pueblo. Y dijo:
- Con la iglesia hemos dado, Sancho."
I can only imagine that there is some person of influence somewhere who doesn't "get" the distinctive Anglican Catholic sense of humour. Otherwise, this is simply incomprehensible.
You will, naturally, be remembered at the Holy Altar during this difficult time.
I have prayed BCP Mattins with you on my heart, Father. The psalms appointed for the morning of the ninth day were eerily apt.
This is all very discouraging. Your writings have made the Ordinariate seem attractive, nay compelling, even to a wishy-washy liberal like me. Let me join the calls for your blog archive not to disappear.
I will pray for you, and for a speedy and happy resolution to this most distressing development.
I have been following your excellent blog avidly for the past year or so and have enjoyed it enormously. Thank you.
How very sad. I will certainly keep you in my prayers and I am sure that however difficult the present obstacles, they will right themselves; but in the meantime, be assured of our full support for you in this trial.
Father, I have admired throughout both your loyalty to the Supreme Pontiff and our Holy Church, as well as your courage, clarity, and learning. I will offer vespers this evening for you, and keep you in my prayers until these difficulties are resolved.
I wonder, would an online petition help to get this resolved as soon as possible?
I am astounded. I have never read anything in this blog that is in any shape or form disedifying.
I've been thinking about this some more Father, and I'm wondering......is this actually legal?? Has this decision come from within the UK or from the CDF in Rome? If the former, has Rome signed off on it? Although you are undergoing preparation in London and one of the English Catholic bishops will be imposing hands at the ordination, the Ordinariate is not part of their jurisdiction, correct? You have your own Ordinary and the Ordinariate is the baby of the CDF and BXVI.
In view of the fact that your blog is unapologetically pro-BXVI, I find it difficult to believe that this decision has come from the CDF itself unless they've been fed disinformation.
I guess my question is this; does the English Catholic hierarchy actually have the power to decide who does or does not get ordained to the Ordinariate? I realize that in practice, things may not be so clear cut and that Rome may lean heavily on recommendations from the local Church, but it seems to me that there are clear grounds for litigation here although that may not be a desirable course to take.
I will be praying for you also - your blog is such a blessing - to more souls than you'll ever know!
So 'Patrimony' doesn't include intelligent discussion and the freedom to disagree with others in a public forum. Maybe the critics of the ordinariate who have predicted it's assimilation aren't so wrong after all.
I shall light a candle for you at Mass tomorrow.
a luta continua!
Dear Fr Hunwicke
I am very sorry to hear the bad news. I shall pray that the ordination will not be deferred for long. The Church needs your gifts
God bless
Terry
Father many of us are suffering with Christ at present - either in our deliberations about where we should be or other difficulties. You are not alone. Gain strength from us as we have gained strength from you. Like you I draw inspiration from the rock of our Holy Father and the teaching of the Magisterium. With love and prayers.
Paul
Mother Mary pray for us
It appears that you are following in the path of Newman: a kenosis caused by misunderstanding or perhaps distrust, to be followed by vindication and recognition. Ker's description of Newman's discouragement at this point is worth re-reading.
Doubts about your fidelity are as absurd as they were for the Blessed Cardinal. I have learned so much from what you have written and am grateful to God for your witness and your dedication to teaching the rest of us.
Many more years to you, sir, in the service of the Church.
Please be assured of my prayers.
I was very sorry to read this news, and pray that this set-back will be a short one.
I read your blog in Colombia, and think that it represents much of the best of the patrimony that we former Anglicans can now share with the Catholic Church. I hope that your valuable apostolate will continue once you are safely ordained as a Catholic priest.
Every blessing.
I'm staggered.
But we can continue to trust in God.
Praying to the Holy Spirit for a speedy resolution to all this.
Pentecost is coming!
So, instead of quietly stepping back from the blog, you post about it and stir up a hornet's nest of blogging indignation that reflects badly on you AND on the Church? Pull a stunt like that, I'd say you shouldn't be ordained at all.
Dear Fr Hunwicke,
I join the many others who have expressed their surprise at this impasse and who hope and pray for a speedy resolution.
Assuring you of a continued remembrance in my prayers and Masses and expecting your immanent return,
Kenneth M. Kafoed
Dear Father, You will be much in my prayers that this impasse may be passed - your blog has always been of tremendous help to me in both my personal life, and that of my priesthood.
Fr. Philip
Most upset to hear your news. Please be assured that I will add my prayers to those of many others until this sad situation is rectified.
Much love, prayers and blessings from Texas, where we LOVE your erudition and wit!
This will rebound on the Barbarians so do not fret too much.
My scolarly friend tells me that "Barbarians" are those without Latin and Greek, so what can you expect?
From Ella Lizzie in Texas
P.S I will 'right click' and save all of your blog for posterity - at least on my computer!
God bless you, Father, and thank you for this blog. I will pray a Brigittine Rosary on your behalf.
Dear Fr H,
I doubt not that the sufferings in your flesh fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body's sake, which is the church.
With firm confidence in the truth and trust that trust you've shown in the Lord will prevail.
With every good wish and assurance of prayers, from one not long ago similarly afflicted,
df
Strange, many of us Catholics who inspire to be better and come into a fuller sense of the Faith read your blog with the utmost repsect and admiration for your writing. I have only commented once here but read your blog every week as an inpiration for Catholics everywhere. I pray the misunderstanding is rectified and you can return to given wisdom and advice to Catholics throughout the world. Perhaps in a different format but ministering none the less the Faith. Both Catholic and Anglican Catholic which are now one in the same..And a final point, while reading your writings I have never understood anything to be Un-Catholic in thought or word, really. Your influence has only been positive for the Church.
Prayers offered
No good priest comes to be ordained without enduring many crosses: and so in hope I read this as a good sign. It is easy to be faithful when all goes well; your fidelity is proven by this bitter trial. Be assured of my poor prayers for you.
While I have been agnostic and have not been going to church for several years now, I truly feel blessed reading your very scholarly yet pastoral blog.
God keep you always, Father.
Prayers coming from Sydney, Australia. Stay strong. Stay faithful. AMDG! May this Pentecost be a time of grace for you.
Praying for you Father that this issue is resolved.
Absolutely incredible!
You are in my prayers, Father, and obviously in the prayers of the flock fed by your devotion and erudition.
I shall miss my daily dose from your pages and hope for your speedy return.
I have been watching on the Ordinariate sites for news of your ordination so I find this news to be most disappointing. I deeply regret the pain you are going through and the loss we, your readers, will experience, however temporary.
But there is another concern here that needs to be addressed. This action will only re-inforce all of the stereotypes, valid or otherwise, which so many people have regarding the Roman Catholic Church. How many Anglican priests who are considering following the example of you and the other priests will now draw back?
It is urgent that this nonsense be cleared up as soon as possible so that you can be ordained and also continue your learned and forthright writings. And I am sure I am not alone when I say that I shall be looking for some healthy transparency from the Ecclesiastical authorities in explaining how this scandalous business has transpired.
You are indeed in my prayers!
I wish you a happy anniversary regardless, Father. You are in my prayers.
Even as a member of AffCath, I read your learned blog regularly while profoundly disagreeing with much of what you say.
I offer my prayers for you that this deferral may be short-lived. I cannot imagine your not being a priest and offering the Mass regularly as you have for 43 years.
Dear Fr. Hunwicke,
I am sorry to hear about this news.
Your blog is even followed here in the Netherlands!
I will keep you in my prayers.
God bless, Geoffrey de Jong.
Thanks for sharing your distress here with your brothers and sisters in Christ who love you.
Jn 3:
20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.”
There is certainly no room for concealment and cover-up here when what is at stake is the reputation of a priest and the confidence of the faithful.
This matter should be resolved forthwith!
May God Continue to Bless and Keep You,
Dennis
Fr,
You're in my prayers and intentions, as those of so mnay others.
My Spanish speaking wife assures me that venceremos is a "proper" word and I'm trust it's an appropriate one.
Reverendus Iohannes quare tam barbare in hac dyctyephemeride loqui desiderat? Nonne "vincemus" dici oportet?
Fr Hunwicke,
I am only an occasional reader of your blog, but I never fail to find something of wit and interest every time I visit. Even as a loyal Anglican I am sorry to hear of your travails.
To those who express incomprehension at the deferral I would draw attention to just a few quotes from penultimate post.
"We have seen that the old 1970s translation of the Missal was regarded by all, at each end of the 'political' spectrum, as Unfit for Purpose."
"It is no exaggeration to say that, since about 1970, English-speaking Catholics have been deprived of the authentic worship of the Roman Catholic Church by having 'translations' used in their churches which express only a minuscule amount of the content of the Latin originals."
"that people have been prevented (by bad translations) from being able to appropriate and to internalise in their Christian consciousness."
"Quite apart from the different questions surrounding the elimination of the Tridentine Rite, it is the post-conciliar Missal, the Missal authorised by Pope Paul VI "by the mandate of the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council", that was kept hidden, by faulty translation, from the ears of the faithful for four decades."
The liturgy is the liturgy of the whole church. The 1970s Missal is also the liturgy which has been used in many Anglo-catholic parishes in England. I wonder whether your criticism may have been expressed in language a little less temperate than would have been wise.
Because your words level a grave charge against the RC church as a whole, as well as against certain Anglicans: that for over 40 years they have used and tolerated a seriously defective liturgy.
You perhaps do not fully appreciate the way in which authority operates in your new church. As an Anglican you could say more or less what you liked with impunity, use - without authorisation - the liturgy of another church, or invent a liturgy of your own.
Of course the Anglican Church has rules, but rarely are they enforced. Some even see defiance as a badge of honour. I fear you have trampled on the sensitivites a very different culture.
All good wishes Father, I hope this will soon be resolved. The Church needs you! I will miss the blog (even if I didn't always understand it!).
I have been reading your Blog for about a year and found much that has been helpful as I seek God's will. I hope your Blog will be restored and will pray for you.
Now don't play so innocent, Father. You've slammed Cardinal Bugnini against the wall at every opportunity. Some people in the Vatican likely haven't taken too kindly to that.
Fortunately Archbishop Bugnini never became a Cardinal. He was promoted to be an Apostolic Nuncio in decent obscurity.
Your site, dear Father, has been a delight and inspiration, and helped me see my way to joining the ordinariate when it, deo volente, is established in the U.S. You will be in my prayers. I hope the relevant authorities come to see the spiritual worth and sparkling humour of your writing.
Please be assured of my continuing prayers both for you and that the deferral is not long.
Father,
I would remind you that you are already in Holy Orders, the Permanent mark of which cannot be removed from your soul.
May the Grace which has marked your ministry and teaching up to now, continue to flow in and through you to all of love and respect your ministry and writings.
I hope for s prompt resolution of whatever problems there are with your writings -- and a PROMPT resumption of your blog!!
My prayers are with you Father. I enjoy your blog and find it very instructional. May you be richly blessed and soon be ordained to the priesthood.
In my opinion, this blog is surely an example of the Anglican patrimony than can be brought into the Church by the ordinariates.
My prayers from Spain.
Bruno Moreno
Dear Mr. Hunwicke,
I too commiserate with you that your ordination has been deferred. I offer my prayers that the deferral will be short.
Allow me to say however that, having been but a recent reader of your excellent blog, I at first did not realise you are an Anglican. That came across clearly enough in time but was a bit unsettling to learn. For what it is worth, I think that your referring to the "anniversary of my priestly ordination in 1968" may not say what you had hoped it would say. Perhaps it would not be mal à propos to rephrase it more in consonance with the letter of Apostolicae Curae.
Omnia bona tuo in itinere ad Ecclesiam Romanam tibi exopto atque te sacerdotem istius Ecclesiae mox facturum esse spero.
Due to PC problems I just now discovered this unsettling news. Adding my prayers to the others and trust that this incomprehensible 'misunderstanding' will be rectified speedily.
"Observer" seems to think that there is no right of expression within The Church. Not true.
The remarks that "Observer" quotes from Fr. Hunwickes blog are common parlance amongst intelligent Catholics - at least here in the USA where we have a lively Catholic Church and free speech!
Some information for some of the correspondents ---Fr is NOT an Anglican now and those of us who have swum the Tiber have no wish to go back to heresy and scism on the other side. " Come on in it is awful" is a good motto!
Observer: Fr H's comments on the defects of the current translation are more or less exactly what the Bishops' Pastoral said a couple of Sundays back. Only, as is his wont, he phrased it with more precision, less waffle and much wit.
'For what it is worth, I think that your referring to the "anniversary of my priestly ordination in 1968" may not say what you had hoped it would say.'
Anybody familiar with Fr H's use of language will know that what he says is always exactly what he intended to say, so put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Sambo, L. B.,
You have not only missed the point, you have advertised to the world of your lack of comprehension. The proper response would have been: "I don't know what you mean, Sir. Would you please explain it to me?" Alternatively, you might have just copied your earlier comment verbatim.
As I do not smoke in front of students, I fear I must decline your courteous offer.
Mr O'Malley,
I think you might have meant 'facturum iri', the future passive infinitive. However, since it is very rare, you might be better advised to avoid the accusative + infinitive construction altogether here and go for a more mediaeval 'quod' clause, e.g. "spero quod sacerdos istius ecclesiae mox fies"
As a cradle Catholic who regards this as one of the finest Catholic blogs, and mindful of recent noises from the Vatican about the importance of our witness in the new media, this news baffles and distresses me intensely. My poor prayers for a speedy and happy resolution, will be unceasing.
Mr O'Malley:
Permit me to observe that, in my opinion, LBS knew all too well what you were saying, and was entirely correct in his judgement as to the precision of Fr H's language.
CPK:
Yes, this whole sorry affair seems quite at variance with the recent official encouragement to engage with the opportunities presented by the new media.
I am so sorry, and am praying for you.
We ask people to come and this is how we treat them! Please don't give up, I am sure this will all be straightened out. When what you write is so much like what our Holy Father has written, how can it be otherwise?
Susan Peterson
(oh, and I will miss your blog. I am sure my friend in the Toronto Oratory who directed me to your blog will also say a prayer for you.)
Your in my prayers Father. Hope this gets resolved soon. We need you, and more good priests like you. God Bless!.
Doctor Sackcloth,
Good catch on the future passive infinitive. But it would be "factum iri" in that case. And I would prefer the more classical Spero ut mox sacerdos fias to the medieval idiom.
Fr. William,
Your speculation as to L. B. Sambo's judgement is interesting but wide of the mark in my opinion. Mr. Hunwicke is now a Roman Catholic layman. His reference to his anniversary in Anglican Protestant ministry is ambiguously worded: he has never been a priest in the eyes of the Church. This was the crux of my comment, looking at it from Roman eyes. I hope he will very soon be ordained in the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and his wit, scholarship and pastoral sense will be assets to the Roman Church. It will be a pleasure to call him Fr. Hunwicke. And may his blog continue to flourish! For this I pray.
Ella, Sue Sims,
I do not think that the Bishops said or implied that the liturgy was unfit for purpose or that English-speaking Catholics had been denied authentic worship for 40 years. They spoke more of a vernacular liturgy which was being improved (supposedly) by more literal fidelity to a Latin original.
Of course the Church does not seek to supress free speech, but there is a difference between what Catholic laymen might say to one another in private and what a priest in formation ought to say in a public forum.
Fr Hunwicke is accustomed to a liberal, tolerant environment, one where he had licence to speak and write more or less as he chose; now he must adjust to one which is much more authoritarian. He who has made his bed must learn to lie down in it.
Dear Father,
I am saddened by your news, and hope it is resolved speedily. You will be in my prayers.
Your blog is a great resource; it would be a shame if it were discontinued.
Best Regards,
Sandford MacLean
Louisville, Kentucky
I can't understand what our anonymous 'Observer' is on about. I was under the impression that, provided one stays obediently within the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, articulated by the Sovereign Pontiff, one has liberty. Liberal clergy, after all, write letters and contribute columns to periodicals and newspapers in which they cheerfully deride the teaching of the Holy Father. Perhaps 'Observer' would like to explain carefully who it is that has set up this much narrower Magisterium which constitutes the 'bed' which Ordinariate clergy have deemed to have 'made' and in which they are supposed to 'lie'. If I express views which have been espoused by the Holy Father himself, who on earth does 'Observer' think he/she is to give me pious lectures on submitting to some other Magisterium, different from that of the successor of S Peter??
Just one word - thunderstruck.
Father, you have helped me so much over the past couple of years since I found your blog. I pray that this gets sorted out subito.
John
Dear Fr Hunwicke,
Thank you for your response.
I think that you may have fallen foul not so much of any imaginary "narrow Magesterium", but rather of old fashioned Church politics.
The Pope's writ does not run with absolute force in the Church, does it? Witness, for example, those who have experienced difficulty with the provision of EF masses, and where local obstruction appears to have been the cause. There are surely those in powerful positions who oppose Benedict's thinking, and might seek subtly to frustrate it. Being a Benedict loyalist may well guarantee little.
Perhaps the arbitrary use of authority is something which is more prevelant in the RCC than in the CofE. Such authority may not in practice be directly that of the Pope. This is what I meant by the bed which some have made and in which they will have to lie. Illiberal liberals aside, the CofE is really very tolerant in my experience.
It also seems to me that as you have been a lay Roman Catholic for only a few weeks, yet you find yourself with the extraordinary privilege of being in formation for the priesthood, you could be more vulnerable than those who express their outspokenness from more secure positions.
I am amused and alarmed that you find me pious; that is not something of which I have been accused before. It is certainly not my intention.
Once again, I am sorry to hear of your problem and, along with many others, hope and pray that it may be speedily resolved.
If this blog goes private again, may I be a member? eulogos@stny.rr.com, eulogossusan@gmail.com. Please?
Thanks,
Susan Peterson
I will call him Fr. Hunwicke, right now. I think those rigorists who try to say Anglo-Catholic clergy were never priests etc etc, are being "more Catholic than the pope."
In case you don't know, the orders they have now are not the orders Ap.Curae was talking about, but orders derived from schismatic but validly ordained bishops such as Old Catholics.
The Church must have a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard for orders, and therefore reordains, just as at one time she used to rebaptize all converts from Protestantism...and may have to again, because they just couldn't be sure it was done right. But that doesn't mean most of these folks weren't actually baptized.
I think if the Pope really thought the orders of Anglican priests, now (not at the time of Ap Curae) were void and their celebrations a sham, he could not have let Rowan Williams celebrate the Eucharist in a Catholic church in Rome, on a consecrated altar over the relics of a saint.
Whatever this might be about, it is not about Fr. Hunwicke's celebrating the anniversary of his Anglican ordination.
I think it may come from the fact that there is still a "Spirit of VII" crowd with a lot of power in England, who don't really like the idea of the ordinariate and the sort of folks coming into the church through it. But since they can't openly oppose it, they are trying to neutralize it. I think Fr. Hunwicke does not appear very easy to neutralize.
It also may come from a lack of the literary background to appreciate his style. His writing is a genre out of their experience. The little verbal darts of argument explode like hand grenades in the minds of those used to a well, mushier, verbal procedure.
At least, that is my guess.
Susan Peterson
Dear Father, please also add me to the private email list if the blog goes that way: woodyjones@mac.com.
Father, you shouldn't have given away the chicken joke.
But seriously, this is very distressing news, and I pray that it is resolved quickly and decently.
Perhaps the arbitrary use of authority is something which is more prevelant in the RCC than in the CofE
It is hard to quantify, but for all that Anglicans pride themselves on "tolerance in their DNA", the arbitrary use of authority is by no means unknown in their churches.
"...the arbitrary use of authority..."
The bishops of the C of E would love to have the control that their opposite numbers have, and they are gradually getting it. They are quite as capable of arbitrariness.
The bishops of the Church in Wales of course have long had such control and frequently exercise it.
My goodness ! What a firefight has ensued!
To bring us back to the original cause of all this- many prayers, blessings and much love, Father, from your friends in Texas.
I watched the USCCB on EWTN today. There was a lot of misunderstanding about the Ordinariate -but so much fond good will it was wonderful.
How glad I am to live and worship here where the questions are about similarity or difference from the Maronite Church or the Byzantine Rite or whether anyone could celebrate the latin rite and how many were coming over the Tiber. No wrangles and the Bishops were a bunch of good guys. They were old, young, clever, not so clever, short, tall and sometimes rather plump and had a little difficulty getting to the microphone, but all were splendid in their way.
Of course having missed the English Reformation and starting from their many and various social and ethnic backgrounds they were not hung up on differences and old hatreds.
See you so very soon, dear Father, in (waiting for the Ordinariate to come online)Good Ole Texas.
Dear Father Hunwicke:
If this blog becomes private again may I be a member?
With thanks,
Michael Dwyer
dwyermp@yahoo.com
I saw this news while visiting Poland. My good Catholic friends there, regular readers of your blog, are as distressed as I am for the pain this strange decision causes you, Father, and the loss to all of us of your regular instruction.
May this hurt be soon healed, and your priestly ministry, including your blog, be speedily reinstated. Fervently praying for you and yours with love, from the eastern end of Christendom.
If this blog goes private, please add me to the list of those who can continue reading it:
manilensis at gmail dot com
If this blog goes private, please "add me to the list of those who can continue reading it"
I would like to make this request as well...
tedschan at gmail dot com
I think that I have got the facts straight but the clever folks who read this blog will know where to look for correct information.
Fr. Hunwicke is to be the after dinner speaker at the Anglican Use Society's conference in Arlington, Texas,
details can be found on this site
http://anglicanuse.org/CurrentNews.htm
Please, if may, may I be included in any 'inner circle' of continuing conversation and discussion, open and public, or private and closed. Truly a day without Fr Hunwicke's Liturgical Notes is like a day without sunshine. I promise not to report you, or forward your comments to suspect people, or draw attention in any way. I will be very, very good. Seriously. Under the radar.
Fr. Hunwickes after-dinner speech at The Anglican Use Conference in Texas last week was breathtaking.
The wit, scolarship and sheer joy even in these dark days for father were amazing. Thank you Father,it was a good time and we loved having you here in Texas.
Very sorry to learn - so belatedly - of this deferral. May whatever stands in the way be resolved. A time of purgation for you, no doubt. With the assureance of my prayers.
Let our love for you, beloved Father, Teacher, Guide, be balm to these wounds you suffer for the sake of the true faith. No more faithful Catholic exists on earth than you - and we all know it well.
Remember what Sir Winston said: "Never give in. Never give in. Never give in. All will be well."
With love, high admiration, and great respect
Kelso, North Carolina, USA
I miss your blog. I will pray for you.
Delighted to see your name on the "LATEST NEWS" page of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Heading? "The Following are Candidates for Ordination to the Priesthood 2012"!
TE DEUM LAUDAMUS! Looking forward to attending your first Mass celebrated in communion with Rome!
Axios!
It was with great joy that I saw your name on the list of candidates for ordination this morning. I have been praying for this happy outcome and wish you many blessings in your renewed priesthood.
I have just received the latest news from the Ordinariate, and I am very happy to see that your name appears on a certain list. Prayers and best wishes, for you and for Mrs Hunwicke. May this be a fruitful new chapter in your life, filled with blessings for you and for others.
Dear Father,
I am very grateful to see your name listed on the Ordinariate website as a candidate for ordination in 2012. You remain in my prayer each day in the Office.
I rejoice to see the name "John Hunwicke" on the list of the candidates to be ordained to the Sacred Priesthood in 2012 for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Alleluia!
Congratulations!
Father, I've just seen the news of your candidacy for ordination via The Anglo-Catholic. Let there be sung Non nobis and Te Deum! An answer to my ongoing prayers.
Dear Father, I am delighted to see your name at last on the Ordination list. I shall be praying for you.
Just heard your great news via Fr Blake's blog - congratulations; I will keep you in my prayers.
After such a long time in the wilderness I am so very glad to see your name on this list:
Latest News from the Ordinariate, Tuesday, May 08, 2012
The Following are Candidates for Ordination to the Priesthood 2012
HUNWICKE John William
http://www.ordinariate.org.uk/news.htm
What wonderful news!
So glad you've finally received the 'votum'. Ad multos annos.
Dear Father,
I read the good news on the "Catholic Herald" website. I am so happy for you and for the Church. Long overdue, of course! Ad multos annos, reverende!
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