17 February 2015

ORDINARIATES

The recent events, centred upon the visit of the two 'other' Ordinaries, constituted an absolutely marvellous few days.Two brief points:

Mgr Harry Entwhistle is a very good bloke indeed. It was encouraging to hear from him about the Oz Ordinariate, with its bright future all the more bright because of the prospects of developments in the Torres Strait Islands and elsewhere in Asia. WASPery is our danger; but readers will remember the role played in our Anglo-Catholic movement by our unWASP missions in Africa and Oceania. "Colonial prelates from far-off Mission Stations" did his Confirmations for Eric Mascall's 'Ultra-Catholic'; the emeritus Bishop of Accra did the episcopal stuff for Fr Hope Patten at Walsingham. So ... onwards to the past, on this one! And Entwhistle Rules OK!

Mgr Mark Langham gave a fine paper which I encourage you to find and to read on the Ordinariate website. If you can persuade members of the CBCEW to read it as well, they will derive much benefit from it. But, in a sense, it is simply a partial outworking of the great vision which Fr Aidan Nichols described in The Panther and the Hind. The essential point is that the 'Anglican Patrimony' does not consist of a few traditions and practices which are not too harmful and which we in our frailty are graciously allowed to cling onto so as to make our transition into being 'real' Catholics a bit easier for us. Our Patrimony, certainly as much in terms of Theology and Spirituality as in Liturgy, is great gift to the whole Catholic Church, and one which is particularly opportune at this slightly wobbly moment in the life of the Catholic Church. Cometh the hour, cometh the Ordinariate! The whole Church needs what we have in our luggage. Read Langham! Reread Nichols!!

Regular readers will recognise that as the main point of this blog!!

6 comments:

Gregkanga said...

Cometh the hour, cometh the Ordinariate, certainly rings true in the diocese of Sale in Victoria. Like many country dioceses in Australia, our Catholic diocese is awash with liberal Protestantism and is dying. Fr Ken Clark is the Ordinariate priest in Gippsland. As orthodox Catholics, my wife and I love the Ordinariate. In the current issue of the monthly publication of Into the Deep, she wrote an article explaining why. Read it here, on page 7: http://stoneswillshout.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/2015_0102JanFebruary.pdf

Unknown said...

Colonial prelates: yes, but were they not all Englishmen sent abroad to fulfil the Episcopal office in these far-away places? Hope-Patten's prelate was clearly an Englishman who had held a see elsewhere and retired 'home'. What's happening in the Torres Strait is a bit different, although it does build on the legacy of these sorts of 'colonial' English bishops.

Jacobi said...

And at this "wobbly moment", as Lieutenant Chard might have put it, we need it, dammit, we need it!

Gregkanga said...

My wife and I have only met Mgr Harry Entwhistle once, thanks to Fr Ken Clark. We appreciate his leadership and wisdom, especially in a diocese where the Ordinariate is like water in a desert. We pray for him every Sunday at Mass. God Bless you too Fr John for your orthodoxy and faithfulness.

Joshua said...

One of the most beautiful names I have anywhere seen for the advent of Christianity in a nation, is the title of "the Coming of the Light", accorded by the Torres Strait Islanders themselves to the arrival of the first preachers of the Gospel in their lands, on the 1st of July 1871 - still commemorated by a public holiday in those parts.

They themselves both recognised and still gratefully celebrate each passing year their deliverance from the dark night of heathen idolatry. Would that we also rejoiced at the deliverance wrought by the Gospel, which overcame the hopelessness of paganism endured by our ancestors - instead, too many seem madly attracted by a new paganism, and a bacchanalian descent into a libertinism without God, without hope of life eternal.

Anonymous said...

Dear Father,

Can you point me to a source of information about what is happening in Torres Strait? Or maybe spill the beans yourself? From what I can glean from the internet, it seems like pretty much the whole continuing Anglican body has become part of the Ordinariate, and that is pretty much the whole population of the islands. Have I got this right?