Newman on the Strength of the Church and the Search for Provision

I am doing a lot of reading in the area of communio and what it means to be in communion presently. This is very important as I seek to grasp and live out what it means that the Church is a Eucharistic communio. But what that does not mean it seems is that the local church is communio on its own with its own local bishop. There is something more needed than that sort of neo-Episcopo-congregationalism (that is a fun word!). Does this have something to say about how we are thinking and looking for some sort of 'provision' that will attempt to create lip service of communio in the CofE that may or may not be in communio with a local bishop? Anyhow, I will leave a thought from Newman that speaks to the catholicity of the Church and its strength. Have a think about the local communion and the universal are united and how the two in communio are necessary in order to be catholic. Wherein does our strength and communio exist? Here is Cardinal Newman.

Herein is the strength of the Church; herein she differs from all Protestant mockeries of her. She professes to be built upon facts, not opinions; on objective truths, not on variable sentiments; on immemorial testimony, not on private judgment; on convictions or perceptions, not on conclusions. None else but she can {217} make this profession. She makes high claims against the temporal power, but she has that within her which justifies her. She merely acts out what she says she is. She does no more than she reasonably should do. If God has given her a specific work, no wonder she is not under the superintendence of the civil magistrate in doing it. If her Clergy be Priests, if they can forgive sins, and bring the Son of God upon her altars, it is obvious they cannot, considered as such, hold of the State. If they were not Priests, the sooner they were put under a minister of public instruction, and the Episcopate abolished, the better. But she has not disturbed the world for nothing. Her precision and peremptoriness, all that is laid to her charge as intolerance and exclusiveness, her claim entirely to understand and to be able to deal with her own deposit and her own functions; her claim to reveal the unknown and to communicate the invisible, is, in the eye of reason (so far from being an objection to her coming from above), the very tenure of her high mission,—just what would be sure to characterise her if she had received such a mission. She cannot be conceived without her message and her gifts. She is the organ and oracle, and nothing else, of a supernatural doctrine, which is independent of individuals, given to her once for all, coming down from the first ages, and so deeply and intimately embosomed in her, that it cannot be clean torn out of her, even if you should try; which gradually and majestically {218} comes forth into dogmatic shape, as time goes on and need requires, still by no private judgment, but at the will of its Giver, and by the infallible elaboration of the whole body;—and which is simply necessary for the salvation of every one of us. It is not a philosophy, or literature, cognisable and attainable at once by those who cast their eyes that way; but it is a sacred deposit and tradition, a mystery or secret, as Scripture calls it, sufficient to arrest and occupy the whole intellect, and unlike anything else; and hence requiring, from the nature of the case, organs special to itself, made for the purpose, whether for entering into its fulness, or carrying it out in deed.

Prayer to the Gift of the Spirit that is Fortitude

On Monday for the prayer to the Seven Gifts of the Spirit was a prayer to the gift of Fortitude. This prayer, though the gift of Counsel is the gift today, is still very much a part of my Novena prayer today. I invite the reader to pray this with me and please for me.

Thou in toil art comfort sweet, Pleasant coolness in the heat, solace in the midst of woe.

The Gift of Fortitude

The Gift of Fortitude. By the gift of Fortitude the soul is strengthened against natural fear, and supported to the end in the performance of duty. Fortitude imparts to the will an impulse and energy which move it to under take without hesitancy the most arduous tasks, to face dangers, to trample under foot human respect, and to endure without complaint the slow martyrdom of even lifelong tribulation. "He that shall persevere unto the end, he shall be saved."

Prayer

Come, O Blessed Spirit of Fortitude, uphold my soul in time of trouble and adversity, sustain my efforts after holiness, strengthen my weakness, give me courage against all the assaults of my enemies, that I may never be overcome and separated from Thee, my God and greatest Good. Amen.

For today:

Heal our wounds--our strength renews; On our dryness pour Thy dew, Wash the stains of guilt away.

The Gift of Counsel

The gift of Counsel endows the soul with supernatural prudence, enabling it to judge promptly and rightly what must be done, especially in difficult circumstances. Counsel applies the principles furnished by Knowledge and Understanding to the innumerable concrete cases that confront us in the course of our daily duty as parents, teachers, public servants, and Christian citizens. Counsel is supernatural common sense, a priceless treasure in the quest of salvation. "Above all these things, pray to the Most High, that He may direct thy way in truth."

Prayer

Come, O Spirit of Counsel, help and guide me in all my ways, that I may always do Thy holy will. Incline my heart to that which is good; turn it away from all that is evil, and direct me by the straight path of Thy commandments to that goal of eternal life for which I long.

An Anglican Theological Question about a Catholic Church

As it is commonly understood amongst Anglo-Catholics the Church is Catholic with branches which make up a society. For Anglo-Catholics it is argued that the 'branch theory' supports the Anglo-Catholic ecclesiology as a Communion within the society of the Catholic Church. So, as Anglo-Catholics (AC) our tradition will argue that we are a branch of the Catholic society along with the Roman church and the Eastern church. But, there are a number of issues facing this ecclesiology.

One is that AC views have not won general recognition within the Anglican Communion as the legitimate expression of Catholic ecclesiology. Can we say that there is in existence an Anglican authority that can be pointed to that determines what the communion teaches? The obvious answer is no. So, how are we to understand a right ecclesiology with regards to there not being a unity of mind and authority about what it means to be a Catholic society let alone in communion with the two other branches of the Church? Strangely enough, the other two branches have not recognised the Anglican Communion as a part of the 'society' of Catholic churches. Without an official statement of contemporary Anglican authority there is no where to really look for essential beliefs of the communion. Perhaps this is why we can look hard at ourselves and see that the cafeteria approach to being Catholic is not working towards full unity.

One of the important matters for me as I seek to understand a sacramental ecclesiology is the issue that within the society of the Catholic Church there is no intercommunion of members. This obviously runs counter to Jesus' prayer that we be one. In order for this to take place it seems there must be a ministry recognised by all that is universal. We might begin by asking, what is the proper constitution of the Anglican Communion that is lacking in the other branches of the Catholic Church? How can the Mystical Body be the res of the Eucharist if there is not a single communion? Are we called to look for a 'potential' society or something more than that? Is the Church a single visible entity? If it is a true society whose potential is to be a single entity how has the Anglican Communion worked towards an actualisation of that single society? Are we working against it?

I believe that these are very important theological questions to discuss and think about and open discussion on matters facing Anglo-Catholics. We should not be afraid of these tough questions and we should be willing to acknowledge what is lacking in the Anglo-Catholic ecclesiology that needs further work and more active movement towards a single communion. In my mind this is the essential question facing Anglo-Catholics, not what can be provided provisionally that further delays unity of communion. Bishop John Hind has it absolutely right, 'We seek communion not provision.' That is what I am hoping and praying towards.

Novena to the Holy Spirit for the Seven Gifts

ACT OF CONSECRATION TO THE HOLY SPIRIT

On my knees before the great multitude of heavenly witnesses, I offer myself, soul and body to You, Eternal Spirit of God. I adore the brightness of Your purity, the unerring keenness of Your justice, and the might of Your love. You are the Strength and Light of my soul. In You I live and move and am. I desire never to grieve You by unfaithfulness to grace and I pray with all my heart to be kept from the smallest sin against You. Mercifully guard my every thought and grant that I may always watch for Your light, and listen to Your voice, and follow Your gracious inspirations. I cling to You and give myself to You and ask You, by Your compassion to watch over me in my weakness. Holding the pierced Feet of Jesus and looking at His Five Wounds, and trusting in His Precious Blood and adoring His opened Side and stricken Heart, I implore You, Adorable Spirit, Helper of my infirmity, to keep me in Your grace that I may never sin against You. Give me grace, O Holy Spirit, Spirit of the Father and the Son to say to You always and everywhere, "Speak Lord for Your servant heareth." Amen.

To be recited daily during the Novena

EVEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

O Lord Jesus Christ Who, before ascending into heaven did promise to send the Holy Spirit to finish Your work in the souls of Your Apostles and Disciples, deign to grant the same Holy Spirit to me that He may perfect in my soul, the work of Your grace and Your love. Grant me the Spirit of Wisdom that I may despise the perishable things of this world and aspire only after the things that are eternal, the Spirit of Understanding to enlighten my mind with the light of Your divine truth, the Spirit of Counsel that I may ever choose the surest way of pleasing God and gaining heaven, the Spirit of Fortitude that I may bear my cross with You and that I may overcome with courage all the obstacles that oppose my salvation, the Spirit of Knowledge that I may know God and know myself and grow perfect in the science of the Saints, the Spirit of Piety that I may find the service of God sweet and amiable, and the Spirit of Fear that I may be filled with a loving reverence towards God and may dread in any way to displease Him. Mark me, dear Lord, with the sign of Your true disciples and animate me in all things with Your Spirit. Amen.

Expanding and Building My Catholic Library

One of the things that I am in the midst of doing at present is expanding and cutting my personal library. There are numerous books that I simply do not use or refer to ever so I will soon be making a list of these on ebay to clear off shelf space for some other areas in theology where my library has holes. This summer I am hoping that the PhD is fully submitted and behind me as I then move to venture out into other theological areas of interests. So, to all of my Catholic readers, I would like to ask a favour.

I want to make a list of theological categories where the reader would graciously recommend the top five books of their choice within each category that they believe would be beneficial for my shelf and reading. I explicitly want the categories to be within the Catholic Church teaching. Do not worry about repeating titles from other comments as that will only help solidify the recommendation of a book that I do not already have on my shelf. Please forward this to any Catholic blogs or other readers who would be interested in coming here and adding their helpful contributions. Thank you very much!!

Readers, please recommend what you believe would be the best books in the following areas (Feel free to add a subject too along with recommended books):

1) Theology
2) Sacred Scripture
3) Sacramental Theology (The Seven Sacraments)
4) Pastoral Theology
5) Liturgical Theology
6) Spirituality
7) Saints
8) Church History
9) Spiritual Direction
10) Moral Theology
11) Canon Law

* I should say that as a result of my working on a PhD in Eucharistic theology, I do not need recommendations on Eucharistic theology as I have nearly 35 or more books in my own personal library.

Where Has Freedom Gone?

The Sexual Equality Bill that has been tightened seems to be denying organisations within this country the right and responsibility to freely choose who they employ for whatever reason they may wish to employ or not employ someone. What was telling was the response from the Catholic Church and the Church of England spokesmen.

Neil Addison, a Roman Catholic barrister and expert on religious discrimination law, said that the new legislation would leave churches powerless to defend the fabric of their organisation.

"This is a threat to religious identity. What we are losing is the right for organisations to make free choices," he said.

A spokesman for the Church of England said that while it supports the broad objectives of the Bill it "retains some concerns about the practical application of some specific aspects".

The Equality Bill, which was introduced to the Commons by Harriet Harman, the Minister for Women and Equality, will also strengthen laws against gender, age and disability discrimination.

A Government Equalities Office spokesman said: "The Equality Bill will not force a church to accept someone as a priest regardless of their sexual orientation or gender.

"Churches, synagogues, mosques and others will continue to have the freedom to choose who they employ in jobs which promote their religion. But where they provide services to the public they will have to treat everyone fairly."

Is anybody else concerned about the implications spoken by the GEO spokesman? What does the government have to do with the Church anyway? Surely this beloved UK will wake up to see the danger with such attacks on Christian freedoms of churches to maintain their fidelity to the faith no matter what arena it is in. Where has the Christian voice gone in our day?

Congratulations to Archbishop Vincent Nichols

Today Archbishop Vincent Nichols is being installed as the 11th Archbishop of Westminster and a warm congratulations and affectionate prayers go out to him on this day and for the future. May God give him the wisdom to lead and guide the Church in all the days ahead of him! Today you can watch his instillation service on BBC 2 and if you want to listen to his homily from Solemn Vespers yesterday at the Cathedral you can follow the link. You can listen to a wonderful interview here.

The Church and Unity

I apologise for the lack of postings recently but there have been good reasons due to a very busy schedule of late. On Tuesday I was at the SSC Synod at Selby Abbey. It was my first visit to the Abbey and there has been quite a bit of restorative work done there. It was a fairly good meeting though the hymns were not favourites of mine at all. Yesterday I had some time off and took care of some personal matters that needed tending to and this was undoubtedly a big relief for me. The brightness of the early morning hours woke me up today at about 4.45 am and I had trouble going back to sleep so I got up to read. I picked up B.C. Butler's book off the shelf titled Church and Unity as this is a constant question in my mind with regards to my own work in Eucharistic theology and the sacrifice of the Mass.

One of the interesting things about the Butler book that is a helpful reminder is that the Church in its existential reality is an imperfect representation of what it is to be in the perfect expression of its own ideal. Nonetheless, we are called to unity within the body and realise that this unity takes time to have it actualised but we are called to labour for it. Reading the news about scandals and all sorts of other problems reminds us of the liability of sin that is evident due to human fallibility despite baptism. But the Church is still that Bride to whom sinners are called to grow in maturity within her walls and though unity takes time there is an urgency to pursue unity. Butler concludes his book by a call to unity that is also a challenge. He writes,

The Church, in fact, is the 'sacramental' re-presentation of the appeal of God in Christ, an appeal directed to every man everywhere and at all times. It is an appeal of love and calls for an answer of not theoretical but actual, existential, love which gives itself as fully and immediately as God has given himself in Christ. On the one hand, the appeal is: 'Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest...My yoke is easy, and my burden is light'. On the other hand, it is inexorable with all the inexorability of perfect love. And because it is inexorable it is 'judgmental'. 'The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son...He who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life'. the message of Christian history is that the way to come to Christ is to belong to the koinonia; and that hearing Christ and believing him who sent him entails, not as a distant aspiration but as a here-and-now urgency, seeking membership of that koinonia.

The state of things at the moment within churches and ecclesial communities is the apparent chaos in the culture that impacts the maturation process and growth towards unity. We live in interesting days and exciting times and look to Mary our Mother to pray for her Son's Bride as she grows up and matures as the ready Bride at the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb.

Mary and the Model of the Church Feminine

It is a really terrible thing that I am just now getting to a post on Mary so far already into the month of May. I can assure the readers that I have been quite preoccupied with very important matters. But, as I am presently looking to Mary in these days for much strength I thought perhaps a bit of von Balthasar on Mary and the Church would be beneficial to readers and hopefully strike up some conversation. In the book Mary The Church at the Source, von Balthasar speaks of the femininity of the Church within the mold of Mary. He writes,

In Mary, the Church is embodied even before being organized in Peter. The Church is first--and this first is permanent--feminine before she receives a complementary male counterpart in the form of ecclesial office. The Church is primarily feminine because of her primary, all-encompassing truth is her ontological gratitude, which both receives the gift and passes it on. And the masculine office, which has to represent the true giver, the Lord of the Church (albeit within the Church's feminine receptivity), is instituted in her only to prevent her from forgetting this primary reality, to ensure that she will always remain a receiver and never become self-assertive possessor and user. From a certain point of view, the Church's structure is primarily matriarchal and only secondarily patriarchal, although these sociological categories can be applied only in a very loose sense to the Church. We use them here because there can be a demand for ecclesiastical office only when there is a failure to appreciate the real dignity of women in the Church (as Church). Such a demand levels out, and thereby neutralizes, they mystery of the sexes, instead of bearing it to its open, perfected tension and fruitfulness.

How wonderful is this imagery!! Here is a theology for the Catholic position on priesthood and issues in human sexuality if I ever saw one. This is why Catholic teaching in moral theology and sacramental theology carries so much authority and truth. Pope Paul VI knew well what he was theologically doing when he referred to Mary with the title 'Mother of the Church'.

S. Thomas More Still Speaks

"The Catholics, he said, allow the heretics to talk unchecked, confident that no heresy can overcome the truth: 'But,' said the Saint, 'they do not look far enough. For as the sea will never surround and overwhelm all the land, yet it has eaten it in many places, and swallowed whole countries up and made many places sea, which sometime were well-inhabited lands, and has lost part of its possession again in other places: so, though the faith of Christ shall never be overwhelmed with heresy, nor the gates of Hell prevail against Christ's Church, yet as in some places it winneth new peoples, so by negligence in some places the old may be lost'" (Thomas More, English Works, 921.

Britain Ready for Catholic Moment: Catholic Social Teaching

An interesting article in the latest Catholic Herald that speaks about Catholic Social Teaching and the forthcoming encyclical on this topic by Pope Benedict XVI. Enjoy!

Pope John Paul II summarised the century of Catholic social teaching after Leo XIII in Centesimus Annus just after the fall of Communism (which he helped to bring about).

He wrote: "A person who is deprived of something he can call 'his own', and of the possibility of earning a living through his own initiative, comes to depend on the social machine and on those who control it." But man was not made for the machine, as the Terminator movies and The Matrix illustrate. There is a universal need to build a home and a family, and this implies the right to own property. But this also implies that a way has to be found to distribute productive property and wealth widely throughout society, and to give people more control over their own lives.

The Church's wisdom seems more attractive to people today than ever before. This may be a genuinely "Catholic moment" for our society, when the economic and environmental crisis, combined with the enormous strains caused by demographic shifts and immigration, have already convinced many of us that the status quo is doomed. The world is changing, and the Church is fast emerging as the most credible source of alternative political and economic ideas. To reflect this growing popular interest the Catholic Truth Society has launched a new series of booklets on Catholic social teaching (beginning with Edward Hadas on the credit crunch and Thomas Rourke on democracy and tyranny) and when the new encyclical appears there will no doubt be a flood of publications to help people understand and apply it in their own lives.

There is only one problem. Catholic social teaching - sensible as it is (and it is a lot more sensible than anything else on offer) - doesn't work. Or rather, it won't work unless we buy the rest of the package. We can't save ourselves, as St Paul reminds the Romans: "The evil I do not want is what I do" (Rm 7:19). Politicians may raid the Vatican website for new ideas, but if they apply them in the same old way, in the same old worldly spirit, they will have gone on making the same old mistakes, and failing to correct them.

Infallibility in Newman's Apologia

The section on Newman's understanding of infallibility is quite interesting when he writes of it in his Apologia. This doctrine is undoubtedly a difficult one for most Protestants. It was interesting at one point how it is said that infallibility actually limits papal inventions rather than the charge of freedom to invent whatever is on a present pope's mind. This shows itself in silly questions from Protestants who ask a Catholic, 'what if the Pope demanded you to deny Christ, would he be infallible then and would you have to obey it?' I am serious, Protestants do ask such questions. Here is Newman on the doctrine.

First, Infallibility cannot act outside of a definite circle of thought, and it must in all its decisions, or definitions, as they are called, profess to be keeping within it. The great truths of the moral law, of natural religion, and of Apostolical faith, are both its boundary and its foundation. It must not go beyond them, and it must ever appeal to them. Both its subject-matter, and its articles in that subject-matter, are fixed. And it must ever profess to be guided by Scripture and by tradition. It must refer to the particular Apostolic truth which it is enforcing, or (what is called) defining. Nothing, then, can be presented to me, in time to come, as part of the faith, but what I ought already to have received, and hitherto have been kept from receiving, (if so,) merely because it has not been brought home to me. Nothing can be imposed upon me different in kind from what I hold already,—much less contrary to it. The new truth which is promulgated, if it is to be called new, must be at least homogeneous, cognate, implicit, viewed relatively to the old truth. It must be what I may even have guessed, or wished, to be included in the Apostolic revelation; and at least it will be of such {254} a character, that my thoughts readily concur in it or coalesce with it, as soon as I hear it. Perhaps I and others actually have always believed it, and the only question which is now decided in my behalf, is, that I have henceforth the satisfaction of having to believe, that I have only been holding all along what the Apostles held before me.

Let me take the doctrine which Protestants consider our greatest difficulty, that of the Immaculate Conception. Here I entreat the reader to recollect my main drift, which is this. I have no difficulty in receiving the doctrine; and that, because it so intimately harmonizes with that circle of recognized dogmatic truths, into which it has been recently received;—but if I have no difficulty, why may not another have no difficulty also? why may not a hundred? a thousand? Now I am sure that Catholics in general have not any intellectual difficulty at all on the subject of the Immaculate Conception; and that there is no reason why they should. Priests have no difficulty. You tell me that they ought to have a difficulty;—but they have not. Be large-minded enough to believe, that men may reason and feel very differently from yourselves; how is it that men, when left to themselves, fall into such various forms of religion, except that there are various types of mind among them, very distinct from each other? From my testimony then about myself, if you believe it, judge of others also who are Catholics: we do not find the difficulties which you do in the doctrines which we hold; we have no intellectual difficulty in that doctrine in particular, which you call a novelty of this day. We priests need not be hypocrites, though we be called upon to believe in the Immaculate Conception. To that large class of minds, who believe in Christianity after our manner,—in the particular temper, spirit, and light, (whatever word is used,) in which Catholics believe it,—there is no burden at all in {255} holding that the Blessed Virgin was conceived without original sin; indeed, it is a simple fact to say, that Catholics have not come to believe it because it is defined, but that it was defined because they believed it.

Quote of the Day

Tradition is the precondition for man's humanness, but it is also its peril. Whoever destroys tradition destroys man--he is like a traveler in space who himself destroys the possibility of ground control, of contact with earth. But even he who would preserve tradition falls likewise into the danger of destroying it. Ben. XVI

Solidarity with Everything Modern is Much adoe About Nothing

Yesterday afternoon was spent in the hospital waiting on my daughter to come out of surgery. While waiting, I was reading Principles of Catholic Theology by Ratzinger. It is really an outstanding book that shows the depth and breadth of formal Catholic principles for our world. What we find so much in liberal Protestantism is the desire to give Christianity a new face and public value that disregards the traditional faith as something too anxious about sin created by an antique narrow-minded moral theology that keep men and women in the chains of self denial. So much of this type of progressivism seems to presently be shaping liberal Protestantism and has sadly gripped many in the church around the world and particularly it can be seen in the Anglican Communion. To embrace such a worldview and theological progressivism is really embracing nothing more than the wind. The real call to Christianity is a call to conversion of life if man really wants to be free and liberated. What so much of Anglican praxis seems to want to embrace today is adaptation to the world. So many of the arguments I find for the progressiveness of the church around the communion involves this sort of adaptation. To adapt, this worldview teaches, is an act of liberation, renewal that surrenders the past and any sense of guilt about how one leads his or her life. How does the Anglican Communion or any individual for that matter get rescued from such emptiness? I believe the answer lies in these words.

A Christianity that believes it has no other function than to be completely in tune with the spirit of the times has nothing to say and no meaning to offer. It can abdicate without more ado. Those who live vigilantly in the world today, who recognize its contradictions and its destructive tendencies--from the self-destruction of technology by the destruction of the environment to the self-destruction of society by racial and class struggles--such people do not look to Christianity for approbation but for the prophetic salt that burns, consumes, accuses and changes. Nevertheless, a basic aspect of metanoia comes thereby into view--for it demands that man change if he is to be saved. It is not the ideology of adpatation that will rescue Christianity, although adaptation is still operative wherever, with sycophantic zeal or tardy courage, those institutions are criticized which, in any event, have become the powerless butt of world publicity (and in so doing, incidentally, have entered once again into the apostolic tradition [1 Cor. 4:13]; nothing can rescue it but the prophetic courage to make its voice heard decisively and unmistakably at this very hour.

Bishop Nazir-Ali: Unity in the Pope?

I have been trying to post on this entry a while but I have been on the phone this afternoon having a delightful discussion with a facebook friend. Thank you for that! While on the phone Rubat in a comment in the blog entry below asks what my thoughts are about the Bishop of Rochester's comments concerning unity looking towards the Pope. What are my thoughts? Well, simply put, I agree. Where else is unity to be found in our day or perhaps in any day. I think many Catholic-minded Anglicans have seen this for a long time. As a member of a FiF parish and a member of SSC that is one of the stated goals of our existence. I think this question is coming to head quicker than many expected due to the speed at which information is before us as a result of our smaller world due to technology. There is no secret that I have struggled deeply the last few months about ecclesiological and moral issues and how authority fits into those questions. These questions still go on in my head but the question of S. Peter's primacy is no longer one of those questions. He is the source for unity in my mind and I would tend to agree with the Bishop of Rochester here. Ruth Gledhill reports the following on her blog having come from the Bishop of Rochester.

And there was also, of course, the question of how these gifts would be received by the Church.

He said the Roman Catholic Church was not monolithic. There was plenty of room for diversity within it. But he described an 'ecclesial deficit' in Anglicanism which it had not yet addressed properly. It has to do with confessing the faith together, decision-making, common discipline, a universal ministry for maintaining unity. The temptation for Anglicans, he said, was to invent such a universal ministry.

But he warned against this.

'Robert Runcie used to say he did not want the Archbishop of Canterbury to be turned into a Pope because one Pope was sufficient.

'What we need is first of all to recognise that there is a proper universal ministry for unity, that it is the Bishop of Rome that exercises that historic ministry for today, and to find a way for all Christians to accept that ministry.'

I think for many this will come to be accepted and recognised as the ministry for unity and many will find different ways of making it a reality. What I believe is most important is for each individual to work this out for themselves theologically and practically. Historically it is true that the Bishop of Rome has had and continues to have this ministry. Now, the question is, 'how do all of us accept that ministry?'

The Ecclesial Woes of the Anglican Communion

Well, for anyone in the Anglican Communion putting their hopes on the Covenant to be sent to the provinces can now look for another way perhaps. The reports coming out of the meeting in Jamaica really make one wonder. This delay tactic of not dealing with the issues by putting heads in the sand pretending that the problem will go away must be part of the essence of the Anglican Communion's ecclesiology. Honestly, I am beginning to wonder. There was conference from Global South leaders following yesterday's administrative gymnastics and you can read a portion of it below but do visit the link to read the whole thing so that you can get a taste of where this is bringing things. Further divisions forthcoming it seems and attitudes of giving up on any hopes of accountability in the Communion. If there is any case for a Magisterium to be made, I do believe the ACC only helps the argument. God to Anglican Mainstream to read the entire report.

George Conger: The ABC was upset at what transpired. How might we go forward?

Bishop Mouneer.

The ABC should be in our prayers every day,. He was very solid and clear in what he said. He was so clear behind the covenant to keep the unity, keep the ecumenical relations, to move the Anglican Communion forward into its mission. What we need to pray for the ABC is for wisdom, grace and good advisers around him. We should not let anger stop us from fulfilling God’s mission. Sometimes we give attention to a dispute to distract us.

The time has come not to waste any more time. Let the people who are truly Anglican and love the Lord, come together and walk forward. That is God’s church, he promised the gates of hades will never prevail against it. I want to partner with Bishop Bill – I do not want to be distracted any more.

Question. When is it long enough?

I would like us to have moved on today So we have to readjust. When anything goes wrong – God has a perfect plan. But starting from now God has a perfect plan. Now it is costing me to adjust. I must adjust to the new perfect plan God has for the Anglican Communion. That is where we start from.

We must not be distracted by evil, we must love the church. We must love those on the other side.

From the words of ABC himself – all his words were positive. In the discernment group he was supportive. I see him now as a very weak leader who could not come forth to steady the ship. What would have it cost him to stand up, and say please brethren this way will not take us anywhere? This is the last thing he will do.

Resolution A was defeated. The house was taking direction from what the ABC said. If the ABC had not spoken, the chair picked up what the ABC said and delegates were left confused about what they wanted and the direction the ABC was leading the debate,. The way the chair took it was to bring back A.

There was a language confusion. Confused regarding language. We did not know when the defeated clauses were brought back. We did not understand what was being said .

At max we get 90 and 95% of tings 0- so we miss 5%.

I am aware of God’ s timing. I am very disappinted. I will not let this stop me doing Gods mission. But I am not going to go on mission now as the Anglican Communion. We will go on our own way. Right now the mission is delayed. There will be separation.

Time is on the side of TEC. The truthful and faithful people are the ones who will last. The people who really brought lots of heresies in Alexandria disappeared. The orthodox church that was established on the truth and the scripture remained today. Time is on our side,

Question to Bishop Bill Godfrey. What were you and the Presiding Bishop planning in jointly supporting a listening process for the care of orthodox.

For some reason godly men who care about the church and the integrity of a jurisdiction – Kenya, Rwanda, and the discipline of the church – are crossing boundaries – why? All I said to the Presiding Bishop is that they need to be given a chance to say why they had to break the fundamental understandings or rules of the church. We need to hear the stories of the USA. I said to Katharine Jefferts Schori “ You have asked us to listen to the stories of gay and lesbian people. If you asking the other side to beep their moratorium, we need to listen to what they are saying. They are thinking they are crossing boundaries because gthey are bloody minded.

I said to KJS – I am asking you to help me to establish a Listening Project to hear the voices coming from the USA. She said she would support me. ABC feels it will be covered by the Pastoral Visitors. I hope it is the case – this issue will never be resolved till we start listening to those who are suffering. We need to preach to the people who are causing the suffering. We need to start speaking to the people who are nor reading our blogs. Their Archbishops are not just crazy guys, they are genuinely trying to respond to need.

If we are going to have to have reconciliation we are going to have to talk. KJS says she will listen to me and give a voice to them. We have to approach this in a different way. I wish I had not backed off from my suggestion when the ABC said it was covered by the Pastoral Visitos.

Whole thing died when ABC said – it was proposed by a gentleman of TEC.

The Priest--the Believer

I came across the below speech from Cardinal Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) in 1990 in an address on the Nature of the Priesthood. Enjoy!

We have seen that the priesthood of the New Testament, which appeared first in the apostles, presupposes a true communion with the mission of Jesus Christ. The person who becomes a priest is grafted into His mission. For this reason, an intimate personal relationship with Christ is fundamental for priestly life and ministry. All priestly formation should lead to the fostering of this relationship. The priest should be a person who knows Jesus intimately, has met Him and learned to love Him. The priest should therefore be a man of prayer, a truly "spiritual" man. Without strong spiritual substance he cannot last in his ministry. From the mystery of Christ he should also learn in his life not to seek himself nor his own promotion. He should learn to spend his life for Christ and for his flock.

Such a way of living is opposed to our natural inclination, but little by little it becomes clear that only he who is capable of forgetting himself is truly free. One who works for Christ learns by experience that one sows and another reaps (cf. Jn 4:56). He has no need to look for success and thus have to rely on himself. Since he is working for the Lord, he leaves the outcome to the Lord and in joyfulness of spirit he places his concerns in the hands of the Lord. When we seek our own success, the priesthood begins to appear as a burden which surpasses our strength, and burdens too heavy for our shoulders to bear are the inevitable result. But Christ carries us in faith, and from our union with Christ an invincible joy arises which proceeds from the victory of Christ, who conquers the world (Jn 16:55) and is with us to the very end of time (Mt 28:20). From an intimate union with Christ there automatically arises also a participation in His love for human beings, in His will to save them and to bring them help. He who knows Christ from within wishes to communicate to others the joy of the redemption which has opened up for him in the Lord: pastoral labour flows from this communion of love and even in difficult situations is always nourished by this motivation and becomes life-fulfilling.

He who loves wishes to know. A true love of Christ, therefore, expresses itself also in the will to know Him and everything that pertains to Him. Since the love of Christ necessarily becomes love of human beings, education to the ministry of Christ includes also education to the natural human virtues. Since to love Him means to know Him, it follows that a will that is eager to study carefully and diligently is a sign of a solid vocation. Because Christ is never alone, but comes to gather human beings into His body, a love for the Church must necessarily accompany a love for Christ. Christ has willed to come to us in the community of His Church. In a person's zealous love for the Church, his relationship with the Lord Himself is revealed as intimate and strong. I would like to conclude with the words of Pope St Gregory the Great in which he shows from Old Testament images the essential connection between the interior life and ministry: "What else are the rivers of holy men which water the dry ground of the carnal heart? But... they dry up quickly, unless by the intention of the heart they keep diligently returning to the place from which they came. If they do not return inwardly to the heart, and bind themselves in love for their Creator with the bonds of holy desires, the tongue goes dry. But they do always return inside through love, and what they pour forth in public as they work and speak, they draw in secret from the fountain of love. They learn through love what they proclaim through teaching" (Hom. in Ez. lib I, hom V, 16 PL 76, 828 B).

This from a speech in 2005.

There is a mutual give-and-take in faith in which priests and lay people become mediators of the nearness of God for one another. The priest must also nurture the humility of such receiving in himself ….

The first “task” a priest has to do is to be a believer and to become one ever anew and ever more. Faith is never simply there automatically; it must be lived. It leads us into conversation with God which involves speaking and listening to the same degree. Faith and prayer belong together; they cannot be separated. The time spent by a priest on prayer and listening to Scripture is never time lost to pastoral care or time withheld from others. People sense whether the work and words of their pastor spring from prayer fabricated at his desk.

Newman the Prophet For Our Day?

In Newman's Apologia, I found the following reflection of his very interesting. It is worthy of a good discussion about where we are in the Anglican church today. Whether one agrees with Newman's decision or not about becoming Catholic, were his words prophetic? He writes,

While Catholics are so weak in England, it is doing our work; and, though it does us harm in a measure, at present the balance is in our favour. What our duty would be at another time and in other circumstances, supposing, for instance, the Establishment lost its dogmatic faith, or at least did not preach it, is another matter altogether. In secular history we read of hostile nations having long truces, and renewing them from time to time, and that seems to be the position which the Catholic Church may fairly take up at present in relation to the Anglican Establishment.

Doubtless the National Church has hitherto been a serviceable breakwater against doctrinal errors, more fundamental than its own. How long this will last in the years now before us, it is impossible to say, for the Nation drags down its Church to its own level; but still the National Church has the same sort of influence over the Nation that a periodical has upon the party which it represents, and my own idea of a Catholic's fitting attitude towards the National Church in this its supreme hour, is that of assisting and sustaining it, if it be in our power, in the interest of dogmatic truth. I should wish to avoid every thing, (except indeed under the direct call of duty, and this is a material exception,) which went to weaken its hold upon the public mind, or to unsettle its establishment, or to embarrass and lessen its maintenance of those great Christian and Catholic principles and doctrines which it has up to this time successfully preached.

What would Cardinal Newman honestly say today? Are the Catholic principles and doctrines being successfully preached today? I am certain in many places they are. But as an institution where do we find ourselves as we look in the mirror of Catholic principles?

Chesterton: Why Catholic?

The Fundamentalist controversy itself destroys Fundamentalism. The Bible by itself cannot be a basis of agreement when it is a cause of disagreement; it cannot be the common ground of Christians when some take it allegorically and some literally. The Catholic refers it to something that can say something, to the living, consistent, and continuous mind of which I have spoken; the highest mind of man guided by God.

Every moment increases for us the moral necessity for such an immortal mind. We must have something that will hold the four corners of the world still, while we make our social experiments or build our Utopias. For instance, we must have a final agreement, if only on the truism of human brotherhood, that will resist some reaction of human brutality. Nothing is more likely just now than that the corruption of representative government will lead to the rich breaking loose altogether, and trampling on all the traditions of equality with mere pagan pride. We must have the truisms everywhere recognized as true. We must prevent mere reaction and the dreary repetition of the old mistakes.

We must make the intellectual world safe for democracy. But in the conditions of modern mental anarchy, neither that nor any other ideal is safe. just as Protestants appealed from priests to the Bible, and did not realize that the Bible also could be questioned, so republicans appealed from kings to the people, and did not realize that the people also could be defied. There is no end to the dissolution of ideas, the destruction of all tests of truth, that has become possible since men abandoned the attempt to keep a central and civilized Truth, to contain all truths and trace out and refute all errors. Since then, each group has taken one truth at a time and spent the time in turning it into a falsehood. We have had nothing but movements; or in other words, monomanias. But the Church is not a movement but a meeting-place; the trysting-place of all the truths in the world.

Read all of it here.

A Party or a Church?

Recently in the news we read about the ACC meeting in Jamaica which is gathered to discuss the sending of the Anglican Covenant around the provinces to debate and consider. There is an urgency for this document according to the chair of the drafting group (retired Archbishop Gomaz) that brings the communion of Anglican provinces to a serious crossroad and decision. I feel that the document fails miserably under the presuppositions it holds before it is even sent. Marites Sison, a staff writer for the Anglican Journal, reports on statements made by the chairman that really get to the heart of why the Anglican Communion is coming apart. The report reads,

Archbishop Gomez, who introduced the Ridley-Cambridge draft to the ACC delegates, said the principle that the Covenant Design Group adopted in writing was “the communion guides, each church decides.” He said that the new draft “firmly states that each church decides for itself,” adding that it “says quite clearly that nothing in the covenant can or should change the constitution and canons of any province.”

Section 4 of the draft, he added, “gives clarity over the processes of joining and leaving the covenant,” and it provides “ a method of dispute resolution” which is “not coercive but advisory.”

Someone please help me to see why this approach is not the approach the Apostle Paul rebukes in his letter to the Corinthians concerning party spirits? Note, this is the "PRINCIPLE" of the CDG's proposal to the communion! My theological understanding of the Church is that it is not a society that thinks up all sorts of ideas and recruits those who can adhere to follow them. In my small theological brain, this can only be understood as a party system that defines faith as 'one's cause and because we might like that cause we join up.' The Church of Jesus Christ is not a self-governing society that makes blind attempts to organize itself in ways that can be acceptable to all its members by the democratic vote consisting of majority and minority. Are there others out there who hold to a Catholic understanding of the Church who are also seriously struggling with this? Is this the Anglican Communion's newly proposed theological formulation of what it means to 'be church?' What is the result of such an approach?

To the readers' surprise perhaps, I think a sermon by the then Cardinal Ratzinger states clearly what this mechanism produces. He said,

But in all this we ourselves remain the sole actors. We want to offer programs and ideas that appeal to as many as possible. That God himself becomes active, that he acts is something that we no longer take for granted in the modern world. But precisely by making this assumption, we follow in the footsteps of the Corinthians: we confuse the Church with a party and faith with a party program. The circle of what we do and are remains closed.

It seems to me after hearing the Good Shepherd passages from this past Sunday's readings and in yesterday's Mass reading we are now more than ever called to listen for his voice. Faith demands that we let go of our own tastes, to renounce what we might ultimately desire and to follow the Shepherd of the sheep as the giver of eternal life. The Church can only be the Body when she follows the voice of her Shepherd not a party, not a club, not even a religious group attached to the state but to Christ himself. In order for the Church to be the Church and not a party it must be made and maintained by him not our own willing and deciding. Benedict XVI is right to remind us all that 'obedience toward him is the guarantee of our freedom.'

This has a huge practical impact on the priestly ministry. My concern is that the result of this is parish priests having freehold basically can become the pope of their own parishes and hence each builds his own church. Is this what we are really after as Christians? As members of Christ's Church, we are called upon to avoid all attachments that might interfere with our obedience and communion with Christ. A point for us all priests to remember is that our doctrine is not ours, it belongs to Jesus. Will the Anglican Communion recognise that we proclaim him not our party mechanisms? The answer “the communion guides, each church decides.”

Freedom of Conscience and Objective Standards

There is no doubt that within the Catholic framework of moral theology the human conscience is a very important instrument in shaping and transforming lives for the moral good. What many Catholic-minded Anglicans seem to not realise, when the issue of freedom of conscience is brought up about a person's moral choices in life, is that the issue of sincerity alone does not offer enough objectivity about how one decides whether or not an act is good. The ingredient of the 'object' is often left out of the equation and a realist approach to moral theology gets to the heart of this problem. For instance, in Gaudium et spes, no. 51, the point I am making is made quite clearly. It says,

Hence when there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of life, the moral aspects of any procedure does not depend solely on sincere intentions or on an evaluation of motives, but must be determined by objective standards.

This objectivity runs throughout questions surrounding acts of moral good and the freedom of conscience. For the Catholic framework of moral theology falls under the general teaching of the Magisterium more so than from dogmatic statements. Yet, the principle of moral objectivity within the above quotation remains the standard of checks and balances when determining whether or not an act falls within the category of good or bad.

Freedom of conscience can never usurp the magisterial teaching of the Church with regards to moral freedom. This is a point that many of my Catholic-minded Anglican friends seem unclear on when in discussions about Catholic moral theology. In CCC 2039, it reads, 'Personal conscience and reason should not be set in opposition to the moral law or the Magisterium of the Church.' I think these issues are very important when Anglicans make claims of being Catholic. Have we missed the connection of liturgical beauty and moral theology?

Conscience is always called upon to take accounts of the good of all, not a 'law of sincerity' but the objective moral law, natural and revealed, within the law of the Church and in the authoritative teaching ministry of the Church. To be a Catholic-minded Anglican, it seems to me, our teaching within the broad category of moral theology is to be lived out and taught as a result of incarnating Catholic liturgy. To not do so, seems to completely miss the mark of the role of the liturgy and its union with moral theology expressed within the life of sacrifice.

Here is a quotation for us to reflect on from Romanus Cessario, O.P.

The New Testament takes love seriously. 'He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.' To pursue counterfeit loves while imagining that one loves God is like trying to move both north and south at the same time. It is an impossible feat in the natural order, and an illusion in the moral life. Only the person who loves in the truth comes to know God.

Any thoughts?

Uniting the Eucharistic Sacrifice with our Sacrificial Life

There is a lot of confusion from Protestants about what the Eucharistic Sacrifice is all about from a Catholic theology of offering Jesus in the Mass. That I have learned throughout my research and have come to believe with all my heart what the Catholic Church teaches about the Eucharistic offering is indeed the truth about what we do at Mass. But, what is it that we do and why do we believe this is the heart of the liturgy? Of course, I am an Anglican writing who, like Andrewes, believes there is no difference at all with regards to Eucharistic Sacrifice between historical Anglican theology and Catholic theology. This is to get too much into the theological and historical debate of this post.

I write more so this morning from a practical point of view as a way of life that flows from the Sacrifice of the Mass and this entry is closely connected to the 'heart-on-the-sleeve' entry from yesterday. When Pope Benedict was head of the CDF he wrote and published A God Who is Near which is a book about God's condescending love towards us particularly in the Mass. When we enter deeply into the risk that faith is we come to understand more fully how much of a mystery the Mass is but also how close it brings us to God. The story is from Zenit but the Pope's theology of sacrifice is clearly explained and practical for the people of God no matter where we are in our understanding or mis-understanding about the Eucharistic Sacrifice.

"The Eucharist is sacrifice," memorial of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, the cardinal explains.

"When we hear this phrase, we resist within," he states. "The question arises: When we speak of sacrifice, are we not before an unworthy, or at least ingenuous, image of God? Do we not end up by thinking that we men could and should give something to God?"

Cardinal Ratzinger adds: "The Eucharist responds precisely to these questions. The first thing it tells us is that God gives himself to us so that we, in turn, can give ourselves. The initiative in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ comes from God. In the beginning, it was he himself who lowered himself."

"Christ is not a gift that we men present to an irritated God; on the contrary, the fact that he is here, lives, suffers and loves, is already the work of the love of God," the cardinal writes. "It is the merciful love of God, who stoops down to us; the Lord who makes himself a servant for us.

"Although we are the ones who caused the conflict, and although God was not the culprit, but us, it is he who comes to meet us and who, in Christ, begs for reconciliation."

"The more we walk with him the more conscious we are that the God who seems to torment us is the one who really loves us and is the one to whom we can abandon ourselves without resistance or fear," Cardinal Ratzinger states.

He adds: "The more we enter into the night of the misunderstood mystery the more we trust him, the more we find him, the more we discover the love and freedom that sustain us through all the nights. God gives so that we can give. This is the essence of the eucharistic sacrifice, of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ."

The Risk of Faith

I am at a point in my life where I am not sure that I have searched the depths of my soul and inner longings as deeply and more carefully than I am at present. The period of Lent this year was not about giving up chocolates for me. Rather this past Lent was about giving up deep sin and selfishness within my own heart. Lent to me this year was about surrendering myself completely and fully to the will of God for my life. I attempted to do that as I prayed on Fridays for others and myself at S. Cuthbert's Shrine at Durham Cathedral and for the intentions sent to me by many of you. I took those prayers with me on my retreat/pilgrimage to Rome and left them at the tomb of S. Peter. I then went and knelt at the tomb of Pope John Paul II and prayed that God would give us all the grace seen in his life as successor of S. Peter that was particularly evident as we watched him fulfil his vows and which moved my own soul watching him live out his last days.

Faith is full of risks. Jesus calls us on all sorts of journeys. What I am coming to understand more deeply about my own faith and the Faith of the Church is that big movements take a lot of time. That is not necessarily comfortable for someone who is mechanically minded, sees the problem and is quick to find the solution so that the problem goes away as quickly as possible so that moving on to the next life-event takes place smoothly. Well, that is not the way God works. Faith is a risk because faith is a journey. Faith is about falling before the feet of Jesus and living a loving self-sacrificial life before Jesus and the world. It is not about presumptuousness or unbelief. The Christian life and service is not about leisure and retirement but keeping one's heart content and stayed on God. No fairly contemporary Christian knew more about the risk of faith than Cardinal Newman I would think. He was a man who seemed to be willing to live humbly and honestly before all. He was someone that I have come to appreciate for his own vulnerability before his friends seen within his letters and writings. He once wrote about the risk of faith that speaks deeply to my heart today. He says,

Our duty as Christians lies in making ventures for eternal life without the absolute certainty of success...Thus, indeed, is the very meaning of the word 'venture'; for that is a strange venture which has nothing in it of fear, risk, danger, anxiety, uncertainty. Yes, so it certainly is; and in this consists the excellence of nobleness of faith; this is the very reason why faith is singled out from other graces, and honoured as the especial means of our justification, because its presence implies that we have the heart to make a venture.

If, then, in faith be the essence of a Christian life, and if it be what I have now described, it follows that our duty lies in risking upon Christ's word what we have for what we have not; and doing so in a noble, generous way, not indeed rashly or lightly, still without knowing accurately what we are doing, not knowing either what we give up, nor again what we shall gain; uncertain about our reward, uncertain about our extent of sacrifice, in all respects leaning, waiting upon Him, trusting in Him to fulfil His promise, trusting in Him to enable us to fulfil our own vows, and so in all respects proceeding without carefulness or anxiety about the future.

This quotation is rich with application for all of us. I trust that all readers can benefit from the depth of risk that faith requires for each of us. May God catch us all as we venture out in faith in the journey towards eternal life!