Blessed Newman: "Children of the Movement of 1833, Come Home!"

Reading a number of items and discussions around the blogs of late I came across an interesting quotation from Blessed John Henry Newman. It was an interesting piece based upon his address to Anglicans concerning the audience of his 'Anglican Difficulties'. It was not, according to Newman, the National Church in England but those within the Movement of Anglo-Catholicism. That is very telling for today's Anglicans within that Movement who are deciding their futures in or out of the National Church. Newman writes,

the Lectures on the "Position of Catholics" have nothing to do with the Church of England, as such; they are directed against the Protestant or Ultra-Protestant Tradition on the subject of Catholicism since the time of Queen Elizabeth, in which parties indeed in the Church of England have largely participated, but which cannot be confused with Anglican teaching itself. Much less can that Tradition be confused with the doctrine of the Laudian or of the Tractarian School. I owe nothing to Protestantism; and I spoke against it even when I was an Anglican, as well as in these Catholic Lectures. If I spoke in them against the Church Established, it was because, and so far as, at the time when they were delivered the stablishment took a violent part against the Catholic Church, on the basis of the Protestant Tradition. Moreover, I had never as an Anglican been a lover of the actual Establishment; Hurrell Froude's Remains, in which it is called an "incubus" and "Upas Tree," will stand in evidence, as for him, so for me; for I was one of the {398} Editors. What I said even as an Anglican, it is not strange that I said when I was not. Indeed I have been milder in my thoughts of the Establishment ever since I have been a Catholic than before, and for an obvious reason;—when I was an Anglican, I
viewed it as repressing a higher doctrine than its own; and now I view it as keeping out a lower and more dangerous.

Then as to my Lectures on Anglican Difficulties. Neither were these formally directed against the National Church. They were addressed to the "Children of the Movement of 1833," to impress upon them, that, whatever was the case with others, their duty at least was to become Catholics, since catholicism was the real scope and issue of that Movement. "There is but one thing," I say, "that forces me to speak ... It will be a miserable thing for you and for me, if I have been instrumental in bringing you but half-way, if I have co-operated in removing your invincible ignorance, but am able to do no more."—p. 5. Such being the drift of the Volume, the reasoning directed against the Church of England goes no further than this, that it had no claims whatever on such of its members as were proceeding onwards with the Movement into the Catholic Church.

Please Support the Saint Barnabas Society

I would like to let readers know of a very important charity set up for convert clergy who find their way home to the Catholic Church. There have been a number of men with families who have recently converted or are about to be received into the Catholic church who may undoubtedly benefit from the charitable organisation. With the prospects of many Anglican clergy faced with the important decision about their futures and concerns for family members if they are to make such a move, the society is there to help families settle into their new way of life by gracious grants. These are the gifts of visionaries who have seen the great benefit of helping those who, in faith, make the journey home. As we know, there are numerous former Anglican clergy who are now Catholic priests who faithfully serve the Church in offering Mass and the other sacraments to the faithful. Pope Benedict XVI has recently acknowledged the gifts they bring to the Church by his generosity seen in Anglicanorum Coetibus.

Therefore, can I humbly ask that readers graciously consider supporting the Saint Barnabas Society by making a donation or regular donations to a very important cause. Relieving the anxiety of family responsibilities for clergy who in conscience feel it is time to become united to the See of Peter will do a lot to help comfort them as they make this journey.

Please pass on the St Barnabas Society website and if able, please do make a donation and remember to pray for these men and their families who are stepping out in faith. I also would like to ask, that this post be linked to other blogs so that the word can spread as much as possible. Thank you very much! Please pray for the Society and its work.

Donate Here.
St Barnabas Society is a registered charity.
Registered with the Charity Commission No. 1009910
A Company Limited by guarantee
Registered in England No. 2645233



Also, check out the Blog The New Theological Movement...I have linked it to my Catholic blogs!

Did Papal Visit Signal an End to the English Reformation? I Pray So!

Edward Pentin writes the following post on the end of the English Reformation. I have believed for some time that the English Reformation is coming to an end as we see the shipwreck that Protestantism taken to its logical conclusion has on the Faith once delivered to the saints. I say that as a former Protestant who has come to see the importance of ecclesial communio that looks to the Successor of St Peter for hope and unity. The prior statement is in no way a personal attack to my Protestant friends (I still have family members I deeply love who are Protestants) but an academic response to what is happening before our eyes in Church history.

For the first time, a ruling English monarch allowed the Successor of Peter to address her Parliament, attend a liturgy in the church of her Coronation, and even to pray with her archbishop at the tomb of the Royal Family’s patron saint. Her government also hosted unprecedented formal bilateral talks with Holy See officials.

It was a kind of surrender, a giving up of the Reformation and all it had stood for in terms of rebellion against the papacy. But this shouldn't be seen as a defeat for the Crown; rather the opposite. It was as if the Queen had finally come to the realization that Rome was right after all, that the Catholic Church offers something which her subjects need – even “thirst for” in the words of Benedict – and which her own church and state are failing to provide....

Today that’s no longer quite the case. Some say that Anglicanism has run its course. The advent of the new Ordinariates and their expected long term popularity is a consequence of its decline (though leaving behind a distinct patrimony that still has much to offer the universal Church). Benedict XVI called the new structure for receiving large numbers of Anglicans into the Church a “prophetic gesture” during the visit, one that will restore “full ecclesial communion.”

A corner has therefore surely been turned and a new chapter of Christianity in Britain, and possibly globally, may be beginning.

Elizabeth I was the English sovereign who gave momentum to the English Reformation (what Chesterton called the “shipwreck of Christendom”) that would last half a millennium.

Elizabeth II may well go down in history as the monarch who – with the help of a Pope passionate about Christian unity – didn’t quite end it but has courageously helped draw it to a close.

This turn of events will produce much more fruit than we can possibly imagine. I believe that the Protestant Reformation is coming to its end and a realignment of the Church Catholic is now underway. As Anglicans prepare to come into the fold as Catholics and prayers and talks between East and West continue as radical secularism continues to try and suck the life-blood out of Western society, the Church will rise to the occasion and give the only hope that any of us have and that is the hope found in our Lord Jesus Christ united in one visible body.

Archbishop Vincent Nichols' Pastoral Letter to the Faithful

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We have been very blest indeed by the Visit of Pope Benedict during those four marvellous and unforgettable days. His presence has brought such joy and given a great boost to so many. I am immensely grateful to Her Majesty The Queen for extending the invitation to Pope Benedict to come on a State Visit to the United Kingdom.

There is so much to talk about. But at this point I offer some brief initial reflections.

The Holy Father has given us new heart for our mission. In our Cathedral he spelt out that task. He said we are to be witnesses to the beauty of holiness, to the splendour of the truth and to the joy and freedom born of a living relationship with Christ.

We have glimpsed the beauty of holiness especially in the moments of prayer during this Visit. The holiness of God is reflected in the reverence shown in the liturgies, in the actions of the Mass, in the music and song we have offered and most vividly in the silence of prayer. The beauty of this holiness permeates us from within as ‘heart speaks unto heart’. I will never forget the richness of the silence of 80,000 people at prayer before the Blessed Sacrament in Hyde Park. I hope every celebration of Mass contains times of shared silence in which we can draw close to the Lord.

We witness best to the splendour of the truth of our faith when we follow the example given by Pope Benedict. In speaking of our faith he was always so gentle and courteous, so sensitive to the achievements and anxieties of his listeners, so clear and reasoned in presenting difficult points, so humble and open-hearted. We must strive for these same qualities when speaking about our faith, in witnessing to its truth.

The Holy Father has also asked us to witness to the joy and freedom born of a living relationship with Christ. He certainly did so himself, with his own serenity and unfailing generosity of response to both individuals and great crowds. We can do the same, day by day, as long as our focus remains on the Lord and, particularly, in his power to forgive and heal us. We find our joy and freedom in the saving sacrifice of Christ. From it we draw the strength to be generous and self-sacrificing ourselves. Young people, too, gave witness to this joy and freedom. Outside our Cathedral they exclaimed their desire to be saints in the third millennium! Their pathway will be that of heartfelt prayer and generous service.

With the blessings of this Visit we can be more confident in our faith and more ready to speak about it and let it be seen each day. A small step we can all take is to be quicker to say to others that we will pray for them, especially to those in distress. Prayer is the first fruit of faith in the Lord and we grow so much by giving prayer its place in our homes and in our hearts. Even the simple step of more regularly using the greeting ‘God bless you’, gently and naturally, would make a difference to the tone we set in our daily lives as would the more frequent use of the Sign of the Cross. Making faith visible is so much a part of the invitation the Holy Father has extended to us all.

In these ways we can begin to respond to the urging of the Holy Father ‘that the Catholics of this land will become ever more conscious of their dignity as a priestly people, called to consecrate the world to God through lives of faith and holiness.’

I thank everyone who worked so hard in preparation for this Visit, through difficulties, doubts and criticism. I thank all who came to show their love for the Holy Father. Travelling with the Holy Father in the Popemobile gave me a unique experience of the joy, delight and love in the faces of so many. I thank God for our Pope and for all the blessings of this Visit from which we have so much to ponder and learn for a long time to come.

Yours devotedly



Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Westminster

Papal Visit and Prayer for Vocations to the Priesthood

Like so many in our land, I remain quite moved by the visit from the Holy Father. There is a new sense of deep commitment to prayer and silence in my life. There is a refreshing excitement in communicating the love of God in Christ Jesus. This morning and afternoon, I am reflecting on the visit that was happening one week ago.

This past week I had the wonderful opportunity to reflect on the Holy Father's address to young people outside Westminster Cathedral. What a visionary message of hope it was too! The following words are very much worth time of reflection for all. The Holy Father said to the young people:

I ask you to look into your hearts, each day, to find the source of all true love. Jesus is always there. Quietly waiting for us to be still with him and to hear his voice. Deep within your heart, he is calling you to spend time with him in prayer, but this kind of prayer, real prayer, requires discipline.

It requires time for moments of silence every day. Often it means waiting for the Lord to speak.

Even amidst the business and stress of our daily lives we need to make space for silence, because it is in silence that we find God. And in silence that we discover our true self.

And in discovering our true self we discover the particular vocation which God has given us for the building up of his church and the redemption of our world. Heart speaks unto heart. With these words from my heart, dear young friends, this is word’s from my heart.I assure you of my prayers for you.

So much of this echoes what I have been reading lately in my spiritual reading. In silence we hear God because it is in silence that we are able to listen. If we rearrange the letters of silence we can spell the word L.I.S.T.E.N. The fantastic video on priestly vocation 'Fishers of Men' has been seen by many and linked to this blog before. Yet I place it here again in the context of the Holy Father's message to young people and the renewed effort of prayer for vocations to the priesthood. Wouldn't it be a marvellous idea to have the Blessed Sacrament of our Lord processed through the streets of London as we pray for an increase of vocations? What a testimony it would be immediately following the Holy Father's visit! Share the video and this link with anyone you may know may be discerning or perhaps challenged to discern a call to vocational priesthood or religious life.

Fr Barron and the Hitchings Brothers: The Result of Atheism on a Society

This short video from Fr Barron is really worth a good discussion. There are all sorts of "markers" in our present culture and society that we ought to think very seriously about. As a result of the Holy Father's visit to the UK and its positive impact, it is my opinion that we need to think deeply about the ideologies that are driving a society that wants to remove God from the public platform. Watch and do discuss!

Petition to Thank the Holy Father for His Visit to Britain

I do not think the Holy Father would read this petition here but having been so moved by his visit and the stamina he showed to go out of his way to pastorally reach out his 'hand of friendship', I thought it proper for all of us to say 'Thank you' to the Holy Father. Please spread this around and link to it so many signatures can be added. Thank you!

Most Holy Father, we the undersigned, wish to express our warm gratitude to His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, for a very successful and encouraging visit to these isles. We are very grateful to you for faithfully and charitably challenging us in our journeys with our Saviour. You have modelled humility, compassion, and in the spirit of Blessed John Henry Newman, the grace of 'heart speaking unto heart'. Thank you for coming to Scotland and England and blessing us with your presence. We promise our full support and prayers for you as you lead and guide us into the joy of our salvation. God bless you, Your Holiness, and may the prayers of our Lady be effectual for giving you the grace to continue building up the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jeffrey Steel

Beatification of Newman and His Submission to the Infallible Church

Yesterday while attending the beatification of Blessed John Henry Newman, I had the opportunity of being interviewed a couple of times about my becoming a Catholic. One question that was asked of me was why I felt Newman was important to me and why yesterday was so special. Off camera, the interviewer made a comment that if Newman were alive today he would be in disagreement with this present Pope and she wondered how that would go down at an "event" (the language of course is Mass) like the one we were gathering for. I enquired as to the reading list of Blessed Newman and the Holy Father done by this person with the expected answer. My comments were around the fact that in many places the present Holy Father has been shaped by Newman's thinking on many theological issues.

After further reflection, I was reminded of Newman's remarks on this issue. The reporter's point that Newman would be more liberal than this Pope and disagree with his sentiments cannot be squared with the response below.

And now, having thus described it (infallibility), I profess my own absolute submission to its claim. I believe the whole revealed dogma as taught by the Apostles, as committed by the Apostles to the Church, and as declared by the Church to me. I receive it, as it is infallibly interpreted by the authority to whom it is thus committed, and (implicitly) as it shall be, in like manner, further interpreted by that same authority till the end of time. I submit, moreover, to the universally received traditions of the Church, in which lies the matter of those new dogmatic {343} definitions which are from time to time made, and which in all times are the clothing and the illustration of the Catholic dogma as already defined. And I submit myself to those other decisions of the Holy See, theological or not, through the organs which it has itself appointed, which, waiving the question of their infallibility, on the lowest ground come to me with a claim to be accepted and obeyed. Also, I consider that, gradually and in the course of ages, Catholic inquiry has taken certain definite shapes, and has thrown itself into the form of a science, with a method and a phraseology of its own, under the intellectual handling of great minds, such as St. Athanasius, St. Augustine, and St. Thomas; and I feel no temptation at all to break in pieces the great legacy of thought thus committed to us for these latter days.

Blessed Cardinal Newman, pray for your beloved land and the Church within her today!

Beatification Mass of Cardinal Newman

More will follow later with a blog but I thought a few pictures might get me through the busy schedule until I get home this evening to write something up. It was a real blessing to see some old friends and make some new ones as well. I think the world of Anglican Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough and his lovely wife. They were gracious hosts to me for a couple of days and it was a real blessing to see them at this wonderful Mass of Beatification of the Blessed Cardinal Newman.

I also providentially was sitting next to the Farrows who recently made the announcement that Fr Robin is becoming a Catholic as his wife was baptised a Catholic. I had such a wonderful time with them and look forward to a very long friendship in the Catholic family. I have been a Catholic for 15 months now and it has been the greatest experience of my Christian journey in the past 41 years. God bless our Holy Father, Pope Benedict and Blessed John Henry Newman, pray for us!

Pope Benedict XVI and the Real Challenge of Democracy

I cannot be more pleased thus far with the Holy Father's visit and the words he has spoken to our nation. I am particularly pleased with the historical moment yesterday that had His Holiness in Westminster Hall addressing Parliament. As one who works as school Chaplain in Chelsea at St Thomas More RC Language College, I am delighted to read how the Holy Father used St Thomas More as an example of statesmanship who was committed to God before any other. The HF does get to the heart of democracy's real challenge when he writes,

And yet the fundamental questions at stake in Thomas More's trial continue to present themselves in ever-changing terms as new social conditions emerge.

Each generation, as it seeks to advance the common good, must ask anew: What are the requirements that governments may reasonably impose upon citizens, and how far do they extend? By appeal to what authority can moral dilemmas be resolved?

These questions take us directly to the ethical foundations of civil discourse.

If the moral principles underpinning the democratic process are themselves determined by nothing more solid than social consensus, then the fragility of the process becomes all too evident - herein lies the real challenge for democracy.

The inadequacy of pragmatic, short-term solutions to complex social and ethical problems has been illustrated all too clearly by the recent global financial crisis.

There is widespread agreement that the lack of a solid ethical foundation for economic activity has contributed to the grave difficulties now being experienced by millions of people throughout the world.

Just as "every economic decision has a moral consequence" (Caritas in Veritate, 37), so too in the political field, the ethical dimension of policy has far-reaching consequences that no government can afford to ignore.

Here is the heart of the answer for a Catholic individual and, please God, a Catholic England once again:

The central question at issue, then, is this: Where is the ethical foundation for political choices to be found?

The Catholic tradition maintains that the objective norms governing right action are accessible to reason, prescinding from the content of revelation. (This says a lot more than what may at first be understood!)

The real challenge for us is to have our reason in check so as not to embrace distorted ideologies which have had a real negative impact on the nature of our understanding of what is to be believed and obeyed in the content of revelation.

And in their turn, these distortions of religion arise when insufficient attention is given to the purifying and structuring role of reason within religion. It is a two-way process.

Without the corrective supplied by religion, though, reason too can fall prey to distortions, as when it is manipulated by ideology, or applied in a partial way that fails to take full account of the dignity of the human person.

How does this distortion apply to us here in the UK?

Religion, in other words, is not a problem for legislators to solve, but a vital contributor to the national conversation.

In this light, I cannot but voice my concern at the increasing marginalisation of religion, particularly of Christianity, that is taking place in some quarters, even in nations which place a great emphasis on tolerance.

There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere.

There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none.

And there are those who argue - paradoxically with the intention of eliminating discrimination - that Christians in public roles should be required at times to act against their conscience.

These are worrying signs of a failure to appreciate not only the rights of believers to freedom of conscience and freedom of religion, but also the legitimate role of religion in the public square.

And, the freedom of conscience goes strongly against the Equality Act that has been put into law and is against the principles of democracy and the freedom of religion. This is particularly the case in Catholic Education and public service agencies like adoption. The Holy Father says,

For such cooperation to be possible, religious bodies - including institutions linked to the Catholic Church - need to be free to act in accordance with their own principles and specific convictions based upon the faith and the official teaching of the Church.

In this way, such basic rights as religious freedom, freedom of conscience and freedom of association are guaranteed.

The angels looking down on us from the magnificent ceiling of this ancient Hall remind us of the long tradition from which British Parliamentary democracy has evolved.

They remind us that God is constantly watching over us to guide and protect us. And they summon us to acknowledge the vital contribution that religious belief has made and can continue to make to the life of the nation.

God bless Pope Benedict XVI! We love you, pray for you and support you as the sheep of your fold. May God grant the Holy Father many more years of healthy service for the good of our Lord's Kingdom!!

The Catholic Bishop of Paisley and Peter Tatchell's Channel 4 Misleadings

After watching the channel 4 programme tonight by Peter Tatchell all I could think about with my children who viewed it with me was that Tatchell became the best apologist for the Catholic Faith and our present Holy Father than I could have ever dreamed about. To see and hear my older children argue with the ignorant on the screen was priceless to me. It brought laughter from the children at how ridiculous and lacking in logic Tatchell is. My 13 year old daughter asked, 'how can you stand to watch any more of this rubbish?' Apologetics 101 alive and reasonable at the Steels tonight!

The Catholic Bishop of Paisley rightly said it was

“disturbing” that Channel 4 had given Tatchell an hour-long prime time programme “in which to attack the Pope and the Catholic Church” and said the programme’s content showed that the campaigner knew “next to nothing about the real nature and mission of the Catholic Church”.

My children couldn't agree more!

Sharing in Newman's Calm Port

Newman writes:
FROM the time that I became a Catholic, of course I have no further history of my religious opinions to narrate. In saying this, I do not mean to say that my mind has been idle, or that I have given up thinking on theological subjects; but that I have had no changes to record, and have had no anxiety of heart whatever. I have been in perfect peace and contentment. I never have had one doubt. I was not conscious to myself, on my conversion, of any difference of thought or of temper from what I had before. I was not conscious of firmer faith in the fundamental truths of revelation, or of more self-command; I had not more fervour; but it was like coming into port after a rough sea; and my happiness on that score remains to this day without interruption.

Nor had I any trouble about receiving those additional articles, which are not found in the Anglican Creed. Some of them I believed already, but not any one of them was a trial to me. I made a profession of them upon my reception with the greatest ease, and I have the same ease in believing them now. I am far of course from denying that every article of the Christian Creed, whether as held by Catholics or by Protestants, is beset with intellectual difficulties; and it is simple fact, that, for myself, I cannot answer those difficulties. Many persons are very sensitive of the difficulties of religion; I am as sensitive as any one; but I have never been able to see a connexion {332} between apprehending those difficulties, however keenly, and multiplying them to any extent, and doubting the doctrines to which they are attached. Ten thousand difficulties do not make one doubt, as I understand the subject; difficulty and doubt are incommensurate. There of course may be difficulties in the evidence; but I am speaking of difficulties intrinsic to the doctrines , or to their compatibility with each other. A man may be annoyed that he cannot work out a mathematical problem, of which the answer is or is not given to him, without doubting that it admits of an answer, or that a particular answer is the true one. Of all points of faith, the being of a God is, to my own apprehension, encompassed with most difficulty, and borne in upon our minds with most power.

Apologia

Fr Giles Pinnock and Family Becoming Catholic

I have had this news held privately in my heart for some time but I am most pleased now to be able to make it public along with Giles and his family. Fr Pinnock has been a good friend over the past year and a half and it is very good news to be able to give God thanks that the Catholic Church is soon to be receiving a faithful man along with his family into the Catholic family. Please give Fr Pinnock a welcome over at his blog or here and let us all continue to thank God for the courage of these men and their families when they make courageous decisions such as the one the Pinnock's have just made public. God bless Pinnock family, you are in our prayers! Welcome Home!!!!!!!

I met recently with the Bishop of Fulham to discuss the future relationship between myself, the Church of England and this parish. Following that discussion, I offered my resignation as the Vicar of St Mary-the-Virgin, Kenton, and Bishop John graciously accepted my resignation.

I have reached a point in my journey in the Faith at which I have become firmly and prayerfully convinced over a period of months that I should seek to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church without further delay.

I have been the Vicar of St Mary’s for four years, during which time you have been a supportive and generous community to serve. The particular decision to leave this parish has been harder than the joyful decision to be received into the Catholic Church – although the two are of necessity connected, and as the Lord tells us in today’s Gospel, we must be willing to change fundamentally the context and the detail of our lives if we are truly to be His disciples. That call is always present to all of us, but can present itself more immediately at particular moments in life. This is such a moment for me and my family.

I realize that some of you may feel that I am leaving just as you most need to be led through the difficult times which Traditionalist parishes of the Church of England are to face over the next few years.

To those of you who will remain as committed members of the Church of England, I am on a path that is for now different from yours. I trust that one day, in God’s good time, our particular journeys may reconverge. In the meantime, I cannot provide the Anglican leadership you expect and so it would be wrong for me to remain as vicar of this parish.

To those of you who are considering becoming Catholics, either as members of the forthcoming Ordinariate under the provisions of Anglicanorum coetibus or in a local Catholic parish, I trust that I am, in the manner of a middle-eastern shepherd, walking ahead of the flock, leading you by my example to safe pasture.

I shall cease formally to be vicar of this parish on November 1st 2010. On that date, this parish will enter an interregnum, during which your churchwardens, Trish Royle and Ken Elliott, supported by the members of the Parochial Church Council, will be responsible for the administration of this parish until such time as a new vicar can be appointed. The Bishop Fulham, the Archdeacon of Northolt and the Area Dean of Harrow will also support Trish and Ken in their task, and I urge you to do everything you can as a congregation to support them too.

Fr John and Fr Malcolm and others will lead your worship and provide your pastoral care, and I ask you to support them gratefully as they do so, especially if from time to time during the interregnum it is necessary that the regular pattern of worship be varied.

I shall keep you in my prayers, and I ask you to keep me and my family in yours, both over the next few weeks and into the future.

Thank you.

Women in the Priesthood: Fr Stephen Wang

I have been meaning to post this piece from Fr Stephen Wang, a priest of the Archdiocese of Westminster who is the Dean of Studies at Allen Hall Seminary. This bus campaign is really silly and the lack of theological and sacramental understanding as to why the Catholic Church does not, cannot and will not ever ordain women as priests is really disappointing. As the late Holy Father, JPII said, popes do not have the authority to ordain women as deacons or priests. That is because there is no authority given to the Church to ever change the symbols of the Sacraments she received from our Lord. I will simply allow Fr Wang's article to stand on its own without any commentary. I welcome civilised and constructive theological discussion on this issue or article here. Please let your friends know it is here for our edification. Fr Wang writes,

Last year the religious slogans on London’s buses were hesitant, and ended with gentle exhortations: “There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Now they end with a shout: “Pope Benedict – Ordain Women Now!”

The latest posters, timed to coincide with the Papal visit, are funded by the campaigning group Catholic Women’s Ordination. It’s unlikely that Pope Benedict will be using his Oystercard, but the hope must be that if his Popemobile gets stuck in traffic, one of these buses will glide by and catch his attention.

The Catholic insistence that only men can be ordained as priests is incomprehensible to many people, and the cause of much personal anger and ecumenical heartache. Pope John Paul II seemed to close the door to any revision when he wrote in 1994 that this teaching “is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful”.

He took a surprising approach. He didn’t stamp his feet and shout: I won’t! Instead he said: I simply can’t. I don’t have the authority to change something that has been such a fundamental part of Christian identity from the very beginning. The argument is not about holding onto the past for its own sake, but trying to be faithful to what Jesus wanted for his Church.

In the New Testament, Jesus chose twelve men to represent him as his first priests, as the Twelve Apostles. Every generation of Catholics (and Orthodox) since then has understood this to have been a choice that was deliberate and significant, not just for that first period of history, but for every age.

Some argue that Jesus couldn’t have done otherwise in the Jewish society of his time. This doesn’t stand up, as he was quite willing to involve women in other aspects of his mission and ministry, in ways that would have seemed revolutionary.

Others say that women’s ordination, even if Jesus had wanted it, simply wasn’t conceivable in the pre-feminist religious cultures of the last 2000 years. But this ignores the staggering diversity of cultures in which Christianity has been embedded.

Even in societies that have been broadly matriarchal (with rich Roman matrons running the early Christian house churches, or powerful medieval abbesses ruling ‘double’ monasteries of men and women); even when women ‘priestesses’ were an established part of the surrounding religious milieu – Christians still took for granted the idea of the male priesthood.

This is why Pope John Paul II, and now Pope Benedict, are saying that this is much more than a time-bound cultural norm that needs updating. It’s something deeper that touches on the very meaning of priesthood.

This teaching is not at all a judgment on women’s abilities or dignity or rights. It says something about the specific role of the priest in Catholic understanding – which is to represent Jesus, to stand in his place. The Church is saying something quite radical. On the one hand, there is a fundamental equality between all human beings, between men and women. On the other hand, this does not mean that our sexual identity as men and women is interchangeable. Gender is not just an accident.

People sense this. If I announced that I was making a film about Jesus or King Arthur or Wayne Rooney, no-one would be surprised if I said I wanted a male actor to play the lead. It’s a weak analogy, but it shows how the notion of ‘representation’ can only be stretched so far. A woman, as much as a man, can reflect the love of Jesus, and help others to know his presence through her faith and witness. But it shouldn’t surprise us if we expect a man to stand ‘in the person of Christ’ as a priest, to represent Jesus in his humanity – a humanity that is not sexually neutral.

Where does this leave women in the Catholic Church? In the same position as the majority of men (that is, all those who are not priests). It leaves them to live their faith passionately in the service of others, to use their many gifts to the full, and to realise that ordination is not the measure of an individual’s worth in the Church.

The young Catholic women I know, especially those with a strong sense of vocation in the Church, are channelling their energies into all sorts of creative projects and life choices. Some of these choices are very humble and hidden; others involve more public responsibilities – in politics, education, social work, Christian mission, the media, etc. Most are working ‘in the world’, but some have very significant roles within the Church itself.

These young women seem less interested in internal debates about ordination, and more concerned with rolling their sleeves up and putting their faith into practice. They are Christian feminists, whether they like the title or not. But it is a feminism that is untroubled by this Catholic understanding of the male priesthood.

Apostolicity Versus Catholicity: Cardinal Newman

While I made this distinction between the decrees and the traditions of Rome, I drew a parallel distinction between Anglicanism quiescent, and Anglicanism in action. In its formal creed Anglicanism was not at a great distance from Rome: far otherwise, when viewed in its insular spirit, the traditions of its establishment, its historical characteristics, its controversial rancour, and its private judgment. I disavowed and condemned those excesses, and called them "Protestantism" or "Ultra-Protestantism:" I wished to find a parallel disclaimer, on the part of Roman controversialists, of that popular system of beliefs and usages in their own Church, which I called "Popery." When that hope was a dream, I saw that the controversy lay between the book-theology of Anglicanism on the one side, and the living system of what I called Roman corruption on the other. I could not get further than this; with this result I was forced to content myself.

These then were the parties in the controversy:—the Anglican Via Media and the popular religion of Rome. And next, as to the issue, to which the controversy between them was to be brought, it was this:—the Anglican disputant took his stand upon Antiquity or Apostolicity, the Roman upon Catholicity. The Anglican said to the Roman: "There is but One Faith, the Ancient, and ye have not kept to it;" the Roman retorted: "There is but One Church, the Catholic, and you are out of it." The Anglican urged: "Your special beliefs, practices, modes of action, are nowhere in Antiquity;" the Roman objected: "You do not communicate with any one Church besides your own and its offshoots, and you have discarded principles, doctrines, sacraments, and usages, which are and ever have been received in the East and the West." The true Church, as defined in the Creeds, was both Catholic and Apostolic; now, as I viewed the controversy in which I was engaged, England and Rome had divided these notes {204} or prerogatives between them: the cause lay thus, Apostolicity versus Catholicity.

And my confidence that you will do so at last, and that the sophistries of this world will not hold you for ever, is what has caused the hesitation to which I have referred, whether I have done wisely in deciding on {399} addressing you at all. I have in truth had anxious misgivings whether I should not do better to let you alone, my own experience teaching me, that even the most charitable attempts are apt to fail, when their end is the conviction of the intellect. It is no work of a day to convince the intellect of an Englishman that Catholicism is true. And even when the intellect is convinced, a thousand subtle influences interpose in arrest of what should follow, carrying, as it were, an appeal into a higher court, and claiming to have the matter settled before some tribunal more sacred, and by pleadings more recondite, than the operations and the decision of the reason. The Eternal God deals with us one by one, each in his own way; and bystanders may pity and compassionate the long throes of our travail, but they cannot aid us except by their prayers.

Apologia

Cardinal Newman on Conscience a Reflection from the Holy Father

EWTN posts the Holy Father's reflection at the centenary of Newman's death in 1990. The section on conscience was very relevant for us as we think about the forthcoming beatification.

Doctrine on conscience

I certainly need not explicitly mention that this teaching on conscience has become ever more important for me in the continued development of the Church and the world. Ever more I see how it first opens in the context of the biography of the Cardinal, which is only to be understood in connection with the drama of his century and so speaks to us.

Newman had become a convert as a man of conscience; it was his conscience that led him out of the old ties and securities into the world of Catholicism, which was difficult and strange for him. But this way of conscience is everything except a way of self-sufficient subjectivity: it is a way of obedience to objective truth.

The second step in Newman's lifelong journey of conversion was overcoming the subjective evangelical position in favour of an understanding of Christendom based on the objectivity of dogma. In this connection I find a formulation from one of his early sermons to be especially significant today:

"True Christendom is shown... in obedience and not through a state of consciousness. Thus, the whole duty and work of a Christian is made up of these two parts, Faith and Obedience; 'looking unto Jesus' (Heb 2:9)... and acting according to His will.... I conceive that we are in danger, in this day, of insisting on neither of these as we ought; regarding all true and careful consideration of the Object of faith as barren orthodoxy, technical subtlety... and... making the test of our being religious to consist in our having what is called a spiritual state of heart...".

In this context some sentences from The Arians of the Fourth Century, which may sound rather astonishing at first, seem important to me: "...to detect and to approve the principle on which... peace is grounded in Scripture; to submit to the dictation of truth, as such, as a primary authority in matters of political and private conduct; to understand... zeal to be prior in the succession of Christian graces to benevolence".

For me it is always fascinating to see and consider how in just this way and only in this way, through commitment to the truth, to God, conscience receives its rank, dignity and strength.
I would like in this context to add but one sentence from the Apologia, which shows the realism in this idea of person and Church: "Living movements do not come of committees".