One of the blessings about the life of Faith here in the Diocese of Fort Worth, especially with an eye to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, has been the lived experience of the Pastoral Provision and the recent announcement of the establishment of the "Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter" on January 2, 2012 at Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas. As I said at the news conference, both are, I believe complementary, yet distinct expressions of the Lord's will that "all may be one." They are first ecclesial movements toward something — full communion with the See of Peter — and not away from something.
With this Scriptural foundation of John 17:21, we can look to Blessed John Henry Newman, the Oxford Movement, and the fruit of the dialogues that came about after the Second Vatican Council. On a local level here in Fort Worth, especially with the recent passing of Bishop Clarence Pope, we see the fruit of ecclesial relationships, friendships, and good will, that has been evidenced by the ordination of priests of the Pastoral Provision for the Diocese of Fort Worth, and more recently, the erection of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, under the patronage of Our Lady of Walsingham.
At a meeting of prayer and reflection with Episcopal priests of the Society of the Holy Cross in Fort Worth — several years before the announcement of the Ordinariate — one of the priests said that they were just waiting for someone to extend a hand. That hand had first been extended with the Pastoral Provision of Blessed John Paul II, and more recently with Pope Benedict XVI and the Ordinariate. One of the bishops of the Church of England, who was received into the Church last year and ordained a priest for the Ordinariate said "it used to be spoken of as 'swimming the Tiber’...Pope Benedict has built us a bridge."
In light of the recent establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States and the recent announcement of my new role as the Ecclesiastical Delegate of the Pastoral Provision in the United States, I would like to take the occasion of this column to more fully explain both the Pastoral Provision and the newly erected Ordinariate as they are both monumental moments in the history of both the Universal Church as well as for the Diocese of Fort Worth.
The Pastoral Provision
The Pastoral Provision in the United States was initiated during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI and was then established and headed by Blessed John Paul II. In 1980, the Holy See, in response to requests from priests and laity of the Anglican Church in the United States who were seeking full communion with the Catholic Church, created a Pastoral Provision to provide them with special pastoral attention. The Pastoral Provision serves as a response to the needs of a category of Christian faithful seeking full communion with the See of Peter:
In July [1980] the President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops received a letter from the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith indicating that the Holy Father, Blessed John Paul II, responding to the requests of members of the Episcopal Church to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, decided to make the special pastoral provision for the reception of priests and laity into full communion with the Catholic Church. The decision provided for the priestly ordination of married, former ministers coming from the Episcopal Church and for the creation of personal worship communities which would be allowed to retain elements of the Anglican liturgy.
— Into Full Communion, p. 8
The Pastoral Provision was a historic moment in the Church and paved the way for many former Episcopal priests to not only enter the Church, but also be ordained as priests in the Roman Rite. The Pastoral Provision also allowed entire Episcopalian parishes to enter the Catholic faith while retaining some aspects of the Anglican liturgy. The particular groups who initiated the request were “The American Church Union” and the Society of the Holy Cross within the Episcopal Church. Here in the Diocese of Fort Worth, there were several former Episcopal priests who were ordained as Catholic priests, and most notably, the entire community of St. Mary the Virgin Episcopal Church in Arlington converted to Catholicism under the leadership of Father Alan Hawkins. Many other former Episcopalian priests and a handful of other Episcopal parishes across the country have since entered the Church through the Pastoral Provision.
It is important to note that this structure was approved by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Overall, the Pastoral Provision has led to the ordination of more than 80 former Episcopal priests (and counting). The candidates involved in this process are taken on a case-by-case basis based on an exception granted under the Pastoral Provision. It is important to note that the Pastoral Provision is not a proving ground for optional celibacy in the Catholic Church but is a special invitation of the Holy See welcoming and allowing clergy of the Episcopal Church to become Catholic and continue their ministry in the Church as priests.
In order to meet the needs of these groups within the United States, the Holy See appointed as the first Ecclesiastical Delegate of the Pastoral Provision Cardinal Bernard Law, then Bishop of Springfield Cape-Girardeau, Missouri, who was subsequently succeeded by Archbishop John Meyers of the Archdiocese of Newark. The Ecclesiastical Delegate is tasked with overseeing the implementation of the Pastoral Provision in the United States. Specific duties and responsibilities of this delegate, include gathering candidate information for each former Episcopal priest from his sponsoring bishop to determine suitability for ordination into the Catholic Church and receiving priestly faculties within his diocese. The Ecclesiastical Delegate also establishes a body of theologians to provide an academic assessment and certificate of the candidates before they are approved for ordination. Last November, the Holy See appointed me as the new Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision in the United States, succeeding Archbishop Meyers. As the new Ecclesiastical Delegate, I look forward to continuing the great work of the Pastoral Provision within our diocese, and I ask for your prayers for all candidates involved in the process of seeking full communion with the Catholic Church as Catholic priests.
The Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter
Now, let’s turn our attention to the establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States. As the work of the Pastoral Provision has continued over the years, there have been an increasing number of requests from several countries around the world, for former Anglican and Episcopalian communities to enter the Catholic Church corporately, or as a group, with a desire to retain many of the Anglican liturgical and pastoral traditions and structures. In November of 2009, Pope Benedict XVI promulgated the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus (Anglican Body), which laid the framework for Anglican Ordinariates to be established in different countries or regions around the world that would allow former Anglicans to enter the Church corporately. Each Anglican Ordinariate, once established, has ecclesiastical jurisdiction similar to that of a diocese, but instead of having jurisdiction over a local territory, it instead encompasses entire countries or regions. This Ordinariate structure already exists in the Church in the form of the United States Military Ordinariate which has within its jurisdiction all of the United States military personnel throughout the world under Archbishop Broglio. He is the Ordinary. The Anglican Ordinariate is different from and moves beyond the scope of the Pastoral Provision because it encompasses the entire world and not just the United States. Former Anglican clergy and entire Anglican parish communities will be able to enter the Church not through a local diocese, but through the Ordinariate structure that encompasses entire countries or regions.
Each Ordinariate once erected, would be headed by an Ordinary, who in this case usually would be a priest who was formerly of the Anglican clergy. If the Ordinary is married, he would not be a bishop, but would oversee the governance and workings of the Ordinariate in a fashion similar to that of a bishop, but would not be able to ordain deacons, priests, or consecrate new bishops. On January 15, 2011, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established in England, and Monsignor Keith Newton, a former Anglican bishop, was named its Ordinary.
Since Anglicanorum Coetibus was promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI in 2009, the process of establishing an Anglican Ordinariate was begun in cooperation with the Holy See and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Cardinal Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., was named to head the USCCB Commission that would work with the Holy See in the establishment of the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States, and I, along with Bishop Robert McManus of the Diocese of Worcester in Massachusetts served with Cardinal Wuerl on this Commission. The Diocese of Fort Worth played an important role in the establishment of the Ordinariate in that 26 former Anglicans from three different Anglican parishes in the North Texas region were received into the Church on September 25 as the first group to enter the Church as part of the Anglican Ordinariate. The formation provided by our Diocesan Department of Catechesis also provided a model of formation to be used to catechize those who are seeking to join the Ordinariate in the United States.
On January 1, 2012, the Holy See announced that Father Jeffrey Steenson, the former Anglican Bishop of Rio Grande, now a Catholic priest, has been named the first Ordinary of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in the United States. Fr. Steenson, since he is married, will not be consecrated a bishop, but will have similar jurisdiction and canonical oversight of the Ordinariate as a bishop. The sacramental seat is the parish of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, which is a Pastoral Provision parish established in 1997. Upon being named the Ordinary, Fr. Steenson stated:
This Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter must be, above all else, an effective instrument for evangelization. But Jesus taught us that the unity of Christian people is the essential condition for evangelization (John 17:21). So this must be our hallmark: to build bridges, to be an instrument of peace and reconciliation, to be a sign of what Christian unity might look like. And gaudete in Domino semper (Philippians 4:4) to be joyful and happy Catholics!
Over the coming months, Fr. Steenson will continue to work closely with the Holy See, the USCCB, and other bishops around the country with Anglican communities who desire to join the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter to grow and establish the necessary structures of the Ordinariate and begin the process of receiving these Anglican communities into the loving embrace of Holy Mother Church. May we all keep Fr. Steenson and the work of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in our prayers during this extraordinary time in the history of the Church.
Also on January 1 a large group from St. Timothy's Anglo-Catholic Church began their journey toward full communion at venerable Church of St. Mary of the Assumption in Fort Worth. They were warmly welcomed by Father David Bristow, himself a priest of the Pastoral Provision, and a long time friend of Father Christopher Stainbrook, of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. The members of St. Timothy also join two other communities who are in the process of formation to enter the Ordinariate this coming Easter season. I also wish to acknowledge my friend, Bishop Jack Iker of the Episcopal Diocese in Fort Worth, for his friendship and counsel since my arrival here in these matters that affect both of our Dioceses, namely the Pastoral Provision and the Ordinariate.
As we continue to move forward in these truly historic times, I ask that you, as members of the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, support these communities and the work of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in the Diocese of Fort Worth with your continued prayers and open arms of welcome as we continue to see the prayer of Christ come to fruition: that they all might be one!
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