MEETING on the 18th JANUARY

 

We began the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity on the 18th.

Tonight’s meeting began with a said Mass, offered for Christian Unity during which we prayed for all Christian Leaders particularly the Holy Father  Pope Benedict, Bartholomew the Ecumenical Patriarch, Rowan Archbishop of Canterbury, Keith the Ordinary, Stephen Bishop of Chelmsford, Norman and David Suffragens, The Leaders of the Reformed Tradition and for all those who profess the faith of Christ Crucified.

After Mass and refreshments we had a short “business” meeting. It was proposed that in future we should have a retiring collection which would be used to make a contribution to St. Augustine’s Parish for the heat and light that we use and that we would then make a contribution to the Ordinariate.  This was in the light of the information Father Mervyn gave the meeting about the various items of correspondence he had received concerning the finances of the Ordinariate.

The date for the Passover Meal would be Palm Sunday at St. Augustine’s Vicarage. Members would be asked to prepare items for the meal. During the next two meetings we would consider the origins of the Passover Meal in the Old Testament and it’s development into the Last Supper in the New Testament.

The possibility of a mid-week Pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham was discussed and more details would be obtained and we would discus this again in February.

Ordinary’s Message for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2012

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Mgr Keith Newton writes: On the night that our Lord was betrayed, in the upper room, he prayed that his followers should all be one (cf. John 17:21). That all Christians are not united is a source of great scandal - because it limits and distorts the work of evangelisation, to which all Christ’s faithful are called.

In the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we have the opportunity to rekindle our desire for the full, visible unity of all Christians, and to assess once more the importance of Christ’s call – that all may be one.

Pope Benedict, in his response to Anglicans seeking fullness of communion with the Catholic Church, has shown us how this hope can be realised – in and through the unifying office of the Bishop of Rome, as the successor of St Peter. He is truly the Pope of Christian Unity, because he shows that in the one Body of Christ we do not need to be divided to cherish our richly different traditions and identities, and that the Catholic Church is truly ready and able to manifest the unity of the Universal Church within its own life.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham exists, not as a museum for the Anglican patrimony, but as an expression of how our vibrant and living tradition flourishes in, and because of, communion with the See of Peter. We are not a ‘structural solution’ to Anglican problems, but a vehicle of evangelisation and mission for the whole Church, contributing the gifts and treasures of our Anglican heritage alongside those of other Catholics, with whom we are now united.

Those who share the faith of the Catholic Church, but not the beauty of communion with her, must see in us the deep impression that our new relationship with Christ makes, so that they might find the strength to answer his call to fullness of unity in the Church with the successor of Peter, and enjoy the fullness of communion and peace in which we now share.

Thus we have been commissioned by the Holy Father to be those members of the Catholic Church who give her a special awareness of Anglican life and tradition from the inside, as she reaches out to the Anglican Communion to build the ecumenical work of common cause and proclamation in the world, towards the complete reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion that must come, because our Lord has prayed for it.

For many of us, this past year has seen relationships strained as we have moved into the Catholic Church, whilst close friends and colleagues remain in a position where communion with the Catholic Church is for the moment partial. As we journey deeper into communion with Christ, though, we move into a more profound relationship – not just with him, but with all those with whom we share the sacrament of baptism.

So let this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity be a time of intensified prayer for the unity of all Christ’s faithful, and let it be for us a time for renewed vigour for the work of Christian unity, of which the Ordinariate is a humble fruit.

As part of that, I commend to you Fr Paul Couturier’s prayer resources for the Week of Prayer produced by the Catholic League (www.unitas.org.uk), who have supported the Ordinariate from the outset and who – with us – share a vision for truth and unity.

The Right Reverend Monsignor Keith Newton

Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Ordinary welcomes appointment of US counterpart

Monsignor Keith Newton has enthusiastically welcomed the appointment of the Reverend Dr Jeffrey Steenson as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of The Chair of St Peter, erected today in the United States.

On hearing the news of the appointment by Pope Benedict XVI, Mgr Newton said, 'Fr Steenson is a warm and compassionate priest with a wealth of experience, and I am delighted by his appointment'.

The appointment of Fr Steenson marks the official establishment of the second Personal Ordinariate for those from the Anglican tradition who wish to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church, whilst retaining those elements of Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony consonant with Catholic faith and practice. Dr Steenson formerly served as a bishop of the Episcopal Church before being received into the Catholic Church, and ordained under the Pastoral Provision.

Speaking of the erection of the US Ordinariate, Mgr Newton said, 'The Holy Father's vision for the visible reunion of Anglicans with the Holy See continues apace. As we enter in 2012, we pray that many more will take up Christ's call - ut unum sint - and fulfil the prayer of generations for an Anglicanism united but not absorbed'