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Wednesday 26 December 2012

Advent and Christmas in Toronto

The Toronto Anglican Use Sodality (soon to be an Ordinariate mission with a patron saint) celebrates its first Advent and Christmas season having maintained the weekly Sunday celebration of Sung Mass since May with thanks to the efforts of AU chaplain Fr. Eric Rodrigues and other priests.

Due to his many responsibilities as the Cardinal's assistant, Fr. Eric was unable to be present for every weekly Mass and so four other priests helped from time to time.

What a wonderful blessing for them and for us. Each priest appreciated the opportunity to celebrate Mass using the sacral English of the traditional AU rite and to enjoy the marvellous music of the sodality choir led by Peter Mahon.

The Toronto AU schedule insures that at 1:45 pm each Sunday a priest is at Sacré-Coeur Church (corner of Sherbourne and Carlton streets) in downtown Toronto to celebrate the Anglican Use Mass.

Many visitors and inquirers as well as regular attendees have maintained this weekly witness to the unity of the Church as increasing numbers of people become aware of the Ordinariate and seek to explore possibilities as we enter the Year of Faith and seek to serve the New Evangelization.

A significant contribution to the new evangelization is the Anglican choral tradition presented in its highest expression weekly by the AU sodality.

Offertory motet for Advent III - Gaudete Sunday at  Sacré-Coeur

During the Twelve Days of Christmas the Toronto AU choir will offer Sung Mass at 5:00 pm on Monday, Dec. 31 at Sacré-Coeur for the Vigil of Mary Mother of God (a day of obligation for all Catholics).

On Epiphany Sunday in addition to Sunday Sung Mass at 1:45 pm (Sunday, Jan. 6) the choir will offer music for  Evensong, Benediction and Carols at 7:00 pm. 

All are welcome and, of course, Catholics of all rites may fulfill their Mass obligation at any AU Mass. 

Sunday AU Sung Mass continues every week at 1:45 pm at Sacré-Coeur.

Laudate Dominum


Tuesday 11 December 2012

A Warm Welcome to Father Lee Kenyon, Dean of the Deanery of St. John the Baptist of the Personal Ordinariate in Canada

We are very fortunate to have Father Lee Kenyon appointed to lead those Canadian Anglicans and others who are responding to our Lord's call to Christian unity by means of the Personal Ordinariate for North America.

Fr. Lee is a thoughtful, well educated, prayerful and pastoral priest with youth and a great sense of humour to complement his other qualities. A husband and father of three he embodies the Anglican patrimony in so many ways.

Fr. Lee through prayer and hard work has a thriving parish which grows weekly (it has doubled in size since the parish was received into full communion less than a year ago).


Fr Kenyon (left) talks with theologian and papal advisor Fr. Aidan Nichols OP while both were in Toronto for the Anglican Use Conference in 2011.



One of only three Ordinariate priests in Canada to date, he will work well with those who join Fr. Wilkinson (just ordained in BC) in parish ministry. Fr. Lee has expressed his keen desire to visit the Toronto Sodality and celebrate Mass with our congregation and great choir. He will facilitate the transfer into the Ordinariate and the choice of a name for our sodality as he assists in the formation of the three Toronto area sodalities into parishes over time.

We give thanks to Our Lady of Walsingham for her prayers and for the many blessings that St. John's, Calgary has been granted and now for the sharing of their fine priest with the rest of us across this vast land.

God bless you Father and may the prayers of OLW, St. Peter, St John the Baptist and St John the Evangelist sustain and strengthen you and your family.





Thursday 22 November 2012

A Note from the Music Director of the Toronto Sodality




This Sunday, Nov. 25, Mass we celebrate 
The Feast of Christ The King. 

The music of the Mass will include the Missa Aeterna Munera by Palestrina, plainsong propers, hymns, and the motet for double choir, Ecce Vicit Leo by Peter Philips.

Our Masses begin at 1:45pm every Sunday at Sacré-Coeur Church, 381 Sherbourne St. and fulfil the Sunday obligation for all Catholics, regardless of whether or not they are of an Anglican background. As always, there is also free parking, a children’s program for part of the service, and a coffee hour afterward. 

Everyone is welcome!

Sunday 30 September 2012

Anglicanorum Coetibus - An Open Door for Protestants and those from other religions moved by the Holy Spirit to enter into the Full Communion of the Catholic Church


    • Here are a couple of comments posted on Deborah Gyapong's excellent blog "Foolishness to the World".
      I add them here to make sure that we all understand that Anglicanorum Coetibus (AC) is a dramatic and inspired part of the New Evangelism. 
      AC is an open door for all people of good will. In particular, of course, for Anglicans but also for (and perhaps in the long run it may prove to be even more effective amongst) Protestants and anyone at all who has not received the sacraments of initiation in the Catholic Church.
      As well, Catholics of all rites are welcome to worship in Ordinariate parishes, sodalities, etc and may even transfer into such under certain circumstances.
      Marriage to someone who is an Ordinariate member would be amongst the most common cases for transfer of a Catholic. Adoption into an Ordinariate family would be another in the case of a child or other person already baptized in the Latin Rite Catholic Church.
      It needs to be stated again and again that anyone can receive the sacraments of initiation and so become members of an Ordinariate parish/ mission/ chaplaincy, etc. if they come from any Protestant church, from no church or from another religion of any flavour. Lutherans would be amongst the most obvious candidates for reception into Anglican ordinariate communities.

  1. Perhaps I should just add that many have spoken of the Holy Father’s profound desire to bring Protestants and others into the unity of the Catholic Church. His long association with Lutheran scholars, pastors and people has, undoubtedly, shaped his thinking about Our Lord’s mandate for unity.
    A careful reading of Anglicanorum Coetibus shows that there is every reason to believe that the Holy Father sees this as an avenue for Protestants generally. It truly is a magnificent contribution to unity which, as a young friend has pointed out to me, as an Apostolic Constitution AC will be there in 50 years for those still seeking unity. Truly it is for the ages and is the fruit of a devout pastoral heart and inspired leadership.

Thursday 27 September 2012

Msgr. Steenson meets 3 Toronto-area Anglican Use Sodalities to Establish Ordinariate in Canada




Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson
Ordinary of the Chair of St. Peter
(Canada and the USA)
An excellent meeting with Msgr Steenson was held this past Saturday in Toronto.  He spent the morning answering many questions for people from the three local sodalities seeking membership in the soon-to-be established Canadian Deanery of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (OCSP).  

Some time ago I listed on this blog a variety of the questions which have been raised regarding the North American Ordinariate. In his gentle and pastoral manner, Msgr Steenson addressed many of these and other questions.

In light of what Msgr Steenson shared with us here are some important points.

Currently the Monsignor is at a meeting of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops CCCB in Ste Adele, Quebec.  They are finalizing the arrangements for the jurisdiction of the Ordinariate in Canada. He goes with the strong backing of the Holy Father who has personally asked bishops to be generous to the Ordinariates as they are formed.  The Holy Father has also, as an example, made quite a large donation to the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (OOLW) in the UK. 

Msgr. Steenson shared with us that it is the Holy Father who has championed, promoted, shepherded and indeed insisted that all of the canonical and other hurdles to the erection of Ordinariates for Anglicans be solved.

So, here are some of the responses to the nitty gritty.

1. Membership

Individuals in each small sodality (associations of Oridinariate-bound Catholics in the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Diocese of Hamilton) will be received into the Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter once each person has completed and sent a form to Msgr Steenson stating their desire for membership and the facts relating to former Anglican status or family relationship to an Anglican Catholic i.e. anyone raised as an Anglican or married to or the child of such former-Anglican Catholics.

All Latin Rite and all other Catholics are welcome to worship with Ordinariate Catholics and are indeed invited to. However, those not from an Anglican background or related to a former Anglican may not officially be listed as member for purposes of holding an official position in an Ordinariate. 

This, of course, does not stop anyone from fulfilling their Sunday obligation at Ordinariate Masses on an occasional or a regular basis just as they may do so at a Chaldean, Ukrainian, Syrian or any other of the many non-Latin Rite Catholic communities in Toronto (BTW these Eastern Rite Catholic churches also have married priests - more on this later).

The sodalities or groups will proceed to constitute themselves in such a way that they can grow towards parish status within the Ordinariate in co-operation with their local Latin Rite diocese. Their priests will be incardinated within the Ordinariate but will co-operate with, occasionally assist and  have the support of the local Latin Rite bishop.

 The purpose of the CCCB consultation is to work out the logistics for a Canadian Deanery of the OCSP possibly named with the patronage of St. John the Baptist, St Joseph or both.  This deanery will give a structure to the Canadian Ordinariate sodalities and parishes so that when a distinct Canadian Ordinariate is formed the structure will allow for easy transfer from the OCSP.

2. Authority ?

Is there still a place for the voice of the laity in the Ordinariate?

There is to be a kind of synodical structure to the Ordinariates as provided for in Anglicanorum Coetibus (AC) and its attendant norms. Msgr Steenson indicated that lay participation is one of the distinctive patrimonial features of the Ordinariates. The Governing Council is now in formation.  

There will be deanery and parish level structures to which lay people will contribute and participate in.

Will the Ordinary have real control over the administration and assets of the Ordinariate which, in the case of Canada and the USA, is spread over a continent?

Finances will be held by sodalities, parishes and the Canadian Deanery in such a way that they can function ultimately within an independent Canadian Ordinariate with a Canadian Ordinary and Governing Council.


3. What role will the local bishops play?
Monsignor Robert Mercer (centre),
a celibate former Anglican bishop.

Of course the role of the local Latin Rite bishop is critical. It is he who will ordain Ordinariate priests, at least initially. There is no Ordinariate bishop as yet, however, celibate priests could be named bishops and could function as ordinaries or under an ordinary in the future. 

The local Latin Rite bishop will have a close association with the Ordinariate clergy and they will participate in and share in local priestly associations, responsibilities and benefits. In the USA bishops have already taken on this responsibility for men ordained in their dioceses. In fact, Msgr Steenson pointed out how keen US bishops have been to ordain Ordinariate priests who give a boost to the local diocese in a number of ways.


4. Is there any way that conservative Anglicans (those who have evangelical sympathies and others) might be persuaded to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church through Ordinariates?

Msgr Steenson addressed this question directly in terms of those who have questions about the papacy and authority. He pointed out that it is a matter of primary catechesis to explain the authority of the Pope to those interested and moved by the Holy Spirit to explore full communion with the Catholic Church.

It was observed that many Anglicans/Episcopalians are desperately seeking communion in an orthodox community in light of the melt-down of the liberal churches in North America. The failure of many Anglican/Episcopal dioceses is exponential as bishops and primates dance (literally and figuratively) around their  altars in their headlong rush to post-modernist secularism: the culture of entertainment as opposed to worship.

4. Liturgy

This brings us to the sublime matter of worship which for Ordinariate-bound Anglicans is at the heart of communion in the Catholic Church.


Will the liturgy be familiar to Anglicans or will there be such changes that worship feels foreign?  Will the great Anglican musical tradition be nurtured and developed within the Ordinariates?

In answer to questions about the forms of liturgy for the Mass, Msgr. Steenson clarified a number of issues relating to rites, practice and faculties for priests to celebrate the Anglican Use Mass in Canada.

First of all, there is a new form of the Anglican Use Mass which has been adapted for use in Canada and is now approved by Rome. The Book of Divine Worship (BDW) Mass is no longer authorized as printed due to changes in the Novus Ordo (3rd edition) and other practical issues. 

All sodalities and parishes are to use the Canadian form of the Mass modified under the direction of Msgr Steenson and edited by the soon-to-be-ordained former Bishop Wilkinson. This is now the only authorized form for Anglican Use Mass in Canada.
Former Anglican Bishop Peter Wilkinson,
a celibate candidate for ordination.

In the longer term there is a very distinguished group of international scholars working with the CDF and the CDW in Rome to produce a full sacramentary and prayer book for use in all ordinariates. A common set of texts which will be used in the UK, Australia, Canada, the US and other countries will be developed.  This is estimated to be a five year process but there will be individual rites authorized temporarily in the meantime.


5. Ordination and Economics


Will small communities be able to afford to pay priests a living wage? Will priests have to work for the local RC diocese dividing time between Anglican Ordinariate congregations and other parish or chaplaincy work?

Initially, ordinariates will rely upon the generosity of the local bishops to provide clergy as they are now doing.  Soon (by Easter it is estimated) more priests will be ordained to the Ordinariate in addition to the two currently ordained in Calgary.
There are some twenty on the list at present. They are to take a special training sessions supervised through the seminary in Houston under the Direction of Msgr Steenson.

These will be mainly retired men as there are only small resources in each sodality to support the growth of ordinariate parishes. Married men who have been Anglican clergy will, of course, be considered on a case by case basis, as is the norm in the Latin Rite in light of the celibacy rules. 

There is one case in the UK of a married seminarian not previously ordained as an Anglican being considered for ordination. Again, AC provides for such ordinations to be determined on a case by case basis.


Much more to follow . . . Pray for Msgr. Steenson as he meets with the CCCB

OLW, St. Peter, St. John the Baptist, Blessed John Henry Newman  
orate pro nobis

 

Wednesday 19 September 2012

Toronto AU Sung Mass - Sept 16

More beautiful music offered by the four part choir of the Toronto Anglican Use Sodality.  What a treasure this patrimonial music is in the context of sacral language and Catholic teaching.




Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart) Church, Toronto

Music of the Mass: Collegium Regale Communion Service, Herbert Howells
Offertory Motet: Nos Autem Gloriari, Palestrina

Tuesday 11 September 2012

YouTube Video of Toronto AU Choral Mass - Sept 9


Here are some clips from the Anglican Use Sung Mass on Sept. 9 sponsored by the Toronto AU Sodality.



Thanks to great efforts of members of the sodality a Sung Mass will be offered each week on Sundays at 1:45 pm,








Wednesday 5 September 2012

Choral Mass every Sunday in Toronto

A traditional Anglican Choral Eucharist will be celebrated every Sunday beginning September 9 at Sacre-Coeur Church at 1:45 pm in Toronto. The rite is that of the Anglican Use from the Book of Divine Worship as approved for use by the CDF - sacral or "Prayer Book" English texts adapted to conform with Catholic liturgical norms.

A four part choir under the direction of Peter Mahon will sing the ordinary and propers for the weekly Mass as the Toronto Anglican Use Sodality develops its liturgical offerings which began in May of this year.

A children's programme and refreshments following Mass will be offered each Sunday as the Sodality welcomes all those, Anglicans, Lutherans and others who are exploring full communion with the Catholic Church in response to our Lord's prayer ut unam sint -- that they all may be one.

Under the direction of Toronto A.U. Sodality Chaplain Fr. Eric Rodrigues and thanks to the assistance of the Archdiocese of Toronto and the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, priests with knowledge of the Anglican liturgy and patrimonial music provide for the weekly celebration of Sunday Mass.

Here is a clip of the last Choral Eucharist before the summer - Corpus Christi, June 10:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCmsRLUM31M

Tuesday 28 August 2012

Reluctant Anglicans (6) - Culture and Sharing


A few words now about recognizing elements of Anglican Patrimony. But first we need to set the stage by acknowledging the contributions of Anglo-Catholics and especially those who have been identified as Anglo-Papists (or Anglo-Papalists).

Allow me to quote from A Tactful God by Simon Bailey (Gracewing, 1995) a biography of Dom Gregory Dix, an Anglican Benedictine monk of Nashdom Abbey in the UK.  Dix is perhaps the best know Anglo-Papist whose work, especially The Shape of the Liturgy has been studied now by generations of Catholics to the present day. Bailey writes:

"His life would be in the Church of England, his life and work and prayer would be for unity, for greater and deeper catholicity, for ways and paths and new routes through the mountains of Anglican indifference, ignorance and hostility and of Roman superiority, isolation and lack of interest." p. 50 -- Now that is a worthy patrimony in itself.

In the spirit of Dom Gregory we look then at such matters as liturgy, ordination and the value of ordained service to God in the Anglican tradition as these patrimonial elements are now being received into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

To begin with we look again at the shape of liturgy and what elements of Anglican use are being incorporated into the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite being prepared for approval by the Holy See.  

Secondly, but related to the liturgy, we look at the value and recognition of the ministry of Anglicans being received into the full communion of the Catholic Church, what they bring and how they are received with honour.

Dom Gregory Dix as a lifelong Anglican usually celebrated the Tridentine Rite (Latin) Mass as his daily celebration but he conformed for Sundays and Feast Days to the rites used within the community or parish where he served - - and these varied. 

Dom Gregory could live as an Anglican, as have so many, without the Book of Common Prayer and in a community which used the Tridentine liturgy along with other liturgical forms which belong to the Western (Latin) Church of which they understood themselves, as many still do, to be members of by virtue of Baptism (and Confirmation -- pace Dix). 

The issue of Orders as defined by Rome was clearly a concern for Dix and it would be interesting to see how he would view the obvious recognition of past Anglican ministry implicit in the designation of former Anglican bishops as monsignori in the ordinariates (an honour recognizing long service in the ordained ministry usually of 20 years or more).

The notion that those many priests and parishes in the East End of London and similar places around the world did not use explicitly Catholic liturgies for Mass with episcopal permission, as some have claimed in recent postings, is simply not the case. Bishops would often preside at non-BCP liturgies e.g. from the English/Anglican Missal (though, of course some would not).

The many Anglican bishops have (and continue to) give implicit permission for the celebration of rites for Mass which are in complete conformity with the requirements of the Holy See. Given the welter of Anglican views on jurisdiction, the permission of a local bishop is all that is necessary in the eyes of Anglo-Papists to validate their recourse to the Roman Rite of the Western Church. In fact, most have believed that local permission is advisable but not necessary since their recognition of the Holy See and its mandates for liturgy come under the immediate jurisdiction of the Holy Father.

Make of this what you will, this is how many priests and parishes have proceeded for decades and in some cases with highly effective and fruitful ministries which are now recognized personally by the Holy Father in the making of individual former bishops prelates of honour thus representing the hundreds of faithful Anglo-Papists who laboured to lay the groundwork for  Anglicanorum Coetibus.

In light of the recent discernment with regard to Anglican Use in the Ordinariates Msgr Steenson has rightly, in my view, determined that the EF in its current form is not part of the Anglican Patrimony since the English Missal tradition has translated and adapted the precursor of the current EF for Anglican use in English.

As others have pointed out, however, there is nothing to stop an individual priest or an interested group in an Ordinariate from celebrating the EF on occasion and for particular purposes outside of weekly Sunday Mass which in an AU/Ordinariate parish or sodality should properly be the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite as approved by the CDF.

EF rites are available to AU/Ordinariate priests and people in these circumstances just as they are to other priests of the Roman Rite. Msgr Steenson, to my understanding, has forbidden nothing in this regard.

In summary, the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite (AU) as being developed for approval will share in the universal character of the Mass and other rites. The AU will properly express doctrine in this regard. It will also incorporate elements of Anglican Patrimony in terms of sacral English language for ritual and biblical texts and the Anglican musical and choral traditions as they have developed over the past centuries as distinct from but complementary to other musical and ritual traditions.

All of this development and sharing is an articulated goal of the Holy Father for the mutual enrichment of communities gathered together in the Catholic Church.

Sunday 26 August 2012

Reluctant Anglicans (5) - Anglican Use of the Roman Rite


A posting at the Psallite Sapienter http://psallitesapienter.blogspot.ca/ suggests that the following elements from The Book of Common Prayer tradition will be considered for the AU/Ordinariate rites, some of which have been included in editions of THE ENGLISH (ANGLICAN) MISSAL:
  • the Commandments or Summary of the Law, with response;
  • the Anglican wording of the Kyrie and Gloria in excelsis;
  • the [Roman Rite OF] Collects in traditional language;
  • the traditional system of readings (for such as still use them);
  • the Anglican wording of the Creed;
  • the Prayer for the Church, amended;
  • the Penitential Act, comprising a lightly edited Invitation, Confession and Absolution (non-sacramental, of course);
  • the Anglican wording of the Sursum corda, Preface, Sanctus and Benedictus;
  • the Catholic first half of the words of administration of the Sacrament (though this is all but identical to that found in the traditional Roman Mass);
  • the long Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion;
  • the final blessing, “The Peace”.

PS goes on to say:
Unsurprisingly, all this, barring the traditional one-year cycle of readings for such as want it, can already be found in the current Book of Divine Worship for the Anglican Use, albeit in the particular wording found in the U.S. Episcopalian tradition, drawing on the U.S. 1928 and 1979 B.C.P.’s.

The BDW incorporates all these elements into the general structure of the modern Roman Mass, with some more traditional features, such as "The Lord be with you" immediately before the Collect, not at the start of the Mass as in the Ordinary Form.

It is reported that the forthcoming new edition of the BDW will be updated to conform to the new translation of the Prayer over the Gifts (now called the Prayer over the Offerings) for each Mass, the Offertory prayers, the Memorial Acclamations, and above all the new phrasing of the words of consecration; this should take away that most unpleasant feature of the BDW, the clunky fashion in which the language used slips from sacral to banal and back again.

Over at Deborah Gyapong's excellent blog Foolishness to the World http://foolishnesstotheworld.wordpress.com/ we find the following points raised (bolding is my own).

 1.  Although the “English Missal” (Sarum Rite , etc.) [The Use of Sarum i.e.  the use of Salisbury is a "use" of the Roman Rite like the current Anglican Use and not a stand-alone Rite as are, for example, the Ambrosian or Mozarabic Rites which are distinct rites of the Western Latin Church] are of historical interest to liturgical scholars in the development of the Anglican patrimony, they apparently are not in current use to any degree among those who are coming into the Catholic Church to form the new ordinariates. Thus, it does not seem to make much sense to discuss approval of those forms for the ordinariates. Rather, it’s the current practice of worship that is at the core of the patrimony of the ordinariates. Nonetheless, the historical point of reference may be useful in discerning which version(s) to keep if several versions of a prayer remain in current use.

2. That said, the liturgical forms for the ordinariates do need to address legitimate differences in the current practices of those who are coming to the ordinariates in a manner that allows those coming into the Catholic Church to form the ordinariates to embrace them as their own. The open question is whether one best does this by providing multiple versions of the ordinariate liturgy or by providing options within a single form, but that question is in the hands of the committee charged with preparation of the ordinariate liturgy.

3. It’s pretty obvious that any deficiencies in the orders of worship previously employed by those who are coming into the ordinariates will need to be rectified in the orders of worship that will gain approval for use within the Catholic Church. This simply is not negotiable, especially if it may affect the validity of any of the sacraments. But overall, whatever emerges from the process probably will be a major improvement over the current Anglican form of the liturgy — that is, the 1983 Book of Divine Worship with certain modifications.


Some of these and many other topics are taken up in Msgr Burnham's Book Heaven and Earth in Little Space. He also deals with Anglican celebration of the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite which is common in the UK.