1. EPISCOPAL VICAR FOR RELIGIOUS (South):
The chief spokesman for the Vatican has scoffed at rumors that Pope Benedict XVI may be in failing health.
Advent marks the beginning of the Liturgical Year. As once again another year unfolds before us we will enter into the mysteries of our salvation as they are set before us one by one.
You may be aware that this weekend a newly designed Catholic Voice of Lancaster is to be launched in Parishes all over the Diocese. To coincide with the new design of the Catholic Voice of Lancaster the team are launching a dedicated Catholic Voice of Lancaster web site which will include voicextra from now on. The beauty of the web site is that it will be regularly updated with news and events around the diocese rather than it being a once a week bulletin. So why not save the site to your Favourites and drop in from time to time, you can also let us know your views on-line.
My dear young friends,
We are in need of some people to post stories and keep the Blog up-to-date. If you would like to help with the contribution of articles for the blog please contact Tomas at tomas.walsh@sswulstanandedmund-fleetwood.org.uk for more details. Your help is needed urgently and would be much appreciated!
Apologies are in order to all who have been trying to telephone the presbytery since Sunday. The line has been out of use, and it has taken until today to get it fixed. If anyone has tried to leave a message on the answer phone, it may not have come through, so please ring again. (01253 873609)
Archbishop Vincent Nichols has announced the appointment of Canon Pat Browne as the Parliamentary Roman Catholic Duty Priest to the Houses of Parliament.
The appointment was made following requests from members of the
Archbishop Vincent Nichols said: “I am very grateful for the assistance of the Speaker John Bercow and the Speaker’s Chaplain, Canon Robert Wright, for their co-operation in arranging this appointment. Canon Pat Browne will be available not only to MPs and Peers but also to the many Catholics who work in the
Bishop John Hind of Chichester, described by The Telegraph as “the most senior traditionalist in the Church of England,” has announced his plans to convert to Catholicism.
“This is a remarkable new step from the Vatican,” he said, referring to Pope Benedict’s decision to permit members of Anglican communities to enter the Catholic Church as communities. “At long last there are some choices for Catholics in the Church of England. I'd be happy to be reordained into the Catholic Church.”
More details here
The Catholic Priest - Answering God’s Call is a new, free publication for every man considering his vocation in life. With an initial print run of more than 10,000 copies, it will be available from every Catholic senior school, university chaplaincy and diocese in England and Wales. Launch
At the launch in Westminster last week, Archbishop Vincent Nichols said: “I think that it’s a lovely act of providence; that even as this period of grace (of the relics of St Thérèse) comes to an end, there is this re-launch of this call to the whole Church to be attentive to the voice of God, and especially to the call of God to serve in the priesthood.”
The Chairman of the National Office for Vocation, Bishop George Stack said that the publication was designed: “to give access to people perhaps who are not ready to make a commitment to priesthood or religious life, but are certainly interested in exploring the possibility.”
The Catholic Priest – Answering God’s Call is in its second edition and was originally written by the Bishop of East Anglia, The Right Reverend Michael Evans. Fr Paul Embery, the former Director of the National Office for Vocation, revised the text to bring it up to date and make it fresh and appealing to today’s enquirers. It is a joint venture by the Vocations Initiative of the Catenian Association on behalf of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the Bishops’ Conference of Scotland.
Anthony Brindle, the Catenian Association member who coordinated the publication said: “For a number of years, every Catenian circle, has prayed for vocations before every monthly meeting. There has been a tsunami of prayer and I hope that it will bear fruit.”
In the opening foreword, Archbishop Nichols writes: “This book gives a clear description of what priesthood is today, for the Catholic Church at the beginning of the 21st Century. It will assist any reader to understand the role of the priest and I believe that it will be a valuable resource for any young man who might want to discover what it is to be a priest or to pursue some idea that he may have a vocation.
Undoubtedly, God continues to call men to priesthood. Books like this will help those who hear the call to recognise it for what it is.”
If you feel you are being called to the Priesthood please click here
(CCE&W)
The Apostolic Constitution, which Cardinal Levada said “provides a reasonable and even necessary response to a world-wide phenomenon,” will be a “single canonical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local situations and equitable to former Anglicans in its universal application.”
The new canonical structure will allow former Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Church while “preserving elements of distinctive Anglican spiritual patrimony,” said Cardinal Levada. Addressing the status of married clergy, the cardinal said that married Anglican clergy would be allowed to be ordained as Catholic priests just as takes place in the Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Similarly, following the same tradition, those priests will not be allowed to be ordained bishops.
These ‘Personal Ordinariates’ will be formed, “as needed, in consultation with local Conferences of Bishops, and their structure will be similar in some ways to that of the Military Ordinariates which have been established in most countries to provide pastoral care for members of the armed forces and their dependents throughout the world,” the cardinal prefect said.
He added: “The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church, particularly through the efforts of the Pontifical Council for Promotion of Christian Unity.”
One large group of breakaway Anglicans which has been requesting a formal structure to be corporately received into the Catholic Church has been the Traditional Anglican Communion, made up of an estimated 400,000 members worldwide.
Cardinal Levada explained that this initiative “has come from a number of different groups of Anglicans.” He went on to say: “They have declared that they share the common Catholic faith as it is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and accept the Petrine ministry as something Christ willed for the Church. For them the time has come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion.”
The prefect of the CDF also shared what Pope Benedict's hopes are for the process.
“It is the hope of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, that the Anglican clergy and faithful who desire union with the Catholic Church will find in this canonical structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious to them and consistent with the Catholic faith. Insofar as these traditions express in a distinctive way the faith that is held in common, they are a gift to be shared in the wider Church. The unity of the Church does not require a uniformity that ignores cultural diversity, as the history of Christianity shows. Moreover, the many diverse traditions present in the Catholic Church today are all rooted in the principle articulated by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: ‘There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism.'”
Archbishop Augustine DiNoia, the former under-secretary at the CDF until recently, who helped draft the new structure, said: “We’ve been praying for unity for 40 years. Prayers are being answered in ways we did not anticipate and the Holy See cannot not respond to this movement of the Holy Spirit for those who wish communion and whose tradition is to be valued.”
He said there has been a “tremendous shift” in the ecumenical movement and “these possibilities weren’t seen as they are now.” He rejected accusations that the new Anglicans be described as dissenters. “Rather they are assenting to the movement of the Holy Spirit to be in union with the See of Peter, with the Catholic Church,” he said.
Technical details still need to be worked out, and these Personal Ordinariates may vary in their final form, Archbishop DiNoia said. Full details of the Apostolic Constitution will be released in a few weeks but today’s press conference went ahead because it had been planned sometime ago.
Cardinal Levada said 20-30 bishops have made requests, but more details will be given at a later date. Members of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity were consulted and although they were invited to attend today’s press conference, no representatives were able to attend.
The Traditional Anglican Communion broke from the Anglican Communion in 1991 over the decision of the Church of England to ordain women as priests. The TAC, as well as other breakaway groups of traditionalist Anglicans, have been hoping for such a structure ever since. The TAC formally made a request two years ago, after all its bishops signed their approval of the Catechism of the Catholic Church at a ceremony in England. Discussions were protracted owing to the unique nature of such a structure, in particular over whether Anglicans should have their own rite.
(CWN)
