RAPPLER: Reform movement within INC

Or rather, they need to break-down and RETURN to the ORIGINAL CHURCH OF CHRIST!

PASUGO Abril 1966, p. 46: “Ang Iglesia Katolika na sa pasimula ay siyang Iglesia ni Cristo."

PASUGO July August 1988 pp. 6. “Even secular history shows a direct time link between the Catholic Church and the Apostles, leading to the conclusion that the true Church of Christ is the Catholic Church.”

PASUGO March-April 1992, p. 22 "The Church of Christ during the time of the Apostles became the Catholic Church of the bishops in the second century..."

Source: Rappler.com

The INC is no longer the same. It is a sect that has enormous baggage to bear.

The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) is a young sect with old ideas. It operates in a time warp. Although it is only a century old, the INC is basically a medieval sect with outmoded norms. It is a sect hardly attuned to the modern times.

It thrives in the secrecy of its leaders and the blind obedience of its members. Because of the secrecy of their leaders, they are hardly accountable to their followers. Secrecy and lack of accountability are two sides of the same coin; they characterize INC operations.

In this age of ecumenism and greater tolerance among world’s biggest organized religions, the INC is a complete stranger, a religious outcast. Its leaders openly brag that theirs is “the only true religion” and that “only its flock would be saved from spiritual perdition and decay.”

The INC is an epitome of religious bigotry and ethnocentrism; its xenophobia extends to its assertion that any other religion, except INC, is doomed.

It is monolithic. It hardly welcomes contrary views, or criticism, either from the inside or from the outside. What its leaders say is the law. Anybody who disagrees or disobeys faces expulsion, or excommunication from a religious standpoint.

Will the INC survive the modern world? Will it continue to wield influence in Philippine society? These are just some of the questions confronting the indigenous sect.

‘Religion of the sheep’

Writing for the pre-martial law newspaper Manila Chronicle, columnist Indalucio “Yeyeng” Soliongco criticized the INC in the late 1960s and early 1970s for its practice of bloc voting, where its flock voted as one for the candidates its leaders endorsed in every political exercise.

Soliongco described the INC as “the religion of the sheep,” as its members renounced their right to think during elections and accept as gospel truth whatever their leaders urged them to write on their ballots. The members hardly participate until today in the selection process of the candidates the INC leaders would endorse.

Its leaders have been justifying this practice of bloc voting as its way to project political strength to avoid religious persecution. It is an argument that runs to counter to political realities. The country does not have modern day traditions of religious violence or persecution. Religious harmony is the frequent theme when it comes to inter-relationship among local organized religions.

Over the years, the INC has evolved from a ragtag group of religious zealots to an influential and powerful political broker. Politicians seeking the support of its flock openly make a beeline to ingratiate themselves with its leaders for political support.

Its leaders have claimed an INC membership of nine to ten million members nationwide, although critics said its political clout is widely exaggerated by mass media, which keeps on referring to the INC as “influential” and “powerful.”

Empirical studies said the INC could provide between a low 1.2 million votes to a high of 2 million in modern-day elections. While the INC could provide the swing vote for hotly contested national and local posts, it could hardly determine the outcome.

Recent trends show that other minor ministries like the Ang Dating Daan, Jesus is Lord, Philippine Independent Church, and other Christian ministries elect the rivals of the INC-supported candidates, virtually cancelling each other out.

Corruption charges

Fast forward to 2016 and the nation sees an INC teetering on a major scandal.

The seal on the cloak of secrecy has been broken as certain leaders (or ex-leaders, as they have been excommunicated) have come forward to denounce alleged corruption within the sect and other crimes, like abduction, among others.

The allegations of corruption were so serious, causing political, financial, legal, and moral issues within the secretive sect. Tithe collections from its flock were reported to have declined by half. Centrifugal tendencies within the sect have been noticed as certain followers were reported to have either resigned or distanced from the sect.

The scandal has cascaded to become a crisis.

Failed mass action

The recent 5-day mass protest action was meant to pressure the Aquino administration to drop the probe by the Department of Justice into a complaint filed by former INC leader Isaias Samson Jr against the eight members of the INC Sangguniang Lupon. It did not result in any gain for the monolithic sect.

The INC on Monday, August 31 officially ended their 5-day protest
citing a "peaceful agreement" with the government. Photo by Alecs Ongcal/Rappler

What it has galvanized is public opinion that expresses contempt for the massive inconvenience its mass action had caused to tens of thousands of commuters, who were stranded along EDSA and other side streets. It also showed what could be regarded as cracks within the organization, as it could hardly mobilize the desired number of participants in the protest rally.

Hence, its crisis extends to the outside world, or the non-INC members.

Hence, the INC is no longer the same. It is a sect that has enormous baggage to bear. It is an organization that has been torn asunder by corruptions and other acts of impropriety. Whether it could transcend its current crisis – and later survive – bears watching.

Reforming the INC

Now, the INC faces serious calls and agitations to undergo reforms. Internally, the calls range from greater transparency, particularly in the handling of its finances that could reach billions of pesos, to accountability of its leaders on operational issues.

We are Persecuted but Christianity Is on the Rise!

Contrary to what's commonly believed by the Iglesia Ni Cristo® of Manalo founded in 1914 and the enemies of Truth, the Catholic Church (Christianity) is ON THE RISE! Here's a very informative article from ALETEIA!

10 Signs Christianity Is on the Rise

It may look different in the future, but that's a good thing

Christianity is a dying relic of an ancient past. The Internet is killing it. Science is killing it. Western sophistication is killing it. [Also Muslim extremists and Communism want to exterminate it! -CD2000] Right?

Wrong.

In many ways, Christianity is on the rise as never before—worldwide, and in America. Here are the ways we can tell:

1. Christianity is growing by leaps and bounds worldwide.

The research shows Christian numbers rising, not falling worldwide. "Christianity should enjoy a worldwide boom in the coming decades, but the vast majority of believers will be neither white nor European, nor Euro-American,” writes Philip Jenkins of Baylor University, author of The Next Christendom.

In America, this will mean that as white descendants of Europeans fall off a demographic cliff, they will be replaced by the growing Southern Christian and Catholic populations.

2. Nominal Christianity is dead—and that’s a good thing.

Meanwhile, in America, research showing that Christian numbers are tanking is a little misleading. What it really shows is a fall in the number of people who call themselves Christians but have never darkened the door of a Church. We no longer feel we have to dishonestly mark the “Christian” box, and we now feel it's okay to be honest and mark the “atheist” box—but this shows health rather than weakness.

It is an interesting dynamic: In the West, the nominal Christianity that was inherited unthinkingly is disappearing and in the East and South, real Christianity is a rapidly growing grassroots movement. Books like God's Century by Monica Duffy Toft of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and God Is Back by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge of The Economist are trying to figure out what that will mean.

The Pope addressing a group of Pentecostals as "brothers" and calls for Christian unity

Thanks to Catholic World Report for the link.


Says Robert McCulloch, owner of the video:

"Pope Francis recorded a message of reconciliation and unity between the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church for Kenneth Copeland Ministries, a group of Pentecostal Christians in the United States. Bishop Tony Palmer, a bishop from a Pentecostal Christian community, did the camera work with an iPhone. The bishop also serves as international ecumenical officer for the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, a group that is not affiliated with the Anglican Communion, and which takes a much simpler view of the path to full Christian unity than the pope and the mainline Christian churches do. The translation used for the English subtitles on the video are not precise, but the pope's sincerity is clear."

The Catholic Church leading Christians to Unity

Thanks to Jimmy Akin's Secret Info Club

The effort to restore full unity among the different groups of Christians in the world is known as "ecumenism." There has been a great deal of work done toward this goal in recent years. Some of it has been good; some of it has been bad.

In a recent address to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith--the Vatican department he headed before his election to the papacy--Pope Benedict outlined his thoughts on ecumenism.

Let us learn from his wisdom by reframing his remarks in a Q & A or "interview" format.

Your Holiness, why is ecumenism important?

The division among Christians, "openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages that most holy cause, the preaching of the Gospel to every creature" (Vatican II, Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, n. 1).

Unity is therefore not only the fruit of faith but also a means and as it were a presupposition for proclaiming the faith ever more credibly to those who do not yet know the Savior. Jesus prayed: "that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me" (Jn 17:21).

Why is the search for Christian unity important today? How does this relate to the "Year of Faith" that you have called to begin in October 2012?

SHARED CHALLENGES FOR CATHOLICS AND ORTHODOX

VATICAN CITY, 2 SEP 2011 (VIS) - Benedict XVI has written a message to Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, for the twelfth Inter-Christian Symposium, which is being held in the Greek city of Thessaloniki from 30 August to 2 September on the theme: "The witness of the Church in the modern world". The event has been promoted by the Franciscan Institute of Spirituality at the "Antonianum" Pontifical Athenaeum in Rome and by the Orthodox Theological Faculty at the Aristotle University in Thessaloniki.

Commenting on the choice of theme, the Pope writes: "Over the course of the centuries the Church has never ceased to proclaim the salvific mystery of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet today that announcement needs to be renewed in many of the regions which first accepted it, and which are currently experiencing the effects of a secularisation capable of impoverishing the most profound aspects of man".

The Holy Father goes on: "In the modern world we are witnessing two contradictory phenomena. On the one hand there is a widespread disinterest, even a lack of sensibility, towards transcendence while, on the other, many signs suggest that a profound nostalgia for God persists in the hearts of many, expressing itself in various ways".

The current cultural, social and economic environment "presents the same challenges to both Catholics and Orthodox. The ideas that emerge from this symposium will, then, have an important ecumenical impact. ... Reciprocal understanding of one another's traditions and sincere friendship are, in themselves, a contribution to the cause of Christian unity".

Finally Benedict XVI, recalling how the city of Thessaloniki is indissolubly associated with the preaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles, expresses the hope that the evangelisers of the modern world will be moved by the same apostolic zeal as St. Paul.

Christian leaders reach agreement on guidelines for evangelizing

Photo Source: News That Matters

CNA STAFF, Jul 1, 2011 / 05:35 am (CNA).- Leaders representing 90 percent of all Christians worldwide issued guidelines on acceptable missionary conduct based on the witness of Christ and the early Church.

“The example and teaching of Jesus Christ and of the early church must be the guides for Christian mission,” church leaders wrote.

“Christian witness is always a sharing in his witness, which takes the form of proclamation of the kingdom, service to neighbor and the total gift of self even if that act of giving leads to the cross.”

The document “Christian Witness in a Multi-Religious World” was issued jointly on June 28 by the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, the World Council of Churches and the World Evangelical Alliance.

Church' Two Lungs Breathing Together

Patriarch Bartholomew I and Pope Benedict XVI (Source: Taylor Marshall's Blog)

ROME, JUNE 23, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople will send a delegation to Rome on June 29, feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The visit takes place as part of what has become a traditional exchange of delegations between the Orthodox Church and the Vatican for the respective feasts of their holy patrons.

The Holy See always sends a delegation to Istanbul on Nov. 30, feast of St. Andrew.

The Orthodox delegation will be made up by Metropolitan Emmanuel of France and director of the Orthodox Church's office in the European Union; Bishop Athenagoras of Sinope, auxiliary bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate serving in Belgium; and Archimandrite Maximos Pothos, the vicar-general in Switzerland.

On June 28, Benedict XVI will receive the delegation in audience, and on June 29, it will attend the Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Pope in St. Peter's.

The delegation will also meet with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The exchange of delegations between Rome and Constantinople began in 1969, with Cardinal Johannes Willebrands' visit to Constantinople for the feast of St. Andrew. At the time, the cardinal was president of the Secretariat for Christian Unity.

Vatican's top ecumenist heads to Moscow for meeting with Orthodox Patriarch

Cardinal Kurt Koch

VATICAN CITY, Catholic Culture News - Cardinal Kurt Koch, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, travels to Moscow this weekend for his first meeting with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Cardinal Koch will meet with Patriarch Kirill, who was the chief ecumenical spokesman for the Moscow patriarchate prior to his election in January 2009 as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their meeting follows just after a visit to the Vatican by Russia’s President Dimitri Medvedev, which had prompted speculation that the Russian leader might carry an informal message from the Moscow patriarchate.

BEGINNING OF WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

VATICAN CITY, 18 JAN 2011 (VIS) - The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, traditionally celebrated every year from 18 to 25 January, begins today.


The theme chosen for 2011 is: "One in the apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer" (cf. Acts 2:42).

The materials for the week of prayer and for the rest of 2011 have been jointly prepared by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches.

Each day of the Week will have a different theme:

18 January: The Church in Jerusalem.

19 January: Many Members in One Body.

20 January: Devotion to the Apostles' Teaching Unites Us.

21 January: Sharing, an Expression of Our Unity.

22 January: Breaking the Bread in Hope.

23 January: Empowered to Action in Prayer.

24 January: Living in Resurrection Faith.

25 January: Called for the Service of Reconciliation.

Although the traditional period for celebrating this week of prayer is the month of January, in the southern hemisphere this coincides with the holidays so Churches sometimes seek other periods such as, for example, around the time of Pentecost, which is also a symbolically significant date for the unity of the Church, and was suggested by the Faith and Order movement in 1926.

In the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls at 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday 25 January, Feast of the Conversion of the Apostle Paul, Benedict XVI will preside at the celebration of Vespers to mark the close of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Predicts Christian Springtime, Healing of Divisions

(Catholic Online), Dynamic Leader Urges Return to the Church Fathers

"A Christian spring is just about to arrive. The 21st century will see the divisions between Christians healed and a rebirth of the faith, gift of God, just as it was preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Fathers." The prelate described as "erroneous" the consideration of the present time as a "post-Christian" era, and those claims that Christianity will disappear from the religious map in the third millennium and be absorbed by Islam.

Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk
Photo Source: Catholic Online

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BARCELONA, Spain (Zenit.org) - Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk is expressing the conviction that the 21st century will see a flowering of Christianity, without divisions between the followers of Jesus.

The chairman of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate made these comments Thursday in a ceremony in which he was given an honorary doctorate by the faculty of theology of Catalonia, which is under the patronage of the Gregorian University of Rome. The ceremony took place in the Conciliar Seminary of Barcelona.

"A Christian spring is just about to arrive," he said. "The 21st century will see the divisions between Christians healed and a rebirth of the faith, gift of God, just as it was preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Fathers."

The prelate described as "erroneous" the consideration of the present time as a "post-Christian" era, and those claims that Christianity will disappear from the religious map in the third millennium and be absorbed by Islam.

"I am sure that Christians will resist together and preserve their teachings, their Church and their tradition," he said.

The archbishop expressed gratitude for the doctorate and acknowledged that it is not as much a tribute to his personal accomplishments as a recognition of the importance of Orthodox theology and as a sign of respect toward the Russian Orthodox Church.

He centered his address on the timeliness of the legacy of the Fathers in today's world, a topic he often treats in his books and public interventions.

"Knowledge of the Fathers enables the Christian not to lose his way amid the multitude of tendencies of modern philosophy" or to "let himself be drawn by complicated and strange doctrines," Archbishop Hilarion said.

Firm relationship with God

He added that "knowledge of the Fathers helps Christians to understand themselves, to build a firm relationship with God, to order their spiritual life."

He continued, "Contrary to the recipes of modern teachings such as psychoanalysis, the advice of the Fathers exhales a healthy spirit, founded as it is on the solid understanding of the human spirit, and the need to combat one's own sinful tendencies and put goodness into practice."

"The counsels of the Fathers are much more universal than the basic postulates of Freudianism, and can be applied to people who live in the most diverse cultural and temporal contexts," the archbishop said.

He added that "the works of the Fathers will never be irrelevant, given that they treat questions, the answers to which are decisive for humanity's destiny."

The investiture ceremony was presided over by the archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach, and included the intervention of the dean of the faculty, Armand Puig.

Puig explained that the ceremony was "an act of recognition of Orthodox theology as a whole but, above all, it is a tribute to one of its most qualified representatives."

Moreover, he added, it is "a favorable moment for our faculty and the rest of the ecclesial academic institutions of the Catholic Church to reaffirm their commitment to study and appraise the Fathers of the Eastern Church" in studying theology "in the present moment and in the concrete context of 21st century Europe."

Archbishop Hilarion is the author of works on the Fathers of the Church and topics of present-day Orthodox theology, and he maintains a firm and constant commitment and presence in the ecumenical realm.

Heading to Rome? Will Entire Maryland Episcopal Parish Become Catholic?

Mount Calvary Episcopal Church will vote in October on full-communion with the Catholic Church

The Process which brought the whole parish to this historic moment began with a Vestry retreat in October 2007 where it was decided unanimously that Mount Calvary should explore the possibility of becoming part of the Roman Catholic Church. Since then the All Saints Sisters of the Poor were received into the Catholic Church and the Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans coming into full communion was promulgated.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - In a letter to parishioners, the Reverend Jason Cantania, rector of Mount Calvary Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland, announced that the vestry of the parish had voted unanimously in favor of two resolutions. First, they have voted to leave The Episcopal Church (TEC) where they are a part of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, and, second, to become an Anglican Use parish in the Catholic Church through the new initiative from Rome - the Anglicorum Coetibus.

An Anglican Liturgy

Under the terms of this apostolic constitution, the Church has provided opportunities for "personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering full communion with the Catholic Church." As an Anglican Use parish, they will be authorized to use an authorized version of the Episcopal Church's Book of Common Prayer called the "Book of Divine Worship."

Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, founded in 1842, is located in the heart of the city of Baltimore. On their website they describe themselves as a parish that has "borne faithful witness to the essential truth of Catholic Christianity and the tradition of the Oxford Movement for over 150 years, and remains to this day a bulwark of orthodox Anglo-Catholic practice.

[Author note - The Oxford Movement was a movement in the early 1800's of "high church Anglicans" who were desiring to maintain faithfulness to essential Catholic teachings. One of the early principle proponents of the Oxford Movement was John Henry Newman, who, as a Catholic convert, received the red hat as a Cardinal. He was recently beatified by Pope Benedict XVI during his visit to England.]

"From its foundation, Mt. Calvary has 'contended for the faith once delivered to all the saints,"'the Catholic and Apostolic faith grounded in Holy Scripture as interpreted by the Fathers and Councils of the undivided Church."

The church will come together for a special meeting on October 24th to vote on the vestry's resolutions.

Virtue Online published the letter from the Rector which was first published on another blog entitled The Bovina Bloviator

LETTER FROM THE RECTOR OF MOUNT CALVARY CHURCH TO PARISHIONERS

September 21, 2010

Dear Friends in Christ,

I write today to inform you of a special meeting of the Congregation of Mount Calvary Church which has been called by the Vestry for Sunday, October 24, following the 10:00 am Solemn Mass. The purpose of this meeting is to vote on two resolutions which have been unanimously approved by the Vestry. They are as follows:

Resolved: In accordance with Article 12 of the amendment to the Charter of Mount Calvary Church, Baltimore, adopted April 10, 1967, the Vestry of Mount Calvary Church hereby determines that The Episcopal Church (formerly known as the "Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America") has clearly, substantially, and fundamentally changed its doctrine, discipline and worship, and that Mount Calvary Church should become separate from and independent of The Episcopal Church. The Vestry therefore calls for a special meeting of the Congregation of Mount Calvary Church to be held on Sunday, October 24, 2010, following the 10:00 AM Mass, to affirm and enact this resolution.

Resolved: That Mount Calvary Church, upon separation from The Episcopal Church, seek to become an Anglican Use parish of the Roman Catholic Church.

Most of you are fully aware of the history which has brought us to this point. That history extends all the way back to the 19th century, when Mount Calvary became well-known, throughout Maryland and throughout the Episcopal Church, for its adherence to Catholic faith and practice. Indeed, to some it was notorious for its "popish" ways, and in fact for many clergy and people over the years (including two of my predecessors as rector), Mount Calvary has been their last stop before "crossing the Tiber".

The immediate process which brings us to this historic moment began with a Vestry retreat in October 2007, where it was decided unanimously that Mount Calvary should explore the possibility of becoming part of the Roman Catholic Church. Since then, two crucial events have occurred. The first was the reception of the All Saints Sisters of the Poor, our own parish sisters, into the Catholic Church in September 2009.

The second was the announcement the following month of Anglicanorum Coetibus, the Apostolic Constitution calling for the creation of "personal ordinariates" (essentially non-geographical dioceses) for groups of Anglicans entering the Roman Catholic Church while retaining elements of their tradition. The result of these developments is that the Archdiocese of Baltimore now stands ready to welcome Mount Calvary as a body into full communion with the successor of St. Peter, and the process of establishing ordinariates in various countries, including the United States, has begun.

While I know that the vast majority of you are enthusiastic about making this transition, I realize that some may still have questions and concerns about the prospect of entering the Roman Catholic Church. In the weeks ahead, prior to the congregational meeting, I will invite a series of guests to speak about their experience of life in the Catholic Church and to answer questions. Some of these guests will be well-known to you; indeed they will include former parishioners and clergy of Mount Calvary. I think all of them will be helpful in allaying any fears there may be.

Let me conclude by saying how truly grateful I am to be leading Mount Calvary Church at this moment in time. When I became your rector over four years ago, I had not the faintest idea that this would be the journey we would take together. Nonetheless, there is not a doubt in my mind that this is the work of the Holy Spirit and truly the will of God, not simply for me, but for Mount Calvary.

This is not about rejecting our past and our heritage, but rather fulfilling it. We have before us the opportunity to carry with us the richness of the Anglican tradition into full communion with the wider Catholic Church. I therefore ask that each of you pray that God's will be done in this place which we all love so dearly as we approach this momentous decision.

Yours in Christ,

The Rev'd Jason Catania, SSC

Rector

Catholics and Orthodox report promising progress in latest round of unity talks

Photo Source: The Orthodox Church



Austria Reuters- Roman Catholic and Orthodox theologians reported promising progress on Friday in talks on overcoming their Great Schism of 1054 and bringing the two largest denominations in Christianity back to full communion. Experts meeting in Vienna this week agreed the two could eventually become “sister churches” that recognize the Roman pope as their titular head but retain many church structures, liturgy and customs that developed over the past millennium.

The delegation heads for the international commission for Catholic-Orthodox dialogue stressed that unity was still far off, but their upbeat report reflected growing cooperation between Rome and the Orthodox churches traditionally centred in Russia, Greece, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

“There are no clouds of mistrust between our two churches,” Orthodox Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon told a news conference. “If we continue like that, God will find a way to overcome all the difficulties that remain.” Archbishop Kurt Koch, the top Vatican official for Christian unity, said the joint dialogue must continue “intensively” so that “we see each other fully as sister churches.”

(Photo: Pope Benedict XVI (L) with
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in the
Sistine Chapel, October 18, 2008/
Osservatore Romano)

The rapprochement of the Catholic and Orthodox churches must be the slowest “big story” on the religion beat. About 30 theologians meet in a joint Catholic-Orthodox commission about once every year or so to see how far they have come in reassessing Christian history so that the Great Schism can be laid to rest and the two churches can move forward to full communion. These talks produced their first joint declaration back in 1982 and have had ups and downs since then. The push towards unity has clearly gained momentum since Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill took office on February, 2009. The goal is still far off – hey, they have 1,000 years of division to get over — but they’re getting close enough now that an agreement now looks increasingly possible.

Kirill and Pope Benedict are both conservative theologians keen to work together to have Christianity’s voice heard in Europe, a continent they both think should return to its Christian roots. They’ve met in the past, including when Kirill visited Benedict at the Vatican in his former role as “foreign minister” of the Russian church. They haven’t yet held a summit meeting, so to speak, but religion reporters in Europe keep waiting for signs they will finally set a date for their first top-level talks. The Russians aren’t the only Orthodox in the game, but their size gives them a kind of veto power that has to be considered in this equation. The Vatican has good relations with the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul and the new Serbian Orthodox Patriarch Irinej has invited the pope to Belgrade.

Given the long-term importance of these talks for Christianity’s two largest denominations, our busy Vienna bureau chief Boris Groendahl agreed to trek out to the city’s suburbs to cover a news conference with the two delegation leaders and Vienna Cardinal Christoph Schönborn. You can read his full report on the news conference here.

Boris sent me such long verbatim excerpts from the news conference that I wanted to post them here to give an idea of how the Catholic and Orthodox theologians imagine that this long process towards unity might develop. There’s no guarantee, of course, that they will eventually reach full communion. But the two sides already broke the ice back in 2007 when their meeting in Ravenna, Italy produced an agreement in which both sides recognised the Bishop of Rome as the traditionally most senior bishop in Christianity. They made further progress last year in Cyprus. The intensity of the work involved and the upbeat tone of the delegation heads’ comments today says even this slowest of religion stories is moving ahead in interesting ways.

Here are excerpts from what Archbishop Kurt Koch, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, and Orthodox Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon had to say. Koch spoke in German (my translation here) and John spoke in English.

Metropolitan John of Pergamon: “There are no clouds of mistrust between our two churches. Our predecessors and especially the leaders of our churches both on the Catholic and the Orthodox side have prepared a way for a friendly and brotherly discussion. I must assure you that this spirit prevailed in our discussions. And therefore I wish to assure that if we continue like that, God will find a way to overcome all the difficulties that remain, and bring our two churches – the most ancient churches, the churches that share the same ecumenical past, the same traditions, the same sense of the church — to bring us to full community.”

Archbishop Karl Koch quoted Pope John Paul’s comment about the two churches being the two lungs of Christianity and said they had to practise breathing together. “This is a difficult but necessary theme because we lived together in diversity but also in unity in the first millennium, but a second millennium in which we grew apart lies between us.

“Pope Benedict XVI already said in his famous lecture in Graz in 1976 that we cannot expect more from the Orthodox than what was practised in the first millennium. So the basic discussion is about how these churches lived in the first millennium and how we can find a new (common) path today. This discussion needs the necessary free space (‘Freiraum’) and it needs patience. .. I know some people can be impatient but patience is an expression of love. People know from personal experience what it means when two people in a marriage drift apart — we have 1,000 years to work through. We must and we want to take new paths because Jesus gave us the mission to live together.”

In the Q&A session, Koch said: “I think there is certainly a recognition that in the early days of the church, there was a practice or an order of things in which Rome had a special role, a primary role. We still have to speak about what that meant and implied. Ravenna was the great recognition that there must be a protos, a first one, at all levels — at the level of the local church, of the region and on the universal level. Now we are at the universal level and we’re looking more closely what this protos at this level looked like at that time. This is something new.

Metropolitan John: “We are still studying the first millennium, we have not reached a conclusion yet. But the main and most important thing we have discovered in the discussions is that what we decided in Ravenna seems to be confirmed by the history of the first millennium.”

“In other words there in the first millennium there was a recognition of the special role that the Bishop of Rome played in the church. There was also the fact that the Bishop of Rome did not operate without consultation with other bishops in his own area as well as universal. So we are discovering that in history and this is an important aspect.

The Church of Russia was absent from Ravenna for reasons that had nothing to do with our dialogue. That didn’t leave Ravenna because of the dialogue. What we decided in Ravenna was already prepared by previous meetings in which the Russian Church participated also. Therefore essentially there is no problem … On the whole the basic ideas of Ravenna are accepted by all the orthodox churches.

Asked which model of unity the talks used, Archbishop Koch said: “That will be the big question for the future. First we started with each church describing its vision on unity. The Catholic and the Orthodox visions probably won’t be the same. We saw the questions we will have to discuss — papal primacy and synodality. The Catholic Church has a strong primacy (of the pope) but probably has not developed synodality as much as the Orthodox Church. The strength of the Orthodox Church is its synodality, but the doctrine of primacy is not that strong. We will be able to enrich each other. The basic principle of ecumenism is the exchange of gifts. The first step is to tell each other individually how we imagine unity would look like. For the Catholic Church, of course, unity without the Bishop of Rome is unimaginable. That’s because the issue of the Bishop of Rome is not just an organisational question, but also a theological one. The dialogue about just how this unity should be shaped must be continued intensively. Unity means that we see each other fully as sister churches. Just like the (Catholic) church in Vienna is the sister church of the church in Basel, the Orthodox Church will be a sister church for us.

“I think the pope himself in thinking in this direction. He’s said to the Anglicans who want to come back that they would be able to keep their tradition and celebrate their liturgy. So he’s said himself that there should be diversity. That will be the second step. It’s far too early (‘Zukunftsmusik’) to ask each other how we can do this together.”

Metropolitan John: “I’m in full agreement with what Archbishop Koch said. The model will emerge in the future. We don’t operate with a preconceived model. It will be the result of a certain … I would say — I won’t call it reformation , that is too strong — but adaptation from both sides. What the Orthodox must strengthen is their universal unity and also their conception of primacy. And perhaps the Catholic side must strengthen more the dimension of synodality. If those two things happen the result will come close to a conception of a church which is united in its basic structure in the right way.

“Of course we have to be united in faith too. There are certain fundamental things which have to be clarified in maters of faith. The rest can be left to diversity. There are customs, liturgical customs and other customs, that can be left to each church freely to arrange. As far as the Orthdox council is concerned we recognize that autocephaly is a problem, especially when it is associated with nationalistic aspects. But I am glad to say that we’re making good progress towards a pan-Orthodox council and we hope that very soon we will be able to invoke such a council…

“The next meeting will depend on the progress we make on this subject that we are discussing now. It looks as if we are going to have a slight change of our subject, namely to make the historical material focus on theological questions more. This will require another period of preparation by subcomittees and debate — that is probably a period of one year. We hope that in two years’ time we can convene again as a plenary commission. But this will depend on the progress we make.”

Archbishop Koch: “Today and tomorrow we will continue discussing our future work. This dialogue can be fruitful for the reality of living together. The more we recognise each other as sister churches and live in unity, the more that surely will have its effect on daily life. With the Orthodox churches, we share almost everything in terms of faith but we have a different culture because of the division we experienced in the past millennium. With the churches of the Reformation, we don’t have that much in common in faith matters but we have the same culture. Cultural differences can play a role that don’t exist on the theological level. Here’s where we need to meet each other directly. We used to have a strange feeling about Russians because we never sat down with one and drank a glass of vodka. Learning depends on meeting each other.”

(Photo: St. Stephen’s Catholic Cathedral in Vienna, 7 July 2010/Lisi Niesner)

A journalist asked if there would be a joint “Vienna document” like there was a joint statement after the 2007 Ravenna meeting. “I think that’s unrealistic,” Archbishop Koch said. “The right time will come. There will certainly be a communique, but paper is patient.”

The theologians planned two church services to end their week, a Catholic Mass in St. Stephen’s Cathedral on Saturday evening and a Divine Liturgy in the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity on Sunday.

Britain could have an Ordinariate by new year

By Anna Arco from Catholic Herald UK

High Mass for All Saints, celebrated at Pusey House last year Photo: The Revd James Bradley

Britain could have an Ordinariate by the end of the year, it emerged today.

Sources say that the Rt Rev Keith Newton, the flying bishop of Richborough and the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, the flying Bishop of Ebbsfleet will take up the special canonical structure, which allows groups of Anglicans to come into full Communion with Rome without losing their Anglican identity, before the end of the calendar year.

Groups of Anglicans are already forming across the country in preparation for joining an ordinariate, according to the blog of the retired Bishop of Richborough, the Rt Rev Edwin Barnes.

In his October pastoral letter, Bishop Burnham wrote that ordinariate groups would likely be small congregations of thirty or so people.

Traditionally-minded Anglican clergy from the South of England were gathering at a Sacred Synod in Westminster today to discuss the future direction of the Church of England. The meeting was called by the Rt Rev John Ford, the Anglican Bishop of Plymouth. He invited the signatories of a 2008 open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, which expressed reservations over women bishops.

The meeting was being held only days after Pope Benedict told Catholic bishops in England and Wales and Scotland to see the offer made in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus as a “prophetic gesture”.

The apostolic constitution was a topic discussed at the Synod, according to Bishop Burnham.

In a statement Bishop Burnham said that Anglicanorum coetibus offered “Anglo-Catholics the way to full communion with the Catholic Church for which they worked and prayed for at least a century and it is a way in which they will be ‘united and not absorbed’.”

He said that discussions were under way about how the “vision of the Apostolic Constitution” could be implemented” and said the first people to take up the initiative would require vision and courage.

He quoted Pope Benedict’s speech to the bishops of England, Wales and Scotland, saying the Holy Father set his offer to Anglicans “firmly within the developing ecumenical dialogue” and said it was an “an exciting initiative for those for whom the vision of Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) of corporate union has shaped their thinking over recent years”.

The issue, he said, was “the ministry of the Pope himself, as the successor of St Peter. Anglicans who accept that ministry as it is presently exercised will want to respond warmly to the Apostolic Constitution”. He said: “Those who do not accept the ministry of the Pope or would want to see that ministry in different ways will not feel able to accept Anglicanorum Coetibus.”

Bishop Burnham added: “The decision to respond to the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution is not dependent on the decisions of the General Synod or on any particular issue of church order. The initiative should be judged on its own merit. It will require courage, and vision on the part of those who accept the invitation, particularly amongst the first to respond.

“Although there are few practical details at present in the public forum, discussions have already been taking place as to how the vision of the Apostolic Constitution can be implemented. It is expected that the first groups will be small congregations, energetically committed to mission and evangelism and serving the neighbourhood in which they are set.”

In the pastoral letter, the third in series about the ordinariate, Bishop Burnham described two reasons for taking up the offer made in Anglicanorum coetibus and said that it taking up the offer was not a matter to be considered lightly.

He wrote: “Joining the Ordinariate is not a matter to be considered lightly. Clergy who do so put their stipends and pensions, their homes and their security at risk. In some cases the response of laity will be so enthusiastic that whole congregations might be able to move together, with their parish priest. In most cases, the Ordinariate groups will be church-planting new congregations, congregations of perhaps only thirty or so people to start with, but thirty enthusiasts nonetheless.

“Such congregations of activists will probably grow rapidly, but there, of course, lies another risk. There are many clergy and laity who would love to possess the courage for this pioneering venture but they simply do not. Not everyone is at heart a risk-all pioneer. Not everyone can be: we all have real responsibilities to families to balance against the radical demand of the Gospel.”

There is some speculation that October 9, the feast of Blessed John Henry Newman, Britain’s most prominent Anglican convert to Catholicism, could be the date on which an ordinariate will be announced.

Pope Benedict XVI announced the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus in November 2009. It came as a response to requests from prominent Anglo-Catholics and offered a new canonical structure, similar to military dioceses called personal ordinariates in order to allow groups of Anglicans to enter into communion with Rome without losing their Anglican identity. The personal ordinariate covers a geographical area but has its own leadership and answers to the Pope.

Bishop Alan Hopes, an auxiliary of Westminster Archdiocese and Bishop Malcolm McMahon of Nottingham are in charge of the Bishops’ conference commission dealing with Anglicans wanting to take up the ordinariate.

Archbishop Wuerl named US contact for Anglican groups seeking to become Catholic

Washington D.C.,(CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop of Washington Donald Wuerl will guide the incorporation of interested Anglican groups into the Catholic Church in the United States under the apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus,” a Vatican congregation has announced.



Archbishop Wuerl of Washington
kisses the ring of Pope Benedict XVI
as a sign of respect and obedience.
(Photo Source: Splendor of the Church)

 The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has named the archbishop as its delegate in this position, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reports. Archbishop Wuerl also heads the U.S. bishops’ ad hoc committee that is assisting the CDF in implementing the apostolic constitution, which Pope Benedict XVI issued in November 2009.

“Anglicanorum Coetibus” is intended to provide for the establishment of personal ordinariates for Anglican groups who seek to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church as a group.

An ordinariate is a special type of jurisdiction under church law. It is a canonical structure similar to a diocese that covers the area of a bishops’ conference. The Anglican ordinariate allows Anglicans to be part of the Catholic Church while maintaining aspects of their Anglican heritage and liturgy.

Other members of the ad hoc committee are Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth, Texas and Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester, Massachusetts.

The committee is assisted by Fr. Scott Hurd. He was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1993, joined the Catholic Church in 1996, and was ordained a Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Washington in 2000.

Fr. Hurd will assist Archbishop Wuerl and will be a liaison to the USCCB.

The two tasks of the ad hoc committee are to facilitate the implementation of “Anglicanorum Coetibus” in the U.S. and to assess the level of interest in an Anglican Ordinariate in the United States.

The USCCB says that interested Anglicans are asked to contact Archbishop Wuerl through the Archdiocese of Washington.

Canadian Anglicans to be Catholics Soon

Praise God!

Our unified prayer for Christian Unity was granted by God. Traditional Anglicans are now coming home to Rome after centuries of being separated from the True Church. Let us all praise and thank God through Peter's Successor that there would be more and more Christians who will be led back home to Rome.

Canadian Anglicans Ask for Catholic Ordinariate
Send Petition With Steps to Advance Process

VICTORIA, British Colombia, MARCH 15, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The leaders of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada sent a petition to the Vatican requesting full communion with the Catholic Church through the implementation of "Anglicanorum Coetibus."

The apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus," published in November, offered a way for groups of Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church through the establishment of personal ordinariates, a new type of canonical structure.

In this way, they would be able to retain some elements of their liturgical and spiritual traditions while being unified under the Pope.

The petition from Canada, dated March 12, was sent to Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

In it, the College of Bishops of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC), a member of the Traditional Anglican Communion, expressed gratitude for the congregation's "positive response of December 16, 2009 to our letter to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of October 5, 2007."

Leaders of the Traditional Anglican Communion, which has some 400,000 members worldwide, sent a letter to the Holy See in October 2007 to request full unity with the Catholic Church. They declared their adherence to Catholic doctrine, but expressed the desire to retain some distinct Anglican traditions.

The letter was received by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which responded in July 2008 with the promise to consider this possibility.

The next year, on October 20, 2009, the congregation's prefect, Cardinal William Levada, announced Benedict XVI's intention to create a way for these Anglican groups to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. A few days later, on November 9, "Anglicanorum Coetibus" was published.

Communion

In their petition, the ACCC leaders expressed the desire to "seek a communal and ecclesial way of being Anglican Catholics in communion with the Holy See, at once treasuring the full expression of Catholic faith and treasuring our tradition within which we have come to this moment."

"We have all read and studied with care the apostolic constitution 'Anglicanorum Coetibus' with the complementary norms and the accompanying commentary," they affirmed.

"And now," the Anglican bishops continued, "in response to your invitation to contact your dicastery to begin the process you lay out, we respectfully ask that the apostolic constitution be implemented in Canada."

They requested "that we may establish an interim governing council of three priests (or bishops) and that this council be given the task and authority to propose to His Holiness a terna for appointment of the initial ordinary."

The letter concluded, "It is our hope and prayer that these proposals may be useful in setting in train the process set out in the most welcome, gracious, and generous response of the Holy Father to our petition."

This petition, signed by the ACCC's leader, Bishop Peter Wilkinson of Victoria, as well as two suffragan bishops for different regions, Bishop Craig Botterill and Bishop Carl Reid, follows closely after the announcement that their U.S. brethren were requesting a Catholic ordinariate.

Leaders of the Anglican Church in America announced on March 3 the decision to formally request the implementation of "Anglicanorum Coetibus" in the United States.

US Anglicans to Request Catholic Ordinariate

Praise and glory to God alone for bringing back our long lost brethren in the Anglican Church to the true fold, the Catholic Church.

Since it split from the Catholic Church in 1532, when King Henry VIII of England declared himself the "Head of the English Church" and persecuted Catholics, bringing them to death even his own trusted confidant St. Thomas More, the Church of England and the British Monarchy never had any intention of bridging the gap between them and healing the wounds of division due to the King's uncontrolled lust.

But today, there's a huge number of Anglicans going back to the Catholic Church.

5,200 Expected to Enter Communion With Church

ORLANDO, Florida, MARCH 4, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The leaders of the Anglican Church in America of the Traditional Anglican Communion responded to Benedict XVI's invitation to enter full communion with the Catholic Church.

The apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus," published in November, offered a way for groups of Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church through the establishment of personal ordinariates, a new type of canonical structure.

In this way, they would be able to retain some elements of their liturgical and spiritual traditions while being unified under the Pope.

On Wednesday, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America announced that they met in Orlando "together with our Primate and the Reverend Christopher Phillips of the 'Anglican Use' Parish of Our Lady of the Atonement (San Antonio, Texas) and others."

"At this meeting," the communiqué continued, "the decision was made formally to request the implementation of the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum Coetibus' in the United States of America by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith."

The Anglican Church in America (ACA), which has some 5,200 members in 100 congregations, is distinct from the Episcopal Church. As such, it is not part of the Anglican Communion that has as its principal primate the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Rather, the ACA was created in 1991 when members of the Anglican Catholic Church and the American Episcopal Church came together in an attempt to unify through the formation of a new church.

The current president of the ACA House of Bishops is Archbishop Louis Falk.

The Traditional Anglican Communion, which has some 400,000 members worldwide, has as its primate Archbishop John Hepworth of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia.

The leaders of this communion sent a letter to the Holy See in October 2007 to request full unity with the Catholic Church. They declared their adherence to Catholic doctrine, but expressed the desire to retain some distinct Anglican traditions.

The letter was received by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which responded in July 2008 with the promise to consider this possibility.

The next year, on Oct. 20, 2009, the congregation's prefect, Cardinal William Levada, announced Benedict XVI's intention to create a way for these Anglican groups to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. A few days later, on Nov. 9, "Anglicanorum Coetibus" was published.

Related further readings:
1. Holy See Concurs on Anglicans and Celibacy
2. Australian Anglicans Taking Steps Toward Rome
3. Apostolic Constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus"