Australians are first to take up Pope’s offer: CEN 2.17.10 p 8. February 25, 2010
Posted by geoconger in Anglican Church of Australia, Church of England Newspaper, Ecclesiology, Roman Catholic Church, Traditional Anglican Communion.trackback
The Rt Rev David Robarts
Pope Benedict XVI’s offer of an enclave for disaffected Anglican traditionalists has been taken up by Forward in Faith-Australia (FiFA), which has voted to begin work on creating a “Personal Ordinariate” for Australia.
On Feb 13, a special general meeting for the members of the Anglo-Catholic group held at All Saints Kooyong in Melbourne unanimously adopted four resolutions backing the move to Rome.
It empowered its National Council “to foster by every means the establishing of an Ordinariate in Australia”; welcomed the appoint of the Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne Peter Elliott as the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s envoy, endorsed the formation of a working group to “set in train the processes necessary” to establish the Ordinariate; and invited Catholic minded Anglicans to join them in their quest for corporate reunion with Rome.
In an open letter to those wishing to explore reunion, Bishop Elliott stated that he had been reared in the Anglo-Catholic movement. His father was an Anglican priest and it was while he was a student at St. Stephen’s House in Oxford that he was “reconciled to Rome” in 1968.
In explaining the pastoral provision, Bishop Elliott wrote “the Pastor of the nations is reaching out to give you a special place within the Catholic Church. United in communion, but not absorbed – that sums up the unique and privileged status former Anglicans will enjoy in their Ordinariates.”
“Catholics in full communion with the Successor of St Peter, you will be gathered in distinctive communities that preserve elements of Anglican worship, spirituality and culture that are compatible with Catholic faith and morals. Each Ordinariate will be an autonomous structure, like a diocese, but something between a Personal Prelature (as in Opus Dei, purely spiritual jurisdiction), or a Military Ordinariate (for the Armed Forces).”
“In some ways, the Ordinariate will even be similar to a Rite” like the Eastern Catholic Churches, he said, as the Ordinariate will have its own liturgical “use”.
Bishop Elliott said there was no “hidden agenda here, no popish trap.” By entering the Catholic fold “you will lose nothing – but you will regain an inheritance stolen from us four centuries ago.”
The vote by FiFA is the first move by a group within the Anglican Communion to take up the Pope’s offer. The National Chairman of FiFA, Bishop David Robarts told the Telegraph that those who did not believe in same-sex partnerships or allowing women to be ordained as bishops had no place in the “broader Anglican spectrum.”
“We’re not shifting the furniture, we’re simply saying that we have been faithful Anglicans upholding what Anglicans have always believed and we’re not wanting to change anything, but we have been marginalised by people who want to introduce innovations,” he said.
Submitting to Rome, he argued, would preserve FiFA’s Anglican heritage.
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Bishop Elliott said there was no “hidden agenda here, no popish trap.” By entering the Catholic fold “you will lose nothing – but you will regain an inheritance stolen from us four centuries ago.” Who does this guy think he’s fooling?