The New Year 2006

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Schedule for week of January 1st

Anglican - Roman Catholic Talks

The rector has been following these talks with great interest. The one thing that has surprised me is the number of people on both sides of the Tiber who have no idea that an event of this magnitude had taken place. Indeed, I even got in a bit of an e-mail battle with a writer for a Canadian paper who stated that talks of this type had little or no interest to the common man, but were merely the prerogative of rarified theologians. I begin to fear he may have been right: not because there is no interest among the rank and file, but because they are not informed properly. That you might be on the cutting-edge of this new activity, I offer you some of the news releases pertaining to this historic meeting in Canada.

Bishops call for new steps on the way to unity 
--Anglican Communion News Service, CANADA, 22 May 2000 

Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops came away from an international meeting at Mississauga, Ontario, more resolved to do all in their power to build upon the considerable agreement in faith they already share. Those present came from 13 regions of the world and were convened by Cardinal Edward Cassidy, President of the Vatican's Council for promoting Christian Unity, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey.

After a week involving prayer together, worship, and a review of some 35 years of ecumenical dialogue and cooperation, the bishops are convinced that it is possible for Anglicans and Roman Catholics to mark a new stage in their search for unity.

While very aware of the well-known difficult problems that have to be faced before full unity is achieved, the bishops experienced and reviewed a degree of common faith during their time together, such that they believe greater cooperation and mission is possible than at present. They called for a Joint Commission to oversee the next steps and how relationships can develop further in different places.

At the top of the Commission's agenda will be the preparation of a joint affirmation of faith. This would formally express the degree of agreement that already exists between Anglicans and Roman Catholics. All at the Mississauga meeting believed that this extensive common faith needs to be officially acknowledged and celebrated, and that this should logically have consequences for the life of the two churches.

Because at least two bishops came from each of 13 regions around the world, the meeting had the chance to take a detailed look at the situation in a variety of places. All emphasized how greater unity would strengthen the mission of the Church of Christ. In their final hours together, each pair of bishops discussed how they could return home to foster greater cooperation and a fresh commitment to seeking unity. They will bring their ideas to their fellow bishops.

At the end of the meeting the participants will release a statement entitled Communion in Mission, which describes their experience together and commitment to a significant step forward.

They expressed a particular vote of thanks to the Roman Catholic and Anglican dioceses of Toronto and their bishops for all the help received in the arrangement of the meeting; and to the director and staff of the Queen of Apostles Centre for the very special welcome they had received.

Commenting on the week, the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Carey said it had been "a heartening and hopeful meeting which encourages us to press forward towards the visible unity of the Church".

Cardinal Cassidy added: "If the experience we have had here could be more widely shared our relationship would progress more rapidly".

One bishop commented: "We leave here with hearts filled with hope for greater unity".

©2000 Anglican Communion Office

Communion in Mission
Statement from Mississauga Meeting, May 2000

1. This meeting of Anglican and Roman Catholic bishops from 13 countries, convened by His Eminence Edward Cardinal Cassidy and His Grace Archbishop George Carey, gathered at Mississauga, near Toronto, Canada, from 14-20 May 2000. Our meeting was grounded in prayer and marked by a profound atmosphere of friendship and spiritual communion. We began on Good Shepherd Sunday, conscious of our common vocation as shepherds of the Good Shepherd, with a responsibility to lead God's people forward in active hope towards that unity in truth and holiness which our Lord wills for his Church.

2. We came together to address the imperative for Christian reconciliation and healing, in a broken and divided world. We were also conscious of the fact that Christian people around the world are celebrating two thousand years since the birth of Jesus Christ. In this year of Great Jubilee, in which the churches are acting co-operatively for the remission of unpayable Third World debt, we are aware of the need to leave behind all past deficits with which our churches have themselves been burdened, so as to enter the new millennium renewed in deepening unity and peace.

3. At this meeting we have naturally focused on the special relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as expressed in the Decree on Ecumenism of the Second Vatican Council. We also recognized the progress which has been made in our relations with other Christians and we recommit ourselves to the ecumenical endeavour with all Christian churches.

4. As day by day we prayed together and meditated on scripture in the chapel of Queen of Apostles Renewal Centre, we realized afresh both the degree of spiritual communion we already share in the richness of our common liturgical inheritance, but also the pain of our inability to share together fully in the Eucharist. As we listened to experiences from the different regions we were struck by the extent of interchurch collaboration, particularly common action for social justice and joint pastoral care in which Anglican and Roman Catholic clergy and lay people are involved. We noted with concern some of the problems our disunity causes to the mission of the Church, and recognized the opportunities for shared endeavour presented to us in the service of our fragmented world. As we reviewed the results of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), we came to appreciate the very impressive degree of agreement in faith that already exists. This alerted us to the serious obligation to intensify the process of reception of those agreements at the local level.

5. There is one specific point that has been driven home to us during the meeting. Over the last thirty years we have become familiar with the concept of 'degrees of communion'. Despite our acknowledged differences, we have regularly affirmed that we share in the fundamental communion of a common faith and a common baptism. This degree of communion holds within it the promise of the full visible communion to which God is calling us. Our experience at Toronto encourages us to believe that we have reached a very significant new place on our journey. We feel compelled to affirm that our communion together is no longer to be viewed in minimal terms. We have been able to discern that it is not just formally established by our common baptism into Christ, but is even now a rich and life-giving, multifaceted communion.

6. We have come to a clear sense that we have moved much closer to the goal of full visible communion than we had at first dared to believe. A sense of mutual interdependence in the Body of Christ has been reached, in which the churches of the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church are able to bring shared gifts to their joint mission in the world.

7. We appreciate that there are as yet unresolved differences and challenges which affect both Communions. These have to do with such matters as: the understanding of authority in the Church, including the way it is exercised, and the precise nature of the future role of the universal primate; Anglican Orders; the ordination of women; moral and ethical questions. Though interchurch families can be signs of unity and hope, one pressing concern has to do with addressing the need to provide joint pastoral care for them. Sometimes those in interchurch families experience great pain particularly in the area of Eucharistic life.

8. However, we believe these challenges are not to be compared with all that we hold in common. The communion constituted by what we already share has within it an inner dynamic which, animated by the Holy Spirit, impels us forward toward the overcoming of these differences. Indeed, we have become conscious that we have embraced what may be described, not only as a new era of friendship and co-operation, but as a new stage of 'evangelical koinonia'. By this we mean a communion of joint commitment to our common mission in the world (John 17. 23).

9. The marks of this new stage of communion in mission are: our Trinitarian faith grounded in the scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds; the centrality of Christ, his death and resurrection, and commitment to his mission in the Church; faith in the final destiny of human life; common traditions in liturgy and spirituality; the monastic life; preferential commitment to the poor and marginalised; convergence on the Eucharist, ministry, authority, salvation, moral principles, and the Church as communion, as expressed in agreed statements of ARCIC; episcopacy, particularly the role of the bishop as symbol and promoter of unity; and the respective roles of clergy and laity.

10. We believe that now is the appropriate time for the authorities of our two Communions to recognize and endorse this new stage through the signing of a Joint Declaration of Agreement. This Agreement would set out: our shared goal of visible unity; an acknowledgment of the consensus in faith that we have reached, and a fresh commitment to share together in common life and witness. Our two Communions would be invited to celebrate this Agreement around the world.

11. As our meeting proceeded we became increasingly aware that as bishops we ourselves have a responsibility to guide, promote, and energize the ongoing work of unity in our churches. We commit ourselves wholeheartedly to this task. Our action plan is appended to this statement.

12. The first recommendation of our action plan is that a Joint Unity Commission be established. This Commission will oversee the preparation of the Joint Declaration of Agreement, and promote and monitor the reception of ARCIC agreements, as well as facilitate the development of strategies for translating the degree of spiritual communion that has been achieved into visible and practical outcomes.

13. It is important to be clear that this new stage on our journey is but a step on the way to full and visible unity. Our vision of full and visible unity is of a Eucharistic communion of churches: confessing the one faith and demonstrating by their harmonious diversity the richness of faith; unanimous in the application of the principles governing moral life; served by ministries that the grace of ordination unites together in an episcopal body, grafted on to the company of the Apostles, and which is at the service of the authority that Christ exercises over his Body. The ministry of oversight has both collegial and primatial dimensions and is open always to the community's participation in the discernment of God's will. This Eucharistic communion on earth is a participation in the larger communion which includes the saints and martyrs, and all those who have fallen asleep in Christ through the ages.

14. However, the shape of full visible unity is beyond our capacity to put into words. "God will always surprise us," as we were reminded in a meditation shared with us: "God cannot be understood through our human system or correspond to our positive or negative predictions for the future.” In our ecumenical efforts we should keep in mind that one day we will rub our eyes and be surprised by the new things that God has achieved in his Church.

©2000 Anglican Communion Office

Ascension Day June 1st

There will be two Masses on this Holyday of Obligation: 9:00 a.m. Low Mass and 6:30 p.m. High Mass. Two opportunities to worship Almighty God and give thanks for the gift of Salvation brought about by the Life, Death, Resurrection and Ascension of Our Lord and Savior.

Thou hast raised our human nature
On the clouds to God's right hand: 
There we sit in heavenly places, 
There with thee in glory stand. 
Jesus reigns, adored by angels; 
Man with God is on the throne; 
Mighty Lord, in thine Ascension, 
We by faith behold our own.
Hymnal 1940 - No. 103

Concordat

While the good news is that talks of unity between Roman Catholics and Anglicans seems to be moving in positive direction, the abomination which is the Concordat between the ECUSA and the ELCA comes nearer and nearer to becoming reality. Next month General Convention meets to consider this and other issues which will move ECUSA farther from any semblance of orthodox Anglicanism. Indeed, there has been warning from the Archbishop of Canterbury that acceptance of this and other items on the docket are tantamount to “schism,” a word not often heard from the lips of Cantuar.

We have a month to influence our delegates to General Convention, to let them know of our opposition to this plan in its present form. We do not stand alone. There are many Lutherans who are opposed to this action. I am in contact with those on the other side who oppose it and can only say how much we respect each other’s positions. We as Anglicans cannot in conscience countenance this action which all but destroys the Apostolic Succession which alone separates us from any other protestant sect. On their side, they want no part of bishops and other hallmarks of Catholicism. Only when both sides agree in full should a union of this type be considered.

I propose to send a letter to the Bishop and to all delegates to General Convention informing them of our opposition to the Concordat in its present form and asking them to vote against it at the upcoming Convention. Anyone of like mind is welcome to add their names. This letter will be placed in the Narthex of the Church on the table by the steps to the Undercroft. Please consider signing and registering your opposition.

Patronal Feast

The feastday of St. Barnabas, our patron, is June 11th. Due to the late date of Easter this year, many Church Festivals are later in the year than is ordinary. The Great Feast of Pentecost, Whitsunday, falls on the eleventh of June this year. Since no saint’s day is allowed to take precedence over this major feast, we must transfer the observation of St. Barnabas’ day to some other date.

The vestry opted to move our local celebration of our patronal feast to Wednesday, June 14th. We do this in the hopes that a mid-week celebration will bring out a larger attendance than one on a Monday or weekend.

6:30 p.m. High Mass Catered Dinner to follow