More Thoughts on the 'Roman Offer'
A few more developed reflections on ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS.
I pray that the new Apostolic Constitution will bear much fruit in the lives and ministries of Anglicans who have long desired to enter into full communion with the Roman Church. I have a number of brother priests in the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC), especially in the United Kingdom, who may avail themselves of this provision. The Constitution does seem to offer a partial recognition of those beautiful traditions of Anglo-Catholicism which have contributed much to the wider Catholic world. It is reassuring to know that the Bishop of Rome honours elements of our patrimony, including our ethos of worship, prayer, liturgy, spiritual formation, pastoralia, and yes, married deacons and priests.
I also pray that the Successor of Saints Peter and Paul at Rome will make it possible for ordination to be, in certain circumstances, administered sub conditione for Anglican priests who become Roman Rite Catholics of the Anglican Ordinariate. The official Vatican commentary was, frankly, disheartening. Several priests I have known personally, all former Anglicans, were each and every one conditionally confirmed and ordained by Latin Rite bishops. I hope that that pattern might continue, as the question of absolute ordination continues to be a major stumbling-block of conscience for many. The denial of Anglican Orders, and of the validity of the Masses, Absolutions and other sacraments Anglican priests have celebrated, is too much for some to bear. For those souls, such a denial presents and constitutes a practical rejection of the objective reality and spiritual efficacy of their entire previous ecclesiastical being. Although this assertion may seem boorishly repetitive and even borderline obsessive to some of our Roman Catholic friends, the issue is decisive, paramount for many Anglicans. Yes, it really is about Orders - for many. And the consideration of Orders does not in itself yet touch upon the equally critical and decisive matters of dogmatic theology:
There are many Anglicans who still locate the essence of the Anglican Tradition in the ecumenical consensus of the Undivided Church of the First Millennium and who therefore cannot accept the dogmatic decrees of Apostolicae Curae, Ineffabilis Deus, Munificentissimus Deus, and the I Vatican Council, decrees maintained unchanged in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Those Anglicans who, as a matter de fide and of informed conscience, cannot accept the distinctives of the Papal Dogmas as currently defined and promulgated will not be able to embrace the new Constitution's offer and provision. And Rome would certainly have it so, and rightly so. The Ordinariate is not merely about the male character of the Apostolic Ministry or the traditional Christian teaching on Holy Matrimony - it is, rather, about one's full, unconditional and unreserved acceptance of the totality of Roman Catholic doctrinal and dogmatic teaching. Anglicans who cannot without reservation accept the Papal Claims in toto should not join the new Ordinariate.
The Malines Conversations of the 1920s between Anglicanism and Rome professed the desire for a 'Church of England united not absorbed.' But now, I confess I am disconcerted with the possibility that we shall have just the opposite: a greatly loved and esteemed part of the Anglican Tradition, a part valued and treasured for its contribution to the full Catholic life of Anglicanism, absorbed, converted, not united. An authentic orthodox ecumenism, leading to full communion and mutual recognition of equal sister Churches in the ancient Catholic Faith, should and must continue. Let us pray that avenues for such a rich and potentially fruitful dialogue between traditional Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics will open or remain open subsequent to the Constitution's implementation.
Our jurisdiction, the Anglican Province of America (APA), although in communion with the Traditional Anglican Communion, is not a Anglo-Papalist body and will therefore almost certainly not choose to be received into communion with the Roman Church on the basis of the new provision. But we Catholics of the Anglican Rite shall indeed pray for those who do and shall strive to maintain the closest relationships possible with those clergy and laity who will decide to become Catholics of the Roman Rite, as well as with those who are already Roman Rite Catholics. These are indeed compelling days.
Examining Chaplains' Chairman and Vocations DirectorI pray that the new Apostolic Constitution will bear much fruit in the lives and ministries of Anglicans who have long desired to enter into full communion with the Roman Church. I have a number of brother priests in the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC), especially in the United Kingdom, who may avail themselves of this provision. The Constitution does seem to offer a partial recognition of those beautiful traditions of Anglo-Catholicism which have contributed much to the wider Catholic world. It is reassuring to know that the Bishop of Rome honours elements of our patrimony, including our ethos of worship, prayer, liturgy, spiritual formation, pastoralia, and yes, married deacons and priests.
I also pray that the Successor of Saints Peter and Paul at Rome will make it possible for ordination to be, in certain circumstances, administered sub conditione for Anglican priests who become Roman Rite Catholics of the Anglican Ordinariate. The official Vatican commentary was, frankly, disheartening. Several priests I have known personally, all former Anglicans, were each and every one conditionally confirmed and ordained by Latin Rite bishops. I hope that that pattern might continue, as the question of absolute ordination continues to be a major stumbling-block of conscience for many. The denial of Anglican Orders, and of the validity of the Masses, Absolutions and other sacraments Anglican priests have celebrated, is too much for some to bear. For those souls, such a denial presents and constitutes a practical rejection of the objective reality and spiritual efficacy of their entire previous ecclesiastical being. Although this assertion may seem boorishly repetitive and even borderline obsessive to some of our Roman Catholic friends, the issue is decisive, paramount for many Anglicans. Yes, it really is about Orders - for many. And the consideration of Orders does not in itself yet touch upon the equally critical and decisive matters of dogmatic theology:
There are many Anglicans who still locate the essence of the Anglican Tradition in the ecumenical consensus of the Undivided Church of the First Millennium and who therefore cannot accept the dogmatic decrees of Apostolicae Curae, Ineffabilis Deus, Munificentissimus Deus, and the I Vatican Council, decrees maintained unchanged in the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Those Anglicans who, as a matter de fide and of informed conscience, cannot accept the distinctives of the Papal Dogmas as currently defined and promulgated will not be able to embrace the new Constitution's offer and provision. And Rome would certainly have it so, and rightly so. The Ordinariate is not merely about the male character of the Apostolic Ministry or the traditional Christian teaching on Holy Matrimony - it is, rather, about one's full, unconditional and unreserved acceptance of the totality of Roman Catholic doctrinal and dogmatic teaching. Anglicans who cannot without reservation accept the Papal Claims in toto should not join the new Ordinariate.
The Malines Conversations of the 1920s between Anglicanism and Rome professed the desire for a 'Church of England united not absorbed.' But now, I confess I am disconcerted with the possibility that we shall have just the opposite: a greatly loved and esteemed part of the Anglican Tradition, a part valued and treasured for its contribution to the full Catholic life of Anglicanism, absorbed, converted, not united. An authentic orthodox ecumenism, leading to full communion and mutual recognition of equal sister Churches in the ancient Catholic Faith, should and must continue. Let us pray that avenues for such a rich and potentially fruitful dialogue between traditional Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics will open or remain open subsequent to the Constitution's implementation.
Our jurisdiction, the Anglican Province of America (APA), although in communion with the Traditional Anglican Communion, is not a Anglo-Papalist body and will therefore almost certainly not choose to be received into communion with the Roman Church on the basis of the new provision. But we Catholics of the Anglican Rite shall indeed pray for those who do and shall strive to maintain the closest relationships possible with those clergy and laity who will decide to become Catholics of the Roman Rite, as well as with those who are already Roman Rite Catholics. These are indeed compelling days.
APA
Christophanies
The mysterious manifestations of the Logos found throughout the Old Testament are real manifestations of Christ, Christophanies. In all of these phenomena, in which the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, God the Word, God the Son appears to the faithful or is active in creation, the pre-existent Logos is pre-incarnate, revealed in mystic forms and apparitions and signs before He assumes flesh of the Blessed Virgin and is made true Man. We see the Divine Logos in Genesis 1 and 2 in the Creation of the world, in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2 and 3, as Melchizedek in Genesis 14, at the oaks of Mamre with Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18, in the Burning Bush before Moses in Exodus 3, in the Cloud and Pillar of Fire before the children of Israel in Exodus 13, as the Rock which followed the Israelites in Romans 10, as the Finger of God giving the Law in Exodus 19 and 20, and as the King of Glory in Isaiah 6, as the Angel of the Lord throughout the Old Testament, just to take a few examples. But in all of these, although Christ the Word is truly revealed and manifested to His people, He appears only in types, figures, images and symbolic apparitions, the shadow of good things to come. Yes, Jesus is throughout the Old Testament, for the Old Testament is ultimately about, and authored by, Jesus Christ, the Word. He is the Lawgiver, the Lord of the Covenants, the Inspiration of the Prophets, the Visionary showing forth the age of salvation. He is the true Ark of the Covenant, the authentic Manna from heaven, the genuine Rod of Aaron, the sure Mercies of David, the Wisdom of Solomon, the One whose Glory appears in the Tabernacle and the Temple. Saint Augustine of Hippo instructs us that the Israelites were proto-Christians who fed on Our Lord in mystical communion, a foretaste of the Eucharist, because they had the supernatural virtue of faith in Christ before His Incarnation. Christ was in the faithful of Old Covenant leading them to the fullness of revelation.
In truth, we have no authoritative basis in Scripture on which to assert the theological premiss that Our Lord, because of His divine consubstantiality with the Father and the deification of His human nature in the Incarnation and Resurrection, actually appeared to the Israelites or others in the period before the Incarnation in His actual human nature. The Fathers of the Church, such as Saint Athanasius, Saint Chrysostom and Saint Gregory Nanzianzus, revel in the mystery of the Old Testament appearances of the Logos, but they never claim He was present there in His human nature born of Mary. For them, locating the historical moment, event and reality of the Incarnation in time and space is all -important, for the Incarnation is God's in-breaking into the created order. God forever becomes Immanuel in the precise moment of the Incarnation.
This raises an absolutely vital point of orthodox Christology: the communcatio idiomatum, the 'communication of idioms' or 'sharing of properties' in the Hypostatic Union of Our Lord''s Person. According to the Council of Chalcedon, in the One Person of Christ, the human nature shares the attributes and properties of divine nature while the divine nature undergoes a true participation in human nature - and this happens with no confusion, fusion, separation or change in the two natures of Christ. Therefore, Christ's human nature was deified or divinised, transformed to partake of the life of the Godhead and to share in the glory, perfection and immortality of the Divine Word. Christ's flesh becomes divine, inhabited by the fullness of God, 'in-Godded.' So just as God truly lived, suffered, was crucified, died and rose again, so in Christ Man lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Ghost in the glory of heaven and forever participates in the communion of the Holy Trinity.
