Flame of faith can diminish ; even go out

Pope Benedict addressed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) yesterday.  Amongst many other important matters, the CDF oversees the Ordinariates.  Any decisions that cannot be made by the Ordinariate's governing council or Ordinary  are passed on to the CDF.  For example, recently they confirmed that the Ordinariate is to have its own Chrism Mass and also that we pray for "Keith our Ordinary" in the Eucharistic Prayer instead of naming the local bishop.

The CDF is an immensely important organ of the Church and its purpose is to ensure the Church is teaching the Faith divinely inspired by guarding against aberration and error. It began life in 1542 and was known then as The Congregation for Universal Inquisition. In 1908 it changed its name to a more general title, to the Congregation of the Holy Office. Now, since 1965, it has the more meaningful title we know now: Congegation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Pope Benedict's insight into the malady of European culture is extremely keen and his announcements on this subject should be meditated on and heeded. In addressing his concerns regarding the diminishing flame of faith to the CDF, we in the ordinariate should take heed.

Pope Benedict has proposed a Year of Faith that will begin in October this year. It is intended to be a year we study all aspects of our faith in greater detail and depth than perhaps we have done before. The Holy Father reminds us that our faith can flicker out if we do not do something about it. Growing in faith does not happen automatically. Yes it grows by grace, but amongst other things we must be prepared to study our faith discovering new depths and new aspects to the truth we had not previously known.

Fr Ian

A Christian Unity Prayer

A prayer of Blessed John Henry Newman:

LORD JESUS CHRIST, who, when you were about to suffer, did pray for your disciples to the end of time that they might all be one, as you are in the Father, and the Father in you, break down the walls of separation which divide one party and denomination of Christians from another. Teach all men that the see of St Peter, the Holy Church of Rome, is the foundation, centre, and instrument of unity. Open their hearts to the long-forgotten truth that our Holy Father, the Pope, is your Vicar and Representative; so that as there is but one holy company in heaven above, so likewise there may be one communion, confessing and glorifying your holy name here below.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Message for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2012

On the night that our Lord was betrayed, in the upper room, he prayedthat his followers should all be one (cf. John 17:21). That all Christians are not unitedis a source of great scandal -­‐ because it limits and  distorts the work of evangelisation, to which all Christ's faithful are called. 

 

In the Week of  Prayer for Christian Unity, we have the opportunity to rekindle our desire for the full, visible unity of all Christians, and to assess  once more the importance of Christ's  call -­‐ that  all may be one.

Pope Benedict, in his response to Anglicans seeking fullness of communion with the Catholic Church, has shown us how this hope can be realised - in and through the unifying office of the Bishop of Rome, as the successor of St Peter.  He is truly the Pope of Christian Unity, because he shows that in the one Body of Christ we do not need to be divided to cherish our richly different traditions and identities, and that the Catholic Church is truly ready and able to manifest the unity of the Universal Church within its own life.

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham exists, not as a museum for the Anglican patrimony, but as an expression of how our vibrant and living tradition flourishes in, and because of, communion with the See of Peter.  We are not a ‘structural solution’ to Anglican problems, but a vehicle of evangelisation and mission for the whole Church, contributing the gifts and treasures of our Anglican heritage alongside those of other Catholics, with whom we are now united.

Those who share the faith of the Catholic Church, but not the beauty of communion with her, must see in us the deep impression that our new relationship with Christ makes, so that they might find the strength to answer his call to fullness of unity in the Church with the successor of Peter, and enjoy the fullness of communion and peace in which we now share.

Thus we have been commissioned by the Holy Father to be those members of the Catholic Church who give her a special awareness of Anglican life and tradition from the inside, as she reaches out to the Anglican Communion to build the ecumenical work of common cause and proclamation in the world, towards the complete reconciliation between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion that must come, because our Lord has prayed for it.

For many of us, this past year has seen relationships strained as we have moved into the Catholic Church, whilst close friends and colleagues remain in a position where communion with the Catholic Church is for the moment partial. As we journey deeper into communion with Christ, though, we move into a more profound relationship - not just with him, but with all those with whom we share the sacrament of baptism.

So let this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity be a time of intensified prayer for the unity of all Christ's faithful, and let it be for us a time for renewed vigour for the work of Christian unity, of which the Ordinariate is a humble fruit.  

As part of that, I commend to you Fr Paul Couturier’s prayer resources for the Week of Prayer produced by the Catholic League (www.unitas.org.uk), who have supported the Ordinariate from the outset and who - with us - share a vision for truth and unity. 

 

The Right Reverend Monsignor Keith Newton

Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham