Roll On, Australian Ordinariate!

Australians all, let us rejoice!  The recent Synod - thanks to The Anglo-Catholic for this news! - of the local province of the Traditional Anglican Communion, the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia (27th-30th July), passed the following resolutions:

• That this National Synod endorses the action of its Archbishop and Bishops in requesting the establishment of an Anglican Ordinariate in Australia under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, and that the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia, in the words of the Apostolic Constitution, desires to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in a corporate manner*, thereby achieving the status of an Anglican Ordinariate.
• That this National Synod welcomes with joy the partnership of Forward in Faith Australia and all other Anglican clergy and people who desire to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in a corporate manner* through the Anglican Ordinariate in Australia.
• That this National Synod strongly endorses the application of the Bishop of the Torres Strait to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for an Ordinariate of the Torres Strait.
• That this National Synod requests the Primate to communicate to the Holy Father its gratitude for his Apostolic Constitution, ands warmly thanks him for his continued protection of faithful Anglicans and their tradition, and assures him of our prayers at every celebration of the Eucharist for his ministry of “caring for all the churches”.

* Anglicanorum cœtibus, Introduction, Paragraph 5

("...this Apostolic Constitution provides the general normative structure for regulating the institution and life of Personal Ordinariates for those Anglican faithful who desire to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church in a corporate manner.")

Let us sing Te Deum and Non nobis – but neither let us count chickens before they're hatched: it being August in Rome, the very dog days, no work whatsoever will be done for the next weeks at least, and the establishment of the Ordinariates, for Australia, for the Torres Strait, and overseas in Canada, the USA, the UK and so forth, is likely to take a good deal of time (different people have opined that the first could come as early as Advent this year or as late as Advent next year, but perhaps Pentecost 2011 would be the fairest guess).

The T.A.C. in Australia has the special assistance of Bp Peter Elliott, himself an ex-Anglican, who is the Delegate of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference in this matter, a helpful, prudent and understanding go-between, as Bp Robarts has kindly said.  Incoming Anglicans have many completely reasonable worries and concerns, many perfectly serious matters still to discuss and study and work through, and of course need more details from Rome and competent authorities in order to best see how the putative Ordinariate will come to be established.  The whole matter is most complex and sensitive.

Such wise delay is in fact all for the good: festina lente, hasten slowly, is the sage advice that not only the Curia, but the whole Church in her patient shepherding of Christ's flock takes to heart.  Again, "Gather up the fragments that none be lost" – to plunge too soon into establishing Ordinariates could frighten souls still wavering between hope and fear.

It took quite some courage for traditionalist, Catholic-minded Anglicans to break away from the liberal mainstream and set up the T.A.C.; it will take still greater courage to cross the Tiber, even on the elegant bridge, the Ponte Benedetto, that the Supreme Pontiff has erected for them.  The true pastoral concern is paramount: to shepherd all Christ's flock into the one fold.  Here in Australia we value the alert sheepdog who can round 'em up, be they ever so scattered!

I try and pray daily, with the Angelus, the following versicle for this intention (remembering that my local friends in the T.A.C., Bp Robarts, Bruce, and the rest, constitute the Parish of the Annunciation), invoking Our Lady particularly as Our Lady of Walsingham:

V/.  Pray for them, O Holy Mother of God.

R/.  That they may be one in the Church of thy Son.

V/.  Ora pro eis, sancta Dei Genetrix.

R/.  Ut unum sint in Ecclesia Filii tui.

Personal Ordinariate for the Torres Strait

It continues to delight me to hear the glad tidings of the approach to full, corporate reunion with Rome, the lynchpin of Catholic communion, by groups of Anglicans; and it especially moves me to read of the Traditional Anglican Communion's Church of the Torres Strait, those brave Continuing Anglicans who broke with the morally corrupt and doctrinally aberrant Australian Anglican mainstream back in 1997, as it now fulfils the catholic impulses of its High Church evangelists, and applies formally for a Personal Ordinariate.  Apparently their bishop, Tolowa Nona, with the unanimous support of his clergy and people, is now petitioning the Pope for this blessing.  Thus the Coming of the Light reaches its natural fruition in Catholic Unity.

God grant it, and right speedily!

In passing, I make the remark that this unique part of Australia, with a distinct people, the Torres Strait Islanders, already has something of its own unique polity: while part of Queensland (annexed in 1872 and 1879),  the status of the islands of the Torres Strait is sui generis; on the part of the Commonwealth, the Torres Strait Regional Authority exists, paralleled by that State's Torres Strait Island Region, and the Shire of Torres... with their firm ethnic identity, could these islands become a self-governing Territory under a special statute?  (When Papua New Guinea became independent in 1975, the Islanders were insistent that they were Australians – after all, the vast majority of them now live on the Mainland; famously, the High Court's Mabo judgement ruled that the Islanders have unextinguished traditional property rights over their homeland; they therefore have a special status.)

O Canada

One's own worries are very small in the scheme of things; good is vastly greater than evil; God's in His heaven, all's right with the world.  Grace abounds...  

The latest signal instance of this is the just-released petition from the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (part of the Traditional Anglican Communion), addressing Cardinal Levada as head of the competent dicastery, that of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and humbly asking the Holy See to establish an Anglican Personal Ordinariate in Canada, to set up an interim governing council, and to permit that council to submit a terna of names to the Holy Father, that he may appoint the first Ordinary thereof.

Perhaps British North America will see the first fruits of Anglicanorum cœtibus so very soon.

Let there be sung Te Deum laudamus (see my earlier posting of this)! - I certainly will be.

Frank of Zanzibar

I continue to attend with gladness to the news on The Anglo-Catholic about the nearing approach of the first Ordinariates for incoming Anglicans under the provisions of Anglicanorum cœtibus.  The latest article, by Bp Mercer of the TAC in Canada, is heartening, and, as I commented there (and repost here), it is strange how synchronicity strikes – for just this afternoon I bought secondhand a first edition (1926) of H. Maynard Smith’s Frank, Bishop of Zanzibar, the biography of that great, saintly Anglo-Catholic apostle of East Africa (1871-1924). 

How his shade must rejoice to see this day!

Frank Weston is of course famous for chairing the second Anglo-Catholic Congress in 1923, particularly for the telegram he sent in the name of the same to Pope Pius XI:

“16,000 Anglo-Catholics, in congress assembled, offer respectful greetings to the Holy Father, humbly praying that the day of peace may quickly break.”

In his Defence of the English Catholic (quoted in this book) he wrote of this telegram:

“In 1920 we bishops at Lambeth publicly called upon all Christian people to pray and work for reunion. We declared that reunion with Rome was our Lord’s will. We pointed out how especially close were our ties with Rome and the Orthodox East. And we publicly expressed our determination to submit ourselves to the conscience of the Roman Church in the matter of orders should terms of reunion be in other respects settled. [So Hepworth's recent pastoral, whatever foolish folk elsewhere may say, but restates the policy of the Anglican bishops of 90 years ago!] I was, therefore, strictly within my rights in assuming that in all parishes, more especially in Anglo-Catholic parishes, the bishops’ words had been read, explained and emphasised; and that for the last three years English people had been stirred up to desire, and pray for, reunion with the Roman and Orthodox Churches. … It was only fitting, then, that we should pay such honour as was possible to the Pope of Rome. Hence my proposal that we should respectfully greet him, and call to his mind the fact that we are humbly praying for the day of peace. … the action of the bishops in the Lambeth Conference of 1920 is a sound precedent for the despatch of the telegram. And, if I am denied this precedent, I fall back confidently upon our Lord’s own teaching. …I humbly submit, as a member of the Lambeth Conference of 1920, that the priests were then given a glorious opportunity, by some 250 English Bishops, of accustoming their flocks to a vision of a reunited Christendom, with the Pope as the central figure… May I humbly suggest that before the telegram be quite forgotten, the Lambeth Appeal, in its relation to reunion with Rome, be explained to the people concerned?”

Back in 1920, he had written of “an undivided College of Bishops [including] Roman [and] Anglican… Each communion… would retain its own customs, methods, and ways of worship, as far as is compatible with life in a universal fellowship that professes one faith, possesses one episcopal ministry, and uses sacraments common to all. Between these groups there would be intercommunion and all such acts of mutual fellowship.”  Just as the Pope now proposes!

He maintained that Rome’s example of ‘Uniate’ Churches was the only system possible – is not this very much in the spirit of Anglicanorum cœtibus? 

He also added so presciently,

“If Anglo-Catholics spend their time picking holes in the language of the Appeal [or of the TAC's Petition, or of Anglicanorum cœtibus, I suspect he would now add], rather than in thanking God for what He has done for us, they will be, indeed, blind leaders of the blind.”

In his day, the Lambeth Appeal came to nothing… would that the same never be said of the Petition and the Apostolic Constitution now in process of being realized!

It ought be noted that and note that Bp Frank Weston, to quote his biography, “earnestly desired reunion with Rome, but [not] individual submission… fully convinced of his own priesthood… [but see his own words above]… hoping that the day would come when Rome would… give an authoritative interpretation of infallibility which would make it possible to [unfeignedly believe] that doctrine… [given] the facts of history and theological truth” – theologians commonly state that Vatican II quite correctly put Papal infallibility in its proper context of the teaching role of worldwide episcopate, completing the work of Vatican I in this area, neither taking away from the special role of Peter to confirm his brethren in the Faith, if necessary making the final ruling, nor making bishops mere puppets of the Pope, which would deny their own apostolic rights.

Bp Weston died on the 2nd of November, 1924; I quote what “the native [Roman] Catholic Christians, members of the congregation of the Vicariate Apostolic of Zanzibar” wrote of him in their open letter to Weston’s Archdeacon: “Also, because of his holy life, we are sure, through our Mighty God and our Lord Jesus Christ, his Lordship’s soul is at rest in peace before the Holy Trinity in heaven. ‘Exoramus pro [anima] famuli tui Frank Weston. Requiem aeternam dona ei, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat ei; requiescat in pace.’”

Perhaps now, in God’s time, Anglo-Catholics at length have the fruition of the prayers of Frank of Zanzibar?

******

NB Many of his writings, together with the biography I quoted from above, are available at the page "Frank Weston" at Project Canterbury.

Bishop Elliott's Wisdom for Anglicans

All kudos to Bp Elliott — I see he has again made a sagacious speech helpful to all who would further the great and good work of corporate reunion under the terms of Anglicanorum cœtibus.

On the Gathering of Anglicans

 Those interested in the ongoing process by which the Traditional Anglican Communion is seeking to take up the Pope's magnificent offer in Anglicanorum cœtibus may well wish now to read the Pastoral Letter "On the Gathering of Anglicans" just issued by the Primate of the T.A.C., Abp Hepworth.  (The link takes you to The Anglo-Catholic blog, where this and further upcoming documents are being or soon will be posted.)

Incoming Anglicans - Important News

The Traditional Anglican Communion has at length released (via The Anglo-Catholic blog) the full text of their official petition of 2007 asking for reunion with the Holy See.

It will be interesting to compare this to what has so far been released by the Pope - i.e., his Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum cœtibus.

It would be charity indeed to pray this prayer, drawn up for such purpose back in 1978:

O JESUS, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer to you my continual obedience, pleading that all Anglicans seeking union with the Apostolic See of Peter may have the fruition of their hope. By the power of your Divine Spirit so guide the Holy Father in Rome that this union will be accomplished and that what is good and true in our [or their] heritage may be preserved to the benefit of the Universal Church. Grant that Anglican bishops and priests longing for this union may be granted continued exercise of the priestly ministry under the authority of the Roman See and that Christians everywhere may once again know the Chair of Peter as that rock upon which your Church on earth is founded, against which hell cannot prevail. Amen.

Scottish Incomers

What good news, just in time for my upcoming trip to Scotland, whence came my forebears five generations ago...

According to that useful blog, The Anglo-Catholic, the Cardinal Archbishop of Edinburgh has granted a place of refuge to traditional Scottish Episcopalians in his city, by giving them a place to worship in the chapel of St Catharine at the Convent of Mercy in Tollcross, not far at all from the middle of town. (Not very far either from where I'll be staying, only about a mile and a half - amusingly, it turned out I booked to stay not 100 metres from the Catholic Cathedral!)

Here is the relevant press release.

From what I can ascertain, this group of Anglicans (cœtus Anglicanorum) belongs to Forward in Faith Scotland - which, like Forward in Faith Australia, has been given precious little other than intolerance and persecution (why do liberals go on about being victims, when they always turn out to be such vicious bullies?) ever since the dark day fifteen years back when the Piskies dared to attempt to ordain women, thus overthrowing the nature of the sacrament.

Like its big brother south of the border, Forward in Faith UK (or rather, FiF England!), it is in full communion, as they say, with the Traditional Anglican Communion; just as here in Australia, Bp David Robarts (an excellent fellow whom I've met several times) is both a T.A.C. assistant bishop and an important figure in Forward in Faith Australia, by reason of still being licensed as an Anglican priest in the Diocese of the Murray. Isn't Anglican ecclesiology curious!

I am delighted to read that His Eminence has shewn such pastoral solicitude for those with whom, I trust, he will soon be in full communion...

And best of all, these folks no doubt use my preferred mode of Anglo-Catholic worship: the Scottish Prayer Book of 1929, suitably augmented with nice bits from the older editions of the Roman Missal!

As I shall be meeting up in Edinburgh with a local, Mark, who's himself a Tiber swimmer of recent years, now aiming at joining the F.S.S.P. (at whose local church I'll be hearing Mass for the Epiphany), I hope to have a chance to find out more about all this from him, and even perhaps to make an ecumenical visit in Tollcross.

Here is a prayer I've found on the FiF Scotland site; I think it sounds very Catholic indeed (right down to saying "you" and "your" as most Catholics have done since the Novus Ordo came in), and I shall certainly be saying it:

A Prayer for Scotland

Father,
you sent Saint Ninian and Saint Columba
to the people of Scotland
to proclaim the faith
delivered to Saint Peter and the Apostles.
May the work they began
be renewed in this [or that] land
and continue to prosper.

Lord,
those who are divided you unite,
and those who are united you support.
Help us to live up to the call
you have given us,
so that we may bear witness to the truth
and strive that all believers may be united
in the bond of peace and love.

Mary,
Mother of God and Mother of the Church;
Pray for us.

Saint Ninian, bringer of good tidings;
Pray for us.

Saint Columba, apostle of our land;
Pray for us.

Will ye no come back again?

Four Ends of Holy Communion

If the incoming Anglicans (Anglicani ingressuri) bring to the communion of all Catholics a legitimate and worthy Patrimony - as obviously they must, since whatsoever goods, truths and beauties which uphold them and impel them to Catholic unity must be of value to all - then it behooves us to estimate and appreciate these worthy gifts.

I have thought on this with reference to their liturgical forms, as a help to better appreciating the ineffable benefits of Holy Communion.

I find in classical Anglican liturgies, and especially in the already-approved Book of Divine Worship Anglican Use of the Roman Rite, these following extracts relative to the hoped-for blessings brought us by receiving Christ's Body and Blood:

1. From the Prayer of Oblation, in the 1662 tradition misplaced till after communion, but in the Scottish (which I quote from their 1929 B.C.P.) and American tradition returned to after the Prayer of Consecration:

…beseeching thee that all we who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, and be fulfilled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him.

This petition for communicants, while coming from prayers not included in the B.D.W., may - if an Anglican Canon or Eucharistic Prayer be allowed in future - be found acceptable. It is evident that this petition derives from the Supplices te rogamus of the Roman Canon, which the B.D.W. renders as: "...that all we who at this partaking of the altar shall receive the most sacred Body and Blood of thy Son, may be fulfilled with all heavenly benediction and grace." (Regarding mutual indwelling, see what is said of this next below, since the collect for humble access to the holy communion repeats this phrase.)

2. From the Prayer of Humble Access:

… Grant us therefore, gracious Lord, so to eat the flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his blood, [ that our sinful bodies may be made clean by his most sacred Body, and our souls washed through his most precious Blood, and ] that we may evermore dwell in him, and he in us. Amen.

(The portion in square brackets is not included in the Book of Divine Worship, but was in most older B.C.P.'s, indeed, is original; only the Scottish B.C.P. adds the words "most sacred", for symmetry with the words "most precious" that derive from I Peter i, 19.)

The petition concerning washing and cleansing of body and soul seems to allude to several passages of Holy Writ such as, relative to washing, "Jesus Christ... washed us from our sins in our own blood" (Apoc. i, 5b, d), yea, "Blessed are they that wash their robes in the blood of the Lamb" (Apoc. xxii, 14a) - "robes" seeming to refer to bodies - and relative to cleansing, "the blood of Christ... cleanse our conscience" - where conscience denotes a faculty of the mind or soul (Hebrews ix, 14; and cf. verse 22, recalling that under the Law, well-nigh everything was cleansed with blood), for "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (I John i, 7b).

The last portion of this prayer is manifestly derived from St John vi, 57 - "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him" - as is borne out by the fact that in the original 1548 version of this prayer, the petitions were reversed, and it read "so to eat the Flesh of thy dear Son Jesus Christ, and to drink his Blood, in these holy Mysteries, that we may continually dwell in him, and he in us".

3. From the words of administration:

The Body /Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, [ which was given / shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto ] everlasting life.

(Again, the portion in square brackets, though common, is not that in the B.D.W., which instead has "keep you in" - which seems equivalent.)

These formulæ are self-evidently derived from the Latin forms Corpus / Sanguis Domini nostri Jesu Christi custodiat animam tuam in vitam æternam, as the Roman Rite has it, or ...custodiat te in vitam æternam, as the Dominican Rite reads. Fairly obviously, it was thought good to refer back to the words of consecration by adding "given for thee", "shed for thee", and to add mention of the body to that of the soul, since we are each a complex unity of body and soul in a marvellous composite, the immortal soul being the form of the mortal body.

4. From the Prayer of Thanksgiving after Holy Communion:

Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee, for that thou dost feed us, in these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favour and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs through hope of thy everlasting kingdom. …

(I give the B.D.W. version.)

From these four extracts, a simple enumeration of the gains prayed for from Holy Communion, our spiritual food and drink, our ghostly nourishment, may be made:

1. to be filled with grace and heavenly blessing, to be assured of God’s favour and goodness towards us;
2. to be made one body with Christ, that He continually dwell in us and we in Him, as true members of His mystical Body;
3. for our sinful bodies to be made clean and our souls washed;
4. for our bodies and souls to be preserved unto everlasting life, to be heirs of the everlasting Kingdom.

These are the glorious ends these Anglican liturgical forms propose for special mention and ardent petition.

The first desire is to be filled with grace and blessing, which is a logical consequence of God's complacent regard for us as well-pleasing to Him and therefore to be favoured by His goodness: thus we see that our reception (we beg it may be worthy) of Holy Communion is both the pledge and guarantee of God loving us with so puissant a love that He makes us to be good - for God does not passively love, but rather His active love makes His beloved good.

The second desire is for entire incorporation into Christ, that He live in us, "we living no longer for ourselves but for Him, Who died and rose again for us", so that "I live no longer, but rather, not I, it is Christ that lives in me": for as He lives being given life by the Father, so all who eat and drink Him live because of Him. May this be lasting, and be everlasting! This union with Christ has the corollary that in Him we are all united as "the blessed company of all faithful people": as the Church, in fact, in heaven above as on earth below (and in the Intermediate State of purification). Communion is so-called for this very reason: it is the sign and the efficacious producer of union with Christ, and, in Him, of union among all Christians in Holy Church united.

The third desire, consequent upon the first two, and subordinate to them - for the Sacrament of the Eucharist is for the living, not for those dead in mortal sin - is for all our sins and stains to be washed away in the Blood of the Lamb, for the flaming Coal of the Flesh of Christ to burn away every imperfection within us. The Eucharist, not principally but coherent with its essential power of uniting us with He Whom we receive, burns away all dross.

The fourth desire is for our bodies and our souls, made temples of God, of His Spirit, and of His Christ, to be preserved unto everlasting life, that we be heirs of the Kingdom. While our bodies will die and decay, we look forward in hope to the General Resurrection, when, rather than rising again only to be thrown into the lake of fire, we pray to rise to the life immortal, our bodies even now having received the medicine of immortality; and the same may be said of the soul, which, though unbreakable and deathless by nature, will either rejoice with the angels, or be tormented with the devils, once this short life is past - the soul, too, must be preserved a Christian, gracefilled soul, for in no other manner may it enter upon everlasting life. If our bodies and our souls, made Christ's in baptism, are not kept safe in everlasting life, they will indubitably perish in eternal death.

Indeed, to end on a positive note, if we abide in Christ as we worthily receive Him, even here and now we are already "in life", a life that, please God, will never cease, but prove everlasting.

(I have not here considered the doctrine of the Exhortations in the Anglican Communion Offices, as these need careful consideration and correction in some points.)

Rome or the Bush

There was an Australian tract written some decade or two ago, entitled Rome or the Bush - signifying by this the choice of Catholics here to either adhere to Rome, or "be bushed", that is, lost in the wild, there to wander lone and witless ere they perish at the last.

This title well sums up the ineluctable choice facing Continuing Anglicans, and their sympathizers within the Anglican Communion - to either come to Rome (it must be admitted, some have gone East instead, but I leave them aside for the moment), or, having broken from the Church of England and all her pomps and empty promises, on the grounds of her detestable enormities, and deviation from Gospel truth into the ways of heterodoxy and error, to gradually fade away...

For this is the fate of the one great historical schism of Anglicanism: that of the Nonjurors, those High Churchmen who could not in conscience break their oaths to King James II, nor swear allegiance to the intruded monarchs who replaced him in 1689 and thereafter. Their history I have been rereading, and it is most instructive, as showing how schism begets schism, and eventually the movement dies out completely.

J. H. Overton's The Nonjurors (1902) provides, on page 346, the following sadly damning opening to his eighth chapter:

That the Nonjurors, with their strong convictions on the unity of the Church, should have had so many internal divisions is a painful illustration of the fact that when the process of dividing once begins it has a fatal tendency to go on making subdivisions and subdivisions, till there is scarcely anything left to divide.

Mark well these words.

They had begun with such saintly men as Thomas Ken, who could not in conscience take the oath of allegiance to the new King and Queen, William and Mary; but soon, as in their private conventicles their ministers conducted divine service, the question arose - for they were High Churchmen all, very zealous for primitive doctrines of the Fathers - of returning to a more perfect form of liturgy than that provided in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer (from which Book they only now omitted the name of the monarch!).

Meanwhile, some of the deprived bishops ordained new bishops, in opposition to the State Church's hierarchy...

Many accepted as desideranda the so-called four Usages: the mixed chalice, prayer for the dead, a prayer of oblation, and an invocatory prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the elements. These were available, as one of their number, Bp Hickes, took them in his worship, in the very first, and arguably most Catholic, 1549 BCP.

In 1718, the Usagers broke communion with the Non-Usagers, and drew up a most startling Communion Office or Liturgy, with several Eastern Rite prayers included. This schism endured for more than a decade, before the two groups were reconciled, and all took to this new form; but in 1734, a still more exotic and frankly un-Anglican liturgy was promulgated, taken almost wholly out of the ancient and pseudonymous Apostolic Constitutions: yet to this liturgy adhered only a small party of the Nonjurors, styled the Separatists, and fated to linger the longest.

The regular line of Nonjuring bishops - who stuck to the 1718 Communion Office - died out in 1779, with the demise of Robert Gordon, who commended what remained of his flock to the Scottish Episcopalians; by this time, the Young and the Old Pretender having both failed to retake the throne of their fathers, the political motivations for the Nonjuring cause seemed antiquated. (From these links between the Nonjurors and the Scots come several highly significant liturgical pecularities of the latter, as evidenced by their 1764 Communion Office, which, still more or less unchanged in the 1929 Scottish BCP, is the most truly Catholic of official Anglican rites.)

Meanwhile, among the offshoot Separatists, there was a continued line of bishops in an irregular, but still (by Anglican standards) acceptable succession, until it came down to Bp William Cartwright (d. 1799), the last of whom any biographical details survive. He was a workman, an apothecary, in Manchester, who gathered a tiny congregation, eventually reduced to the members of his own family; nonetheless, he consecrated a successor, Thomas Garnett, in 1795, who gave up his office; but first who consecrated another, Charles Booth (d. 1805), said some time earlier, while still as a priest of the sect, to have had an attendance of thirty worshippers at his services. There are rumours of their being some last Nonjuring congregations as late as 1815.

For a taste of the curiosity that the last of the Nonjurors manifested, consider one of the last of their known ministers, a deacon (and wigmaker): Thomas Podmore (d.1785) – he wrote a lengthy book in 1745 asserting, against the errors of the Greeks, Romans, C. of E., and all “Anti-Episcopalians”, that “if the pious Reader would know where such a pure, perfect Church as I am reccommending is to be found, I will tell him in one word, at MANCHESTER.”

One refrains from laughter out of pity.

They all died, and their exotic liturgies and distinctive doctrines with them.

The Nonjurors are now a footnote in ecclesiastical history - the challenge for to-day's Continuing Anglicans is not to end as they did.

I would propose that the Traditional Anglican Communion, and their fellow-travellers still within mainstream Anglicanism (such as those groups joined under the name of Forward in Faith), most probably have heeded this warning, and see that, lest they simply die out, their only course is to seek adhesion to a larger body more evidently designed to last: the Catholic Church in communion with the Holy See.

Those in the so-called Continuum (of non-Papalist Anglicans) I see as the modern counterparts of the Nonjurors, just as others call them (by reason of their rejection of Rome) "Anglo-Jansenists". Everyone knows that their numbers are exceeding small, and not composed of many young persons. Yet look up a blog of that name, and find men speaking of "we will not convert, but come into communion with Rome, once she abjures her errors"!

As with the learned Nonjuring deacon above who proclaimed that in all the world, the true Church was to found at Manchester, gathered in their bishop's dining room, consisting of his family plus an elderly wigmaker in deacon's orders, one refrains from laughter out of pity.

I Told You So

From the latest Ad Clerum of the Canadian branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion, dated November 16th:

In addition to their [the Pope and the C.D.F.'s] October Response [in issuing Anglicanorum cœtibus &c.] it is expected that they will soon respond directly to the TAC. Following receipt of that information it is hoped that we would begin a dialogue on how the Apostolic Constitution might be implemented. Until that is accomplished, it would be wise not to speculate on the future of any of our bishops, clergy or laity! We will keep you informed.

I have previously explained in some detail, based upon various sources (one of them a Canadian in the know), that Anglicanorum cœtibus is not the whole of the Pope's response to the T.A.C.'s petition for corporate reunion: here is more confirmation. It is thought that yet more generous conditions and special privileges are being offered...

Told you so!

An Anglican Canon?

The current Anglican Use Book of Divine Worship includes all the major B.C.P. prayers for the Holy Communion, except the Prayer of Consecration and the Prayer of Oblation. With a second edition, suitably based on older B.C.P.'s and the English Missal, apparently in preparation at the Vatican, it is interesting to speculate on whether an Anglican Canon will be included, or whether, as in the B.D.W., only the Roman Canon (and the other three post-conciliar Eucharistic Prayers) will be included. I exclude discussion of the enormous number of modern Eucharistic Prayers throughout the Anglican Communion - their name is legion - since most of them are frankly too low in their doctrine, and hardly any have much intercession included. I have previously blogged on this, and have just left the following comments on Fr Hunwicke's blog:

...for any Anglican Canon to be inserted in the upcoming Roman Rite Anglican Use Missal (B.D.W. 2.0) - so far as I can see, the only way to do so would be to follow the Scottish 1764 Communion Office, and have the Prayer of Consecration immediately followed by the Prayer of Memorial and Oblation, with the Prayer for the Church tacked on at the end, rather than read at or before the Offertory. (Rome would also require, as it has for all new Eucharistic Prayers, that the Epiclesis be put back before the Consecration, as in other Anglican traditions than the Scottish and its daughter the American.) But would not having these three prayers in sequence make for a very long Canon?

...the Scottish rearrangement (which derives from the 1718 Nonjurors' liturgy) is... :

1. Prayer of Consecration;
2. Prayer of Memorial and Oblation;
3. Prayer for the Church.

By putting the Prayer for the Church last, and including the words "accept our Oblation", it makes it clear that the Eucharist is an impetratory sacrifice, not merely one of praise and thanksgiving: it is offered up for determinate ends.

As St Cyril of Jerusalem says,

"Then when the spiritual sacrifice, the bloodless act of worship is complete, we beseech God, on the ground of that sacrifice of propitiation, for the common peace of the churches; for the stability of the world; for kings; for our soldiers and allies; for the sick and afflicted; in fact, we pray for all who need help, and for them we offer this sacrifice. Next, we remember those who have fallen asleep before us; first the Patriarchs, Apostles, Martyrs; that by their prayers and intercessions God may receive our supplication. After that we pray for the holy Fathers and bishops who have already fallen asleep; and, in short, for all the departed, believing that it will be the greatest advantage for the souls of those for whom this supplication is offered when the holy and awful sacrifice is set before God. We offer up Christ, sacrificed for our sins, propitiating our compassionate God on their behalf, and on our own."

[Mystagogical Catecheses 5, 7-10]

The Prayer for the Church, in its more catholic recensions (1549, as returned to and reworked by the Nonjurors and the Scots, praying for the dead and fulsomely commemorating the Saints), fits this description admirably. As Bishop Thomas Brett (1667-1744) wrote:

"The Reason of the Thing also pleads for putting the Prayer for all estates and Conditions of Men after the Consecration, for as it is one general End of Sacrifice, and of this Eucharistick Sacrifice in particular, to render our Prayers more effectual...it is certainly most proper, that the Sacrifice or Oblation should first be offered, and that Prayer should be made whilst it lies upon the altar, and is already dedicated to God."

It will be observed that this order is in fact the common pattern of the post-Conciliar Roman Eucharistic Prayers:

• Proemium;
• Epiclesis;
• Consecration;
• Anamnesis/Memorial;
• Oblation;
• Prayer for Communicants;
• Intercesssion for the Living and the Dead with Commemoration of the Saints;
• Doxology.

Note that, in regard to the Epiclesis, Rome has been clear that in the Roman Rite, for the avoidance of all confusion, it must be placed before the Consecration, so 1549 must be followed, not the Nonjurors, the Scots and the Americans.

So much for what I've written already; here is an example of the text of such an "Anglican Canon" - this is from the Scottish B.C.P. of 1929, except for the restoration of the most express and orthodox 1764 Epiclesis, moved back to before the Consecration (where it was found until that year), and so to fit the sense, changing "For" back to "Who" and deleting "he", and the petition for the Queen and Government moved to after that for the Church and clergy, to avoid Erastianism (I have also restored the words "to accept our Oblations" from the 1764, and inserted the Pope to signify Catholic communion):

ALL glory and thanksgiving be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who, by his own oblation of himself once offered, made a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world; and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memorial of that his precious death and sacrifice until his coming again.

And we most humbly beseech thee, O merciful Father to hear us, and of thy almighty goodness vouchsafe to bless and sanctify, with thy word and Holy Spirit, these thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine, that they may become the body and blood of thy most dearly beloved Son.

Who in the night that he was betrayed, took bread; and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, Take, eat, this is my Body, which is given for you: Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise after supper he took the cup; and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this, for this is my Blood of the new testament, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins: Do this as oft as ye shall drink it in remembrance of me.
Wherefore, O Lord, and heavenly Father, according to the institution of thy dearly beloved Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, we thy humble servants do celebrate and make here before thy Divine Majesty, with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee, the memorial thy Son hath commanded us to make; having in remembrance his blessed passion, and precious death, his mighty resurrection, and glorious ascension; rendering unto thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same, and looking for his coming again with power and great glory.
And we earnestly desire thy fatherly goodness, mercifully to accept this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, most humbly beseeching thee to grant, that by the merits and death of thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in his blood, we and all thy whole Church may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of his passion.
And here we humbly offer and present unto thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee, beseeching thee that all we who shall be partakers of this Holy Communion may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son Jesus Christ, and be fulfilled with thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with him, that he may dwell in us and we in him.
And although we be unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto thee any sacrifice; yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, through Jesus Christ our Lord; by whom, and with whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto thee, O Father Almighty, world without end. Amen.

Let us pray for the whole state of Christ's Church.

ALMIGHTY and Everliving God, who by thy holy Apostle hast taught us to make intercessions and to give thanks for all men: We humbly pray thee most mercifully to accept our Oblations, and to receive these our supplications which we offer unto thy Divine Majesty; beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord; and grant that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy word, and live in unity and godly love.
Give grace, O heavenly Father, to all Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, [and especially to thy servants N. our Pope and N. our Bishop,] that they may both by their life and doctrine set forth thy true and living word, and rightly and duly administer thy holy Sacraments: and to all thy people give thy heavenly grace, and especially to this Congregation here present, that they may hear and receive thy holy word, truly serving thee in holiness and righteousness all the days of their life.

We beseech thee also to save and defend all Kings, Princes, and Governors, and especially thy servant Elizabeth our Queen, and all who are put in authority under her, that we may be godly and quietly governed.
We most humbly beseech thee of thy goodness, O Lord, to comfort and succour all those who in this transitory life are in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other adversity.
We commend to thy gracious keeping, O Lord, all thy servants departed this life in thy faith and fear, beseeching thee to grant them everlasting light and peace.
And we yield unto thee most high praise and hearty thanks, for the wonderful grace and virtue declared in all thy Saints, who have been the choice vessels of thy grace, and the lights of the world in their several generations: and chiefly in the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord and God, and in the Holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, and Martyrs, beseeching thee to give us grace to follow the example of their stedfastness in thy faith, and obedience to thy holy commandments, that * at the day of the general resurrection, we, and all they who are of the mystical body of thy Son, may be set on his right hand, and hear his most joyful voice, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Grant this, O Father, for Jesus Christ's sake, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

[*Add ", strengthened by their fellowship, and aided by their prayers" - from the Scottish 1929 B.C.P., Prayers and Thanksgivings, Prayer 51.]

Does this appear a sufficiently orthodox Catholic Eucharistic Prayer, or not?

A Converted Prayer

The forerunner of Anglicanorum cœtibus, and its upcoming parallel document specifically for the T.A.C., was the Pastoral Provision of 1980. To obtain quick approval of some elements of Anglican liturgy for the incoming American groups back then, selections from the 1979 U.S. B.C.P. were hastily assembled, and somehow got past the elder Marini et al. Much has changed since then, and we may hope for something more like the English Missal, with the nice bits of the various older and more classical B.C.P.'s inserted therein, to be made available as the Anglican Use of the Roman Rite.

In the meanwhile, here is one of these converted (I was going to say rebaptized) prayers now declared a part of official Catholic worship by reason of its placement at the end of the Anglicna Use Burial Service, Rite I - it is an abbreviation of a prayer of about twice the length by Jeremy Taylor, seventeenth century Anglican Divine, in his Holy Dying - which I think expresses well the urgency of all moves toward full corporate unity:

O God, whose days are without end, and whose mercies cannot be numbered: Make us, we beseech thee, deeply sensible of the shortness and uncertainty of life; and let thy Holy Spirit lead us “in holiness and righteousness all our days” (St Luke i, 75); that, when we shall have served thee in our generation, we may be gathered unto our fathers, having the testimony of a good conscience; in the communion of the Catholic Church; in the confidence of a certain faith; in the comfort of a reasonable, religious, and holy hope; in favour with thee our God; and in perfect charity with the world. All which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Special Provision for the T.A.C.

Why on earth has Cardinal Kasper said that Anglicanorum cœtibus was not drawn up for the Traditional Anglican Communion? At first blush this seems ridiculous: for everyone knows that their bishops have signed the Catechism of the Catholic Church in acknowledgement of their adhesion to the Faith, and have petitioned Rome to bring them and their people into unity. Yet other remarks have indicated that the Pope's Apostolic Constitution was drafted in response to approaches from other Anglicans, those still in the mainstream of that unhappy Communion, such as groups of Forward in Faith International, centred in England.

Another little hint from a commenter (the mysterious but apparently well-informed P.K.T.P.) over at Rorate cæli:

Kasper is preparing us for the document set to appear a fortnight from now. It will deal specifically wtih the TAC. Notice, however, that he does not exclude the TAC from the recently-published apostolic constitution. The truth is that because the TAC boarded the train BEFORE all the others did, and before that train ran down Kasper and cut his career to shreds, it is getting MORE than just the apostolic constitution. It is getting special provisions and exemptions to enable all of its ministers to come across and become Catholic priests (except those who are 'remarried'). The truth is that the Pope now needs the TAC or he'll be left standing there with no reliable Anglicans to welcome into his new provisions.

This seems to explain the divergences between what Anglicanorum cœtibus promises, and what Abp Hepworth, Primate of the T.A.C., has claimed that corporate reunion will involve: for he of all people, having been in the forefront of negotiations, with everything at stake and his credibility on the line, could hardly be guilty of exaggeration and wishful thinking.

It explains what I've heard: that the T.A.C. bishops will come over as a body, a continuing body; that having themselves been received and their orders sorted out, they will reordain their clergy en masse; and that their clergy, once regularized, will receive their people into the Church, that every one will be rescued and given refuge, please God, leaving none behind but those who in conscience are not yet able to come (and for whom the T.A.C. will strive to make provision, lest they be abandoned and lost for good).

What must we do?

We may ruminate on these rumours, but most of all we must indubitably pray that many souls will find rest and peace in Holy Church united, for their salvation, to the Triune glory of Almighty God, His Christ, and Their Holy Spirit of unity.

******

UPDATE: I have independent confirmation of this, but cannot say more.

Old, New, True Ecumenism

The Popes have ever proclaimed that all conversation with non-Catholics is rightly ordered to securing for them in true charity the ineffable blessings of Catholic unity, that they may attain salvation. (It would be tedious to repeat centuries of quotations from their writings to this effect.)

In more recent decades, ecumenical dialogue has been undertaken, not to forswear what the latest Council proclaimed - that all who, grasping that the Church is necessary for salvation, must needs enter her communion to be safe and saved - but to help smooth the way for the unity of all Christ's scattered flock, by eliminating scandals, misconceptions, age-old prejudices and misunderstandings.

(To interject some levity, it reminds one of a Catholic Frenchman in the days before the Revocation of the Edict of Nante, who, to help motivate Huguenots to convert, set up a Bank of Conversions that offered cheap loans to such persons! He claimed "It prepared the heart for the operation of grace!")

Unfortunately, Catholics have sometimes deluded themselves and others, in their anxiety to be irenic, or even in their hankering after profane novelties, by vainly papering over or falsely belittling real differences of importance between our Holy Faith and the heterodox opinions of others, thinking to salve consciences and compose disputes in an insincere manner. This tendency the Roman Pontiffs have naturally opposed. But they have been abused for doing so...

Equally unfortunately, those not of our faith have been lured by this vacillation of Catholics between the conserving acts of the Magisterium and the confusing, provoking acts of ill or well-meaning persons, into surmising that Rome, too, will bend to the winds of time and change, smoothly adapting herself to the world in practising expediency. This may all too be true at an accidental level, but not at a substantial one. The promise of infallibility and indefectability is given to the whole Church at large, as well as guaranteed in the person of Christ's Vicar, as Servant of the servants of God, the successor of St Paul as well as of St Peter, consumed with the care for all the churches, to keep them in one.

How appropriate to think of this on the very feast of the dedication of the great Basilicas of St Peter and St Paul!

Alas, far from Rome in the true sense, impertinent persons in particular have played a malign part in this deviation of ecumenism from its natural role of fostering unity, to an improper purpose of maintaining (let us be candid) elaborate talkfests to occupy and waste time, without scarcely forwarding the mission of the Church. Even non-Catholics have remarked at the scandal their Catholic dialogue partners engender: for all too often, it is the Catholics who wink at Church doctrine and say as much, being all matey and conspiratorial about it! This rightly repulses many, but confirms all outsiders in the opinion that much is dirty and unpleasant within the Ark that is the Church.

Grace, the grace of the Holy Spirit Who convicts the world of sin, justice and judgement, Who inspires the will and enlightens the intellect to chance great things and belief hard truths, must be allowed to work: but its sweet secret work may be frustrated and brought to nought by hard, proud hearts, rich only in their own conceit and doubledealing, delighting not in the truth but in dreams.

What I have written of - the deliberate change in Papal policies for the last forty-odd years to indulge in Realpolitik toward non-Catholic bodies, by accentuating immediate goals (greater mutual charity, lessening of vile bigotry) relative to discreetly advertising the ultimate intent (reception of converts into full unity) - is by many unwise persons called the "old" ecumenism, when really it is newfangled.

What is now called by its enthusiasts the "new" ecumenism, and decried by its detractors (profiteers of the "old") as totally opposed to ecumenism - exemplified by the energetic steps taken by His Holiness to embrace incoming Anglicans, according them many sweet privileges, in response it must be underlined to their heartfelt pleas for corporate reunion, having been at last revolted by the unchristian antics of their original denomination - is in fact the original, settled ecumenical policy of Rome, no different in substance to the efforts, lasting or not, made since mediæval times and before, to offer rest and peace to those willing to return to the Father of Christendom.

Both the new "old" ecumenism, and the old "new" ecumenism, are true insofar as they are rightly ordered, implicitly or explicitly, to the true goal: to unite all Christians in one faith under one shepherd, for which happy cause Our Lord Himself deigned to pray directly before His saving Passion: Ut unum sint, ad salvandas animas, ad gloriam Patris.

There is an old blessing, sometimes termed Mozarabic but cropping up in the Benedictine Office and I suspect of mainstream mediæval Latin Rite origin, given its rough rhyme:

In unitate Sancti Spiritus,

benedicat vos Pater et Filius.

This is best interpreted in the deeper sense: May we, united in the one Holy Spirit, Who is the Principium Unitatis as the Quickener of our souls and bodies, as the Lifegiver to our fellowship in the Holy Catholic, that is, rightbelieving worldwide, Church, be therefore blessed by the Father and the Son - for these Three are One. Amen.

Anglicanorum Cœtibus - II

I find the terribly uncharitable comments posted on the Rorate Cæli blogsite really quite scandalous - surely the mean and extreme remarks found there will frighten off many potential converts? - but I found the following comment, from one P.K.T.P., very interesting:

"...the TAC choirmaster here [where?] tells me that it was announced publicly today by the dean of his cathedral.

"The news is this: the apostolic constitution was not Rome's response to the TAC's petition of October, 2007; rather, it is a general response to all the requests of differing Anglican groups to reunite with the See of St. Peter. There will now be a SECOND document issued from the C.D.F., this one to address the situation of the TAC specifically. This is coming soon, very soon, well before Christmas.

"I have no idea what is in this new document to come, but we can have some fun speculating about it. I imagine that it will grant some general dispensations for TAC priests and it might make arrangements for ordinariates, especially for the less populous TAC national churches."

Recall that other sources indicate that the Vatican will also approve before Christmas a form of liturgy for the incoming Anglicans, upgraded from the present Anglican Use of the Roman Rite given in the Book of Divine Worship, and most probably drawing upon the English Missal (that is, the Roman Missal done over into Cranmerian prose, with the nice bits of the Book of Common Prayer interwoven).

It seems Father Christmas, otherwise known as Papa Benny, has been busy at work preparing gifts for good boys and girls... I wonder what else he has hidden under the camauro?

T.A.C. B.C.P.?

Dominic, who is a T.A.C. member in Canada, commented on my post about the T.AC. at prayer; he wrote about my observation of the local T.A.C. liturgy that:

This is indeed curious. I'm a TAC member in the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. If you can find the 1962 [Canadian] BCP online you will see what we use. The parish I attend just uses the BCP as is with chanted Introit and Gradual psalms (Willan's Plainsong Psalter settings and pointing). We too meet in a rented hall, but have somewhat more elaborate furniture to set up -altar rails, altar riser and footpace, etc etc - and we kneel to receive in both kinds, the priest uses the full version of the words to be said at the distribution repeating the whole thing over and over as he goes down the row. After the Sermon is the Preparation as the people sing a hymn, then that over, the priest turns to the people, announces his intentions and asks the people to remember those sickor what have you, then turns to back to face the altar and begins "Let us pray for Christ's holy catholic Church..etc" at which we kneel, and remain kneeling for the entire thing until we pray the prayer of Humble Access immediately followed by the Agnus Dei. We sit while the priest makes his communion, then he turns from the altar holding the paten in his hand and one of the hosts above it and says the "Ecce agnus Dei..." at which we go forward.

It is a bit spartan, but it is just a plain-jane Prayer Book Communion with no interpolations additions or deletions. It is my hope that the revised rites used in Ordinariate parishes will take what is good and necessary from the Tridentine forms.

When I read of the hybridisation of some anglo catholic ritual, such as the use of the Novus Ordo, it makes me cringe. Here in Canada, at least, we are Prayer Book worshippers. Mattins and Evensong too are straight up BCP in my experience. I think any movement towards contemporary English and such will be resisted by the laity.

I thank Dominic for letting me know how the T.A.C. in Canada worships: "all things decently and in order" would seem to be their motto. (I note that the T.A.C. in the U.S.A. has the appalling motto "We're formal, and we're friendly" - !!!)

Now, to make some commentary on the Canadian '62 B.C.P. (shades of my preferred rite, the Roman '62 (or earlier...)) and its projected reordering to entirely conform it to Catholic truth - I make no reference to ritual actions, since Anglo-Catholics usually do the ceremonial extremely well:

******

The rite begins with the singing of an Introit, then an initial Lord's Prayer and Collect for Purity, followed by either the Decalogue or Our Lord's Summary of the Law (with response), and a threefold Kyrie may be added. All this, while very Anglican, seems entirely fitting and nowise contrary to Catholic faith. [Where's the Gloria in excelsis? See far below!]

(Even in the proposed 1928 English Prayer Book, provision was made for "a Devotion", which was the Roman Introibo with Psalm Judica me and all the rest; Anglo-Catholics would unblushingly add the Roman Confiteor with all the saints invoked therein, and go up to kiss the altar!)

Next, in English, Dominus vobiscum, Oremus, and the Collect of the day (plus any others appointed). The Collects, mainly good translations of the mediæval ones, are fine; obviously prayers for Catholic feasts such as the Immaculate Conception would have to be inserted, but they are all in the English Missal already, used by generations of Anglo-Catholics.

I note one thing that will have to be changed: before the Collect of the day, a Collect for the Queen may be read: it seems rather impertinently Erastian to read it first (though I suspect it is first simply for convenience, to avoid turning back and forth through the book), so it ought be moved to second place, and the fateful words "and Governor" (sc. of the Church of England) would have to be removed, as also probably "the whole Church", which smacks of the notion that Princes have authority over the Church. But obviously to pray for Her Majesty, Sovereign Liege Lady of Canada as of Australia and her other realms, is excellent and commendable piety toward she whom God hath pleased to set in power over us.

The Canadian B.C.P. then has the Epistle and Gospel (more or less as in the traditional Roman Missal, but slightly reordered, as in the Sarum Rite), with a Psalm or Hymn in between as desired - which is code for the Gradual and Alleluia, etc. Again, no worries here. Whereas in the 1980's Roman liturgists inflicted the Novus Ordo Lectionary on the U.S. Book of Divine Worship for Anglican Use Catholics, at the most this would now be made optional, not compulsory.

The Creed follows, then ecclesiastical announcements (e.g. what feast and fast days are coming up, not banal parish notices), and a sermon. Anglo-Catholic sermons are generally of admirable quality!

Offertory sentences are then provided to be read at the altar by the celebrant: several speaking of sacrifice, and various texts for the seasons of the Church year. Rubrics direct the collection to be taken up and presented (very Anglican this: solemnly offering up the monies given by the parish at the altar!), and also the bread and wine for the service may be brought up to the celebrant, if not with him already.

First important note: the Catholic Church will require that only unleavened bread be used, and that water must be mingled with the wine (with or without a prayer to accompany this action), as is the practice of all the Western Rites.

A formula (cf. I Chronicles 29:10,11,14) is provided as an offertory prayer for the bread and wine, which is frankly nobler and more pleasant than the Novus Ordo "Blessed are you..." boring bits:

BLESSED be thou, LORD God of Israel, for ever and ever.

All that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine.

All things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.

However, here Catholic Rome would require some interpolations be made:

• the priest must wash his hands (with or without the usual psalm, Lavabo) as a gesture of purification;
• he must pray the In spiritu humilitatis, directing his intention to offer sacrifice;
• he will pray Orate fratres, and the people respond Suscipiat, involving all in the offering up of the great oblation;
• there will be a proper Secret (Prayer over the Oblations), matching with the Collect of the day, as throughout the Roman Rite.

If, as I think is likely given the present temper of Rome and the T.A.C., the adoption of the full Tridentine Offertory prayers is desired, so be it: I'd not object! (Many Anglo-Catholics would sotto voce insert all that anyway already: "We're strictly B.C.P." can mean many things...)

The Bidding and the general Intercession is next made - note that this is after, not before the Offertory. Perhaps this (and the Penitential Rite following) could be moved before the Offertory, but the order here is not materially important; the Eastern Rites have similar arrangements.

In the Intercession, improvements must be made:

• the prayer for the nations and the Queen and all in authority moved to after the petitions for the church and clergy and people, to avoid the impression of Erastianism;
• the Pope prayed for by name;
• the dead explicitly prayed for;
• the saints, especially St Mary the Virgin, explicitly commemorated.

(All this is as is done in the Book of Divine Worship.)

Next comes the Penitential Rite: Invitation, General Confession and Absolution (non-sacramental of course!), plus the Comfortable Words. All this is excellent; however, to avoid all confusion, the words "you" and "your" in the Absolution ought be changed to "us" and "our", as was done in the B.D.W.

The Preface dialogue and the Preface, with Sanctus, plus what must be made mandatory, the Benedictus, follows. Again, no trouble here.

THE CANON

Then the big issue - will Rome fix up the Anglican Prayer of Consecration? or substitute the Roman Canon? Having discussed this issue at some length, I believe that the Anglican text is fatally ambiguous, even if carefully amended. See my posts:

• The Interim Rite;
• Is the Interim Rite Recoverable? and
• The English Missal.

I must note that the redoubtable Anglo-Papalist Fr Hunwicke, hopefully to be lured to Rome, agrees with me on this.

The Book of Divine Worship supplies instead the Roman Canon in traditional language (foolishly, inserting ICEL's poor version of the words of consecration, now being revised at last, and also those annoying Memorial Acclamations). I suspect Rome to-day will simply insert the Canon, without such silly overzealous 'corrections'.

So long "Blessing and glory and thanksgiving be unto thee Almighty God, our heavenly Father..."; hello, "Most merciful Father, we humbly pray thee, through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord...": the Canadian formula, though beautiful, may have to be sacrificed.

-----

Whatever of the Consecration in the Canadian '62 B.C.P., some rearrangement of its prayers before communion is necessary: currently, it postpones the Agnus Dei till communion time, and the Lord's Prayer till afterward, but here the Lord's Prayer must be put first, then the Pax Domini (already there) and the Agnus Dei next, with a rubric ordering the fraction of the Host (this is how the B.D.W. reorders things - note that the Roman embolism after the Lord's Prayer and the Prayer for peace are not inserted even there).

The Prayer of Humble Access, that moving and heartfelt devotion, precedes the actual communion. Here the Ecce Agnus Dei and Domine, non sum dignus should be interpolated - as it appears from Dominic's comment is already done.

Obviously, fitting hymns and anthems can be sung at the distribution of Communion. I would think, however, that the words "The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was given for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life... The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, which was shed for thee, preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life" are more than sufficient.

While susceptible of a Catholic interpretation, the additional sentences "Take and eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee, and feed on him in thy heart by faith with thanksgiving" and "Drink this in remembrance that Christ's Blood was shed for thee, and be thankful" are of notoriously Protestantizing origin, appearing in Edward VI's ultra-low B.C.P., and are perhaps best gracefully retired. That said, the Apostle himself says more or less the same about the Eucharist! Maybe just amending "by faith with thanksgiving" (Zwinglian?) to "with faith and thanksgiving" would square the circle.

As in all Anglican services, but most bizarrely and improperly to Catholic sensibilities, provision is made in the Canadian '62 for a second consecration of one (!!!) or both species, amounting to a second Sacrifice! This was inserted when needed because Reservation of the Sacrament was not permitted. Obviously this strange practice of supplementary consecration will not be permitted, because Reservation will be.

There is a single quite beautiful Postcommunion prayer provided, which by its appearance in the B.D.W. is surely Catholic and orthodox. (I suspect that the proper Roman postcommunion is sometimes or always added to or substituted for this already.) Oddly to Catholics, but quite logically, the Gloria in excelsis is thereupon sung in thanksgiving for Holy Communion: while modern Anglican books nearly all move this back to its original place, it seems unobjectionable and quite beautiful in fact.

Finally, the liturgy concludes with the Anglican formula of blessing: "The peace of God...". To this may opportunely be added the Ite missa est, as I guess is often done anyway.

The only remaining items to note are that a rubric for reservation needs to be added, and the present rubric about reverent consumption of any leftover elements be amended to reflect this; and of course the wicked and heretical Black Rubric - "...It is here declared, that thereby no Adoration is intended, or ought to be done, either unto the Sacramental Bread or Wine there bodily received, or unto any Corporal Presence of Christ's natural Flesh and Blood..." - must be utterly denounced and abolished.

******

So, in short, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist according to the Canadian B.C.P. of 1962 could easily be tweaked and supplemented to make it fully Catholic: for that is a holy pastime undertaken by Anglicans since the days of the Oxford Movement!

I look forward to worshipping God after this manner, once the T.A.C. is in Holy Church united. Oremus ut unum sint!

Tuesday Mattins

As all men know, Mattins (with double tee) is the Anglican nickname for Morning Prayer; and I've been making use of the current Anglican Use of the Roman Rite for the past few days, in an access of enthusiasm for their liturgical patrimony (as purified and authorized by the Holy See), one of the gifts of Anglicanism to the Church Catholic. If Israel could plunder the Egyptians at God's command through Moses, why not cherry-pick the nice bits out of the B.C.P.?

The Book of Divine Worship is a strange book, a compromise between Roman liturgists of the 1980's - among them the notorious Marini, 'son' of Bugnini (shades of the Apocalypse! who is the third?) - and Anglo-Catholic Episcopalians who actually wanted something much closer to the traditional Roman Rite. It is based, for a start, on many elements of the U.S. B.C.P. of 1979; this is the case with what is provided for Morning and Evening Prayer, which is almost word-for-word the same; the only noteworthy change is that the "absolution" after the general confession formula is amended so that it reads always "May the... Lord grant us absolution...", clearly so as to dispel any idea that this is sacramental absolution.

To-day, at Mattins, Psalms 50(51) to 52(51) are read (if, as seems best, the Psalter is read over a monthly cycle); the Lessons, Nehemiah 9:1-18, 26-38 and Revelation 18:1-20 (combining those for Tuesday with those of Monday, which were unread since special readings were appointed for the feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica); and the Collect of the Day is of Pope St Leo the Great, since the B.D.W. follows a minimally augmented modern Roman Calendar.

I would say that the Lessons were highly appropriate if current events among Anglicans looking forward to their coming into Catholic unity are kept in mind. The passage from Nehemiah (the returned exiles, that tiny remnant, confess God's mercies and Israel's continual ungratefulness, which brought upon them such punishments) and that from the Apocalypse (the half-triumph, half-lament over faithless Babylon, brought to destruction for her crimes) can be applied to the position of these incomers: amusingly, Babylon turns out to be Canterbury!

Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues." (Rev. 18:4)

Rejoice over her, O heaven, O saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!" (Rev. 18:20)

Or as Gandalf said, according to Tolkien, "Fly, you fools!'' Good advice for those still hesitating to swim the murky Tiber.

ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS

Here is the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus at last!

The document throughout insists that this is the work of the Holy Ghost, Who is the Principium Unitatis.

May He, the Lord and Lifegiver, Who has inspired this great good work, now bring it to fruition, for the good of souls, all to the greater glory of God.

Of your charity, pause and give thanks to the Lord, with Te Deum and prayers, or at the least the Collect for the Anglican Use:

O HOLY Ghost the Lord, who on Pentecost gavest the Church the gift of tongues that Christ might be known, loved and served by peoples of divers nations and customs: watch over the Anglican heritage within thy Church, we pray thee, that, led by thy guidance and strengthened by thy grace, that Use may find such favor in thy sight that its people may increase both in holiness and number, and so show forth thy glory; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Son, one God world without end. Amen.

(En passant, I note that Catholics not of Anglican origin are not usually to be members of the Ordinariate, unless by reason of a family connexion - but of course there would be nothing to stop any Catholic going to Mass in a church of the Ordinariate: for any Catholic can attend Mass in any Catholic rite...)

While the Constitution has only now been made public, it is dated last Wednesday, the 4th of November, the memorial of St Charles Borromeo.

Evensong!

The Book of Divine Worship at least provides a decent Catholic version of Evensong: very appropriately, the Psalm and Lessons appointed for to-night were Ps 36(37); Ezra ix, 1-15; and St Luke xiv, 1-11. The Psalmist sings of the trials of the just persecuted by the wicked; in Ezra, prayer is offered to God for having preserved even a remnant, together with repentance for mingling with unbelievers; and Our Lord reminds us to take the lowest place, that the master of the feast may say, Friend, go up higher. Are not the parallels with the Anglicans obvious?

This is the Eve of the Sunday nearest November 9th; the Collect therefor in the B.D.W. is taken from the B.C.P.'s Collect for the 6th after Epiphany, a powerfully eschatological prayer:

O God, whose blessed Son was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil and make us children of God and heirs of eternal life: Grant us, we beseech thee, that, having this hope, we may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that, when he shall appear again with power and great glory, we may be made like unto him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, he liveth and reigneth ever, one God, world without end. Amen.