PRESS: Anglican ordinariate
Pope Benedict is making it possible for entire congregations of Anglicans (Episcopalians) to swim the Tiber to Rome and to maintain much of their Liturgy, spirituality and customs. Former bishops of the Church of England who are married cannot be ordained bishops but deacons and then priests after they are validly Confirmed. The Catholic Church does not recognize the validity of Anglican Orders, thus even the Sacrament of Confirmation is not valid in the Anglican Communion as a validly ordained bishop or priest must confer it.
However, many of these former Anglican bishops once ordained Catholic priests may become Apostolic Administrators of their new Full Communion Catholic communities having many functions of a bishop, meaning they could wear the miter and use the crosier.
In the Republic of Georgia, the Diocese of Tbilisi did not have a bishop when I visited in the late 1990's. Rather they had an Apostolic Administrator. He was a "monsignor" and as Apostolic Administrator he wore the miter and used the crosier. FOR all practical purposes he was the "bishop" without being one.
I'm particularly interested in this Anglican provision as my parochial vicar in Augusta was one of the first former Episcopal priests to be ordained a Catholic priest under the Pastoral Provision of Pope John Paul II. He was the Church of the Most Holy Trinity's parochial vicar under me from 1991 until 2004 when I was assigned to St. Joseph Church in Macon. Unfortunately, he died suddenly of a heart attack in 2006. God rest his soul.
OBITURARY
ANOTHER REMEMBRANCE
4 comments:
This is really a great thing and a nice step toward unity. I'm not too familiar with the Anglican Use Liturgy (aside from reading portions of it online), but I think that the timing is such that the new union between Anglicans and Catholics could result in positive things for our English translation of the Latin Rite. From what I read of the Anglican Use Liturgy, it is worded very beautifully and celebrated essentially according to the Tridentine Mass rubrics, just in very high English.
It seems like a good idea to get these people involved in the revision of the English in the Latin Rite considering they have a few more centuries practice using English in the liturgy. What do you think, Father?
Seeing the picture of Fr Munn brought back a flood of memories. As Spiritual Director & Confessor, friend & fellow beer drinker, Daniel Munn was a brilliant man whose deep thoughts, rhetoric & sense of humor were a common theme in the many hundreds of hours of conversations we shared both before & after our own conversion to Catholicism. You are missed on this earth, dear Father, & our prayers for you are unceasing as we are sure yours are for us.
According to your links about the late Fr. Daniel Munn, he was previously a Melkite Catholic priest.
Is this not different than an Espicopal priest?
He must have been a rich resource for you and great to work with for 13 years. I'm sure he's still missed.
Fr. Munn was baptized as an infant a Presbyterian. Later he became an Episcopalian and then an Episcopal priest. As the Episcopal Church became directed by culture he looked into the Catholic Church but also had interest in the Orthodox Church. He looked into the Eastern Rite of the Roman Catholic Church and worked out an agreement with Bishop Lessard that he would be ordained a Latin Rite Priest but have bi-ritual faculties in the Eastern Rite, so he was both as a Catholic priest and under two different bishops, both in union with Rome!
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