INSIDE: WE CATCH UP WITH STRICTLY STAR ANN WIDDECOMBE
INTERVIEW: PAGE 7
No. 6481
CatholicHerald.co.uk
November 12 2010 £1.20 (Republic of Ireland €1.70)
Five CofE bishops to join the Ordinariate
BY ANNA ARCO
FIVE Church of England bishops have announced their resignations with the intention of joining the Personal Ordinariate once it is established.
On Monday, three of the Church of England’s “flying bishops” and two retired bishops said they were resigning from their positions and would continue their pastoral duties until December 31.
The Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough, and Rt Rev John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham, as well as the Rt Rev Edwin Barnes, the emeritus Bishop of Richborough, and the Rt Rev David Silk, the emeritus assistant Bishop of Exeter, relinquished their public offices as bishops in the Church of England. The the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, said he accepted the resignation of Bishop Newton and Bishop Burnham, the two bishops under his jurisdiction “with regret”.
The announcement marks a major development towards establishing an Ordinariate for England and Wales.
In a joint statement the resigning bishops said they had been “dismayed” at how the Catholic and Anglican communions had been drifting apart in spite of efforts for unity.
“We have even-handedly cared for those who have shared our understanding and those who have taken a different view,” they said. “We have now reached the point, however, where we must formally declare our position and invite others who share it to join us on our journey.”
They continued: “We are deeply appreciative of the support we have received at this difficult time from a whole variety of people: archbishops and bishops, clergy and laity, Anglican and Catholics, those who agree with our views and those who passionately disagree, those who have encouraged us in this step and those who have urged us not to take this step.”
For the first time since the Vatican announcement of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus last November, the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales confirmed that an English Ordinariate would be formed.
Auxiliary Bishop Alan Hopes of Westminster, the liaison officer between Anglo-Catholics and the Catholic bishops, said: “We welcome the decision of Bishops Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes and David Silk to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate for England and Wales.”
The bishops will discuss the Ordinariate at their plenary meeting next week.
For Bishop Burnham, the announcement marked a moment of great relief.
“I’m very happy about the whole thing, relieved really,” he said. “I’ve had lots of emails of support and only two rude messages among them. I celebrate my last Mass as an Anglican on November 27 and after December 31, we are free to await the Church’s pleasure”.
He added that he did not know what role he would have in the Ordinariate, whether he would have a stipend and where he will live. The Church of England has allowed him to stay in his house for at least a month after his resignation.
The resigning bishops are likely to become Catholics before they join an Ordinariate. When Bishop Burnham, Bishop Newton and Bishop Broadhurst are re-ordained, first as Catholic deacons and then priests, they will be incardinated or fall under the jurisdiction of the newly established Ordinariate. It remains unclear whether the other two bishops will go through this process at the same time.
Bishop Newton has been tipped to be the Ordinary, or the leader, of an English Ordinariate when it is established.
Anglican clergy hoping to take up the Pope’s offer are expected to resign only after the Ordinariate is established. They are likely to join their flocks as Catholic lay people before seeking re-ordination.
The first wave of Anglo-Catholics joining the Ordinariate could consist of between 500 and 800 people. There are 24 existing Ordinariate groups with 20 to 30 members. Some Anglo-Catholic clergy are already believed to be receiving spiritual direction and instruction by Catholic priests in preparation for joining the Ordinariate. This is provided in the existing diocese at the request of bishops’ conference commission for the Ordinariate.
Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi confirmed the resignations.
He said: “Regarding the declaration of five bishops until now belonging to the Anglican Communion who have decided to join the Catholic Church and who therefore are obliged by conscience to resign from their current pastoral duties in the Church of England, we can confirm that the constitution of a first Ordinariate is under study, according to the norms established by the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, and that any further decisions regarding this will be communicated at the proper moment.”
Anglicanorum coetibus is also on the agenda of the College of Cardinals during a day of reflection on the eve of the consistory in Rome on November 19.
Editorial Comment: Page 13
Pope sees enormous thurible in action
BY ANNA ARCO
POPE BENEDICT XVI realised a dream during his visit to Santiago de Compostela when he watched the giant called the botafumeiro being swung.
At the end of his visit to Santiago Cathedral during his trip to Spain last week the Pope poured incense on the coals in the censer which hangs on thick ropes on a pulley-system above the altar. He watched it swing across the transepts of the cathedral while eight robed tiraboleiros pulled the censer back and forth.
The botafumeiro – “smoke thrower” in Galician – is an enormous brass and bronze silver censer made in the 19th century which is unique to the cathedral and among the largest thuribles in the world. It weighs about 160lbs and is 5ft3in tall.
The Pope in Spain: Pages 4-6 Editorial Comment: Page 13
Pope Benedict XVI watches the botafumeiro, or ‘smoke-thrower’, as it swings into action during his visit to the tomb of St James in Santiago de Compostela on Saturday Photo: CNS
Iraqi Christians march in protest at church massacre in Baghdad
GREECE In the footsteps of St Paul visiting Athens, Corinth, Delphi,
Philippi and Thessaloniki Led by Fr.Michael Burke
£949
BY ED WEST
IRAQI CHRISTIANS around the world have held protests following the massacre of scores of worshippers at a Catholic church in Baghdad.
Demonstrators in Sweden, Australia, Britain, Holland, Germany and America called on the Iraqi government and its allies to offer more protection to the country’s minorities following last month’s massacre at Our Lady of Salvation Syrian Catholic church.
About 300 protestors at the “Black March” in London called on Britain to remember its historic debt to Iraq’s Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Christians, who fought alongside Britain in two world wars.
Meanwhile, two young Catholic priests returned to the Iraqi capital to serve at the church, celebrating Mass last Sunday surrounded by broken statues, smashed windows and walls still stained with blood.
Fr Faadi Banno and Fr Aysar Kesko broke off their studies in Rome to celebrate Sunday Mass with more than 60 faithful. A large cross of lighted candles was formed on the floor in the middle of the aisle, next to the names and photos of the dead.
The priests called on the faithful to “love your enemies”, and called all to forgiveness. The three murdered priests were called “martyrs”.
According to eyewitness accounts, one of them, Fr Thaier Saad Abdal, shielded a family with his body.
Thirty-four Christians and a Muslim guard wounded in the attack were flown to France the following day for hospital treatment. France has pledged to take in 1,000 Iraqi Christian asylum seekers, while French immigration minister Eric Besson said France will defend the rights of Christian minorities in Muslim countries,
On Sunday two more Christians were murdered and on Wednesday four were killed after mortar bombs were fired at Christian parts of Baghdad.
Belgian archbishop receives pie in face
I owe it all to Jesus, says teen heart-throb
BY ANNA ARCO
THE LEADER of the Catholic Church in Belgium has received a pie in the face while he was celebrating Mass.
An unidentified young man launched a pie at the outspoken Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard of Brussels-Mechelen on All Saints Day. The man came very close and plastered the archbishop in the face with the pie before running away. The archbishop wiped the custard off his face, licking his finger in the process.
The attack came only days after the spokesman for the Belgian bishops resigned, claiming the archbishop was responsible for a crisis of confidence in the Church.
Archbishop Léonard caused a furore after he said that in “certain instances”, one “could argue” that the HIV/Aids epidemic “could be seen as a sort of immanent justice”.
BY MARK GREAVES
POP SINGER and teenage heart-throb Justin Bieber has said he keeps his Catholic faith at the centre of his life despite the distractions of the entertainment business.
Bieber, who at the age of 16 has already published an autobiography, First Step 2 Forever: My Story, said his faith was unwavering.
He said: “I
believe in God, I believe that Jesus died on a cross for my sins. I believe that I have a relationship and I’m able to talk to him and he’s the reason I’m here, so I definitely have to remember that.
“As soon as I start for-
getting, I’ve got to click back and be like, you know, this is why I’m here.”
Bieber, who is from Ontario, Canada, was given a record deal aged 14.
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