Texas

Very big, Texas. And big-hearted too. Just back from a week spent in the Pastoral Provision parish of St Mary the Virgin, Arlington, it might be good to try to hand on a few impressions while they are still fresh (if fresh is the word after a night-flight to Heathrow). (top: Fr Hawkins in his Church before Mass)


Numbers. Numbers of churches. Drive anywhere in Arlington or Fort Worth or Dallas, and you will run out of fingers for counting the churches. Every sort of denomination, many immense Baptist meeting houses, large Catholic Churches, and in between every sort of God-botherer you can imagine. All seem to be well attended. St Mary's is a former Anglican (Episcopalian) Church which became a Catholic Church when Fr Allan Hawkins and most of his flock were received back in the early '80s. Last Sunday they had around five hundred at one or other of their Masses; and this is a small-ish church. (above: some of the children after Devotions - before the Parish Mass)

Many Catholic parishes number their congregations in thousands, even tens of thousands. So it was good to find that the Diocese of Fort Worth has a good number of men in training for the priesthood; (left: a poster showing those currently preparing for the Priesthod in Fort Worth) besides many who are waiting to join the Ordinariate from the Episcopal Church, once the American Ordinariate is established. When that happens, the Anglican Use parishes like St Mary's will also be part of the ordinariate. That is a great strength, for it means the new Ordinary will not be starting from scratch; there will be a number of parishes already established and funding themselves, on hand to help those just joining. It is rather different from England, where the Ordinariate is having to rely on long-established Catholic Parishes to come to our help.


And they do have bunfights in Texas - bigtime - after Sunday's Parish Mass
I was given great hospitality by Fr Hawkins, who was a fellow Ordinand with me half a century ago at a theological college called Cuddesdon - no connection with the present institution on that site, "Ripon College, Cuddesdon". His son Giles and daughter-in-law Felice were most generous, too. You might like to see Felice beside a herd of long-horns - less dangerous than the real thing, they are in bronze, recalling how Fort Worth was the end of the trail and a great meat-packing centre for the USA.



Latterly, oil has become its greatest industry, and there are new rigs being established to bore into the oil-bearing shales which have not been worth exploiting until now.



I blogged about him earlier, but here you can see Bishop Kevin Vann of Fort Worth (above)sitting at his player-piano surrounded by cases of piano-rolls. He gave us a lively account of a Gershwin number as played by the composer - and also took us on a tour of his Cathedral (below), which has been re-energised since he became its Diocesan.



Earlier he had greeted us in a bright green jacket - but then, it was St Patrick's Day. The Pastoral Centre being built (below) is going to be very grand indeed; and Bishop Vann has further plans for further developments on the site which houses Rectory, Cathedral and former Convent School, besides adding spires to the Cathedral and commissioning a new Organ.



There is no doubt that the Catholic Church is alive and well in Texas; and they are all greatly looking forward to the erection of the Ordinariate for the USA. Pray that it might be soon.


Fr Alan with his son Giles outside Fort Worth Cathedral - the Bishop's House ('The Rectory') on the right.

Croydon and the Ordinariate

St Michael's in its Island

Croydon has changed. My mother came from nearby South Norwood, and I knew it half a century ago. Now the charming little town hall tower, which once dominated the town, is lost in a maze of tower blocks. St Michael's, the Anglo-Catholic presence by West Broydon station, is all but submerged in buses and trams and shiny glass monoliths. Yet the faith is still taught there, and today I stood in for Bishop John of Fulham and confirmed seven candidates there.

Charles Henman's Town Hall,[above]

lost in the modern maze.

Trams try to obliterate St Michael's


Fr Donald Minchew has as amazing ministry, and it is his efforts which have enabled the parish to develop the hall into a lovely restaurant and meeting place. They have built a small block of apartments to the west of the church, and the carparking spaces produce a healthy income for the parish. There is a good musical tradition (today the choir was meant to be on holiday, but came to support the Confirmation candidates, and sang wonderfully - that's what I mean by a good musical tradition!). The liturgy is thought by many to be rather old-fashioned; which in these days of the great Benedict XVI means that it is in the very forefront of liturgical renewal. There were three sacred ministers (not laymen dressed up) and the Canon was one approved by Rome; from the Book of Divine Worship. We faced the high altar at the top of a flight of steps, which enabled the sacred action to be seen from the entire church. The language was very BCP, and people come from far and near because, as one person said to me afterwards, it is a holy celebration.

What will happen to this great traditon? Fr Donald Minchew, the Parish Priest, has said he will stay until he is forced out by age or illness. It is a brave and commendable attitude. But is it realistic? He will certainly be succeeded by someone who supports women in the priesthood and episcopate, indeed it might be a woman priest who follows him as Vicar. Very hard, of course, to leave such a lovely place. But better, perhaps, to lead at least some of that congregation into the promised land of Anglicanorum Coetibus? Who knows, perhaps a new bishop of Southwark will want to show how generous he is, and will let St Michael with St James go to the Ordinariate? And if he does not, will he really want to be known as the bishop who turned a once vibrant church into a museum; or a block of flats?

Victoria enthroned in the Narthex Window

Buildings matter. I am deeply attached to the work of that fine high Victorian architect John Loughborough Pearson who built St Michael with St James'. I learned the faith in the Sunday School at St John's, Upper Norwood. That church now has had a lady incumbent, and for me is no more than the shell of a church. It is hard to let go; but we must, if there is to be a future for us and our grandchildren.


I hope the Church of England, or at least some of its diocesan bishops, will be ashamed at what the Synod has done, and will allow us to continue using some of our great churches. Already they offer hospitality, even in cathedrals, to Lutherans and Methodists and Orthodox. Would it be so unthinkable to allow similar hospitality to us, Catholics of an Anglican Use?


But for me, even if it means saying farewell to every church bulding I have ever loved (and there are many) it will still be a great relief to be able to say, without equivocation, 'I am a catholic Christian'. That is what I always thought I was; it is what I hope to become again, in communion with bishops who also believe and teach the faith once delivered to the Saints.


A future for our grandchildren?

Through Spanish Eyes

Interview by Bruno Moreno Member of the Editorial Committee of InfoCatólica

Yesterday I was set some questions to answer, and the piece was put into Spanish for the readership of InfoCatólica. I thought there might be one or two visitors to this blog who could find it useful - and others who would want to disagree with what are very personal responses. It is in any case useful to see what questions our foreign friends want to ask. The piece has had some good come-back in Spain - so this is the way the Q & A went:

How would you define an Anglo-Catholic?
The Church of England contains many varieties of Christians. Those who are nearer to the Catholic understanding of Scripture, Tradition and the Church, and who express this in their language (speaking, for instance, of the Altar, rather than the Holy Table) and their practice (celebrating the Eucharist regularly and frequently, in many churches not simply every week, but every day) would be called ‘Anglo-Catholic’.

You have been an Anglican bishop for the past fifteen years. What has been your role as a ‘flying bishop’?
In 1992 the central Council of our Church, the General Synod, decided that women might be ordained to the priesthood. In doing so it also said that those who did not accept this innovation must have provision made for them to enable them to continue as faithful Anglicans. For this purpose each Archbishop (there are two in England) consecrated one or two bishops, themselves opposed to women’s ordination, to minister to individuals and congregations who voted to ask for such extra provision. They were suffragans of the Archbishops, and so known as Provincial Episcopal Visitors (PEV’s) or, colloquially, ‘flying bishops’. My remit, for six years from 1995-2001, was to travel the length and breadth of the Eastern half of the Canterbury Province. I was consecrated to the See of Richborough – a title taken from the site where St Augustine set foot in England on his mission from Pope Gregory. On my retirement I became simply a super-numerary and honorary bishop in the diocese where I live, Winchester. My successor as Bishop of Richborough is Bishop Keith Newton.

Did the creation by Pope Benedict XVI of new Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans who wish to enter full communion with the Catholic Church come as a surprise for you?
The Holy Father’s initiative, directed at Groups of Anglicans, came as a great and very welcome surprise.

Many people ask “why now?” If Anglo-Catholics wish to seek communion with the See of Rome, why have they waited until now? Is it just a matter of women bishops or something deeper?
Many of us have believed that the Church of England was moving, for the past century at least, in an ever more catholic direction. With the international conversations between the Anglican Communion and Rome (the ARCIC Conversations) we believed and hoped there would be corporate reunion for us in our lifetime. Since the ordination of women to the priesthood, and now the likelihood of their consecration as bishops, that has faded as an impossible dream.

What are the main elements of the Anglican Patrimony you would like the Ordinariates to preserve?
Our fathers in the faith spoke of “reserve” in matters of faith. That is, a sort of quiet and simple spirit in the best of Anglican use. It has seemed to me a religious voice, a tone, in keeping with our national character. The language of our Prayer Book which introduced the vernacular into our worship five centuries ago seems to catch something of this plain, undemonstrative but deeply felt religious sensibility. But in truth, I think we cannot discover our Patrimony until we see it in a completely Catholic context.

Do you expect the Anglican Ordinariates to attract many people in England and Wales? Will whole parishes take the plunge?
It is difficult at present to see how it will be possible for entire parishes to join the Ordinariate, simply because the Church of England is very territorial, and will not readily part with, for instance, its buildings. For all that, there are several priests I know who are preparing their congregations, and who will take the first opportunity of belonging whether they can retain their parish churches or not.

Do you believe some Anglican Bishops will enter the Ordinariates? Are you personally planning to avail yourself of this opportunity?
Certainly I know of several Bishops who are exploring the possibility, as I am myself. I can see no other future for catholics in the Church of England than this.

Would you be willing to seek ordination in the Roman Catholic Church? Would you consider ordination or whatever your role is in the Ordinariate a denial of your pastoral work in the Anglican Communion or rather a culmination of that work?
Because the Holy Father’s appeal is to Groups of Anglicans, I believe my personal future is unimportant compared with what is offered to us all. If it is decided that my ministry can continue, and that I may be ordained a Priest in the Catholic Church, then I should be delighted – but I should join the Ordinariate unconditionally, and let others decide whether there might still be something for me to undertake. I am sure that the simple fact of joining the Ordinariate will be the crown and completion of my ministry up to this point.

What are the main difficulties you envisage in this adventure, both for yourself and for most Anglo-Catholics? Will the need to accept the faith of the Roman Catholic Church as proclaimed by the Catechism be an obstacle for many Anglo-Catholics?
I think for some Anglicans there are stumbling blocks within the Catechism. We have been separated from the Catholic mainstream for five hundred years, and there have been developments in doctrine with which we are unfamiliar. As a frequent visitor to Fatima, I have no difficulty with the Marian dogmas. There was a time when I found it hard to accept the Immaculate Conception (for I did not properly understand it) and Papal Infallibility. Others may still find these to be difficulties for them – I do not. And I hope and believe the Church will be very understanding and patient in explaining these matters. Far more important for me is the readiness of the Holy Father to accept and ordain men who have been married Anglican clergy. My wife has been a great help and adornment to my ministry, and I am glad there is the possibility that, should I be ordained a Catholic priest, this would continue.

Some members of the Ordinariates will come from the Anglican Communion, while others will come from different groups, such as the Traditional Anglican Communion, or even from Anglican Use parishes? Do you think that diversity will be a problem?
I believe that Anglicans in North America and elsewhere have been in such difficult situations that for them actual schism from the Anglican Communion has been necessary. I know several such priests and parishes, and have no doubt that we shall learn from one another and come to value one another. One of my greatest friends is a Priest of the Anglican Use in Texas, and I think he and I have more in common than I do with most of those in England who call themselves members of our church.

Do the Anglican Ordinariates have a future in the Catholic Church? How do you envisage them in, say, one hundred years?
I believe the Catholic Church is very patient; and I am sure she will want to learn from this experiment. I hope, personally, that the experience of a married priesthood might at some future date enable the Church to recognise that it is possible to have a double vocation, to the priesthood and to holy matrimony. I am greatly impressed by the way the Holy Father has introduced Anglicanorum Coetibus, making it clear that this is not a short-term solution to present-day problems, but a generous open offer for many years, perhaps centuries, to come. So who knows, it may be that eventually the Church of England will indeed return to her roots and become part of the One, Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church which she has always claimed to be.

How will the leaving (maybe we might say expelling) of Anglo-Catholics affect the Anglican Communion? Would it mean the end of its claim to be a branch of the Catholic Church? Do you expect the Anglican Communion to change much in the following years or decades?
It seems to me we are witnessing the break-up of the Anglican Communion – which was always a rather anomalous fruit of Empire. Gradually individual national churches will, I think, either join the Catholic Church, or dwindle into some amorphous protestant body, incapable of making any real witness to society.

What will the Roman Catholic Church gain by the ‘coming home’ of the Anglo-Catholics?
I hope we shall all gain enormously from this home-coming; it will be a reunion of friends, to replace the Parting of Friends of which Newman spoke.

How is Card. Newman regarded by Anglo-Catholics? Will you attend his beatification in September? Would you like to see him as one of the patron saints of the Ordinariates?
I believe John Henry Cardinal Newman has had a hand in what is happening in England today. Many of us are very glad to have him as a fellow-countryman. If I were permitted to be at his beatification I can think of no greater honour; and whether or not he is named as a patron of the Ordinariates, I am sure we should all be seeking his prayers at this wonderful time.

[Spanish translation at www.infocatolica.com )

May I suggest?

May I suggest you take a look now and again at The Anglo-Catholic? I've had one reader ask if I might repost items here which appear on that other blog, but I hope for now the link to 'The Anglo -Catholic' will be enough. What has astounded me in the week or so that I have been contributing to it is the sheer number of comments in produces. Perhaps I should have steered clear of liturgical matters - I dared suggest that maybe we do not always have to use "Thee" and "Thou" when addressing the Almighty, and it was as though I had shouted an obscenity during an investitute at the Palace. I was just trying to help our former colonial brethren to understand why it is that many of us are rather less wedded to the BCP and its derivatives than they are.

In an inspired moment (as it seemed to me) I realised that they were usually FORBIDDEN to use the old forms, so naturally the Prayer Book became a banner of revolt; whereas here it is THE legal form of worship. If an incumbent and his PCC cannot agree, then the fall-back position is BCP (I suspect not all PCCs know that!) They think using the (American version) of the 1662 book is a symbol of Orthodoxy; we, on the other hand, usually think it is horribly Erastian and un-Catholic. If you want to see the furious responses, have a look at two recent Posts of mine at The Anglo-Catholic called "More Patrimony" and "Patrimonial".

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The illustrations are from the Title Pages of Prayer Books I own; an early 18th C copy of 1662, the deposited book of 1927, and the pseudo-Baroque frontispiece from the Anglican Use Catholic Book of Divine Worship of 2003. The Angels at the top look suspiciously like cribs from Durer, the rest I think is pastiche. But maybe you know better?

Anglican Use in France

No blog for the last few days. We have been in France, staying not far from Limoges in the house of an old friend in Bellac (not as I previously blogged, Beziers!) It is a lovely old hill-top town, on the river Vincou.

Our friend is Fr Allan Hawkins, parish priest of St Mary the Virgin, Arlington, Texas, an Anglican Use Parish in the Roman Catholic Church. He is just one of many in the USA who is very excited at the prospect of the Ordinariate; and it was to get his take on that provision that Jane and I made the pilgrimage to the Limousin last Wednesday.

Of course, we sight-saw - and there are some great sights there. In the parish church of Bellac is this amazing crib (surviving until Candlemas). Press the light switch, and not only does it come to life in glorious technicolor, there is also a lively and surprising rendition of "O Tannenbaum".

Here is Fr Allan's wife, Jose, is the garden of their house - with another great prospect of the Collegiate Church of Bellac. Jose has found herself well accepted by Roman Catholics in Texas and beyond. Their daughter delights in having a photo of her father on her desk, and then getting her friends to puzzle out how she is the daughter of a Catholic priest.

We went to Mass in a neighbouring village, part of
the Bellac benefice whose several churches are all served by the same solo priest. This chaste Romanesque church was well attended last evening for the first Mass of Sunday - the organist is an Englishman who, in his spare time, writes for the Daily Telegraph. Here Fr Allan poses with my wife Jane just before we went in for Mass. Inside the church was another Crib, elbowing the altar into a slightly off-centre position.

Now I should be telling you all about the Anglican-Use view of the Ordinariate; but that will have to wait for another day. Just now, at close to midnight our time and nearly one a.m. French time, I shall break off; and so to bed.

Anglican Use: 2.

Midnight Mass at Arlington

A visit by Fr Allan's Bishop
the Most Reverend Kevin W. Vann, of the Diocese of Fort Worth

Fr Allan Hawkins has now sent some more pictures; and, since they are worth 1000 words, here they are. The Roman Mass according to the Anglican Use, as celebrated in St Mary the Virgin, Arlington, Texas. He reminisces about changes in liturgy.



"You and I have lived through an age of liturgical fidgets -- we have used 1662, 1928, Series 1, Series 2, Series 3, the English Missal, the Interim Rite; but, unlike you, I have been spared the Alternative Service Book and its current successor. When I was at St Mark's, Swindon, I found myself in agreement with the general push towards modern liturgy -- and so we used sometime the Novus Ordo, but mostly Series 3 adapted so as to coincide with the modern western rite. The reason for this was -- so I believed -- that the priority there, in the town of God's Wonderful Railway, and where the letters G O D meant the Good Old Days, there was an urgent need to bring everything in modern times and to find ways, if possible, to speak to modern hearts and souls and to try to call a halt to a habitual living in the past (not just ecclesiologically, but in every aspect of the life of that community). The need here, of course, is quite different: there is a constant need to connect with roots and the heritage. In other words, I am saying that these decisions and choices are going to be essentially pastoral and evangelistic. Bottom line: we need to have both forms available to us -- hopefully along the lines I suggested in my previous message".


So Anglican Use Catholics have available to them the Roman Missal, and also a rite which takes a good deal from Anglican formularies. Were this Provision to be extended to this country, it would be interesting to see just where our priests would pitch it: I hope we can get Fr Allan to expound further on his experience as a former Anglican, not processed through an ultra-montane sausage machine.

Anglican Use

If there is to be any corporate future for catholic Anglicans, there will need to be a precedent. There are many misunderstandings about the Provision made by the Holy See for former Anglicans which began in the USA. So it might be good to get to know a little more about the Anglican Use from within. Their website is at http://www.anglicanuse.org/ . Besides this, here is the account of a celebration of the Anglican Use liturgy:- http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=33840id=33840id=33840

In case the very idea of using yet another version of the Book of Common Prayer horrifies you, you might be reassured by Fr Allan Hawkins . Although an Anglican to his fingertips, the liturgy which he celebrates is sometimesthat from the Anglican Use Book of Divine Worship and sometimes from the Roman Missal.

[see below: *]

The two photos in this blog are courtesy of Fr Allan at St Mary's Church in Arlington, Texas.

*Fr Allan has seen a draft of this blog, and hopes to send more photographs and to comment more fully later; meanwhile, this is what he says about his present liturgical use: sounds good to me!

We use Rite One (the traditional, Cranmerian style) at the early Mass on Sundays, and for the daily Office. For the other Sunday Masses, including the Solemn Mass, and for all weekday Masses, we use Rite Two. We use -- and cherish (whether in 16th century or modern English) the Collects of the Book of Divine Worship, which are those of the BCP. Notwithstanding the fact that we use Rite Two for the Solemn Mass, we do use traditional Anglican music -- which means that Gloria, Sanctus/Benedictus and Agnus are most often in the traditional language of the BCP. We sing the credo and the Pater Noster in Latin -- in large part because we were encouraged by Cardinal Law, the former Ecclesiastical Delegate, to do so, in order to help our folk to feel more integrally part of the Latin Church. I celebrate all Masses ad orientem. We use Rite Two, wherever its rubrics allow, in a way that is consistent with the Novus Ordo -- and I imagine that we will use the new translation of the Roman Missal, when it arrives, in the same way.