Sunday, February 24, 2013

Another blow to ecumenism

This was tipped by a friend who used to worship in this parish.  From Virginia:
Roman Catholic Bishop Francis X. DiLorenzo has given the Church of the Holy Apostles – a blended Catholic and Episcopal parish – until Feb. 28 to end its 30-year practice of celebrating Holy Communion together. 
DiLorenzo told parish leaders in November that allowing Catholics and non-Catholics to participate in a combined communion liturgy was a violation of Roman Catholic norms.... 
Launched in 1977 under Bishop Walter Sullivan, the parish is led by Catholic and Episcopal clergy who share leadership duties and perform services together. 
During the Eucharisitic portion of the service, the priests move to opposite ends of the sanctuary and perform the Holy Communion rite at separate altars, using similar but separate Catholic and Episcopal liturgies. 
It is an arrangement, parishioners say, that over the years has enabled families in mixed marriages to worship side by side and helped build bonds that transcend denominational boundaries.....
Celebrating each church’s communion liturgy concurrently in the same room, the statement from the diocese said, is “contrary to liturgical norms and Church doctrine on the Eucharist.”... .
[The Rev. Michael Ferguson, the church’s Episcopal priest,] said there are also “huge pastoral issues that have to be worked out because there are people here who have been worshipping together for years.”
The Liturgy of the Word is almost identical in the two churches, and they aren't doing the Eucharist together, so I don't understand why the Roman Catholic bishop thinks he's going to get Episcopalian cooties.
 

8 comments:

Jim Pratt said...

I worshiped at Holy Apostles once or twice when I was at William & Mary in the early 80s. We had a similar arrangement between the Episcopal and RC campus ministries, though we only came together a couple times a year, and we made occasional trips down the road to Norfolk to join in fellowship with the community there and to learn from them. Their liturgy was developed over the years to allow the maximum amount of togetherness and sharing while remaining within Rome's strictures. Now it seems like Rome keeps moving the goalposts, in the wrong direction.

Holy Apostles has been a very unique community for 30-plus years, successful enough to move from rented space to its own building, and drawing members from as far as an hour away. If the bishop shuts them down, how many of the RC members will remain active in some other RC parish? How many will see it as non-sensical rigid legalism, and stay with the Episcopalians?



JCF said...

"How many will see it as non-sensical rigid legalism, and stay with the Episcopalians?"

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding!

But SRSLY, I'm actually surprised this ecumenical congregation has lasted as long as it has. The RCC has been cracking down on efforts like this for almost 20 years now...

IT said...

Here's more news on why, after 30 years, the Bishop moved now:


Namely, the directive requires that the Catholic and Episcopal liturgies be separate. The directive encourages the two communities to come together in an ecumenical spirit for Morning or Evening Prayer before and after the liturgy of the Mass.

Church norms require that a Catholic priest preside over the celebration of the Mass beginning with the Introductory Rites; the Liturgy of the Word, which includes the reading of the Gospel and a homily, or sermon; and during the Liturgy of the Eucharist — the portion of the Mass when Catholics celebrate the Real Presence as the bread and wine are consecrated into Jesus’s body and blood....

the issue resurfaced in early 2012 when Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, the Vatican’s Apostolic Nuncio for the U.S. — responding to a letter from a New York man who had read an article written by both priests in an Episcopal magazine — sought a clarification of how Holy Apostles was celebrating its divine worship. A formal study into Holy Apostles’ practice was followed by the directive to conform to Church norms, as identified in the Church’sDirectory for the Application of Principles and Norms on Ecumenism, published after the Second Vatican Council.


So feel sorry for Mr New York who was so hung up on Rules he forgot the Good News.

Feh.

JCF said...

Popoid narc.

There's an old cartoon meme re liturgy, that involves a tree-swing. I've never forgotten the panel titled "What the Bishop Was Told", showing a nekkid lady swinging seductively. There's always gonna be a killjoy (the old joke re "a Puritan is someone who fears that somebody somewhere may be happy") ready to see what someone else does through their own lurid "SIN!!1!!" lens.

Jesus "They have their reward"

JCF said...

Goodness, none of my other usual religious sites has this yet:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/25/cardinal-keith-obrien-resigns

"Cardinal Keith O'Brien resigns amid claims of inappropriate behaviour

Pope accepts resignation of UK's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, who has been accused of 'inappropriate acts'"

IT said...

Go read the comments at NCR online, who are speculating this is less about sexual harrassment than Cdl OBrien recently coming out in support of married clergy. Just LOVE Roman Catholic conspiracy theories. Popcorn?

Jim Pratt said...

The other factor relative to timing is that the former bishop, Walter Sullivan, went into palliative care in November and died in December. Holy Apostles was Sullivan's initiative (yes, back in the 70s ecumenical overtures actually came from RC bishops!). I am quite sure that Sullivan would have vocally defended the parish. Though heat was coming from above early last year, the new bishop probably waited until Sullivan was off the scene to try to minimize the bad press.

Sullivan was no saint (on matters of sexual abuse he was just like so many of his colleagues), but he was very forward thinking on ecumenism and the role of women. Because of that, though he was a rising star when he became Bishop of Richmond, he was never promoted.

JCF said...

Nah, IT, I think it's just as likely that O'Brien---who'd already given notice to the Vatican---made his pro-married clergy remarks as a distraction!

Yes, beaucoup popcorn is required for Vatican-watching...