Sunday, June 18, 2006

Holiday!

Philorthodox, your online source for musings and random thoughts from a traditional Prayer Book & Missal Anglican Catholic perspective, will be taking a holiday from 19 June to 19 July. Please keep reading previous posts. Please also keep in your daily prayers the Provincial Synod of the Anglican Province of America and the Synod of the Diocese of the Eastern United States, to be held in Merrillville, Indiana this week, and the Anglican Life Adventure Camp to be held in Ashe County, North Carolina at the end of June. God bless you!

Apostolicae Curae Fulfilled? Schori as PB

[Episcopal News Service] Katharine Jefferts Schori, bishop of the Diocese of Nevada, has been elected June 18 by the House of Bishops as the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

With the election of the Bishop of Nevada to the position of Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church, the Apostolic Succession of the TEC will, from this moment forward, be cast under an irreversible cloud of doubt and uncertainty. Some jurisdictions and individuals have logically maintained, and with very good theological reasons, that that cloud has existed since the innovation of purported women's priestly ordination in 1976, but I shall not address that question here. Where sacraments are uncertain or possibly invalid, orthodox moral theology always demands that the Church take the safest and surest course, which is the refusal to recognise such dubious sacraments as valid or efficacious. Otherwise sacrilege might occur. A woman who has received the rite of episcopal consecration is now the fons sacramentorum, the fount and origin of ministerial orders within The Episcopal Church. Every future episcopal consecration held within the TEC will, if prescribed canons are followed, be conferred by a chief consecrator whose priestly and episcopal orders the Holy Catholic Church has never recognised and cannot and will not recognise as sacramentally valid. No Bishop, no Priesthood, no Eucharist, no Church. The Apostolic Succession of a once-Catholic body is now in unmistakable jeopardy. The problem is strictly sacramentological, quite distinct from the personal beliefs and views of Mrs Schori. She could be perfectly orthodox, biblical, in her moral and doctrinal teaching (which sadly she is not) and the problem of her orders or lack thereof still exists. In point of fact, the Bishop of Nevada is an outspoken modernist and revisionist, but I should contend most emphatically that the problem of her purported ordination is actually more serious in consequence to the body to which she belongs than her personal religious beliefs, as deeply troubling and false as they are. Beliefs change and people convert, but invalid orders, in this case, cannot be rectified. By virtue of her position, she will inescapably introduce over time a plainly suspect sacramental system into every Diocese of the The Episcopal Church, including those which are currently Anglo-Catholic. To be in communion with the TEC is to face the inevitability of the loss of Catholic Faith and Apostolic Order.

Ironically, in The Episcopal Church it appears that the Papal Encyclical Apostolicae Curae of Pope Leo XIII (1896) will apply in future, not specifically because of a defect of form or a defect of intention, but because of a clear defect of minister. Pope Leo claimed the Anglican Succession died with Archbishop Matthew Parker in 1559 - that judgement was patently erroneous, from every conceivable objective theological examination. But now, curiously enough, a scenario described by Leo, the termination of Succession, has precisely emerged today in the body formerly known as ECUSA. This is a theological consideration, not a social or political one. Sacramental assurance, the very assurance of grace and supernatural life for which Our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ instituted the Sacraments, will eventually evaporate from the TEC, because the chief minister of episcopal consecrations, the Primate, will be one whose status casts doubt on the validity of all subsequent sacramental actions in her line. And this doubt regarding sacramental assurance will extend to all future episcopal consecrands, including male candidates for the episcopate, involved in any purported consecration in which Mrs Schori functions as consecrator. A break in the Succession may occur in years to come once male bishops purportedly consecrated by a woman attempt to pass on their ministerial line and orders to others. The end result could be the cessation of an undoubtedly valid sacramental structure. The Sacrament of Holy Orders as understood by the Church Catholic would then no longer subsist in the TEC. What will Forward in Faith North America do? What will the Anglican Communion Network do? What will the American Anglican Council do? The line has been drawn: let us see what the responses will be. The Episcopal Church has made its irrevocable decision - it has committed itself finally and completely to a form of liturgical unitarian modernism. Let us pray for our beloved ones who are still fighting the good fight in that strange land...

Friday, June 16, 2006

GENCON '06

Orthodox Continuing Churchmen nationwide continue to breathe a deep sigh of relief that they are no longer linked to the established body known as ECUSA as the 75th General Convention of TEC (The Episcopal Church) slowly churns and sputters towards its inevitable conclusion in Columbus, Ohio. For all of the debate over compliance or non-compliance with the Windsor Report, the resolutions so far have taken a predictably modernist direction.

The exception are two resolutions that have progressed through the Special Committee on Anglican Communion relations - A166 articulates the desire of the TEC to be involved in a new 'Anglican Covenant' envisioned by Archbishop Williams and the Windsor Report. A159 would commit the TEC to remaining a 'constituent member of the Anglican Communion.'

The Bishops passed C008, which affirms the right of workers to organize and form unions. C012 supports the Episcopal Network for Economic Justice. The Bishops approved the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations as a priority for the TEC. The Bishops approved A077, changing the Lectionary of the 1979 Book for the Revised Common Lectionary. The Bishops also passed resolution C018 reaffirming environmentalism.

TEC Bishops voted to urge and encourage sex equality in D024. The Bishops passed another political resolution, A017, on immigration.

In COCU ecumenist fashion, the Bishops also passed a resolution approving what is described as interim eucharistic sharing with the United Methodist Church. The Episcopal Church is preparing to recognise the sacramental validity of Methodist ordinations and Methodist celebrations of the Eucharist. A055 encourages communicatio in sacris between the two bodies under certain loosely-defined circumstances. The move is identical to the communion agreement which existed between the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and TEC prior to the adoption of the controversial Called to Common Mission, which established full sacramental communion between TEC and ELCA. Methodist ministers are now reckoned to be Catholic priests, and Methodist communion services are held to be proper Masses in which the True Body and Blood of Christ are consecrated. Similar agreements have been established with other mainline protestant bodies.

Fascinatingly, attendees report what appears to be the deliberate decision on the part of GenCon organisers to eliminate the abbreviation ECUSA and replace it with 'The Episcopal Church.' At the opening of Convention, the platform was covered with international flags representing the nations where The Episcopal Church has historically enjoyed a missionary presence. The slogan being used at Convention asserts that The Episcopal Church is an 'international family.' Suspicion is running high. Could it be that The Episcopal Church (now known as TEC) intends to declare itself its own denomination and communion entirely apart from the Anglican world? The possibility of that is very strong indeed. TEC may be gearing up to 'walk apart' any day now.

In all charity, I must say I feel immeasurably blessed and preserved not to be associated with the goings-on transpiring this week in Columbus. Regardless of the problems which undoubtedly exist in the Continuum, Continuing Anglo-Catholics have been set free from the seemingly endless mire of political debate over the essentials of the Faith found in the establishment to concentrate on what really matters - the Gospel and the mission of the Church Catholic. Let us pray our dearly beloved orthodox brethren still struggling in TEC (or ECUSA) may soon be able to join us in a new orthodox alignment within Anglicanism.

Roman Mass Translation Accepted... Sort Of

Yesterday the nation's Romanist bishops accepted 173-29, with many slight amendments, the new ICEL translation of the third typical edition of the Missale Romanum.

Additions to the official text are: a continued increased prominence for the rite of blessing and sprinkling of Holy Water; the maintenance of two alternative introductions for the penitential rite; seven additional formulae for the penitential rite; keeping the familiar four additional introductions to the Lord's Prayer; two alternate forms for the dismissal; the 'insertion of a prayer over already blessed water' for the sprinkling rite; and the maintenance of the phrase 'Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again,' which was not included in the ICEL text.

The word 'dew' was removed from the Eucharistic Prayers, 'chalice' remains. Several proposals to change the word to the current 'cup' were rejected by the Bishops' Committee on Liturgy, which expressed its preference for the rationale established by ICEL. Several bishops also requested striking 'precious' from the submitted rendering of 'precious chalice' in the Eucharistic Prayers, but the committee declined these on the grounds that to do so would not be faithful to the Latin use of the term praeclarum calicem. In Eucharistic Prayer IV, and at other instances in the text where ICEL rendered unigenitus as 'only-begotten' without adding 'Son' to it, several prelates sought a change to include 'Son,' which the bishops accepted. Two bishops sought to return the phrase 'for the many,' pro multis, to the consecration of the precious chalice. The BCL rejected the proposal given the purported overwhelming view of the USCCB membership in favor of 'for all.' Another bishop sought to have the Gloria's rendering of peace to 'all people of good will' changed to 'all men.' The Committee refused, saying that 'people' is the most accurate rendering of hominibus in English as spoken in the United States. In other areas, 'Look with favor on your church's offering' -- a 1970 translation in Eucharistic Prayer III -- is staying put, 'undefiled' in the Canon becomes 'unblemished,' the deacon's pre-Gospel request will not be the traditional Pray, Father, your blessing,' but the pedantic 'May I have your blessing, Father.' And the Mortem tuam has been proposed by the USCCB as reading 'We announce your death, O Lord, and proclaim your resurrection until you come in glory.' A proposal to change the words of the Nicene Creed from the odd 'one in being' to the proper 'consubstantial,' which is closer to the Latin, failed.

Rome may yet reject some of the American alterations to the ICEL text and require a return to the original translation. As for me and my house, we shall stand with the traditional Missals and the Book of Common Prayer, which are vastly superior liturgical texts, theologically and aesthetically...

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Proposed Texts: Authentic Liturgy

The following are examples of the proposed new translation for the Roman New Order Mass in English. They are remarkably close to those used in the Prayer Book and the Anglican and Anglican Missals. It is hard to imagine that the liberal hierarchy of the Roman Church in the USA will accept these translations in their original unaltered form:

The Confiteor:

Priest: Brothers and sisters, let us acknowledge our sins, that we may be ready to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

All: I confess to almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have sinned greatly in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do,(striking their breast, they say) through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault. (Then they continue)Therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

Priest: May almighty God have mercy on us and lead us, with our sins forgiven, into eternal life.

The Gloria:

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will. We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God almighty Father. Lord, Jesus Christ, Only-begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer; you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

The Nicene Creed:

I believe in one God,the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God, born of the Father before all ages. God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father; through him all things were made. For us men and for our salvation he came down from heaven, (At the following words, up to and including and became man, all bow.) and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man. Crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and rose again on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will have no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets. And one holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I confess one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I look forward to the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen.

From the Roman Canon:

Be pleased to look upon them with a serene and kindly gaze and to accept them, as you were pleased to accept the gifts of your just servant Abel, the sacrifice of Abraham, our father in faith, and the offering of your high priest Melchizedek, a holy sacrifice, a spotless victim.

Ecce Agnus Dei:

Behold the Lamb of God, behold him who takes away the sins of the world. Blessed are they who have been called to the banquet of the Lamb. Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.

The Salutation:

Priest: The Lord be with you.
All: And with your spirit.

Kairos: The Big Week in Romanism and ECUSA

This week the National Conference of [Roman] Catholic Bishops in Los Angeles votes to appove or alter the new much-improved English translation of the third typical edition of the Novus Ordo Missae and its Missale Romanum.

Simultaneously, the Episcopal Church USA will decide at its 75th General Convention in Columbus, Ohio whether or not to accede to the requests of the Windsor Report and thus remain within the Anglican Communion.

For the former, let us pray for a restoration of Catholic liturgical integrity and the doxological tradition of the Western Church; for the latter, let us pray for genuine conversion and a restoration of orthodox Christian moral and theological teaching...

http://www.usccb.org/index.shtml

http://www.ecusa.anglican.org/53785_ENG_HTM.htm

Sunday, June 04, 2006

Roman Protestantism: Trautman on Liturgy

Here's another unsurprising and disturbing snippet from the recent goings-on in the Roman Communion regarding the translation of the new Missale Romanum into American English. The language vilified by the liturgical-revisionist Bishop of Erie is, of course, contained word-for word in the Anglican and English Missals and in the traditional Western liturgy. Once again Anglican Catholics are proven more Catholic than Rome...

http://www.losangelesmission.com/ed/articles/2006/0606as.htm

An estimated 41,000 [Roman] Catholic catechists and religious educators from throughout the United States and four other continents packed the Anaheim Convention Center for the Los Angeles archdiocese's 39th annual Religious Education Congress from Thursday, March 30 through Sunday, April 2.

On Friday, Bishop Donald Trautman of Erie, Pennsylvania, chairman of the U.S. bishops' liturgy committee, gave a talk, 'Contemporary Liturgical Issues.' Bishop Trautman expressed apprehension about the U.S. bishops' upcoming June vote on the new sacramentary (containing the order of Mass) translation, which reflects a more traditional style closer to the original Latin. He described the vote as a 'decisive and defining' moment and admitted that the conference is 'divided.'

'Liturgical language today must not just be faithful and accurate to the original, but also intelligible, proclaimable, dignified and reflective of a word order, vocabulary, expression from the contemporary mainstream of the English language as spoken in the United States,' said Trautman. 'If a translation, no matter how exact, does not communicate in the living language of the worshipping assembly, it fails as a translation. It fails to lead to full, conscious, and active participation.'
Trautman continued, 'in the proposed translation of the sacramentary, we meet words and expressions that many would consider not in the speech of the mainstream assembly.' For example, he said, the proposed translation of the Nicene Creed uses the phrase, 'consubstantial with the Father,' to replace the present wording, 'one in being with the Father.' Also, 'by the Holy Spirit, He was incarnate of the Virgin Mary' replaces 'He was born of the Virgin Mary.'
'Both words, "consubstantial" and "incarnate,"' said Trautman, 'are not readily intelligible to the vast majority of those in the assembly.'

Commenting on a proposed change to the first Eucharistic Prayer (the Roman Canon) -- 'grant them, O Lord, we pray, and all who sleep in Christ, a place of refreshment, light, and peace,' Trautman drew audience laughter when he quipped, 'the phrase, "a place of refreshment," is a literal translation that conveys the image of a heavenly spa or tap room at the heavenly hotel.'

Trautman addressed another proposed change to the first Eucharistic Prayer -- from 'cup' to 'precious chalice.' Said Trautman: '"precious chalice" -- when I hear those words, I think of a gold vessel with diamonds on it. Did Jesus, at the Last Supper, use a precious chalice or a cup? The gospels clearly say "cup," but even in the lectionary from Rome we have the word "chalice" imposed on the inspired text to carry out this"sacred language."'

Alluding apparently to defecation, the bishop garnered more audience guffaws when he recited the following proposed translation for Eucharistic Prayer II: 'make holy these gifts, we pray, by the dew of your Spirit -- D-E-W.'

Susan Larker, 37, of Long Beach, who attended Trautman's talk, said the bishop 'doesn't want to say that "Jesus took bread into His holy and venerable hands." He laughed at the Vatican wanting this translation and said that that the laity can't relate to this sort of language.'

Friday night's entertainment consisted of a 'Rockin' the "Rena"' concert, described as a 'rockin' musical festival of song, dance and ritual, including a musical quartet and contemporary artists....' Other Friday events included 'lunchtime entertainment' with Pedro Rubalcava and David Haas; Celtic, Justice and Peace, and Nigerian evening liturgies; and the Liturgy of the Hours with music provided by Jeanne Cotter and Tony Alonso.

Why Can’t Women be Priests?