An Epistle from Catholic Bishops in the Church of England

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

'God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you, but I will tell you the good and proper way.' (1 Samuel 12:23)

These are grave times in the Church of England especially for those of us unable in good conscience to accept that any particular church has the authority to admit women to the episcopate. While we certainly accept the good faith of those who wish to make this change believing it to be God's will, we cannot rejoice with them, not least because of the disastrous cost to Catholic unity.

Our concerns are not only about sacramental assurance though that is of profound importance. If the legislation now proposed passes, it will not provide room for our tradition to grow and flourish. We will be dependent on a Code of Practice yet to be written, and sadly our experience of the last almost twenty years must make us wonder whether even such an inadequate provision will be honoured in the long term.

Neither the Report of the Revision Committee nor the legislation itself shows a proper understanding of our reservations, however carefully these have been presented through the consultation process and in the College and House of bishops. It remains a deep disappointment to us that the Church at large did not engage with the excellent Rochester Report and paid scant attention to the Consecrated Women report sponsored by Forward in Faith.

We must now accept that a majority of the members of the Church of England believe it is right to proceed with the ordination of women as bishops, and that a significant percentage of those in authority will not encourage or embrace with enthusiasm the traditional integrity or vocations within it. Nor is it their intention or desire to create a structure which genuinely allows the possibility of a flourishing mission beyond this generation.

However, the closeness of the vote on the Archbishops' amendment for co ordinate jurisdiction, concerns though there are about its adequacy, suggest at least a measure of disquiet in the majority about proceeding without a provision acceptable to traditionalists. The Catholic group fought valiantly on the floor of synod and we are grateful for that, and while many in the Church and press are speaking as if the legislation is now passed, final synodical approval is still some way off.

Whatever happens in the Synod, there are some Anglo Catholics, including in our own number, who are already looking at, indeed are resolved to join the Ordinariate as the place where they can find a home in which to live and proclaim their Christian faith, in communion with the Holy Father, yet retaining something of the blessings they have known and experienced in the Anglican tradition. Of course the Ordinariate is a new thing, and not all of us are trailblazers or can imagine what it might be like. Some will undoubtedly want to wait and see how that initiative develops before making a decision.

Yet others will make their individual submission and find their future as Roman Catholics.

Were the present proposals not to be substantially amended or defeated, many more of us will need to consider seriously three options.

A number will remain, perhaps even reluctantly because of personal circumstances, family loyalties, even financial necessity, but with a deep sense of unease about the long term future, an unease that is surely well founded. There are faithful Catholic clergy and lay people, though deeply opposed to the likely Synodical decision who cannot currently imagine themselves being anywhere else but within the Church of England. They wonder how they can stay, yet cannot imagine leaving their much loved church and parish. They do not want to be forced out of the Church they love and will persevere where they are, whatever the theological or ecclesiological ambiguities, and seek God's blessing on all they do.

Those who are not actively seeking a home elsewhere must work to defeat the currently proposed legislation. It is essential that traditionalists engage in the debate and discussion in their diocese and are active in the election process for the next quinquennium of the General Synod when the two thirds majority in each House will be required if the legislation is to pass. Whatever our individual futures, and however disheartened we might feel, the Church of England needs strong catholic hearts and voices.

The text quoted at the beginning of this letter was the one used by John Keble in his famous Assize sermon, often regarded as the starting point of the Oxford Movement. It seems remarkably apposite, and gives a clue to an appropriate attitude of heart for this process: prayerful and gracious, but clear.

We are all bishops united in our belief that the Church of England is mistaken in its actions. However, we must be honest and say we are not united as to how we should respond to these developments.

Nevertheless we are clear that each of the possibilities we have outlined has its own integrity and is to be honoured. We are resolved to respect the decisions made by laity, bishops, priests and deacons of our integrity, and call on you to do the same. It would be a sad and destructive thing indeed if we allowed our happiness and wondering to drift into unguarded or uncharitable criticism of those who in good conscience take a different path from our own. We must assume the best motives in one another, and where there are partings let them be with tears and the best wishes of Godspeed.

You will we hope know of the meetings in both provinces to take place in late September when there will be opportunities for discussion and an exchange of views about the future. Be assured of our prayers as you reflect about how best to respond to the challenges which face us, and we ask your prayers for us too as we seek to be faithful to the Lord, and to the Faith once delivered.

Please share the contents of this letter with your people, and indeed with any who might be interested to know of it.

The Rt Revd John Hind, Bishop of Chichester
The Rt Revd Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of Europe
The Rt Revd Nicholas Reade, Bishop of Blackburn
The Rt Revd Martyn Jarrett, Bishop of Beverley
The Rt Revd John Broadhurst, Bishop of Fulham
The Rt Revd Peter Wheatley, Bishop of Edmonton
The Rt Revd John Goddard, Bishop of Burnley
The Rt Revd Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet
The Rt Revd Keith Newton, Bishop of Richborough
The Rt Revd Tony Robinson, Bishop of Pontefract
The Rt Revd John Ford, Bishop of Plymouth
The Rt Revd Mark Sowerby, Bishop of Horsham
The Rt Revd Martin Warner, Bishop of Whitby
The Rt Revd Robert Ladds
The Rt Revd Lindsay Urwin OGS

On the Apocrypha

The position of the Churches of the Anglican Tradition regarding the Apocrypha or Deuterocanonical Books of the Old Testament is affirmed in the VI Article of Religion:

And the other books (as Hierome [Jerome] saith) the Church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet doth it not apply them to establish any doctrine; such are these following:

The Third Book of Esdras.

The Fourth Book of Esdras.

The Book of Tobias.

The Book of Judith.

The rest of the Book of Esther.

The Book of Wisdom.

Jesus the Son of Sirach.

Baruch the Prophet.

The Song of the Three Children.

The Story of Susanna.

Of Bel and the Dragon.

The Prayer of Manasses.

The First Book of Maccabees.

The Second Book of Maccabees.

The Apocryphal Books of the Old Testament are not part of the Hebrew Masoretic text officially canonised by Judaism at the rabbinical 'Council of Jamnia' in AD 90, but are books originally (so far as we know) written in the Greek language and incorporated into the Greek Old Testament of the Septuagint (LXX), translated from Hebrew to Greek in c. BC 150. Because we do not possess the Hebrew originals of the Deuterocanonical or 'second-canon texts,' they have been described as Apocryphal or 'hidden,' 'veiled,' for the Hebrew original texts are as yet unknown. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Apostles and the earliest Christians read and used the Septuagint Old Testament in its koinetic Greek form, and so would have used the Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical books contained in them as part of Holy Scripture. The earliest Christian councils canonised these books and recognised them as part of the Old Testament, culminating in the modern use found in the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, as well as in Anglicanism. However, the Apostolic Churches have long made a distinction between the character of the Hebrew books and the Greek books, seeing the latter as more instructive and formational in nature, rather than doctrinal or dogmatic.

The Anglican and Eastern Orthodox Churches, sister Churches in the Apostolic Tradition, have achieved full agreement on the matter. The Moscow Agreed Statement of the Anglican and Orthodox Churches in 1956 asserts, 'the Conference agreed that the Canon of Holy Scripture was the same for both Churches.'

In 1672 the Synodical Tome of the Council of Jerusalem gives the Orthodox view that the Anaginoskomena (books which may be read) can be described as good and edifying, and are not to be rejected completely. This accords completely with Anglican Article VI.

The Bonn Conference of Anglicans, Old Catholics and Orthodox in 1874, however, referring to these books as Apocryphal or Deuterocanonical, did not consider that they enjoyed the same canonicity as the books in the Hebrew Canon.

In the 'Conditions of Intercommunion' offered by the Anglicans to the Orthodox in 1921, the Anglicans stated that these books are called either Deuterocanonical or Anaginoskomena or Apocryphal, and that our Church accepts the teaching about them given by Saint Athanasius and Saint Jerome, echoed in Article VI. This statement, with the term Apocryphal removed, was accepted almost word for word by the 1931 Anglican-Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission in the second article of its Report.

The same unanimity was also shown at the 1956 Moscow Theological Conference, when it was declared by both sides that: 'Both Churches also accepted the uncanonical books, not as inspired by God, but as being useful and instructive.' But here, 'there was some difference between the speakers in their emphasis on the character of the inspiration of Holy Scripture, and on the measure of the human element in it.' This statement neatly summarises the Anglican position on the Apocrypha, which is considered by us an essential part of the Old Testament Canon; a Bible, thus, without the Apocrypha, is incomplete. Although the Apocryphal books may not be inspired by the Holy Ghost in the same way the Protocanonical texts are, they are considered an irreplaceable component of the biblical Canon - for they offer key instruction in the living of the Christian life and in the formation of Christian moral and ethical behaviour. Lex orandi, lex credendi: the Apocrypha is also an essential feature of the Book of Common Prayer liturgy; its hymns are sung as canticles in the Morning Office of the American Book, and the 1943 American Office lectionary includes several books of the Deuterocanonical tradition in the readings for Daily Morning and Evening Prayer throughout the Christian year. The BCP would be incomplete without the Apocrypha as well...

The Anglican doctrine of the sufficiency of Holy Scripture is fully in accordance with the teaching of Saint Athanasius and Saint Augus­tine: 'We believe that Holy Scripture contains all things necessary to salvation.' The Anglican Church professes this faith in the following phraseology: 'Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any that it should be believed as an Article of the Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.'

The Eastern Orthodox express the corresponding teaching of their own Church based on the words of Saint Basil the Great. 'Holy Scripture is fulfilled, clarified, and interpreted by Holy Tradition.' A joint Anglican-Orthodox declaration joins the views in harmony: 'everything necessary for salvation can be found in Holy Scripture as completed, expounded, interpreted, and understood in the Holy Tradition, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit residing in the Church.'

This statement was accepted as it stands by the Doctrinal Committee of Romanian Orthodox and Anglicans in Bucharest in 1935 in the fifth article of their Report. At Moscow in 1956 it was stated jointly that 'Holy Scripture is explained and completed in the light of Tradition.' This has long been the Anglican position, which emphasises the unity of Scripture, Tradition and Church: 'the Church to teach, the Bible to prove.' The old Anglican adage is 'the Bible and the Primitive Church.'

The Anglicans and Eastern Orthodox both proclaim: ‘By Scripture, we mean the Canon of Scripture as it is defined by Saint Athanasius and as it has been received by the whole Catholic Church.’

Bishop Business and Basics

In the wake of the recent controversy over the Sacred Order of Bishops unnecessarily unleashed by the Church of England on the world media, two most interesting articles have arisen online from diametrically opposite perspectives.

In one hand, a simply daft writer for the Guardian intentionally disfigures the teaching of Holy Scripture and two-thousand years of universal Christian tradition and calls for the elimination of the episcopate altogether (he will soon be getting his wish where the Church of England is concerned).

On the other hand, segments of a Christian sectarian religious movement founded in opposition to the sacred hierarchy and Holy Orders are moving back towards Scripture and Tradition, and in some places, are recapturing at least the outward form and titular style of the episcopate, if not its sacramental reality.

Let us be reminded of the Sacred Scriptures and what they teach:

Bishops: the word Bishop, episkopos in Greek, means 'overseer' or 'supervisor', and refers to those men ordained by the Apostles to be their Successors and to govern the local Churches they founded...

Philippians 1.1
Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the BISHOPS and deacons:

1 Timothy 3.1-2
This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a BISHOP, he desireth a good work. A BISHOP then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;

Titus 1.7
For a BISHOP must be blameless, as the steward of God; not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;

On the General Synod of the Church of England

A very personal note:

By now, avid, attentive and even curious readers of the internet and blogosphere are keenly aware of what has transpired over the past five days in the deliberations of the General Synod of the Church of England recently held in York: the Synod rejected by five votes in the House of Clergy an amendment to the legislation for the proposed 'consecration' of female bishops submitted by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York which would have created necessary accommodations for traditional Anglicans in the wake of the innovation. 'Co-ordinate jurisdiction,' or a new incarnation of provincial episcopal visitors, would have been established to provide pastoral care, sacramental assurance and ministry in unbroken apostolic succession for those orthodox traditionalists who in conscience can only accept the received practice and teaching of the historic Catholic Church. But that measure was defeated, and with it, the original legislation for the authorisation of female bishops was approved and sent to the Dioceses of the Church of England for discussion before a new General Synod votes on the proposed legislation in eighteen months. By February 2014, barring the failure of ultimate passage by the General Synod, a new form of order and ministry, contrary to the received Apostolic tradition and practice of the Catholic Church for two-thousand years, will be introduced into the C of E. Gone will be, in the fulness of time, the historic episcopate, and the historic deposit of faith, transmitted by the Apostles to their successors in the English Church from the mists of antiquity.

In light of these developments, I wish to offer an earnest and heartfelt plea to those orthodox Anglo-Catholics now agonising and distressed over what has occurred: if you cannot accept the theological claims of the Roman Catholic Church or the position of the Eastern Orthodox Churches, please give the most intense and prayerful consideration to the Churches of the Continuing Anglican Tradition. There continues a true and genuine home for you in Anglicanism, a loving, supportive, vibrant and growing family awaiting you and eager to receive the gift of yourselves and your spiritual vocation and charisms. There is yet an Anglicanism, scriptural, patristic, orthodox, traditional, sacramental, liturgical, Eucharistic, in which one may achieve one's calling to love, serve, adore and proclaim Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of Creation, Head and Priest of the Body and Lord of the Church. There is a living, viable option for orthodox Anglican Catholics who wish to remain Anglican as well as Catholic. I know this because I have experienced the pilgrimage in my own life. Please be assured of the prayers of thousands of orthodox Continuing Anglicans in this country and around the world for their beloved brothers and sisters in England who must now make terribly difficult decisions about their ecclesiastical future. You have brethren in Christ who love you and stand with you in this time of great pain and grief. Anglicanism lives! And it offers continuity and spiritual fulfillment to all those who seek to remain children of the Ecclesia Anglicana. Please do consider it - for the time of exodus has come.

God bless you and Our Lady keep you!

Bishop Lindsay Urwin on the Church of England

Bishop Lindsay Urwin OGS, Administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, offers on YouTube the single best summary to date on the current state of the Church of England and in particular the plight of traditional Catholics in that communion. Bishop Lindsay's presentation in three videos is magnificently charitable, thoughtful, eloquent.. and direct. How splendid indeed to hear straight-talk from a Bishop in the Church of England! The situation for orthodox traditionalists in the Established Church is especially dire, as the General Synod continues its relentless push towards the innovation of a new synthetic ministry of female bishops for the C of E this month. Please pray for Bishop Lindsay, a true pastor of souls, the beloved Shrine of Our Lady, and all orthodox Catholics remaining in the Church of England.

De consecratione electi in Episcopum

Deo volente, the Most Reverend Walter Howard Grundorf, with the assistance of his co-consecrators, will consecrate yours truly to the Sacred Order of Bishops for service as Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese of the Eastern United States of the Anglican Province of America on Ember Saturday, 18th September 2010 at Saint Alban's Anglican Cathedral in Oviedo, Florida.

Please pray for the Province, Diocese and us as plans and organisation proceed apace. God bless you!

UPDATE: The Consecration Mass will be celebrated at 11am.

A Neo-Anglican Take on Eastern Orthodoxy

'With their insufficient view of the extent and effect of the fall on human nature and their resulting soteriological deficiencies, I am not at all interested in a rapprochement with the Orthodox (especially after Metropolitan Jonah's characterization of Calvinism as heresy at last year's synod).'

A quote from the website Stand Firm regarding the recent decision of the Anglican Church in North America to eliminate the use of the controverted filioque clause when occasion should arise for the ACNA and Eastern Orthodox to worship together - Metropolitan Jonah rightly and correctly rejected Calvinism as 'a condemned heresy' in his remarks to the ACNA meeting in Bedford, Texas held in 2009.

Traditional Anglo-Catholics, who affirm the orthodox soteriology of the Holy Scriptures, the Holy Fathers of the Church and the Ecumenical Councils in opposition to Calvinist error, would beg His Beatitude, and the Orthodox Church in America, to turn their gaze towards us in the Continuing Church for the purpose of establishing a viable dialogue with those Anglicans who share essential dogmatic agreement with the Eastern Orthodox in this matter and who heartily and genuinely desire rapprochement with the Orthodox Church.

Examining Chaplains Report at Synod 2010

When you see the Lord offered and lying upon the altar, and the priest bent over that sacrifice praying, and all the people empurpled by that precious blood, can you think that you are still among men on earth? Or are you not lifted up to heaven? When you see a priest offering the sacrifice, do not think of it as if it were he that is doing this; it is the hand of Christ invisibly stretched forth. For the priestly office is indeed discharged on earth, but it ranks amongst heavenly ordinances; and very naturally so: for neither man, nor angel, nor archangel, nor any other created power, but the Paraclete Himself, instituted this vocation, and persuaded men while still abiding in the flesh to represent the ministry of angels. Wherefore the consecrated priest ought to be as pure as if he were standing in the heavens themselves in the midst of those powers.

Immortal words from Saint John Chrysostom, the Golden-Mouthed Hierarch, regarding the responsibility of the Board of Examining Chaplains, the Priesthood of Jesus Christ. With these awe-inspiring words in mind, it continues to be my greatest privilege to serve as Chairman of the Board and to present once again this year this report to the Diocesan Synod. I am profoundly grateful to the Bishop for the confidence and trust he has continually placed in me by assigning me to this task, and I pray that I have in the past year discharged this humbling charge with fidelity and enthusiasm.

At this time, I wish to thank the other Examining Chaplains of the Diocese, who sacrifice much of their personal time and effort in the essential work of this unparalleled body. Working with them is the highest privilege one could have in the Church, and I remain in awe of their wisdom and their commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We have these Reverend Fathers to thank for the superlative standards now in place in our Diocese for the formation of Priests, Deacons and Deaconesses for the twenty-first century. I have never seen a more splendid group of dedicated and hard-working priests: Father David Eastes of Saint Alban’s Cathedral; Dean Douglas King of Saint Paul’s Church, Melbourne, Florida; Father Michael Ward of Saint Mark’s Church, Vero Beach, Florida; and Father Raymond Unterburger of Saint Alban’s Church, Joppa, Maryland. Additionally, we are grateful for Deaconess Tina Jenkins, who assists us in Deaconess formation. It continues to be a joyful blessing for all the Examining Chaplains to serve the Church and Diocese in this ministry, and we again thank the Bishop for our appointment. We pray fervently for Dean Douglas King, who has recently been diagnosed with a serious medical condition. Please continue to keep Father Douglas in your prayers and intercessions.

Since last Synod, one man was ordered to the Sacred Order of Deacons, and one man received conditional ordination to the Diaconate and to the Sacred Order of Priests.

The following men are now Priests of the Diocese: Father David F. Coady received ordination sub conditione to the Diaconate and Priesthood. Father John M. Gibson of Vaughn, Mississippi and Father James Murphy of Christ Church, Cashiers, North Carolina, were canonically received into the Diocese and Province under Canon 10. Father Nicholas Henderson will be canonically restored to our Diocese and Province in future.

Father Paul Rivard of Saint Barnabas Church, Dunwoody, Georgia is now a Deacon in the Church of God. Father Jacob Boyd Baker of Saint Alban’s Cathedral was canonically received into the Diocese and Province under Canon 10 as a Deacon.

Currently and resplendently, there are 17 persons enrolled in the diocesan ministry process, from two in the beginning application mode to others who fall into different stages on the way to approval for Orders. We should be utterly grateful to God for the unabated increase of vocations in our Diocese. Let us continue to pray for a rich harvest of vocations to the Sacred Ministry of the Holy Catholic Church and let us beseech the Lord for truly holy, good and godly Priests and Deacons.

In 2007 we received approval from the Bishop and Diocesan Standing Committee to expand over time the current technology at our disposal for the creation of the Diocese of the Eastern United States House of Theological Studies. This virtual seminary now serves as a training institute for the Diocese in which the training process for ordinands is formalised according to our own standards. A legal corporation was created for the structure and organisation of the House; Dean Douglas King serves as administrator/president of the corporation. We are in the process of formally producing another six courses, Canon Law, Dogmatic Theology, Liturgics, Ascetical Theology, Moral Theology and Anglican Church History which we wish to make available on Webex and in print for the seminarians and clergy of the Diocese. Each course is 12 or 13 hours each, and will ultimately together provide a minimum of 84 class hours of Anglican formation for the student. We have assigned instructors for each course: the content, policies, teachers and texts for the courses and the House in general are determined by the consensus of the Examining Chaplains, which serves to supervise all aspects of the House under the authority of the Bishop. The House was inaugurated in the autumn of 2009 with our first course in Sacramental Theology, which was successfully completed in January 2010. Six students joined Father Douglas and me for the course, for which I was delighted to serve as instructor. The Diocesan House of Theological Studies is now a reality.

At the Spring 2009 Meeting of the Board of Examining Chaplains, it was decided by consensus that in future, beginning as soon as the DEUS-HTS is fully operational and all foundational courses are in place, all seminarians of the Diocese who offer themselves for priestly ordination will be required to receive one academic year of courses and formation through the Diocesan House of Theological Studies in order that they may be provided orthodox Anglican training in the essentials areas which are rarely afforded in conventional seminaries. Seminarians will be permitted to enter a two-year master’s level theological degree programme, which then must be complemented and fulfilled by the year of Anglican formation through our own House of Studies. Seminarians are still permitted to enter the three-year Master of Divinity degree programme in a conventional seminary, but will also be required the year of Anglican formation before canonical examination.

Also in 2007, we received approval for the official sponsorship of an Annual Seminarians' Support Sunday for the entire Diocese and designated for it the Second Sunday in Advent, Bible Sunday, a most appropriate time of the year to solicit financial support for our men and women. Monies collected that day are sent from all parishes and missions to the Diocesan Treasurer for the Diocesan Seminarian Fund. As a result of your generosity and contributions, the total Diocesan Fund has reached $18,651. The Brian Carlsson Memorial Fund for Seminarians has reached $2,292.

Over the past year, the Examining Chaplains have enjoyed the opportunity of working with a number of men and women in varying stages of formation. Michael Cawthon of Saint Michael the Archangel Church, Charlotte, North Carolina continues the Reformed Theological Seminary virtual campus Master of Arts in Religion programme. Matthew Harlow of Saint Michael the Archangel Church, Charlotte, North Carolina attends the Reformed Theological Seminary virtual campus. Richard Hitchcock of Saint Barnabas Church, Dunwoody, Georgia continues his formation programme for the permanent Diaconate. Jewel Kennington of Saint Barnabas Dunwoody continues her preparation for the Deaconess ministry. Linda Moritz of Saint Mary’s Church, Delray Beach, Florida has reactivated her status as a candidate for the Deaconess ministry. Arthur Walker of Saint Michael the Archangel Church, Charlotte, North Carolina is enrolled in the Master of Arts in Theology track through the Distance Learning programme of the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.

Allen Bailey of Saint Francis’ Church, Kissimmee, Florida, Robert Shoup of the Appalachian Deanery and Bartol Stone of Saint Alban’s Cathedral are now engaged in the discernment process of the Diocese.

At our official Synod meeting held Monday 7th June and Tuesday 8th June here in Orlando, Florida, we recommended, upon canonical examination, Father Donald Sackett of Saint Matthew’s Church, Weaverville, North Carolina for ordination to the Sacred Priesthood; we recommended Scott Koszalinski of Saint Mary the Virgin Church, Delray Beach, Florida, for Postulancy for Holy Orders; and we enjoyed a pastoral update conference with Father Paul Rivard, who will be priested, Deo volente, at Saint Barnabas Church, Dunwoody, Georgia on 3rd July.

All Rectors and Vicars are reminded that they should have on file copies of the Diocesan Application for Ministry with its cover pages which provide the sequence of procedures for those contemplating a vocation to Holy Orders in this Church. These materials are available for you in an electronic format.

On a personal note, please remember that all members of the Diocese and Province, clergy and lay, are most welcome to contact me at any time regarding any questions or comments concerning the Board of Examining Chaplains and our work. I am at your perpetual disposal to provide whatever you may need from the Board for the formation and training of our future clergy. ‘Chad Jones University’ is always open for you!

Dear Bishop Grundorf, thank you for your loving and ongoing support of our work, and thank you, beloved members of the Synod, for your time and kind attention.

God bless you!

Respectfully submitted:

The Reverend Canon Chandler Holder Jones, SSC, Chairman

Female 'Deacons' for Nigeria?

It appears that the new Archbishop of Nigeria, His Grace Nicholas Oko, has proposed the introduction of the purported ordination of women to the Diaconate for the Church of Nigeria (Anglican Communion). Heretofore, the Nigerian Church has been entirely orthodox in the maintenance of the male character of all three Sacred Orders of the Apostolic Ministry, on the basis of which the Anglican Province of America has enjoyed a 'covenant union' with the said Nigerian Church. One only need observe the history of the Church in the United States to know that the introduction of the purported female Diaconate from 1970 to 1973 astonishingly accelerated the 'slippery slope' of error which led to ultimate collapse of orthodoxy in The Episcopal Church. Let us pray that the Nigerian Church will not choose this domino effect, but will remain steadfast in Apostolic Order.

Election to the Sacred Episcopate of Christ's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

With praise to Almighty God and thanks to His people in the Holy Catholic Church in the Diocese of the Eastern United States of the Anglican Province of America, and depending entirely upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, I am humbled and overwhelmed to announce my election to the Sacred Order of Bishops, to serve as Bishop Suffragan of the Diocese. Of your Christian charity, I beg your prayers for my family and me. Lord, have mercy. God bless you all!

May Jesus Christ be praised - and may all be to His glory and honour.

DEUS Synod 2010

Of your Christian charity, please pray for the gathering of the annual Synod of the Diocese of the Eastern United States of the Anglican Province of America, to be held from Wednesday 9th June to Friday 11th June in Oviedo, Florida. Please especially pray for our Diocesan family as it elects our new Bishop Suffragan.

Thank you and God bless you!

Chad+

The Body and Blood of Christ

Immediately after the first Pentecost, the disciples of the Lord Jesus ‘continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers’ (Acts of the Apostles 2.42); from that day to this, the Church of Christ has never ceased to follow the teaching of the Apostles and to break bread in the divine Communion of our fraternal charity every Sunday. This action is what we now call the Holy Communion, or the Eucharist. The pattern we use for the celebration of the Eucharist is a part of Apostolic Tradition, and conforms to apostolic practice, the common source of all orthodox liturgical rites, including the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. This Apostolic Tradition of the Eucharist forms the core of our worship, and therefore, of our doctrine and saving faith. At the heart of the Gospel are found the Holy Mysteries of the Altar. The Blessed Sacrament is the quintessence of the Christian Religion. Holy Communion is the Gospel!

The Holy Communion is the supreme act of thanksgiving of the New Testament. It is the commemoration of all that God the Son did for us, beginning with His action on the eve of His Passion and Death at the Last Supper. The Prayer of Consecration, or Canon, possesses the account of the Institution of the Eucharist - it recapitulates the Words of Our Lord: THIS IS MY BODY, THIS IS MY BLOOD. We obey the command to ‘do this in remembrance of me,’ as we offer the anamnesis, the re-presentation, of Christ. We commemorate His blessed Passion and precious Death, His mighty Resurrection and glorious Ascension, until His coming again. The Eucharist is the ultimate sacramental manifestation of everything that Jesus Christ has done, is doing, and will do for us men and for our salvation. It was given by Our Lord Himself – the Lord’s Own Service on the Lord’s Day.

This commemoration is not merely an intellectual or cognitive act. Christ commands: ‘do this in remembrance of me.’ What did he do? He took bread and wine, representing the sacrifice which He was about to make of His own Body and Blood on the Cross, and offered them to God the Father. He declared them to be His own Body and Blood, and so they became. In obedience to Christ’s command, we do the same, ‘with these thy holy gifts, which we now offer unto thee.’ We offer the Holy Gifts to God. The Eucharist is the supreme offering of the Church, the Church’s Sacrifice, in which the Body and Blood of Christ in the form of bread and wine are offered to the Father, making-present Christ’s all-acceptable and perfect Sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Although it is the priest who elevates the host and chalice before God, it is the people, the Church as a whole, who give thanks to God in this action and by it are united to the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

The Eucharist is also an ongoing Pentecost, a continual disclosure of the Trinitarian Godhead, a prolonged Incarnation of the Word through the Spirit. In the epiclesis, or Invocation of the Word and Holy Spirit of the Father upon the forms of bread and wine, material things are opened to the Holy Spirit and made vehicles of divine life. The Holy Ghost comes to seal and accomplish the Mystery. The bread and wine offered by the Church become the Body and Blood offered by Christ on the Cross through the operation of the Holy Ghost: ‘for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you’ (Saint John 16.14). It is the Holy Ghost Who actualises the Words of Christ from the Last Supper until now.

The bread truly becomes the Body of Christ; the wine truly becomes the Blood of Christ. The Church’s Sacrifice is consumed by the heavenly Fire and made the offering of Christ to the Father in the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who hovered over the face of the waters in Creation (Genesis 1.2), who overshadowed the Blessed Virgin Mary on the Annunciation causing the Eternal Word to be conceived in her spotless womb (Saint Luke 1.35), and who descended on the Church at Pentecost (Acts of the Apostles 2) now makes present Christ’s Sacrifice in the Church’s Liturgy. The Word and Holy Spirit make the congregation the Body of Christ by the offering and receiving of the Body of Christ. Communion with mere bread and wine would be ineffectual were the Gifts not transformed into the Body and Blood of Christ by the Holy Ghost. As we pray for the Holy Ghost to descend upon the offered gifts, we pray, too, that we may be transformed. The Church asks the Holy Ghost to change the bread and wine so that we may be ‘partakers of His most blessed Body and Blood,’ filled with His grace and heavenly benediction, and made one body with Christ, that he may dwell in us, and we in him – thus, united to one another in the communion of the Holy Spirit, we become the Church, just like the earliest Christians at the first Pentecost.

On the Thursday following Trinity Sunday, orthodox Anglicanism celebrates the ancient feast of the Blessed Sacrament known as Corpus Christi, the Festival of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Western Church instituted this feast in AD 1264 in order to provide us with a specific day in the liturgical year on which we may, with unique concentration and attention, offer to God our thanksgiving for the gift of one of the central tenets of the Catholic Faith, the Objective Presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ under the form of bread and wine – the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Saint Thomas Aquinas, that greatest of medieval theologians, the Angelic Doctor, wrote the collects, prayers and hymns for this beautiful celebration. As our English Catechism succinctly describes this wondrous gift of the Real Presence: ‘The Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper.’ On this feast, the Church bids us follow the admonition of Saint Augustine of Hippo: ‘It was in His flesh that Christ walked among us and it is His flesh that He has given us to eat for our salvation. No one, however, eats of this flesh without having first adored it, and not only do we not sin in thus adoring it, but we would sin if we did not do so.’

Our beloved Saviour is the Eucharistic Lord – under the veils of bread and wine is contained, really, truly and objectively, after priestly consecration, the One Divine Person of Jesus Christ, very God and very Man, in the totality of His divinity and humanity, the Incarnate Redeemer of mankind. The instruction of Saint Augustine to the newly-baptised on Easter reverberates and echoes the truth proclaimed on our Feast of the Body of Christ: ‘For you must know what it is you have received, what it is you are about to receive, what it is you should receive every day. This Bread you see on the Altar, consecrated by the word of God, is Christ’s Body. This Chalice, or rather, what the Chalice holds, is Christ’s Blood. By them, Christ the Lord wishes to bestow on us His Body and Blood, which He shed for you unto the remission of sins. If you have received them worthily, you are what you have received. For the Apostle says, “for we, being many, are one bread, one body; all that partake of the one bread.” So did he explain the Mystery of the Lord’s Table. Great indeed are the Holy Mysteries and very great. And when you have received, and have eaten, and have consumed the Body of Christ, is the Body of Christ then consumed? Is the Church of Christ consumed? Are the members of Christ consumed? Far from it! Here they are made clean: there they are crowned. What is here made known to us will remain forever, though it seems to pass away…’ In the Eucharist, the Body of Christ is truly presented and given so that in adoring and receiving the Body of Christ, we become the Body of Christ. The Eucharist makes the Church. The Incarnate Body of Christ becomes the Eucharistic Body of Christ to make us the Mystical Body of Christ. Let us render thanks to God for the inestimable gift of the Eucharist!

In the month of June, dedicated to the Blessed Sacrament in such a sublime way, our portion of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Holy Catholic Church in the Diocese of the Eastern United States, gathers for her annual Diocesan Synod in Oviedo, Florida from Wednesday 9th June to Friday 11th June; please pray for the successful and fruitful deliberations of this most important assembly, especially as it elects our next Bishop Suffragan. We look forward to giving you a full report on the activities and decisions of this year’s Diocesan Synod upon its completion.

The Anglican Mission in the Americas withdraws from full membership in the Anglican Church of North America

The AMIA, the largest constituent body once comprising the new Anglican Church in North America, has relegated itself to 'Ministry Partner' status.

Could this action signal the beginning of the disintegration of ACNA, thus repeating the disunion of the post-1976 Continuing Churches?

The AMIA reinvented its purported ordination of women to the priesthood for the United States on 15th May 2010 in Plano, Texas.

Father Emmett H. Dobbs, Junior - RIP

Of your Christian charity, pray for the repose of the priestly soul of the Reverend Father Emmett H. Dobbs, Junior, who entered eternal life on Sunday 16th May 2010, the Sunday after Ascension Day. Father Dobbs, ordained to the Sacred Priesthood on Lady Day 2006, was a beloved friend and a thoroughly-committed Anglican Catholic.




Rest eternal grant unto him, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

No Words Necessary

ACNA and Women's 'Ordination'

'Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.'

The latest news report from VirtueOnline... which concludes with these words: 'The ordination of women to the priesthood will continue to simmer just beneath the surface of the new North American Anglican province and unless, in time, it is not fully resolved, it will erupt, bringing about its downfall.'

Truer words have never been written. What orthodox Continuing Anglicans have most feared concerning the sacramental and structural ambiguity of the Anglican Church in North America is already beginning to transpire. The heresy of the purported ordination of women already threatens to divide a jurisdiction which was only officially organised in December 2008. The errors which sundered the Lambeth Anglican Communion are being replicated in ACNA - potentially (and inevitably?) with the same result. Let us pray for those who seek to proclaim and preserve the Catholic Faith in that situation.

Whitsunday: The Fulfilled Promise

In Traditional Anglicanism, the great Feast of the Holy Ghost, Pentecost, is usually referred to by its ancient moniker Whitsunday, so named because on this day, in celebration of the gift of that birth from above conveyed by the Holy Spirit in the font of Baptism, candidates would receive the laver of regeneration attired in white clothing. ‘White Sunday’ refers to the mystery of Baptism, conferred on the feast of the Descent of God the Holy Ghost on the Holy Catholic Church, and to the purity of the souls and the very clothing of the bodies of those who are born again of water and the Spirit (St John 3.5). The ancient festival of Pentecost originates in the Old Testament. It was celebrated by the ancient Israelites to commemorate the giving of the Old Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. In that celebration, God made a solemn covenant with His chosen people while a thanksgiving feast for the new harvest (Exodus 23.16) and the first-fruits of the earth (Numbers 28.26) was rendered to the Lord.

The old feast of Pentecost (‘fifty’) was solemnised at the culmination of seven weeks, on the fiftieth day after Passover. The Old Testament calls it the Feast of Weeks (Deuteronomy 16.9-10). Like all of the other feasts of the Old Covenant, Pentecost is fulfilled in Our Lord Jesus Christ: on the day of the revelation of the Mosaic Law, fifty days after the glorious Resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the Holy Ghost descended on the Blessed Mother of the Lord, the Apostles and the disciples of the New Covenant in accordance with and in fulfilment of the promise of Our Divine Lord (St John 14.26). The descent of the Holy Ghost brings to perfection the achievement of the New Covenant which God thereby established with the New Israel of God – the Catholic and Apostolic Church. On the new Pentecost, Whitsunday, the New Law of Grace, the love, life and power of the Holy Spirit, replaces the old statutes and ordinances of the law of Sinai (Jeremiah 31.31-34, Acts of the Apostles 2.1-11). The Holy Ghost constitutes the new chosen People of God, the new and spiritual Israel (Galatians 6.11-18), the royal, priestly, prophetic Body of Christ, the new Temple of God’s elect and consecrated family (I St Peter 2.4-10).

The mystery of Whitsunday unveils for us the truth that the Three Persons of the Undivided Trinity differ from one another in their manifestation to the Church, although all Three always act as one in relation to us. The Father does all things through the Son in the Holy Ghost. The Son is the One through whom we know the Father and through whom the Holy Ghost is sent. The Spirit, the Life-Giver, proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son, and in us, the sons in the Son.

On Pentecost, as the Holy Ghost descends on the earliest Church, we behold the revelation of the Trinity in His fulness. The Holy Ghost culminates God’s self-revelation; the Third Person of the Trinity is the final fulfilment of Christ’s promise, as God is revealed as Love, as Trinity. Now, because of this pentecostal Day, we know the true and living only God, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity. The sanctifying grace of the Spirit, Who proceeds from the Father through the Son, discloses to us that which we could not know except by divine revelation: the Holy Trinity, Three Persons in One Substance, undivided in essence and yet distinct in Persons. The central dogmatic truth of the orthodox Christian Faith is finally revealed, finally given by God. ‘When we say God, we mean Father, Son and Holy Ghost’ (Saint Gregory Nazianzus). As the Trinity was revealed to our bodily senses at Our Lord’s Baptism, when the Son stood in the Jordan River as the Father spoke and the Spirit in the form of a dove descended, so now on Pentecost, the grace of the Holy Ghost descends on us, who were redeemed by the Son, enlightening our whole being and causing us to participate in the divine life of the Father. At Pentecost, we become Trinitarian; we become ‘partakers of the divine nature’ (II St Peter 1.4); we are made capable of becoming by grace what God is by nature. Now we have the capacity to see God, to enter His Kingdom, to life in His Life. We are swept up into the divine Love of the One Who is Three, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. In the descent of the Holy Spirit upon us, we realise in ourselves the promise and prophecy of all Scripture: ‘The Son of God became the Son of Man so that the sons of men may become the sons of God.’

For orthodox Anglicans, the feast of Whitsunday holds particular importance in that the first Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England was promulgated on Pentecost, 9th June 1549, in the second year of the reign of King Edward VI. From this Liturgy, the first of its kind in the English language, derive all the orthodox Books of Common Prayer of the Anglican Tradition. This incomparable vernacular Liturgy, which brought about a truly pentecostal renewal in the spiritual, theological and prayer life of the English Church, remains for ever the highest standard of orthopraxy, doctrinal truth, beauty, dignity, reverence and sublimity to which all subsequent Anglican Liturgies since have aspired. For Catholic Anglicans, the Book of Common Prayer continues to serve as the foremost repository and compendium of Holy and Apostolic Tradition, which is the living memory of the Church, the Life of the Holy Spirit leading and guiding the Spirit-possessed Body of Christ into all truth (St John 16.13-14, II Thessalonians 2.15). The Prayer Book is our teaching office, our magisterium. At Saint Barnabas, we shall commemorate the 461st anniversary of the issue of our mother Liturgy with a celebration of the Holy Communion on the Vigil of Pentecost, Saturday 22nd May, at 8pm. We shall use this venerable Liturgy of the 1549 English Prayer Book. Please join us!

COME, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
And lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
Who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart
Thy blessed unction from above,
Is comfort, life, and fire of love.
Enable with perpetual light
The dulness of our blinded sight.
Anoint and cheer our soiled face
With the abundance of thy grace.
Keep far our foes, give peace at home;
Where thou art guide, no ill can come.
Teach us to know the Father, Son,
And thee, of both, to be but One;
That, through the ages all along,
This may be our endless song:
Praise to thy eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

The Anglican and Catholic Faith in a Nutshell

'The cardinal points of faith which formed the doctrinal backbone of the English Church Union were the Holy and Undivided Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement, the Descent into Hell, the Resurrection, Ascension, and the second coming of Christ to judge the world, the Procession of the Holy Spirit, Baptismal regeneration, the gift of the Holy Spirit in Confirmation, the Real Presence of Christ under the form of bread and wine, the memorial sacrifice of the Holy Eucharist, frequent Holy Communion, the pardon and absolution of sin in private confession, the Communion of Saints, the resurrection of the body, the salvation of the good and the condemnation of the bad, everlasting life, Apostolic Succession, the reality and sacrificial nature of the priesthood, the power of the Keys, the inspiration of Holy Scripture and for its interpretation, recourse and appeal to the testimony of the early and undivided Church, respect for and the implementation of Church discipline, and Canon Law.'

From Defend and Maintain: A History of the Church Union 1859-2009 by Philip Corbett and William Davage

Polish National Catholic Orders

Does any theologian or historian know precisely in what year the See of Rome formally and officially recognised the validity of Holy Orders conferred in the Polish National Catholic Church? Where may such documentation be found?


Over the past year, leading up to and after the promulgation of Anglicanorum Coetibus by the Roman Communion, there has been much internet discussion about the role Old Catholic Infusion may or may not play in the absolute or conditional ordination of former Anglican clergy who convert to the Latin Church. Recently I heard an anecdotal story given in a lecture in which it was claimed that Rome only recognised the validity of PNCC Orders after Anglicans who petitioned Rome for corporate reunion were initially told to have their Orders regularised by the PNCC, and yet at the time PNCC Orders were not yet officially recognised by Rome: it was asserted that three months after the dialogue between Vatican officials and Anglicans, the Roman Church declared PNCC Orders valid, ostensibly to achieve, in part, the facilitation of the regularisation of Anglican Orders and reunion with Rome. I cannot verify the accuracy of this story, and thus far I have been unable to locate more precise details or information.

The Theology of the Sacred Diaconate

Deacons of the Anglican Tradition are permitted to administer the Blessed Sacrament at Mass and to those who cannot attend the Eucharistic celebration in church; they may preach; they may baptise in the absence of a priest; they also bear the great responsibility of teaching and preaching the Gospel through catechesis and instruction of the young and converts to the Faith; deacons may teach Confirmation, enquirers' and Sunday school classes; they may teach classes on Holy Scripture, just as they proclaim the Scriptures in the liturgy of the Mass and Offices; they also possess the profound 'ministry of the Altar and of charity' - biblically and historically, deacons serve the needs of the poor and sick and function to collect and distribute the alms of the Church to those in need. In this respect, deacons uniquely represent the bishop as ministers of charity and mercy, and have so functioned since Apostolic times (Acts 6). In the liturgy, the deacon proclaims the Holy Gospel and traditionally administers the Chalice of Our Lord's Precious Blood. The role and ministry of the deacon in the Anglican Rite are succinctly summarised in the Ordinal (BCP 533).

Deacons of the modern Roman Rite, since the II Vatican Council and contrary to earlier Tradition, are today permitted to solemnise marriages and confer the nuptial blessing at such rites; they are permitted to bless persons, places and objects as the need may arise. However, modern Roman deacons are not permitted to administer the Sacrament of the Unction of the Sick: that sacrament, like the Holy Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance, depends on the grace of the sacerdotium, the sacramental priesthood, for a valid administration. It should be noted that neither traditional rite Roman deacons nor Eastern Orthodox deacons are permitted to bless things and solemnise Matrimony, which actions are entirely novel and were only introduced by Vatican II, never before being part of the diaconal ministry as received from Christian antiquity. Deacons of the ancient Oriental Orthodox Churches follow the same pattern of ministry as the Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and traditional Latin Churches. The traditional Anglican form of the diaconate is that inherited from Apostolic Tradition and the practice of the undivided Catholic Church of the first millennium.

The deacon is in fact ordained to assist the episcopal or priestly celebrant at the altar and in the celebration of the Mysteries, because that ministry of service and servanthood is the essence of the charcater of the diaconate: the diakonos, servant, is conformed to the image of Jesus Christ the Deacon, Christ the Servant, by the sacramental ontological character of ordination. The Deacon is 'ordered' to the altar; he is admitted to the order of servanthood in the liturgical life of the Church and therefore mystically represents the Angels in heaven who attend to the eternal and divine Liturgy of the heavenly court. The New Testament deacon is the New Testament fulfillment and antitype of the Old Testament Levite, who was ordained to assist in the sacrifices and worship of the Old Testament sacramental system. An icon of the heavenly Ministers of the Altar, the angelic host, and the perfection of the Levitical ministry of sacrifice and offering, the Catholic and Apostolic deacon is consecrated to God by the Sacrament of Holy Orders to participate in the action of the Mass and to take his rightful place in the administration of the sacraments as a Minister, a servant and steward of the Mysteries of God. Deacons have administered the Chalice at Mass since Apostolic times, and in the primitive Church enjoyed a more prominent role in the celebration of Mass than that of the presbyterate: the priests as a council would be seated behind the altar, while the bishop celebrated at the altar with his deacons beside him, assisting the bishop in the offertory and the administration of Holy Communion. In the first four centuries, the bishop was always the chief celebrant of the Mass and the other sacraments in his region, the High Priest of the local Church; the deacons were his special and unique assistants in the liturgical action. Presbyters, priests of the second order of ministry, only came fully to share in the sacramental ministry of the bishop after the third century. But the unique and essential role of the deacon has always remained in tact. The deacon 'serves the Table of the Lord' (Acts 6.2) in an altogether primary and distinctive sense, by Apostolic institution. The deacon is associated with the sacramental ministry of the bishop and of the Church because that is his liturgical ministry given from the Apostles themselves.

Ordination is the conferral and reception of the commission and authority of Jesus Christ to act in His Name and Person, and of the grace to execute the ministry of the Church; a commission and authority to act as an authentic representative of Christ and His Church. Deacons receive through Apostolic Succession the grace of this commission and authority, a power given from the Apostles and conveyed by Apostolic hands in the episcopate. Thus, deacons are true Ministers of the Word and Sacraments of God, true Ministers of the Church of God, according to their specific Order conferred by diaconal ordination. The diaconate is the third sacred Order in the hierarchy constituted by Our Lord and the Apostles, a real sharing in the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Deacons take their place next to priests and bishops as participants in the Threefold Apostolic Ministry, a Ministry of divine institution and appointment.

Deacons may assist in the administration of the Chalice at Mass and may bear the Blessed Sacrament in both kinds to those who are unable to attend the Mass in church, but are strictly forbidden to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice according to the canons and decrees of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicea I (AD 325). Deacons do not possess the grace of priestly ordination and thus cannot validly consecrate the Mass.

The following is one of the earliest testimonies to the ordination of the deacon outside the New Testament, the Apostolic Tradition of Saint Hippolytus of Rome: note carefully what this record of AD 215 says about the theology of the Diaconate:

When one ordains a deacon, he is chosen according to what has been said above, with only the bishop laying on his hand in the same manner. In the ordination of a deacon, only the bishop lays on his hand, because the deacon is not ordained to the priesthood, but to the service of the bishop, to do that which he commands. For he is not part of the council of the clergy, but acts as a manager, and reports to the bishop what is necessary. He does not receive the spirit common to the presbyters, which the presbyters share, but that which is entrusted to him under the bishop's authority. This is why only the bishop makes a deacon. Upon the presbyters, the other presbyters place their hands because of a common spirit and similar duty. Indeed, the presbyter has only the authority to receive this, but he has no authority to give it. Therefore he does not ordain to the clergy. Upon the ordination of the presbyter he seals; the bishop ordains.

The bishop says this over the deacon:

O God, you who have created all and put it in order by your Word, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, whom you sent to serve by your will, and to manifest to us your desire, give the Holy Spirit of grace and earnestness and diligence to this your servant, whom you have chosen to serve your church and to offer up in holiness in your sanctuary that which is offered from the inheritance of your high priests, so that serving without reproach and in purity, he may obtain a higher degree, and that he may praise you and glorify you, through your son Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom to you be glory, and power, and praise, with the Holy Spirit, now and always, and throughout the ages of the ages. Amen.

A deacon may baptise in the absence of a priest because the validity of Holy Baptism does not depend on its administration by one in sacerdotal orders and character; its validity depends solely on the proper administration of the matter and form instituted by Our Lord Jesus Christ, to wit, water in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Because Baptism is generally necessary for salvation for all men (St John 3.5), Our Lord has instituted it in such a way that any person who intends seriously to administer the Sacrament of Holy Baptism may validly do so - because it is the rite itself, given by Christ, which effects the grace of the sacrament. Any baptised Christian, lay or ordained, may validly baptise in emergency, in extremis. But in order to maintain the regula fidei and the bene esse of the Church, her good order and canonical obedience to the Catholic Faith and Tradition, it is required where and when possible that one in Holy Orders, a duly ordained cleric of the Church, baptise. A deacon no less than a priest is an ordained representative of the Holy Catholic Church. A deacon possesses the indelible character of Holy Orders and thus sacramentally represents Jesus Christ, no less than a priest - only in a different manner according to a different grace of ordination. For a Baptism to be canonically regular and in accordance with the Church's ordering of her own life, a deacon, ordained for this purpose as a herald of the Gospel and a minister of the Word and Sacraments, should always preside if a priest cannot be present. Deacons are truly ordained.

For the reasons listed above, because the deacon is a true and sacramentally ordained minister of the Word and Sacraments according to his own full and complete order in the Church, he may in the absence of the priest celebrate the Liturgy of the Pre-Sanctified and administer the consecrated gifts of the Body and Blood of Christ to the faithful: he is ordered to the altar and has the commission and authority so to act, under the authority of the bishop and priest. Anglicans call this rite in the absence of the priest the 'Deacon's Mass,' a colloquial term for us; Roman Catholics call it a 'Communion service,' wherein the Eucharistic Elements are not consecrated but the Pre-Sanctified Gifts are offered in Holy Communion to the people. In the Orthodox Church, the Deacon's Mass is called the Deacon's Typika. All Catholic Churches have a form of service in which the deacon administers Holy Communion from the reserved Sacrament.

A deacon is not permitted to bless sacramentally persons, places or objects, even using holy water blessed by a priest, because the deacon does not possess the necessary character of Holy Orders to bless in the Name of Christ and the Church in a sacramental way. Bishops and priests possess the sacramental character of the sacerdotium, which entails the blessing of people, places and objects in the Name of Christ, thus conveying the blessing of Almighty God and of the Church in a sacramental action. Such ministry of blessing is an integral part of the ministry of the priesthood; priestly grace is required for one so to act in the Name and Person of Christ and the Church, in persona Christi capitis. Holy water is a sacramental of the Church, blessed by the Church to invigorate and encourage the faith of those who use it, but it is not a sacrament and does not convey grace in the manner of a sacrament. Sacramentals are aids to faith, meant to inspire devotion and drive away evil, but they do not have the nature of the sacraments themselves. Sacramental blessings, priestly blessings, are just that - they require a sacrament, in this case, the Sacramental Man, the 'walking sacrament' of the priest, to convey them. Now, of course, please let it be clearly understood that this fact of theology does not preclude the ability of any Christian to pray and to bless in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and all Christians should so pray and bless in the Lord's Name. Parents should bless their children; loved ones should bless their needy, their sick, the lonely and those in trouble; Christians should pray for one another and bless one another in the Name of Jesus. But the specific sacramental action of sacramental blessing is reserved in the Church's liturgical life to those endowed with the Spirit of the Priesthood, the Holy Ghost for the office and work of a Priest in the Church of God. (BCP 546, BCP 294).

All of the aforementioned also apply to the Sacrament of the Unction of the Sick, but even more so, because the Sacrament of Unction requires a bishop or priest for the valid administration of the sacrament by divine institution. Holy Scripture records the practice of the Sacrament of Unction from New Testament times: 'Is any among you sick? Let him call for the presbyters (priests) of the Church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the Name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith will save the sick man, and the Lord will raise him up; and if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven' (Saint James 5.14-15). Our Lord anticipated the practice of this sacrament by giving power to His Apostles (and their successors in the episcopate and priesthood) to administer healing to the sick by means of anointing them with oil: 'So they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them' (Saint Mark 6.13). Only bishops and priests may administer this Sacrament, as Saint James clearly teaches. A priest should administer Unction using holy oil blessed by a bishop for this purpose. The outward and visible sign is the anointing of a baptised Christian who is ill, by a priest, with oil blessed by a bishop. Typically, the oil is applied to the forehead, and sometimes to the hands or specific place of pain. The prayer is one for blessing and spiritual healing from God (BCP 320). The inward and spiritual grace is divine power, peace, strength and forgiveness of all sins. This sacramental economy was given by the Lord Jesus Christ to His Church.