From Global Partners of the APA

Dear Family in Christ,

I am writing to thank you all for your continued support of all our foreign churches and for your ongoing efforts during the Lenten Appeal. Below are three "Thank You" emails from our overseas churches. I think you will agree that we are making an impact and every dollar that you give and every prayer that you offer is being effective in the building of His kingdom in these places. The local populations are getting to witness Christianity in action thanks to your generous giving.

Please continue to pray for all of our foreign churches and our global partners and please remember their ongoing needs in your monthly giving.

Remembering that in all things, He is able, I remain faithfully yours,

Fr. David Haines

(Vicar General for Global Partnerships, APA)

From Haiti

Dear Father,

In the name of St. Yves Anglican Church and the Jacques Theodore Holly Institute, I want to take my time to thank you for your efforts. Every 25th of each month I have to answer to my obligations: nine teacher's salaries. Thanks to our affiliated churches I can respond and meet those obligations. Thank you all for your efforts. I just received your email announcing the wire transfer to St - Yves account. I will write to all the churches that donated to thank them for this wonderful gesture that deeply touched our heart.

May God bless your activities!

Wishing you all a most holy season of LENT!

Fr. Mews Guerrier

(Rector, St. Yves Anglican Church, Missionary Province of the Caribbean)

From India

Dear Father,

Greetings to you and your kind donors in the name of our LORD JESUS CHRIST.

Thank you for your kind help for our Kadapa Diocese and Prakasam Diocese. It is wonderful to receive our much needed support in the name of our GOD through people like you. Even though we don't know you and can't see you. I am very glad and pleased for your great help. My Priests and Bible women and church congregations are especially thankful for help. We always remember you daily in our prayers. Please even pray for us too. Thank you so much for your kind hearted gifts. Jesus Christ's blessings to you and all the donors.

Thanking you in Christ's Name,

Rt. Rev. Jaya Rao

(Diocese of Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, Anglican Church of India)

From the Philippines

Dear Father,

Greetings from the Philippines.

Thank you so much again for your generous support to the work in the Philippines. Your continuous prayers for us are such an encouragement to keep doing the work of God in the Philippines. At the start of this year, our Dumaguete mission had been affected by the storm and earthquake but most especially with the recent demise of our worker, Ptr. Moralde. Despite all these happenings, which we consider as our trials, we thank God that you continually stand with us in prayers and through your support.

May we continue to request your prayers as we are also asking God for a worker to be permanently assigned in our Dumaguete mission.

Again thank you and God bless.

Bishop Frederick Luis M. Belmonte and Eros

Anglican Church in the Philippines (Traditional)

Anglican Province of America Lenten Appeal Update

Dear Family in Christ,

I just wanted to give you all a quick update and remind you about the ongoing Lenten Appeal. I have heard so many good things from several parishes and wanted to thank you all for getting the word out and for encouraging all your members to participate. A number of churches have decided to send the proceeds from their Shrove Tuesday events to the Lenten Appeal. This is wonderful news!! Also, please encourage your church treasurers to forward any monies they have to our APA treasurer, D.J. Fulton. Please continue to pray for this province-wide effort.

Also, here is some news from our OM [Operation Mobilization] contact Henry Couser which I think you will all find very encouraging. He writes:

"I pray that all is well and that God continues to move in a powerful way in and through you. I wanted to follow up on the poultry project for Fr Mews. I realize there are many, many needs but I have a team interested in coming to Cap Haitien in July. Provided we can secure funding, they have agreed to come along side him and help to construct his first 10'x40' broiler house. They have also expressed interest in helping him with outreach into the community and possible Vacation Bible School."

This is truly an answer to prayer! We continue to covet your prayers for this venture, not only that we will be able to raise the funds we need to purchase the land but also that we might complete the transaction without long delays and complications.

Please continue to let me know about any exciting events that are occurring in your parishes with regard to the Lenten Appeal that I might share them with the rest of the churches. God bless you all for taking up this endeavor so enthusiastically. Please also continue to pray for all our foreign churches and global partners.

Remembering that in all things, He is able. I remain faithfully yours,

Fr. David Haines
Vicar General for Global Partnerships, APA

The Feast of Saint Chad of Lichfield

Almighty and eternal God, who makest us glad this day by the festival of blessed Chad, thy Confessor and Bishop: we humbly beseech thy mercy; that as we devoutly observe and reverence his solemnity, we may at his intercession obtain the reward of eternal life; 

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Anglican Province of America Global Partnership Update

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

First, I wanted to thank you all for your prayers and generous contributions over the past year for our foreign churches and global partners. Your efforts have meant that we have been able to faithfully support our ongoing efforts in India, the Philippines, and in Haiti.

Also, I wanted to take this opportunity to update you all on the progress that is taking place within our foreign churches and with our global partners. As you are aware,last year we were able to raise the funds to establish a Dalit Education Center in the Kadapa District of Andhra Pradesh, India. This school will be built with the help of Operation Mobilization and will be school number 105 of this type in India.

So far there have been six attempts to purchase suitable land in the area and so far none have been successful. Here is an excerpt from a letter outlining the most recent attempt:

I just got off the phone with the school management team. They said that during the month of December 2011, they found a suitable piece of land to buy in Kadapa and settled on a price with the land owner. They were in the process of making the deposit on the land (just a few days' time of getting paperwork in order, funds, etc.) and in that time, the land owner reneged on the offer and sold it immediately to someone who offered more money without coming back to us to let us counter offer! So now we're back to the drawing board. But since it's a new year, the two men on our side responsible for finding land to buy are on the job and they'll be going this weekend to look at more land to purchase.

That's the update for now. It's such a very complicated process.

That last line says it all! It is a very complicated process!

I know many of you may be concerned about a different Lenten Appeal this year when we still need to consider the ongoing support of the Dalit School. Since the land has not been purchased, the school has not been started and you may recall we raised sufficient funds to run the school for one year which means we will not need the additional funds until 2013. Please continue to pray for the efforts that are being made to get this project underway.

In the Philippines, Bishop Belmonte continues his search for suitable land on which to establish a training facility for his postulants and clergy. The money that was collected at last year's Synod is still in the bank and will be used as a down payment once a suitable site is found. In the meantime, many of you have given generously to both the program that is feeding the orphaned children in Dumaguete as well as to the goat program. Sister Marie Claire is now able to feed the children several days a week. The church and several of the parishioners now have 50 goats and we are arranging for training in the husbandry of these goats through our global partner, World Vision. Please continue to pray for the ongoing efforts in the Philippines.

Our recent visit to Haiti encouraged us to launch our Lenten Appeal and ask for your help in securing the future of the school there and to help them with a project that will help the Haitians provide the funds to run the school. 

Please continue to pray for all of our foreign churches and for our global partners. I also want to encourage you all to remember the ongoing operations in all of these regions. While we put out special appeals for major projects, the month to month costs of running these operations have to be covered as well. Our foreign church partners are still largely dependent on what we are able to send them each month to cover their operational expenses. The clergy and the churches are the ones involved in spreading God's Kingdom in these various places and we need to support them as fully as we are able. Thank you all for kindness and generosity towards these ongoing efforts.

If any parish would like to learn more about our ongoing foreign efforts or would like to receive a visit and hear a presentation from a member of our missions team please feel free to contact me or the Bishop's office and I will be glad to arrange it.

Remembering that in all things, He is able, I remain faithfully yours,

Fr. David Haines, Vicar General for Global Partnerships

The Traditional Anglican Communion College of Bishops

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 1, 2012

THE TRADITIONAL ANGLICAN COMMUNION COLLEGE OF BISHOPS

The members of the Traditional Anglican Communion (hereafter referred to as TAC) College of Bishops met at St. George Conference Center outside Johannesburg, South Africa between February 28 – March 1, 2012 for the purpose of transacting the business of the Church and of discerning a new direction for the Communion. The business was conducted strictly in accordance with the TAC Concordat.

The College of Bishops, the highest legislative body within the Communion, affirmed by resolution its faithfulness to the TAC. The TAC will remain fully Anglican. While it receives, with thanks, the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus from the Holy See, the TAC College of Bishops has voted as a Communion to decline the invitation.

This meeting of the College of Bishops was long overdue. Over the past two years, several members of the College of Bishops had requested of the Primate an urgent meeting of the College. Anglicanorum Coetibus or the Apostolic Constitution, for example, had never been discussed or debated within the College of Bishops. Meetings of the College of Bishops had, in fact, been scheduled at least twice over the past two years. Most recently, a meeting was called by the TAC Primate for mid 2011. This meeting was canceled abruptly by the Primate. Accordingly, the meeting in Johannesburg was voted to be the overdue meeting of the College of Bishops.

Members of the College met in a spirit of prayer and with a desire to discern God’s will for the TAC. A majority of active Bishops and Vicars General who hold voice and vote attended the meeting and made several decisions of immediate import to the TAC.

The College of Bishops voted unanimously to accept the resignation of John Hepworth as TAC Primate by resolution that states: “it is resolved that he cease to hold the office of Primate immediately.” Archbishop John Hepworth vacates the Office he has held since 2003, along with the individual appointments which are the prerogatives of that Office. Such offices and positions are now vacant and subject to reappointment.

Archbishop Samuel Prakash, as the senior active Metropolitan, was elected Acting Primate by acclamation. In so doing, the entire assembly expressed complete confidence in Archbishop Prakash, who was consecrated Bishop in 1984 and currently serves as Metropolitan of the Anglican Church of India. Archbishop Prakash was one of the original founding Bishops of the TAC.

Bishop Michael Gill was appointed Secretary of the College of Bishops.

During its three day meeting, the College of Bishops passed several resolutions relating to the International Anglican Fellowship, Episcopal Oversight and Ecumenical relations between Continuing jurisdictions. Several appointments were made by the Acting Primate.

There was a strong feeling among the members of the College of Bishops that a new direction had been taken by the TAC.

The level of attendance at this College of Bishops meeting was exceptional. Every Bishop and Vicar General in the Traditional Anglican Communion was invited to attend this meeting. Of the twenty active bishops, twelve voted in session. Nine of the twelve churches were represented.

Finally, and most importantly, the College of Bishops resolved to commit itself to Mission and Evangelism, recognizing that the central purpose of God’s people is to bring others to Christ. Several moving statements were made by members about the need to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a world deeply in need of hearing it. A program of equipping the saints for the work of Evangelism was supported by the College of Bishops with enthusiasm.

Founders' Day

Today is Founders' Day for the Society of the Holy Cross (SSC), the oldest fraternal society of priests and bishops in the Church of England and the Anglican Communion, which was brought into being in 1855 by a small group of orthodox catholic priests led by Father Charles Lowder. Today there are more than a thousand members around the world in parishes, missions, chaplaincies, schools and other areas of pastoral ministry, committed to witnessing to the Cross of Christ by their lives and ministry. SSC is organised in Provinces under Provincial Masters elected by the Brethren. Within each Province are various Regions headed by Regional Vicars, and the work of the Society at the local level is carried forward in Chapters led by their Local Vicars. Priests of the Society can be recognised by the small gold lapel cross that they generally wear. On it is inscribed the motto of the Society - in hoc signo vinces - in this sign, conquer! 


Blessed Charles Lowder, pray for us.

Lent has begun...

 Little Owain Jones received his blessed Ashes on Ash Wednesday at school... he is already a good Anglo-Catholic!

  

All in the family - all for Jesus

A beautiful sermon on 'more Christianity' from cousin Father Jay Scott Newman, on Christian Religion, evangelism, conversion and the Fullness of Faith found in the Sacramental Life... which kindly mentions the Joneses.

Praised be Jesus Christ, on His Throne of Glory, in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar, and in the hearts of His faithful people. Amen!

A Pastoral Letter from the House of Bishops of the Anglican Province of America

We feel compelled to comment in a non-political way on the recent pronouncement from the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) concerning the requirement of religious institutions to provide contraceptive services under the new federally mandated healthcare regulations.  The Bishops of the Anglican Province of America join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of HHS, and call upon all faithful Anglican Christians to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience.  In this ruling by HHS, religious hospitals, educational institutions, and other organizations, or the insurance companies that provide coverage for them, will be required to pay for the full cost of contraceptives (including some abortion-inducing drugs) and sterilizations for their employees, regardless of the religious convictions of the employers.  The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion.  This freedom is transgressed when a religious institution or its insurance company is required to pay for services that directly violate religious convictions.  Providing such services should not be regarded as mandated medical care.  We, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Province of America, join with other Christians and call upon HHS Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration to rescind this unjust ruling and to respect the religious freedom guaranteed all Americans by the First Amendment. 

We stand with our evangelical brethren who have signed the Manhattan Declaration. One of the authors, Chuck Colson, says, “…we fully and ungrudgingly render to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s.  But under no circumstances will we render to Ceasar what is God’s.”  We cannot help but think of the words attributed to German Pastor Martin Niemoeller, who, reflecting on the Nazi terror, asserted:

                

“First, they came for the socialists and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.

 Then they came for the Trade Unionists and I did not speak out—because I was not a Trade  Unionist.

 Then they came for the Jews and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.

 Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

Let us, as our Prayer Book instructs us, “…bless (and pray for) all in authority over us,” that the Lord may “so rule their hearts and strengthen their hands, that they may punish wickedness and vice, and maintain [His] true religion and virtue.”  (BCP, p 590)

God bless and keep you - and God bless America!

Piercing Through the Veil

A truly splendid work on the life and Eucharistic theology of that quintessentially Anglican saint, scholar and priest, the Reverend Doctor Edward Bouverie Pusey, by the Reverend Mister Matthew Estes Harlow, Curate of Saint Michael the Archangel Church, Matthews, North Carolina. This thesis is a serious contribution to the study of English Church history and theology, and a welcome examination of the Oxford Movement. It is commended to all readers as a wonderfully-crafted and insightful introduction to the Catholic Revival of Anglicanism.


Harlow Thesis

Anglican Ideals

'We hold the Catholic faith in its entirety; that is to say, the truth of Christ, contained in Holy Scripture; stated in the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds; expressed in the Sacraments of the Gospel and the rites of the Primitive Church, as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer with its various local adaptations; and safeguarded by the historic threefold Order of the Ministry.... They are the ideals of the Church of Christ. Prominent among them are an open Bible, a pastoral Priesthood, a common worship, a standard of conduct consistent with that worship, and a fearless love of truth.'


-Lambeth Conference, 1930

Bishop-Elect John Vaughan

The Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church in America, the Most Rev. Brian Marsh, has announced that the Rev. John Vaughan was unanimously elected Bishop Suffragan at the annual synod of the Diocese of the Eastern United States. The synod was held at St. Barnabas Church in Picayune, Mississippi on January 18-20.

Father Vaughn was born on February 22nd 1957, in Dublin Pike, White's Cross, County Cork Ireland and is the fifth of ten children born to John Vaughan and Eileen McCarthy. He received his Primary education at Blackpool Boys National School (Brockelsbey Street Academy ) and his High School Education at the School of Commerce in Cork City Ireland. After High School in 1974 Fr. Vaughn enlisted in the Irish Army where he served for three years as an infantry man and had training as a medical orderly. Upon completion of military service, Fr. Vaughan worked at St. Stephen's Hospital in Sarsfield's Court Cork. He began his studies for the priesthood in 1979 at St. John's College Seminary in Waterford, Ireland. Fr. Vaughan has diplomas in Philosophy and in Theology from St. John's College as well as a Degree in Theology from St. Patrick's Pontifical University in Maynooth Ireland.

In 1985 Fr. Vaughan was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood at St. Michael's Church Upper Glanmire County Cork Ireland. Shortly after Ordination he left Ireland and relocated to the United States to serve the people of the archdiocese of Miami, Florida. In 1990 Fr. Vaughan took a leave of absence from the Roman Catholic Church and in 1994 Fr Vaughan transferred to the Episcopal Church where he ministered for ten years. In 2005 he transferred his qualifications to the Anglican Church in America where he served at St. Patrick's Church in Port St. John, Florida until being appointed Vicar General of the Diocese of the Eastern United States in 2011. He is a resident of Titusville, Florida and has one son. He will be consecrated Bishop at a special service planned for later this year after approval by the House of Bishops of the National Church.

2012 APA Lenten Appeal

Dear Family in Christ,

As I write this letter for our Lenten Appeal 2012, my heart is burdened by the great need in Haiti. In my recent travels to Haiti, through my meetings with our church partner Fr. Mews Guerrier and our global partners at Operation Mobilization (OM), this was my observation. The Haitian children don't smile readily. Life is tough and while unlike the Dalit children of India who don't have any dreams for the future, most children in Haiti have dreams but see no way for them to be accomplished. I am not sure what is worse; not having any dreams at all, or having dreams knowing they can never be attained. My heart tells me I MUST speak to you on their behalf. I must be bold in asking for your help.

The APA has only been able to give minimal support to Fr. Mews for his school for almost 20 years. There are currently 256 children (K through 6) and the building is already constructed. The children receive a biblically based education. This education will be one way these children can escape the crippling poverty of rural Haiti.

While the school is fully functional, the land on which the school is built is only being leased. This puts the future of the school in some doubt. Each of us in the APA has an opportunity to change that. And I believe, as does Bishop Grundorf, that is why God sent us there this past year.

Therefore, our Lenten Appeal Project 2012 challenge will be to raise $40,000.

• $30,000 to purchase the land currently leased (includes 3 parcels, 1 that has the school on it with 2 adjoining parcels)
• $10,000 to establish a broiler chicken growing operation to fund the on-going cost of running the school. This will be accomplished with the help of Haitian Broilers (an OM partner) who will provide expertise, training, sales and marketing, and the first batch of chickens.

I am asking each one of you to make a Lenten offering of a minimum of $1.00 a day for the 40 days of Lent, or more as Our Lord leads you. We need 100% participation. Your gifts will enable our school in Haiti to become permanent, and increasingly self-sufficient.

Please pray every day during Lent that God will use our offerings to show His great mercy on the children of Haiti.

Checks should be made payable to your local church with a notation in the memo field "For Haiti School." We ask each church treasurer to combine the checks and send one church check to the APA Treasurer designated for the Haiti School fund.

The address for Saint Barnabas Church is 4795 North Peachtree Road, Dunwoody, Georgia 30338


Please make your Lenten Offering by April 8 at the latest.

Remembering that in all things, He is able, I remain faithfully yours,

Fr. David Haines

Vicar General for Global Partnerships, APA

The Diamond Jubilee

Sixty years ago today, Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, acceded to the throne upon the death of her father, King George VI...

ALMIGHTY God, who rulest over all the kingdoms of the world, and dost order them according to thy good pleasure: We yield thee unfeigned thanks, for that thou wast pleased, as on this day, to set thy Servant the Sovereign Lady, Queen ELIZABETH, upon the Throne. Let thy wisdom be her guide, and let thine arm strengthen her; let truth and justice, holiness and righteousness, peace and charity, abound in her days; direct all her counsels and endeavours to thy glory, and the welfare of her subjects; let her always possess the hearts of her people; let her reign be long and prosperous, and crown her with everlasting life in the world to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Case of Consensus Fidelium: Religious Liberty

For the reader's prayerful consideration, from the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America. Bishops of East and West agree on the issue of religious freedom and conscience:

The Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops of North and Central America, which is comprised of the 65 canonical Orthodox bishops in the United States, Canada and Mexico, join their voices with the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and all those who adamantly protest the recent decision by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, and call upon all the Orthodox Christian faithful to contact their elected representatives today to voice their concern in the face of this threat to the sanctity of the Church’s conscience. In this ruling by HHS, religious hospitals, educational institutions, and other organizations will be required to pay for the full cost of contraceptives (including some abortion-inducing drugs) and sterilizations for their employees, regardless of the religious convictions of the employers. The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. This freedom is transgressed when a religious institution is required to pay for “contraceptive services” including abortion-inducing drugs and sterilization services that directly violate their religious convictions. Providing such services should not be regarded as mandated medical care.  We, the Assembly of Canonical Orthodox Bishops, call upon HHS Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration to rescind this unjust ruling and to respect the religious freedom guaranteed all Americans by the First Amendment.

Sir John Betjeman - A Passion for Churches

A truly classic video on the Church of England and Anglicanism, from 1974...

Holy Land Pilgrimage 2012

Please join us on our Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, 11th to 20th October 2012! 

Updated information is now available for you.

Happy Christmas!

A blessed, joyful and Happy Christ-Mass to all of you. May our True God, the Incarnate Lord born of Mary, bless and keep you in this holy season!

The Sanctus

Courtesy of my brother, Father Brandon Jones, comes this seventh instalment in a video series on the new English translation of the Novus Ordo Missae. In another wonderful Anglicisation, the original text, 'Lord God of Hosts,' is returned to the Sanctus in the Eucharistic liturgy. The new translation sounds more and more like the traditional Book of Common Prayer, which incomparable treasure embodies the ancient Western Rite.

Fifteen Years of Priesthood...

The Feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle, Saturday 21st December 1996, on bright clear glistening snow-covered morning in Lexington, Virginia, I was ordained to the Sacred Order of Priests in Christ’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church at Saint Paul’s Church by the Most Reverend John Thayer Cahoon, Junior of the Anglican Catholic Church. What a glorious day it was!

You go with me to the Altar of God today as the Holy Sacrifice is offered in thanksgiving for fifteen years of participation in Christ’s Holy Priesthood. Please pray for me on this day. Thank you very much and God bless you.

SSC 2011

From the September 2011 Provincial Synod of the Society of the Holy Cross, sermon at Saint Mark's Church and Solemn Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at the Cathedral of Saint Luke and Saint Paul, Charleston, South Carolina.

Episcopal Consecration in the Polish National Catholic Church

The Episcopal Consecration of Bishop Paul Sobiechowski on 18th October 2011 at Saint Stanislaus Cathedral, Scranton, Pennsylvania. The PNCC is historically the sister Church to orthodox Anglicanism.

An Ethos Peculiar

In the end the Elizabethan settlement endured by reason of its own spiritual integrity. By 1593 the Church of England possessed an ethos peculiar to itself, characterized less by mere negations on the side of Rome or Geneva than by a coherent and distinctive embodiment of the Christian tradition that claimed continuity with all that was best in the Middle Ages and in the ancient Catholic Church. Bred within the comprehensive limits of the Elizabethan formularies, nurtured upon the spirituality of the Book of Common Prayer, the generation that came to manhood in the ‘nineties brought Anglicanism to its maturity. A scornful condemnation of the late Elizabethan Church as a position born of compromise timorously defended, and maintained only because the political exigencies admitted no deeper commitment, cannot stand in the face of the piety, learning and loyalty that flowed in the first generation of men whose religious experience was wholly within the life of Elizabethan Anglicanism. Bilson, Field, Mason, Hall, Morton, Montague, Overall, Andrewes, Laud – here is a numbering of the stars in the firmament of the early Stuart Church.

Powel Mills Dawley, John Whitgift and the English Reformation (1954), p. 193

The Illogic of Anglican Papalism

The most recent pastoral letter issued by the Bishop of London is well worth reading, and brings to mind a statement I first published in 2006, which I amend here:

Anglo-Papalists, who comprised much of the Anglo-Catholic movement in the United Kingdom, were essentially Roman Catholics separated from the Pope of Rome by what they saw as an historical accident, that is, the English Reformation. Anglo-Papalists belonged to the Church of England or her daughter Churches, but believed unreservedly in the Papal Claims and Roman Dogmas. They accepted as dogmatic, de fide, the doctrines of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, the Corporeal Assumption of Our Lady, expiation fire-purgatory, indulgences, the treasury of merits of the saints, and other distinctively Latin doctrines. Oddly enough, they also accepted the dogmas issued by the First Vatican Council of 1870, to wit, the immediate, universal, and absolute jurisdiction of the Roman Pontiff, and Papal Infallibility. We Traditional Anglicans, Catholics who believe in the consensus of the First Millennium Church, reject these dogmas as unsubstantiated by Holy Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. Anglo-Papalists were 'Roman Anglicans,' who used the modern Novus Ordo Roman Rite and included the commemoration of the Pope in the Canon of the Mass. They worshipped, prayed, taught and thought as Roman Catholics. The only Romanist theological position with which Anglo-Papalists disagreed was the Papal Bull of Leo XIII, Apostolicae Curae, in which Anglican Orders were declared absolutely null and utterly void. In other words, Anglo-Papalists believed Rome is infallible except in the matter of the validity of Anglican Orders and Sacraments. For this reason, and seemingly this alone, many had not, until recently, 'poped.' As Father Colin Stephenson, sometime Administrator of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham, succinctly put it in one of his classic works, the Anglo-Papal position is, to most Anglicans, wildly illogical. And indeed, I contend it remains wildly illogical to Traditional Anglicans such as ourselves. There is a clear dividing line between Catholics who look to Anglicanism as being a true Catholic Church in her own integrity and tradition, most especially the Anglican Catholics of the Continuing Churches, and those Papalists who see Rome as the true source and centre of the Church and who thus see Anglicanism as an historical interruption of communion with Rome, or worse yet, an historical mistake.

The erection of the Anglican Use Ordinariates in communion with Rome has now changed the situation for a significant number of Anglican Papalists, who have been willing under the new circumstances to accept the papal judgement on Anglican Orders and accede to re-confirmation and re-ordination in the Roman Communion: thus far, 900 laity and 55 clergy have joined the Ordinariate in the UK, with more to follow there and in the United States. For those Anglo-Catholics who choose to remain Anglican, it would seem to be very meet, right and their bounden duty that they should continue, or where needed, restore, the celebration of the liturgy in the Anglican Rite in the various forms in which it has been transmitted to us by our forebears, forms which have been hallowed by generations of faithful use. The choice to remain Anglican should certainly include an acknowledgement of the full catholicity and orthodoxy of the Book of Common Prayer tradition and of those supplemental liturgies approved by ecclesiastical authority which conform to it. May it be humbly submitted that Anglicans should use a recognisably Anglican liturgy.

The Incarnatus

Courtesy of my brother, Father Brandon Jones, comes this sixth instalment in a video series on the new English translation of the Novus Ordo Missae. Another rich Anglicisation, the bodily gesture which expresses reverence for the truth of the Incarnation during the recitation of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, is discussed. The practice of bowing or genuflecting during the Incarnatus in the Creed is a widespread and long-held Anglican custom, one which the Anglican Rite has in practice preserved and used since long before the Novus Ordo was introduced. Another happy return to Anglican (and ancient Western) praxis!

...And the Word was made Flesh

A happy Advent and Christmas to you all! Christ-Mass is not only a wonderful holiday, a time for family and friends, and a joyful occasion for gift-giving – certainly it is all of these things. More imperatively, it is a theological event, a revelation of God, a life-altering reality we again and again re-live through the Church’s liturgy. The greatest challenge to the twenty-first century Church is not the Reformation polemics of the sixteenth century or the rationalism of the eighteenth century, but the theological controversies of the fourth century. Christology will be the focus of the Church in the next generation. The ancient heresies that deny the Divinity of Our Lord are again in vogue and are finding a fresh expression in the purportedly novel methods of what Father Richard John Neuhaus wittily called ‘the sideline churches.’

Whether we consciously recognise it or not, the struggle for Christians in our contemporary age is to recover and promote the old paths, the Old Time Religion. ‘Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls’ (Jeremiah 6.16). Orthodox Christians are today challenged firmly to uphold and boldly to proclaim in ancient and yet ever revitalised ways the truth that Jesus Christ, the Babe in Bethlehem’s manger, is not merely a good person, a prophet, or a noble teacher, but the true God made Man. The Feast of Our Lord’s Nativity recapitulates for us each year the central doctrinal truth and mystery of the Christian Faith, the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh. Who is born in Bethlehem on Christ-Mass Day? The Baby in the manger is God. ‘God of God, Light of Light, Lo! He abhors not the Virgin’s womb: Very God, Begotten, not created; O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord’ (Hymnal 1940, Hymn 12).

The Son of God, the pre-existent Logos, Who became incarnate in the flesh as Jesus Christ, is not a creature, not a being created by God the Father before all other created things or beings. The term homoousios, 'of one substance' with the Father, is used by the Church to affirm that Our Lord is truly God. If Jesus Christ is not God, is not of one essence or substance with the Father, and is not a true divine Person sharing the divine life and communion of the Father by nature, then God Himself did not assume human nature in the Incarnation, and thus man has not been redeemed or saved. The Holy Fathers of the Church teach that 'only that which is assumed can be redeemed.' Our Saviour brought about atonement and the salvation of mankind, for He is God, Who assumes all that pertains to human nature, body, mind and soul. Jesus Christ is the Second Person of the Godhead and 'One of the Holy Trinity.' Christmas is the Feast of the revealed dogma of the Trinitarian nature and communion of God, Three Persons in One Essence, one and undivided. The Father is unbegotten, the Son is eternally begotten of the Father alone, and the Holy Ghost eternally proceeds from the Father, and is sent through the Son and rests in the Son. On Christmas, we contemplate the Lord Jesus in His identity and mission: the Word of God, the Logos, Who became Man in the Incarnation is the Most High God.

The New Testament describes Our Lord as monogenes in Greek, 'only-begotten.' This term designates the mysterious and eternal relationship of the Son to the Father within the communion of the Trinity. The Son has for all eternity come out from the Father and derives His eternal existence, His generation, from the Father, the sole Origin, Source and Fountain of the Trinitarian life. The words of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed purposely utilise the language of the New Testament regarding the Person of Our Lord and declare that the Lord Jesus Christ is 'one Lord, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made...' From all eternity, the Son derives His eternal being, glory and majesty from the Father’s essence. He is eternally born of the Father, co-equal, co-eternal. Begotten means 'from God forever,' eternal generation from the Father, not a created status.

‘And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him’ (Saint John 1.14,18).

‘For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God’ (Saint John 3.16,18).

And what for us is the result of this begetting, the Son eternally begotten of the Father and now begotten in time and in human flesh by the Holy Ghost of the Blessed Virgin? Our own new birth, our begetting by God, our adoption as the children of God by grace. We become by grace what the only-begotten Son is by nature. From Christ’s timeless birth from His Father and His earthly birth of Mary, we are born again in Holy Baptism by Water and the Holy Ghost (Saint John 3.5) unto eternal life. ‘In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him’ (I Saint John 4.9) ‘Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him’ (I Saint John 5.1).

‘Mild he lays his glory by, Born that man no more may die, Born to raise the sons of earth, Born to give them second birth’ (Hymnal 1940, Hymn 27).

God bless you!

The World Consultation on Continuing Anglican Churches - The Addresses

I was honoured and privileged to attend the Consultation in Brockton, Massachusetts from 3rd to 5th November 2011. Let us continually pray for the complete visible and sacramental unity of the orthodox Anglican Church in our land and round the world...

Archbishop Mark Haverland, Ordinary of the Diocese of the South and Metropolitan of the Anglican Catholic Church.

Bishop Michael Gill, Ordinary of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa Traditional Rite.

Bishop Paul Hewett, SSC, Ordinary of the Diocese of the Holy Cross.

Bishop Walter Grundorf, Ordinary of the Diocese of the Eastern United States and Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Province of America.

Archbishop Mark Haverland - III

Archbishop Mark Haverland - II

Archbishop Mark Haverland - World Consultation on Continuing Anglican Churches I

Bishop Michael Gill - Keynote Address

Please follow this link to the keynote address given by Bishop Michael Gill, Diocesan Bishop of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa Traditional Rite, given at the World Consultation on Continuing Anglican Churches in Brockton, Massachusetts on Thursday 3rd November 2011.