Økumenikk

I St George katolske domkirke i sør-London ble 7 tidligere anglikanske prester ordinert sist lørdag, flere kommer denne uke og i løpet av juni måned blir det ca 50 ordinasjoner. Se flere bilder her – og les mer om dette her.

Fr. Hunwickes blogg, «Liturgical notes«, er ofte svært interessant, men han skriver der lite om seg selv. På dette nettstedet leser jeg at han var anglikansk prest fram til askeonsdag i år:

The Reverend John Hunwicke was for nearly three decades at Lancing College; where he taught Latin and Greek language and literature, was Head of Theology, and Assistant Chaplain. He has served three curacies; been a Parish Priest once and Senior Research Fellow at Pusey House in Oxford. Most recently he was priest-in-charge of St. Thomas the Martyr Church in Oxford, a historic Anglo-Catholic church that was in the forefront of the Oxford Movement, from the revival of vestments and incense to ministering to the urban poor.

On Ash Wednesday, 2011, he, with many of his parishioners, entered a period of preparation in order to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church. He is among those former Church of England clergy who is preparing for ordination to the Sacred Priesthood of the Catholic Church via the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Et annet sted skriver han selv om sin langsomme vei til Den katolske Kirke, bl.a. dette:

…. I would expect some readers to be suspicious. If this man so proudly confesses his acceptance of the entire teaching of the Church and his love for the Mass of Ages, why has he lingered so long in terra aliena? I think you need to understand the history of the Catholic Revival in the Church of England. It began as a movement which was anti-Papal and upheld the Church of England as the true Catholic Church of this land. But many of its members soon saw how silly this idea of ‘Branch Churches’ was. Soon there was an unashamed ‘Papalist Movement’. Why did it stay in the Church of England? Because of a trust in Truth as certain to prevail; a sense that if one stayed and prayed and fought, the day of a corporate unity between Canterbury and Rome would come. This trust was fortified by the ARCIC ecumenical process, which explicitly envisaged the full organic unity of England and Rome. The ordination of women has made it quite clear that this hope is now – permanently – frustrated. Such a ‘reunion’ can now never happen.

If you are glad that so obvious a fact has now become clear to us, well, I won’t argue with you.

Han skal ordineres til katolsk prest ganske snart (jeg vet ikke datoen). Hans argument om at Den anglikanske kirke oppga å være katolsk da den på egen hånd begynte å ordinere kvinner skulle tilsi at han hadde blitt katolikk i 1992. Hvorfor han – og også msgr. Broadhurst – ventet til 2011, syns jeg er vanskeligere å forsvare.

I juni måned skal ca 50 tidligere anglikanske prester ordineres (som katolske prester) i England. Dette er personer som i festen/påsken i år ble opptatt i Den katoslke Kirke, sammen med ca 1000 lekfolk. De første ordinasjonene skjedde tidligere i dag, og zenit.org skrev slik om det fredag:

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is preparing for the first in a wave of priestly ordinations that begins Saturday, with seven Anglican priests set to be ordained in the Church.

… Saturday’s ceremony will be the first ordination of former Anglican priests and begin a wave that will continue throughout the month, with more than 50 ordinations expected in this season.

Archbishop Peter Smith will ordain the seven this Saturday in his Cathedral Church in Southwark (London).

Liberale National Catholic Reporter i USA skrev nylig om det nye anglikanske Ordinariatet. Overskrifta «With a thousand Anglican converts, ordinariate gets going» er ganske positiv, men langt på vei er artikkelen en kritikk av pave Benedikt og alle konservative krefter i Kirken. Starten av artikkelen er ganske talende:

Not for nothing has the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome been known as the “Suprema.” It does not specialize in consultation with other bodies, whether within the Vatican or elsewhere. This mindset was spectacularly exhibited with the abrupt unveiling of a new supra-territorial Roman Catholic church structure titled a “Personal Ordinariate,” with its doors open to groups of disaffected Anglicans throughout the world who were invited to move collectively to Rome, bringing their Anglican patrimony with them. This explosive device had been secretly laid below the surface of Anglican-Roman Catholic relations by a small party of doctrinal congregation sappers, encouraged by Pope Benedict XVI. In press conferences on Oct. 20, 2009, it was detonated.

The debris from the explosion is now settling. In England, the only country so far where the ordinariate is up and running, almost a thousand ex-Anglicans, composed of groups of laity with 64 of their pastors, of whom 54 have applied to become Catholic priests, have come over in the first wave. The ordination of the former Anglican clergy is being fast-tracked for Pentecost. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is calling the shots, for the local Roman Catholic bishops had wanted these clergy to undergo a year’s preparation. …

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I det engelske ordinariatets nettmagasin «the Portal«, kan vi i siste nummer lese hva Norges-vennen Msgr. John Broadhurst om det som har hendt det siste halvåret. Jeg kaller ham Norges-venn fordi han må ha vært i Norge hvert år de siste 15 år, og er venn med mange høykirkelige lutheranere, mange medlemmer og prester i Den norsk katolske kirke – og med mange katolikker. Jeg har de siste månedene tenkt mange ganger på hva hans «nordisk-katolske» venner nå tenker; siden msgr. Broadhurst tok en annen vei enn de gjorde – da de (på en måte) startet sin egen kirke. Til meg sa han at han ikke trodde han kom til å konvertere individuelt, men at han håpet på en mulig avtale med Den katolske Kirke. Jeg trodde aldri de skulle få en så dog «deal» som de nå har fått!

Jeg håper teksten i bildet over kan leses – og msgr. Broadhurst sier videre:

… Generous provision
My real concern is that the Ordinariate should work. The Holy Father has made a generous provision which concerns our culture and history. The great danger is the Ordinariate could be seen simply as a fast track into the Catholic Church. This is certainly not what the Holy Father intends.

Mission and ecumenism
The Ordinariate is about mission and ecumenism. So a serious situation sits in front of us. How do we address our many friends in the Church of England and how do we contribute to evangelism.

Able and competent people
Most of our Groups are by Catholic standards very small though, by Anglican standards they are not. In the Church of England we had a very different pastoral strategy and many parishes were small. On the positive side our ordinariate groups are filled with the committed and the activists. We are very lucky to be part of a community of able and competent people. I do believe we have real possibilities.

Places to live our Anglican heritage
That said how are we to make it work? One issue that is not yet resolved is that of Ordinariate centres. Inevitably a group appended to a much larger Catholic parish will eventually dissipate. We need to find places to live our Anglican heritage in a new Catholic context. I would hope that in the next two or three years we will find new places to be faithful witnesses to Christ.

The Ordinariate is here to stay
I have just moved to the Midlands and there are no Ordinariate Groups here but I already have a list people, supplied by a local priest, who have expressed a real interest. The Ordinariate is here to stay and will offer much to the Church. I am sure it will grow and we owe it to the Holy Father to make it work. The leadership of the Catholic Church in this country have been very helpful and welcoming.

Positive and enthusiastic
As I said at the Forward in Faith Assembly 18 months ago the Holy Father has made a generous offer and we have no choice but to respond. My response is positive and enthusiastic. As we develop our future we will watch with interest the emergence of Ordinariates in North America and Australia.

William Oddie nevnte også i sin artikkel i the Catholic Herald i går hvordan de på en helt annen og mye mer positiv måte enn tidlig på 90-tallet har tatt de mot de mange (konservative) konvertittene fra den anglikanske kirke:

… It seemed to fit into a pattern of behaviour which the bishops have been exhibiting more and more since the papal visit. There was the way in which the bishops have welcomed the ordinariate, as the Pope asked them to in Birmingham. I had expected obstruction and barely disguised ill will from certain bishops who shall here be nameless (they were the ones who in the early 1990s squashed plans for a similar but less radical scheme); but all of them, even the most vocal opponent of what was, at that time, called by the aspirant Anglicans “The Roman Option”, have done everything in their power to make the new converts feel welcome. The point about the converts, of course, is that they are coming for papal authority from a Church which has no effective authority of any kind, doctrinal or otherwise: opposition to them back in the early 90s was precisely from bishops who were themselves less than wholeheartedly enamoured of the authority of the Holy See. Thus, genuinely welcoming them now could well indicate a change of heart not only about the idea of an Anglican Catholic presence, gathered as such within the Roman Catholic Church, but also about the authority of the Magisterium itself. Maybe I’m being naïf, but that’s my hypothesis and my hope.

Nettstedet The Ordinariate Portal publiserer nå flere dokumenter fra 1993/94, da den første store bølgen av anglikanske prester ble katolikker. De engelske biskopene tok nokså vennlig mot enkeltpersoner den gangen, prester og lekfolk, men ville ikke legge til rette for at grupper av troende kunne konvertere sammen. Dessuten insisterte de på at konvertittene skulle assimileres fullstendig i vanlig katolsk menighetsliv – ikke kunne ta med seg noe av sin arv, ikke ha noen grupper for seg selv. Etter pave Benedikts initiativ overfor anglikanerne for et par år siden, er dette blitt radikalt forandret.

Nedenfor tar jeg med et utdrag fra ett av disse dokumentene – de engelske biskopene sier følgende i november 1993:

Approaches have been made by clergy of the Church of England, both singly and in groups. In some few instances groups of parishioners with their pastors have also made approaches, enquiring about the possibility of coming into full communion with the Holy See, embracing the fullness of Catholic life. After our Low Week meeting we stated that our aim in welcoming those who wish to join the Catholic Church must be their eventual total integration into the Catholic life of our dioceses. This remains our aim. Other paths have been suggested. We have looked carefully at the suggestions of the establishment of a Personal Prelature or of a Special Pastoral Provision, such as exists in the USA. We are of one mind that, in our particular circumstances, such alternatives would serve to increase the multiplicity of Church identities in an unhelpful and confusing manner. Our determination in this matter does not imply any lack of respect or esteem for the tradition, strengths and vision of Christian living represented by those who are approaching us. In fact the opposite is the case. We are convinced that the Roman Catholic community, diocese by diocese, will be enriched by the eventual full integration of those who bring with them not only the traditions of English Anglicanism, but also its commitment to reach out to those who are on the margin of Christian living, or beyond. But for this to be the case, it is essential that we strive to come together in a fully integrated manner, a challenge which will involved real change for all concerned.

It is this fundamental conviction that gives shape to the ways in which we have agreed to respond to those who approach us. …

Vårt Land har i dag flere artikler om den katolske kirke, bl.a. et stort oppslag om saligkåringa av pave Johannes Paulus, der luthersk biskop Ole Christian Kvarme, og hans domprost Olav Dag Hauge, ikke hadde noen problemer med det som skjedde sist søndag. De var også til stede i messen i Trefoldighetskirken her i Oslo (som markerte dette), og gledet seg stort over å være med.

Men Vårt Land intervjuer også dr. theol. Arne Helge Teigen, fra Fjellhaug skoler, og under overskrifta «Drar oppmerksomhet fra Jesus» siterer de ham bl.a. slik:

Selv er jeg lutheraner, og mener at helgener får en posisjon som drar oppmerksomheten bort fra Jesus Kristus, som ifølge Bibelen er den eneste mellommann mellom Gud og mennesker, sier han.

Teigen ser ikke noe bibelsk grunnlag hverken for at noen skal kåres til helgen, eller at noe menneske kan oppnå den fullkommenhet som helgenkåringen forutsetter. Han avviser også den katolske læren om helgenes rolle som hjelpere og forbedere for de døde, som ifølge katolsk tro renses i skjærsilden.

Er helgenpraksisen i Den katolske kirke et økumenisk binder?

Ja, det tror jeg. Grunnen er at den kommer i konflikt med den evangeliske lære om at Jesus Kristi frelsesverk er nok til å frelse et menneske. Den bygger jo på en lære om at menneskers fortjenester er avgjørende for frelsen, sier Teigen.

Jeg må si det er skuffende at en dr. theol. i år 2011 skal misforstå det katolske synet på helgener så grundig. For: 1) Helgener drar ikke oppmerksomheten bort fra Jesus, tvert imot viser de hvordan vi andre menensker kan leve mest mulig nær ham. 2) Helgener har ikke vært fullkomne, men Kirken kan med sikkerhet fastslå at disse har kommet gjennom skjærsilden og står foran Guds trone – der de også kan be for oss. 3) Helgener hjelper ikke bare de døde, de kan gå i forbønn for både levnede og døde – og som forbedere er de ikke vesnesforskjellige fra mennesker vi omgås, og som også ber for oss.

Og 4) helgener har absolutt ingen ting å gjøre med disse to tingene som Teigen får seg til å si – jeg forstår ikke hvordan en teolog kan si noe så feilaktig – » .. konflikt med den evangeliske lære om at Jesus Kristi frelsesverk er nok til å frelse et menneske» og «.. bygger jo på en lære om at menneskers fortjenester er avgjørende for frelsen». La meg gjenta: Disse to siste sitatene har fullstendig misforstått det katolske synet på helgener.

I dag tidlig leste jeg litt mer på «Pray Tell» bloggen – jeg leser den bl.a. for å få en kontrast de mer konservative nettstedene jeg også besøker, og det er noen dyktige folk som skriver om liturgi der. En benediktiner med svært norske (+svenske og tyske) aner forteller om sin oppvekst, og svarer på spørsmål om sin konversjon fra luthersk til katolsk tro:

When people hear that I was raised Lutheran, they sometimes become curious and ask three questions: 1) From which Lutheran synod? 2) When did you convert? and 3) Why?

I’ll attempt to formulate my thoughts here in response to these recurring questions in hopes that this exercise might help me to reflect on my personal religious wanderings while also creating a means for sharing these thoughts.

My home parish, Vinje Lutheran Church in Willmar, Minnesota, was originally part of the Synoden for den Norsk Evangelisk Lutherske Kirke i America (the Norwegian ethnic synod which was affiliated with the state church in Norway). Today, Vinje is part of the larger ELCA. My grandfather (mother’s father) was a pastor of the Synoden and preached in both Norwegian and English. I also have an uncle who is an ELCA pastor, and my mother’s cousin is a retired ELCA bishop. On my father’s side, my grandmother was Augustana Synod (the Swedish ethnic church which is now ELCA), and my grandfather was baptized and confirmed Missouri Synod (German ethnic). However, my dad was raised in the Norwegian church because my Swedish grandmother and German grandfather joined a Norwegian congregation.

Det er nesten utrolig det går an å ha en så norsk oppvekst i USA! Han går så videre og forteller hvorfor han konverte (et ord han absolutt ikke liker å bruke) til Den katolske Kirke – det ser ut til å være mest musikken som gjorde det.

I kommentarene til dette innlegget, er det en helt ting, også den kirkekritikken som er typsik for denne bloggen:

… It appears that the forthcoming Assisi interfaith gathering on the 25th anniversary of the original event will be a repudiation by Pope Ratzinger of the earlier event. Not only will the interfaith prayer aspect disappear, but the ecumenical dimension will also be removed. Instead Benedict XVI will pray in St Peter’s the night before with the catholic faithful. And other christian churches are invited to do something similar. The image of filletting comes to mind. …

… I agree. Why even bother with Assisi. Better to call it off than to treat it so ungenerously and with such a legalistic attitude. Pope Benedict appears to be genuflecting again to the neo Ultramontanist harpies and the SSPX crowd. …

Avisa Dagen skrev for et par dager siden (og Vårt Land hadde en lignende artikkel i papiravisa, om de mange hundre anglikanerne i England og Wales som denne uka blir opptatt i Den katolske Kirke:

I Storbritannia forbereder i alt 33 større grupper av anglikanere seg til å bli opptatt i Den katolske kirke i dagene før påske. Ifølge nyhetsbyrået Kathpress dreier det seg om ca 20 prester og 600 legfolk, som vil slutte seg til det nyoprettede ordinariatet «Our Lady of Walsingham». Etter flere ukers forberedelser vil de konvertere skjærtorsdag eller 1. påskedag, hvor de vil motta fermingssakramentet (konfirmasjonssakramentet) og offisielt bli opptatt i Den katolske kirke. Den første prestevielse til det nye ordinariatet vil skje i pinsetiden.

Vatikanet etablerede i november 2009 gjennom det pavelige dekretet «Anglicanorum cætibus» en ordning for anglikanere som ønsket å tre inn i Den katolske kirke. Dermed er det blitt mulig for grupper av anglikanere å konvertere til den katolske tro og samtidig beholde en rekke av sine egne tradisjoner. I den kommende tid vil det bli etablert lignende ordinariater i USA, Canada og Australien, opplyser Rom.

Dette er interessant lesning, men jeg reagerte litt på det lave tallet som ble nevnt. BBC melder her om 900 lekfolk og 61 prester. Og her kan vi lese om 1000 lekfolk og 64 prester.

Bildet under viser Mgr Keith Newton. «He is picutred at Southwark Cathedral after receiving former Anglicans into full communion with the Church on Tuesday. Note the crozier. He is not just a Protonotary Apostolic, but an Ordinary.»

I denne artikkelen kalles dette «one of the most under-reported religious stories of the past decade». I Norge har vi også eksempler på det samme; på MF er tre professorer nå blitt katolikker, og ved opptagelsen av de to siste (i fjor og forfjor) var det nesten ingen publisitet rundt det. Anglikanere som konverterer får for tids mye oppmerksomhet, men det samme gjelder ikke lutheranere – leser vi:

One of the most under-reported religious stories of the past decade has been the movement of Lutherans across the Tiber.

What first began with prominent Lutherans, such as Richard John Neuhaus (1990) and Robert Wilken (1994), coming into the Catholic Church, has become more of a landslide that could culminate in a larger body of Lutherans coming into the collectively.

In 2000, former Canadian Lutheran Bishop Joseph Jacobson came into the Church. …

In 2003, Leonard Klein, a prominent Lutheran and the former editor of Lutheran Forum and Forum Letter came into the Church. Today, both Jacobson and Klein are Catholic priests.

Over the past several years, an increasing number of Lutheran theologians have joined the Church’s ranks, some of whom now teach at Catholic colleges and universities. They include, but are not limited to: Paul Quist (2005), Richard Ballard (2006), Paul Abbe (2006), Thomas McMichael, Mickey Mattox, David Fagerberg, Bruce Marshall, Reinhard Hutter, Philip Max Johnson, and most recently, Dr. Michael Root (2010).

“The Lutheran church has been my intellectual and spiritual home for forty years,” wrote Dr. Root. “But we are not masters of our convictions. A risk of ecumenical study is that one will come to find another tradition compelling in a way that leads to a deep change in mind and heart. Over the last year or so, it has become clear to me, not without struggle, that I have become a Catholic in my mind and heart in ways that no longer permit me to present myself as a Lutheran theologian with honesty and integrity. ….

Les hele artikkelen her.

Her er nyheter fra sist uke; de tre tidligere anglikanske biskopene som ble katolikker 1. januar og katolske prester uken etterpå, er nå blitt monsignorer – leder av ‘Ordinariatet», msgr. Keith Newton, har blitt monsignore av en grad jeg aldri har hørt om før. Fra ordinariatets nettsider:

17th March 2011

It was announced today that the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has been honoured by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, and has been elevated to the rank of Protonotary Apostolic.

Fr John Broadhurst and Fr Andrew Burnham have also been honoured by being elevated to the rank of Prelate of Honour.

As such, all three priests are now known as Monsignor.

Vatikanet gjør tydeligvis alt nødvendig for at dette skal kunne lykkes. Msgr. Newton kan nå gjøre 90% av det en biskop kan gjøre, uten å være biskop (som han ikke kan bli, siden han er en gift mann).

I går kunne vi lese følgende melding fra England:

Former Anglican bishop, Edwin Barnes, will be ordained to the sacred order of deacons by the Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Revd Crispian Hollis, today. We offer him and his wife, Jane, our prayers and best wishes on this important day for them and for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. May our Lady of Lourdes, whom Jesus can refuse nothing, pray for him.

Etter diakonvielsen skrive han selv mer om det som skjedde – her.