The first principle of the Ordinariate is then about Christian unity. St. Basil the Great, the Church’s greatest ecumenist, literally expended his life on the work of building bridges between orthodox brethren who shared a common faith, but who had become separated from one another in a Church badly fragmented by heresy and controversy. He taught that the work of Christian unity requires deliberate and ceaseless effort...St. Basil often talked with yearning about the archaia agape, the ancient love of the apostolic community, so rarely seen in the Church of his day. This love, he taught, is a visible sign that the Holy Spirit is indeed present and active, and it is absolutely essential for the health of the Church.

- Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, Homily on the Occasion of his Formal Institution as Ordinary

Friday, August 22, 2014

Latest version of St. Edmund's Update released

The August issue of the always excellent Update from the Sodality of St. Edmund has been released and you may download it here; it includes an article on the Ordinariate's Divine Worship book by Msgr. Stephen Lopes, including this section on baptism:


Divine Worship: The Order of Holy BaptismIn order to provide for the range of pastoral situations in the pastoral life of the Ordinariates, Divine Worship provides rites for the Baptism of adults and older children, for the Baptism of infants, for conditional, private, and emergency Baptism, and for the public reception of one who has been privately baptized. Perhaps particularly appropriate for Ordinariate communities, there is also a rite for the entrance into full communion with the Catholic Church.
The baptismal rite begins with an invitation to prayer and an invocation that the fruits of Baptism be poured out on the one to be baptized. The preparatory rites include the consignatio (tracing the Sign of the Cross on the forehead), an optional imposition of blessed salt, and a prayer of thanksgiving said by the celebrant and people together. Following the Liturgy of the Word, the rite continues with the Promises which, in the case of infant Baptism, includes the anointing with the Oil of Catechumens and the profession of faith formulated as questions addressed to parents and godparents. Adult Baptism maintains an explicit renunciation of sin on the part of the catechumen who, in keeping with Anglican custom, then professes the faith by reciting the Apostles' Creed. In both instances, the profession of faith is followed by supplications and the blessing of water.
One feature of Divine Worship: Order of Holy Baptism which warrants further comment are what is known as "The Duties" which, in the order of infant Baptism, follow the Lord's Prayer, and immediately precede the final blessing. The Duties are exhortations to the parents and godparents concerning their sacred duty to provide for the religious formation of the child. Their specificity is striking, reminding the parents and godparents of their obligation to teach the child the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer, the Hail Mary and to instruct the child in the Catechism so that the child may be presented to the bishop for Confirmation and admitted to Communion in the Body and Blood of Christ. In addition to being a rather felicitous articulation of the role of parents and godparents in sacramental initiation, the Duties were judged to be integral to the Anglican tradition and therefore included in the current liturgical provision for the Ordinariates.
Monsignor Steven Lopes, Official of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - June 12, 2014

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