From www.chiesa:
ROME, March 14, 2012 – Among the many criticisms aimed at Benedict XVI, there is one that no longer holds up, after his celebration of vespers together with the archbishop of Canterbury and primate of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams, on the evening of March 10 in the Roman monastery of San Gregorio al Celio.
The criticism is that of ditching ecumenism, of putting the embrace with the Lefebvrists in front of dialogue with the other Christian confessions.
The facts say the opposite. Those most unyielding in rejecting the pope's offers of peace are precisely the followers of the schismatic archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. And they reject them precisely on account of the significant steps forward – for them, a concession to error – taken by Benedict XVI on the path of reconciliation with the Anglicans, with the Churches of the East, and even with the heirs of Martin Luther.
*
With the Anglican Communion, the rapprochement that has been seen since Joseph Ratzinger became pope is simply astonishing.
Strictly according to logic, one would have expected the opposite. In the autumn of 2009, Benedict XVI promulgated an apostolic constitution, "Anglicanorum Cœtibus," to normalize the entrance into the Catholic Church of entire communities of faithful coming from Anglicanism, with their bishops and priests.
The initiative was immediately condemned – on the part of some progressive Catholic currents – as a gravely anti-ecumenical act: that is, as a restoration of the ideology of the "great return" and as the intention of the Catholic Church to "expand its empire" by ripping away portions of rival Churches.
But in the Anglican camp, the initiative did not provoke any rejection.
The announcement of "Anglicanorum Cœtibus" was made simultaneously from Rome and London, here through the initiative of Anglican primate Williams himself, although he had not been part of the preparation of the document.
This was followed by the entry into the Church of Rome of thousands of faithful and dozens of priests and bishops, accommodated in special "ordinariates," two of them so far, the first in Great Britain and the second in the United States.
The new arrivals have the option of preserving their previous liturgical rite, while the priests and bishops, most of them married and with children, are ordained priests in the Catholic Church, continuing to lead their respective communities.
Numerically, the transfers from Anglicanism to Catholicism regulated by "Anglicanorum Cœtibus" have been rather limited so far.
At the same time, however, among the approximately 77 million Anglicans in the world the split has widened between a "liberal" wing in favor of women priests, women bishops, gay priests and bishops, homosexual marriage, and a much larger wing that is strongly opposed to these innovations.
In this second wing, most are of "evangelical" inspiration, far from the idea of entering the Catholic Church.
This does not change the fact, however, that the Church of Rome is viewed today by the majority of Anglicans all over the world in a much more positive light than in the past, as a valid guardian of shared apostolic traditions, against the modernist tendencies.
As a result, the boundary between Catholicism and Anglicanism has become more open today. And Anglican primate Williams himself, who is a sophisticated theologian, has found in the theological magisterium of Benedict XVI a broadly shared vision.
The ecumenism of Benedict XVI is not one of negotiation, of reciprocal concessions of sovereignty, of the watering down of doctrine, for the sake of creating a structure acceptable to all. It is simply meant to revive fidelity to the roots of the mission of Christians in the world, as intended by Jesus Christ. It is meant to create unity on the basis of this fidelity.
And the choice of the Roman monastery of San Gregorio al Celio, for vespers celebrated together with Anglican primate Williams, was precisely an insistence on these essential roots, "because it was from this monastery that Pope Gregory [the Great] chose Augustine and his forty monks and sent them to bring the Gospel to the Angles, a little over 1,400 years ago." And from their islands, the English monks then set out again to evangelize Europe.
Since that missionary mandate, the bond between this Roman monastery and Christianity in England, before and after the rupture of the sixteenth century, has never been interrupted.
It should suffice to consider that in the monastery of San Gregorio al Celio, the two previous primates of the Anglican Communion also prayed with the predecessor of pope Ratzinger, John Paul II: Robert Runcie on September 30, 1989, and George Carey on December 5, 1996.
The current prior of the monastery, Peter John Hughes, an Australian, was himself an Anglican priest.
Primate Williams, in the homily that he gave immediately before that of Benedict XVI, called "certain," albeit still "imperfect," the proximity between Anglicans and Catholics:
"Certain, because of the shared ecclesial vision to which both our communions are committed as being the character of the Church both one and particular – a vision of the restoration of full sacramental communion, of a eucharistic life that is fully visible, and thus a witness that is fully credible, so that a confused and tormented world may enter into the welcome and transforming light of Christ. And yet imperfect because of the limit of our vision, a deficit in the depth of our hope and patience."
With Benedict XVI, the unity of vision recalled by Williams has certainly been reinforced. His visit to the United Kingdom in September of 2010 reached one of its highest points in the vespers celebrated in the Anglican Westminster Abbey.
Directing the choir – among the best choruses of liturgical music in the world – was the Catholic James O'Donnell, until five years ago Master of the Music at Catholic Westminster Cathedral.
And it will be precisely this Anglican choir that will accompany the liturgies of Benedict XVI in Rome, at the upcoming celebration of Saints Peter and Paul in the basilicas of Saint Peter and of Saint Paul's Outside the Walls.
Here as well, under the shared banner of Gregory the Great and of the chant that takes its name from him.
___________
The homily of Benedict XVI at the ecumenical vespers of March 10 in the Roman monastery of San Gregorio al Celio:
> "It gives me great joy..."
And the homily, at vespers, of the primate of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams:
> "It is a privilege to stand here..."
The celebration coincided with the millenary of the foundation of the Benedictines of Camaldoli, who live in the monastery of San Gregorio al Celio.
__________
The apostolic constitution of November 4, 2009 that regulates the entrance into the Catholic Church of groups coming from the Anglican Communion:
> "Anglicanorum cœtibus"
And the backdrop of its publication, in an interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper, at the time the president of the pontifical council for Christian unity:
> Anglicans and Orthodox. Cardinal Kasper Between a Rock and a Hard Place
__________
On the criterion that inspires the ecumenism of Benedict XVI, it is illuminating to read what he said to the Evangelical Church of Germany, in Erfurt on September 23 , 2011:
"It was the error of the Reformation period that for the most part we could only see what divided us and we failed to grasp existentially what we have in common in terms of the great deposit of sacred Scripture and the early Christian creeds. The great ecumenical step forward of recent decades is that we have become aware of all this common ground and that we acknowledge it as we pray and sing together, as we make our joint commitment to the Christian ethos in our dealings with the world, as we bear common witness to the God of Jesus Christ in this world as our undying foundation. [...] It is not strategy that saves us and saves Christianity, but faith – thought out and lived afresh; through such faith, Christ enters this world of ours, and with him, the living God."
In particular, regarding the heritage of Luther and relations with the Protestant communities, see his entire talk:
> "The burning question of Martin Luther must once more become our question too"
__________
As for the breakthrough in relations between Benedict XVI and the Churches of the East, in particular with the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople and the patriarchate of Moscow, see all of the articles from www.chiesa:
> Focus on EASTERN CHURCHES
__________
English translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.
__________
The latest three articles from www.chiesa:
Gregory the Great Speaks English
The encounter in Rome between Benedict XVI and the primate of the Anglicans has taken place under the banner of the great pope who evangelized Britannia. With Ratzinger and Williams, ecumenism is abandoning tactics and getting to the substance
by Sandro Magister
by Sandro Magister
ROME, March 14, 2012 – Among the many criticisms aimed at Benedict XVI, there is one that no longer holds up, after his celebration of vespers together with the archbishop of Canterbury and primate of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams, on the evening of March 10 in the Roman monastery of San Gregorio al Celio.
The criticism is that of ditching ecumenism, of putting the embrace with the Lefebvrists in front of dialogue with the other Christian confessions.
The facts say the opposite. Those most unyielding in rejecting the pope's offers of peace are precisely the followers of the schismatic archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. And they reject them precisely on account of the significant steps forward – for them, a concession to error – taken by Benedict XVI on the path of reconciliation with the Anglicans, with the Churches of the East, and even with the heirs of Martin Luther.
*
With the Anglican Communion, the rapprochement that has been seen since Joseph Ratzinger became pope is simply astonishing.
Strictly according to logic, one would have expected the opposite. In the autumn of 2009, Benedict XVI promulgated an apostolic constitution, "Anglicanorum Cœtibus," to normalize the entrance into the Catholic Church of entire communities of faithful coming from Anglicanism, with their bishops and priests.
The initiative was immediately condemned – on the part of some progressive Catholic currents – as a gravely anti-ecumenical act: that is, as a restoration of the ideology of the "great return" and as the intention of the Catholic Church to "expand its empire" by ripping away portions of rival Churches.
But in the Anglican camp, the initiative did not provoke any rejection.
The announcement of "Anglicanorum Cœtibus" was made simultaneously from Rome and London, here through the initiative of Anglican primate Williams himself, although he had not been part of the preparation of the document.
This was followed by the entry into the Church of Rome of thousands of faithful and dozens of priests and bishops, accommodated in special "ordinariates," two of them so far, the first in Great Britain and the second in the United States.
The new arrivals have the option of preserving their previous liturgical rite, while the priests and bishops, most of them married and with children, are ordained priests in the Catholic Church, continuing to lead their respective communities.
Numerically, the transfers from Anglicanism to Catholicism regulated by "Anglicanorum Cœtibus" have been rather limited so far.
At the same time, however, among the approximately 77 million Anglicans in the world the split has widened between a "liberal" wing in favor of women priests, women bishops, gay priests and bishops, homosexual marriage, and a much larger wing that is strongly opposed to these innovations.
In this second wing, most are of "evangelical" inspiration, far from the idea of entering the Catholic Church.
This does not change the fact, however, that the Church of Rome is viewed today by the majority of Anglicans all over the world in a much more positive light than in the past, as a valid guardian of shared apostolic traditions, against the modernist tendencies.
As a result, the boundary between Catholicism and Anglicanism has become more open today. And Anglican primate Williams himself, who is a sophisticated theologian, has found in the theological magisterium of Benedict XVI a broadly shared vision.
The ecumenism of Benedict XVI is not one of negotiation, of reciprocal concessions of sovereignty, of the watering down of doctrine, for the sake of creating a structure acceptable to all. It is simply meant to revive fidelity to the roots of the mission of Christians in the world, as intended by Jesus Christ. It is meant to create unity on the basis of this fidelity.
And the choice of the Roman monastery of San Gregorio al Celio, for vespers celebrated together with Anglican primate Williams, was precisely an insistence on these essential roots, "because it was from this monastery that Pope Gregory [the Great] chose Augustine and his forty monks and sent them to bring the Gospel to the Angles, a little over 1,400 years ago." And from their islands, the English monks then set out again to evangelize Europe.
Since that missionary mandate, the bond between this Roman monastery and Christianity in England, before and after the rupture of the sixteenth century, has never been interrupted.
It should suffice to consider that in the monastery of San Gregorio al Celio, the two previous primates of the Anglican Communion also prayed with the predecessor of pope Ratzinger, John Paul II: Robert Runcie on September 30, 1989, and George Carey on December 5, 1996.
The current prior of the monastery, Peter John Hughes, an Australian, was himself an Anglican priest.
Primate Williams, in the homily that he gave immediately before that of Benedict XVI, called "certain," albeit still "imperfect," the proximity between Anglicans and Catholics:
"Certain, because of the shared ecclesial vision to which both our communions are committed as being the character of the Church both one and particular – a vision of the restoration of full sacramental communion, of a eucharistic life that is fully visible, and thus a witness that is fully credible, so that a confused and tormented world may enter into the welcome and transforming light of Christ. And yet imperfect because of the limit of our vision, a deficit in the depth of our hope and patience."
With Benedict XVI, the unity of vision recalled by Williams has certainly been reinforced. His visit to the United Kingdom in September of 2010 reached one of its highest points in the vespers celebrated in the Anglican Westminster Abbey.
Directing the choir – among the best choruses of liturgical music in the world – was the Catholic James O'Donnell, until five years ago Master of the Music at Catholic Westminster Cathedral.
And it will be precisely this Anglican choir that will accompany the liturgies of Benedict XVI in Rome, at the upcoming celebration of Saints Peter and Paul in the basilicas of Saint Peter and of Saint Paul's Outside the Walls.
Here as well, under the shared banner of Gregory the Great and of the chant that takes its name from him.
___________
The homily of Benedict XVI at the ecumenical vespers of March 10 in the Roman monastery of San Gregorio al Celio:
> "It gives me great joy..."
And the homily, at vespers, of the primate of the Anglican Communion, Rowan Williams:
> "It is a privilege to stand here..."
The celebration coincided with the millenary of the foundation of the Benedictines of Camaldoli, who live in the monastery of San Gregorio al Celio.
__________
The apostolic constitution of November 4, 2009 that regulates the entrance into the Catholic Church of groups coming from the Anglican Communion:
> "Anglicanorum cœtibus"
And the backdrop of its publication, in an interview with Cardinal Walter Kasper, at the time the president of the pontifical council for Christian unity:
> Anglicans and Orthodox. Cardinal Kasper Between a Rock and a Hard Place
__________
On the criterion that inspires the ecumenism of Benedict XVI, it is illuminating to read what he said to the Evangelical Church of Germany, in Erfurt on September 23 , 2011:
"It was the error of the Reformation period that for the most part we could only see what divided us and we failed to grasp existentially what we have in common in terms of the great deposit of sacred Scripture and the early Christian creeds. The great ecumenical step forward of recent decades is that we have become aware of all this common ground and that we acknowledge it as we pray and sing together, as we make our joint commitment to the Christian ethos in our dealings with the world, as we bear common witness to the God of Jesus Christ in this world as our undying foundation. [...] It is not strategy that saves us and saves Christianity, but faith – thought out and lived afresh; through such faith, Christ enters this world of ours, and with him, the living God."
In particular, regarding the heritage of Luther and relations with the Protestant communities, see his entire talk:
> "The burning question of Martin Luther must once more become our question too"
__________
As for the breakthrough in relations between Benedict XVI and the Churches of the East, in particular with the ecumenical patriarchate of Constantinople and the patriarchate of Moscow, see all of the articles from www.chiesa:
> Focus on EASTERN CHURCHES
__________
English translation by Matthew Sherry, Ballwin, Missouri, U.S.A.
__________
The latest three articles from www.chiesa:
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