Grant saves Pugin masterpiece Report, page 37
Hierarchy overruled over fast track for ordinariate
THE ENGLISHand Welsh bishops were over- ruled in their request for former Anglican clergy wishing to join the ordinariate to undergo at least one year’s formation before ordination as Catholic priests, write Christopher Lamb and Qina Liu. It is understood that the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales wanted a longer period of formation for clergy but the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), which has overall jurisdiction of the ordinariate, said they should be ordained more quickly. Anglican clergy who wish to join the newly established body are to resign their positions by Ash Wednesday and are due to be ordained at Pentecost, 12 June, after just a few months’ formation. A former rector of the English College, Rome, said the ordinations were happening too quickly and sent out the wrong message. “I feel that an Anglican priest who wishes to become a Catholic priest needs to become accustomed to Catholic parish life and prac- tice,” Mgr Patrick Kilgarriff said. “I am unhappy that some priests will be ordained with hardly any preparation at all. It sends out the wrong signal, particularly to those Anglican priests who earlier became Catholic
priests and had to be trained for two to three years. Mgr Kilgarriff now a parish priest in Malvern, Worcestershire, said he believed the timescale for the ordinations was being driven by Rome and he was “quite sure” that the Bishops’ Conference would have asked for a longer period of formation. He explained that while Anglican clergy brought many gifts ordaining with “undue haste would be unfor- tunate, and can lead to problems”. Fr Keith Newton, the leader of the ordinariate, stressed that after ordination clergy would undergo two years of formation. This week, prominent Anglo-Catholic clergy announced they were joining the ordinariate including Fr Ed Tomlinson, of St Barnabas Church, Tunbridge Wells, Fr Ivan Aquilina of St John the Baptist, Sevenoaks and Frs Robin and Simon Ellis, from Devon and Derbyshire who are father and son. An assis- tant curate in the Sevenoaks parish, the Revd James Bradley, who was ordained a deacon last September, is also joining. A spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of England said that the ordinariate allowed for priests and communities to stay together and that ordi- nation would therefore take place during their formation process.
Churches say no to blessing gay unions
A CATHOLIC bishop has said the Church must resist any attempts to allow gay civil partnerships to take place on its property, writes Sam Adams. The Bishop of Middlesbrough, Terence
Drainey, said marriage could only be between a man and a woman, and that to allow civil partnerships in Catholic churches would go against 2,000 years of Christian teaching. He made the comments after it was revealed
the Government is considering lifting the ban on same-sex couples celebrating their civil partnerships in religious places of worship in England and Wales. The Anglican Bishop of Winchester, Michael
Scott-Joynt, also confirmed that the Church of England would not allow its churches to be used for civil ceremonies “because this would be to further confuse civil partnerships with marriage”. The Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, told the BBC that he welcomed “equality for everybody”, but that some rights should not be allowed “trump” others. Bishop Drainey explained: “Of course we would resist this, not just in this diocese but
in the Catholic Church as a whole. “If the Government went ahead with this, it would simply put us in a position where we had to say no, but this is not a new position. This has been the Church’s position on mar- riage for the past 2,000 years. Marriage is only between a man and a woman as far as the Catholic Church is concerned.” There are no plans to compel faith groups to permit civil partnerships, but there are fears they could be sued under anti- discrimination laws if they refuse requests from gay couples. Marriage between people of the same gender is not legal in the UK but civil partnerships were introduced in 2005 to give gay couples the chance to gain the same legal status. Civil partnership ceremonies are entirely
secular at present, but it is not clear whether the Government’s plans will suggest that those in religious surroundings could feature hymns or Bible readings, or even be described as marriages. The Government was due to make an announcement on the issue on Thursday.
Bishops explore links between Big Society and Catholic teaching
SENIOR Catholic bishops have met a key advocate of the Government’s “Big Society” programme during a special seminar on the role of Catholic Social Teaching, writes Sam Adams. The Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, invited Conservative MP and author Jesse Norman, and other influential political and theological thinkers, to examine the issue at Archbishop’s House in London, it has been revealed. The seminar on 9 February, which was
also attended by the Archbishop of Liverpool, Patrick Kelly, the Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith, and political thinker Phillip Blond, comes as the future of the Big Society has been called into question following deep cuts in funding to councils and the voluntary sector – including many Catholic charities. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s The Week in
Westminsterprogramme, Mr Norman, whose book The Big Society: The Anatomy of the New Politics was published last year, said the meeting focused on the “overlap” between the Big Society and Catholic Social Teaching.
“It was an incredibly enriching and interesting discussion about independent institutions and human capabilities, and I was amazed that this political idea should have reached that degree of acceptance and interest from very sophisticated and thoughtful people,” he said. A key issue of discussion was the
relevance of Catholic Social Teaching to the current political push for greater community action. The Church has taken steps to encourage social action since Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to Britain last September.
Archbishop Nichols, who has in the past praised the Big Society initiative, called for “a new culture of social responsibility” during a speech to the Caritas Social Action Network conference in Liverpool Hope University earlier this month. “In coming months we will be seeking to strengthen our work in partnership with other Christians, other religions and with central and local Government to help promote a more compassionate, fair and just society,” he said. The meeting at Archbishop’s House was a chance to develop this idea. A summary of the event would be published in early March and there is to be a follow-up “Common Endeavour” conference in London on 6 April.
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