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Reflection for Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi

TheCovenant-Image1

For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the death of the Lord until he comes.

Imagine if we were to walk into our very last class, just before graduation, and the professor says: ‘Forget everything you have ever learned, forget everything you know, and be filled with grace.’

Today, and every Sunday (and in reality every day), we are asked to do that, to surrender our intellectualism, our self-assured knowledge, and enter into the mystery of faith. We are asked to turn ourselves over to the Holy Spirit and to allow ourselves to be filled with the grace God offers us so that we can do much good in His name.

Our friends and close compatriots in the Orthodox Church have beautiful liturgies that call to mind both the majesty and mystery of God presence among us. Their tradition, unlike western tradition, does not rely on over thinking the mystery of God, with attempts to analyze and explain every nuance of God’s presence in our lives, but rather to worship and live trusting in the gift of faith handed down through God’s Word and Church Tradition.

We are in the midst of the Octave of Corpus Christi, eight days set aside to reflect on the mystery of the Body and Blood of Jesus in our lives, this wondrous gift that provides the grace through which we become more and more into the image of Christ.

As we have studied over the past few months, the Holy Mass is the occasion in which we encounter the full reality of Jesus among us. That reality is fully present in the Eucharistic action of the priest and the Christian people. In the Eucharistic action of ‘remembrance’ we live fully present at the Last Supper, at the foot of the Cross, the resurrection and ascension, and finally in Christ’s coming again. We are there with Him, present to Him, He is with us, and we are filled with His grace and tremendous love.

Our reception of the Eucharist in Holy Communion continues the mystery of Jesus in our life as Christians. In Communion we are joined as one. I could be receiving Communion on the moon, you here in Schenectady, each receiving the fullness of Jesus, each joined together as one body in Him. We are not separate and apart, alone in our communion, but together as one.

In these special eight days, and every day, let us forget what we think we know and actively be filled with grace, the glorious mystery of what we become in His Body and Blood.

Christian Witness, PNCC, ,

Lord, before this holy Sacrament, we bow low in humble prayer.

The-last-supper

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, One God, have mercy on us.

Jesus, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, have mercy on us.
Bread of Angels, have mercy on us.
Bread made flesh by the omnipotence of the Word, have mercy on us.
Bread of our souls, have mercy on us.
Food of the elect, have mercy on us.
Refreshment of holy souls, have mercy on us.
Most pure feast, have mercy on us.
Sacrament of piety, have mercy on us.
Sacrament of love, have mercy on us.
Source of all virtue, have mercy on us.
Fountain of grace, have mercy on us.
Mystery of faith, have mercy on us.
Mystery of love, have mercy on us.
Most high and most adorable Sacrament, have mercy on us.
Memorial of that most wonderful Divine love, have mercy on us.
Holy oblation, have mercy on us.
Lamb without spot, have mercy on us.
Fountain of Divine mercy, have mercy on us.
Viaticum of such that die in the Lord, have mercy on us.
Pledge of future glory, have mercy on us.

Be merciful to us, Spare us, O Lord,
Be merciful to us, Hear us, O Lord.

From an unworthy reception of Thy Body and Blood, Deliver us, O Lord.
From every occasion of sin, Deliver us, O Lord.
From being negligent of Thy grace, Deliver us, O Lord.
Through the mystery whereby Thou didst institute this Most Blessed Sacrament, Deliver us, O Lord.
Through Thy Passion and Death, Deliver us, O Lord.
Through Thy glorious Resurrection, Ascension, and descent of the Holy Ghost, Deliver us, O Lord.

We sinners beseech Thee, O God, Hear us, O Lord.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to preserve and increase our faith, reverence, and devotion toward this admirable Sacrament, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to move us to a frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to impart to us the precious fruits of this most holy Sacrament, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
That at the hour of death Thou wouldst strengthen us by this heavenly food, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
That Thou wouldst vouchsafe to cll us to the feast of the Lamb, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.
Son of God, We beseech Thee, hear us, O Lord.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, Have mercy on us.

Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Our Father…
Hail Mary…
Glory be…

Thou gavest us Bread from Heaven, O Lord.
Having in it the sweetness of every taste.

Let Us Pray

O God, Who in this wonderful Sacrament
hast left us a memorial of Thy Passion,
grant us, we beseach Thee,
so to venerate the Sacred Mysteries
of Thy Body and Blood,
that we may ever feel within ourselves
the fruit of Thy Redemption,
Who livest and reignest,
forever and ever.
Amen.

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for the Solemnity of Pentecost

Pentecost 2013

I have no energy.
I feel the power.

There is a variety of gifts but always the same Spirit… The particular way in which the Spirit is given to each person is for a good purpose.

Pentecost, unless it falls very late, generally occurs within allergy season. If you have seasonal allergies you know that they cause the typical sneezing, coughing, itchy eyes. An overlooked side effect is feeling exhausted.

Allergies aren’t the only reason for exhaustion. American society is one of the most productive on earth. We work-work-work and we don’t see many people imitating the seven dwarves as they sing their way to work. Beyond work itself workers face a dilemma – whether to rest, take time off, or take a vacation. The current work environment looks at time-off as a sign of not being needed. If you’re not missed while you are away you may come back to a pink slip. Without time-off, without the balanced life we need, we live exhausted.

It is ironic that when Pentecost rolls around, and we reflect on the power and gifts of the Holy Spirit, many of us are just plain exhausted. We think – wow, it would be great to have the power of the Holy Spirit, that energy that drove the apostles and disciples to conquer the earth for faith in Jesus.

As we lay in bed in the morning our prayer to the Holy Spirit may well be, Spirit, help me get out of bed. Then we lay there and perhaps feel guilty, perhaps feeling that we either missed out on or lost those great gifts of the Spirit; even the energy to get up.

What scripture teaches about the Holy Spirit is important to us.

We learn that as Christians we have received the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit dwells in each of us and is constantly filling us with love, inspiration, and very unique gifts – the variety of gifts given to each person for a good purpose.

The Spirit lives in us and listens to us. It is not a one-way conversation, the Spirit prompting us to do things but ignoring what we have to say. The Spirit takes what we say, and even what we cannot articulate, and brings those as prayers and petitions before the Father. As a result we get help.

Key to all of this is trust. Jesus told the Pharisees that the only unforgivable sin was to speak against the Holy Spirit. This is not literal – like saying the Holy Spirit is a bad guy. It is a failure to see and acknowledge the good the Spirit is doing, to trust the obvious power of the Spirit in our lives with Christ. This Pentecost we may feel exhausted, but we must trust that the Spirit is with us, giving us the gifts we need to do good, hearing our prayer, filling us with power!

Christian Witness, Homilies, , , ,

Reflection for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

Awesome Moms lead us to see Jesus

For I see…
What do you see?

But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.”

Today, our readings and Gospel look at the present and the future.

As Stephen is about to die he looks up and sees Jesus at the right hand of the Father. He is heading toward Jesus, to His loving embrace. Stephen has Jesus with him in his suffering, and because of that forgives his murders. He is also joyful, even in the midst of the stoning, because He knows what the future holds. Stephen is in a moment so totally now, and in his (and our) future.

John is on the island of Patmos. Jesus is speaking with him once again in terms that can be read as very now, in the present, and for the future. Jesus tells John that He is the Alpha and the Omega – timeless. He also tells John: “Behold, I am coming soon.”

We look at these statements and from them understand that Jesus is ever present, always with us and is also the ultimate goal, our promised future. John knows that Jesus is his present and future. To him Jesus is a joy, better than any other thing the world can offer.

Jesus is delivering His farewell address to His disciples just before the road that will lead Him to Calvary. He is reminding them that they are bound to Him by their knowledge and love, by their unity. They have the reality of God living with and in them, ever present, ever now. They also hear that they have a share in the future reality of God – the kingdom and paradise.

Like Stephen, like John, we need to listen to Jesus and rely on this reality – that He is with us in this moment, in the present, and is not just as a goal or someone we will meet in the future. Also, that we have a share in a wonderful future that surpasses any suffering or difficulty.

Our mothers have seen what Stephen and John saw. They brought us into the Holy Church so that we would see these things, so that we might listen to Jesus and understand a moment so totally now, and a vision for our future.

Because of their faith and the instruction they provided for us we were given an opportunity. When asked, ‘What do you see?’ how will we answer? If we took mom’s lessons to heart we can say: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God.” Saying that we can offer this vision to others. We can let them know about Jesus who is with us now and is our future.

Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, Work, ,

A prayer for Workers Memorial Day

Workers Memorial Day is celebrated each year on April 28, the anniversary of passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1970. It is an opportunity to remember and honor the people who are killed or injured in workplaces, as well as a chance for people to recommit to making workplaces safer and healthier. Our organizer, Bishop Francis Hodur, strongly supported the aspirations of Labor and the Labor movement, but always with an eye toward God’s role in man’s work and striving. The following prayer for Workers Memorial Day is composed and offered by the Interfaith Worker Justice organization.

Scripture

Lamentations 5:1-5

Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; behold, and see our disgrace! Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to aliens. We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows. We must pay for the water we drink, the wood we get must be bought. With a yoke on our necks we are hard driven; we are weary, we are given no rest.

Litany

Throughout history widows and orphans symbolized the fragility of life, the vulnerability of people. Widows and orphans became metaphors for the struggle for survival in the face of unjust situations. But they were also tangible and real – neighbors, friends, or family members. Everyone knew a widow and an orphan.

Grant us memory of widows and orphans.

Often women became widows, and children became orphans, because their husbands and fathers died while working in the fields of the wealthy or building the palaces of the rich.

Grant us memory of workers and their families.

As society progressed, the workplace became increasingly more dangerous – machines moving at treacherous speeds, workers scaling higher heights and digging deeper depths. Every second of every day was measured, with ever-increasing expectations. And managers began to view personal interaction between workers as “time theft.” So, in the midst of this the widows and orphans still labor and have no rest. Unjust managers deprive workers of basic human dignity and contact.

Grant us awareness of the widows and orphans.

Stress in the workplace increases animosity and alienation among co-workers. Fewer workers are expected to accomplish more work. The pace is unhealthy. Whether autoworkers or hotel workers, expectations exceed possibilities for safe completion of the work. So, in the midst of this workers are still injured and even killed in their workplaces.

Grant us awareness of these injured workers.

Our prophets continue to remind us to treat widows and orphans fairly, to take seriously their circumstances when considering how we distribute our wealth, and to watch their interests in the halls of power.

Grant us the compassion and wisdom to be advocates for the widows and orphans.

Our prophets continue to remind us that we are to be the voice of those injured in their workplaces. We are to stand with those unable to stand. We are to raise our voices to protect other workers from the same fate.

Grant us the compassion and wisdom to be advocates for our sisters and brothers in the workplace.

Our calling as God’s people is to be hope for the world.

Let us fulfill the hopes of the widows, the orphans, the workers who are injured in the workplace. Amen.

Prayer

Creator God, you formed the world and its people with your hands. As we use our hands, our heads, and our hearts in co-creating the world in our many and varied vocations, we are especially aware of our vulnerability and fragility. We suffer with those injured at the workplace. We mourn with the families of the killed and injured. But our mourning will be hollow without a change in our lives. Awaken our passion for justice for those workers who come in contact with dangerous chemicals, fast-moving machines, and long hours. And grant us hope. Amen.

StandFirm

Christian Witness, Homilies,

Reflection for the Fifth Sunday of Easter

heaven and earth proclaim

A new heaven and earth?
What’s wrong with this one?

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Change is a challenge to us in some of its forms.

Of course we tend to ignore the small or insignificant changes around us because we might not even notice them. The grass grew a few millimeters – we wouldn’t see it, but eventually we notice that its time to mow. Bigger changes confront us and we have to deal with them. It may be a move, new job, a pending graduation, retirement, or a decline in health. These changes unsettle us and may cause us stress.

Today we are confronted with God’s ultimate change – the dissolution of EVERYTHING and the coming of a new heaven and earth.

St. John paints this beautifully in the poetry of Revelation. We see the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. The city is prepared as the new home where God and His people dwell together. God comes to us to live in this new place – talk about a big move. There we are joined with Him in a joy that knows no bounds. All that hinders and hurts us is cast off and there will be no more tears, death, mourning, crying, or pain.

We, as Christians, are called to be an eschatological people. It is a big word, but means that we are a people in touch with this new heaven and earth. We are a people who live in the present, but also live in this time-to-come. We are a people that cannot wait for this change.

When we gather, particularly at Holy Mass, and in the sharing of the Holy Eucharist in communion, we are at once in many places. Instantly we are at the Last Supper, the foot of the cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension, and at the new heaven and earth.

Because we live in all of these places when we “Do this in remembrance” of Him, we are to have no fear, no stress over this coming change. In fact, we are to rejoice in it and pray unceasingly for its coming. We already live there and want to see its fulfillment.

There are many who wish to paint horrific pictures and stories about this moment to come, to instill fear, to make it stressful. Don’t be fooled. We who are His people need only have confidence that all the wrongs, tears, and pains of what we have are nothing compared to the joy to come. Come Lord Jesus!

Art, Christian Witness, Events, PNCC, ,

Encountering Christ in drama

From the Time Tribune: Dramas bring Easter to life

The apostle Peter sang his welcome to the audience in the darkened hall at the Rock Church Worship Center during dress rehearsals last week for the congregation’s annual Easter drama.

He was on a stage set with vine-covered walls, an open tomb and a wheel-shaped stone that foretold his story’s ending.

“The son of God has come and I’m a witness,” he sang.

In churches throughout the region, accounts of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection have stepped out of Scripture onto stages in recent weeks as parishes dramatize the defining event of Christian history, turning audiences and actors into witnesses. The displays range from modest wooden tombs set up on church lawns to elaborate stage dramas with dozens of cast and crew members.

“We all need to be reminded that Jesus came and gave his life for us,” Rock Church pastor Bill Smalt said before calling his performers to their places. “We can read it in the Bible. But there’s something when you see it acted out that’s more powerful sometimes than just reading it.”

Performances of Christ’s suffering and resurrection originated in the Middle Ages, with Easter and Passion plays that grew out of the already dramatic elements of church-based worship.

The Rev. Gerald Gurka, a Roman Catholic priest in Larksville who has written more than 30 Passion plays or less elaborate living stations of the cross, said the medieval plays, like stained-glass windows, were used to share the Gospel with a public that could not read or write. The teaching tools were also beautiful and affecting.

The practice persists because it still works, he said. This year, a cast and crew of about 100 people put on his newest Passion play for a packed audience at St. John the Baptist Church.

“Every year, something wonderful happens,” he said. People return to church or patch over personal grievances. Once, an alcoholic father of children who were acting in the play checked himself into rehab after the performance was over.

“I don’t look for that to happen,” he said, “but I think it’s the way God’s message speaks to people through that art form.”

Other Christian holidays also lend themselves to dramatic recreation. Christmas pageants and living nativity scenes abound. But area pastors say that Easter dramas, and dramatic aspects of Easter religious rituals, emphasize the proper center of the faith and enliven the long period of reflection that precedes and follows the holiday.

The 90-day season of Lent and Easter “is the whole core and heart of the Christian faith,” said the Right. Rev. Bernard Nowicki, bishop of the Central Diocese of the Polish National Catholic Church and pastor of St. Stanislaus Cathedral. “Then the church spends the rest of the year discussing what all that means.”

Easter dramas, like the living stations of the cross performed at the cathedral during Lent, continue to be instructive for seekers, he said, and offer the parish youth a leadership role in worship. They are also vivid and emotionally moving.

“The action taking place – Christ falls once, twice, three times, quite a crash when the cross hits the floor – it makes it almost visceral.”

At Peace Lutheran Church, which is located on a busy stretch of Main Avenue, the congregation uses its high-profile space to reenact Jesus’ crucifixion on Good Friday.

Costumed parishioners walk with a Jesus character bearing his cross for several blocks then act out the crucifixion near the church steps.

“We want to use it as a witness for the rest of the world passing by,” the Rev. Kristian Bjornstad said.

At times, they have been ridiculed for it. People in passing cars shouted obscenities during past years’ performances.

“Sometimes when we read the text, we don’t get a clue what it was really like for Jesus to be mocked and made fun of,” he said, “until we’re reenacting it and they do it to us.”

However uncomfortable, the portrayal helps bring Christianity’s most important historical moment into the present, he said.

“To reenact that is to affirm its reality in our lives today.”

Christian Witness, PNCC, , , ,

PNCC Member featured as Northeast Woman for charity work

From the Times Tribune: Need to nourish Throop woman lives faith, helping to create One Hot Meal

Supplies were running low for Carol Nasser and her fellow volunteers at One Hot Meal as they doled out warm meals to people in need.

It was meatloaf day, and there was just one loaf left. But, somehow, that loaf kept giving, and they fed everyone who came by seeking nourishment with one slice to spare.

Mrs. Nasser has not forgotten that moment from the early days of One Hot Meal, the program she and a few others started at their church, St. Stanislaus Polish National Catholic Cathedral in Scranton, on New Year’s Day in 2008.

“That was in God’s hands,” said Mrs. Nasser of Throop, who often shares the meatloaf story. “It was like the loaves of bread (Bible story).”

A couple hundred people sit down to a warm, homemade meal every month thanks in part to the dedication of Mrs. Nasser, who knows many people could use the help, especially in the current economic climate. Funded entirely by donations, the program provides meals to anyone who wants them on the first Saturday of every month from 1 to 3 p.m. at the cathedral’s youth center, 530 E. Elm St.

“We opened it up for anyone in need of a meal,” Mrs. Nasser said.

Feeding the hungry

Jesus said to feed the hungry, Mrs. Nasser pointed out, and even before One Hot Meal began, she noticed a need in the community and set out to remedy it. She was known to whip up a pot of chili or soup and take it to the Scranton Rescue Mission, and she even would take her leftovers from a restaurant and hand them out to people in need on the street.

“I love doing it,” said Mrs. Nasser, who also pointed out that she wishes more people would know One Hot Meal is there to help. “I’ve always had the passion, I guess, for the homeless (and) feeding people.”

Helping drive this desire to help nourish the hungry is Mrs. Nasser’s love for cooking, a love she inherited from her late mother, Sophie Zanghi.

“Growing up, I did a lot helping my mother, and it was sort of my thing,” she said.

Her father’s Sicilian heritage – which left her with recipes like those for her grandmother’s sauce – led to the start of an Italian dinner at her church, which raised money for One Hot Meal. She cooked for that first benefit and hopes to hold another one soon.

Mrs. Nasser, who also used to help with Catholic Social Services’ annual angel tree, has even expanded her charitable work beyond the kitchen again. She and her church community also have reached out to the needy by collecting clothing, accessories like scarves and gloves, and nonperishable food for them.

A stay-at-home mom and grandmother with three grown daughters and an infant grandson, Mrs. Nasser expects nothing in return for anything she does, said her friend Kathy Kotula, who nominated her for Northeast Woman.

“She has a good heart,” Ms. Kotula said.

Helping hands

One Hot Meal has grown since Mrs. Nasser helped launch it five years ago, and volunteers prepare 200 meals per month these days. They have a great group of helpers, too, she said, and they help in a myriad of ways, from cooking to donating food to delivering meals.

“We have dozens of volunteers that help us, like parishioners and even people who aren’t from our parish,” said Mrs. Nasser, whose family members also pitch in.

In addition to handing them out at the center, community members also deliver meals to people who are homebound or elderly, to shelters and to other community organizations that feed people in need.

“I just wish more people would know what we’re offering and come,” Mrs. Nasser said.

Christian Witness, PNCC, , ,

Congratulations Fr. Jerry

From the StarCourier: Father Jerry is Ambassadors’ 2013 Citizen of the Year, Pastor of Holy Trinity Church

Kewanee — The Rev. Jerry Rafalko is the 2013 Citizen of the Year. Rev. Rafalko was selected by the Kewanee Chamber of Commerce’s Ambassadors Club. He will be honored at a community dinner reception which will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

Fr. Jerry RafalkoRev. Jaroslaw “Jerry” Rafalko was born and educated in Poland. He was ordained into the priesthood in 1980 in Poland, and came to the United States in 1989 to join his mother and sister, who lived in Chicago.

In March 1990 he was assigned by the bishop of the Western District of the Polish National Catholic Church as pastor of Holy Trinity Parish in Kewanee.

The parish has been part of the Kewanee community for 85 years, meeting the needs first of Polish immigrants and later of many local residents.

Moving to the United States opened new opportunities and presented new challenges for Father Jerry. He studied English and computer science at Black Hawk East College.

As a priest, his pastoral ministry includes spiritual and psychological counseling. Since 1999 he has been chaplain and bereavement coordinator first for Kewanee Hospital Hospice and now for OSF Hospice in Kewanee, offering spiritual comfort to those who are dying and grief support to their family members.

Father Jerry does a monthly radio show offering information on hospice and conducts weekly support group meetings at Kewanee Hospital and at Courtyard Estates in Galva.

Father Jerry’s community honors have included recognition by the Kewanee Kiwanis Club, the DAR and Kewanee Care, where he was named volunteer of the year in 2004. He also has received the Ambassadors Club Meritorious Service Award and the Elks Distinguished Citizenship Award for outstanding and meritorious service to humanity.

Father Jerry’s wife Leslie is a registered nurse in the emergency room and critical care unit at Kewanee Hospital.

Christian Witness, PNCC,

Ecumenical Activity with the Anglican Continuum

An excerpt from Virtue Online: Classical Anglican Jurisdictions Enter New Phase of Cooperation: Six Continuing jurisdictions see healing with fresh talks of unity prompted by Global Realignment by David W. Virtue DD

FACA IN SOUTH CAROLINA

A recent meeting of FACA in April 9, 2013, at the Cummins Memorial Theological Seminary in Summerville, SC drew two special guests including the beleaguered Bishop Mark Lawrence of the Diocese of South Carolina, and Archbishop Peter Robinson, of the United Episcopal Church.

Bishop Lawrence told his story of “leaving Egypt,” and wanting to work with FACA. The bishop invited FACA leaders to the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul for an evening visit with four bishops from East Africa and a reception.

Archbishop Robinson expressed his desire to see closer relationships throughout the continuum, and told members about the UEC’s partnerships with the Province of Christ the King and the Anglican Catholic Church.

Fr. Kevin Donlon, canon lawyer with the Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA), reported on a visit he made to the Mission Province in Sweden last October, setting the stage for a meeting with Lutheran Bishop Walter Obara in Kenya (who helped give the Mission Province its episcopate) and Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini. Donlon also talked about the Anglican Mission’s extensive networks with young Anglican bishops in Africa and Southeast Asia. “We all need to be moving toward conciliar governance, whereby we live within the theology, the ministry and the disciplines of Holy Scripture and the Councils of the undivided Church,” he noted.

The Anglican Church in America and the Anglican Province in America are working toward a closer relationship, reported Bishops Walter Grundorf and Brian Marsh on their progress and on the “speed bumps” to unity. “By going slowly the two jurisdictions can marinade their lives together, leaving behind a template, or model, for others to follow,” commented The Rt. Rev. Paul C. Hewett, Bishop of the Diocese of the Holy Cross who moderated the conference.

Bishop David Hicks (REC) reported on the Task Force to study Holy Orders in the Anglican Church in North America. This study, now in its first phase, will recommend to ACNA’s College of Bishops whether the ordination of women is possible, based on Scripture and Tradition. Anglo-Catholics have long held the view that this is the major stumbling block to unity with the ACNA if this issue remains unresolved. The task force noted that the two sides of this issue come at the matter from quite different ecclesiology.

Former TEC Bishop Keith Ackerman, president of FiF-NA and Bishop Vicar in the Diocese of Quincy, encouraged all traditional, orthodox Anglicans to magnify the lay office of deaconess. The REC’s training program for deaconesses is fully operational as is the Anglican Deaconess Association.

Four continuing bishops recently sent an appeal to ACNA’s College of Bishops, asking to have only men in Holy Orders and to use an historic Anglican liturgy. Archbishop Mark Haverland (ACC), Peter Robinson (UEC), Bishop Brian Marsh (ACA), Bishop Walter Grundorf (APA), and Bishop Paul Hewett (DHC) all signed the appeal.

“It was an example of continuing church bishops speaking with one voice, and of seeking the reforms in ACNA that will allow FACA to be in communion with everyone in ACNA, at which point FACA’s jurisdictions and societies could join the ACNA,” Said Hewett.

On May 24 – 25, the Fellowship of Concerned Churchmen, (FCA) meeting in Fredericksburg, VA, will make “The Appeal” the subject of its presentations. Bishop Ray Sutton (REC) highlighted the breakthroughs of the Task Force on ecumenical relations with (ACNA), the Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, the Roman Catholic Church (a recent audience with the Pope), and the Russian Orthodox Church (an invitation to visit Patriarch Kyril in Moscow in 2014). Bishop Hewett proposed a delegation to visit Hieronymos II, the Archbishop of Athens, Greece, in the autumn of 2014, to strengthen ties with the Greek Orthodox, both in Greece, and North America.

Bishop Richard Lipka (Missionary Diocese of All Saints, Forward in Faith) announced the upcoming Forward in Faith/North America Assembly, July 17 – 19, in Belleville, Illinois, where the guest speaker will be the Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir Ali, former Bishop of Rochester, England. A delegation of bishops and clergy from the Polish National Catholic Church will be part of that week’s meetings.

FORWARD IN FAITH

There are now five dioceses in Forward in Faith/NA: Ft. Worth, San Joaquin, Quincy, Missionary Diocese of All Saints and the Diocese of the Holy Cross. Bishop Ackerman noted that Forward in Faith/NA is an organism that serves all traditional, orthodox Anglicans, to teach the faith and order of the undivided Church, and to reveal the essential unity of the Body of Christ.

Bishop Hewett gave a report on the new federation emerging in the UK, with the Free Church of England (Bishop John Fenwick), the Nordic Catholic Church (Norway, Bishop Roald Flemestad, part of the Union of Scranton), the Polish National Catholic Church, and the REC’s burgeoning work in Europe. He noted that the Free Church of England is now canonically recognized by the Church of England. The Anglican Association, a Forward in Faith/UK think tank, is assisting in putting this federation together. One of the Anglican Association’s leaders, Canon Geoffrey Neal, Forward in Faith/UK Dean of the Ouse Valley, will speak at the Diocese of the Holy Cross Synod in Winchester, VA on April 19.

In a major new development, all parties unanimously agreed to a motion that whenever parishes want to change jurisdictions, their respective bishops will confer. A committee on standards of preparation for ordained ministry was also established.

“There was a sense at this meeting that FACA has become ever more important to everyone in it, as a way of living together as “continuers,” and as a catalyst for a single fully traditional, orthodox province for us all, upholding the Catholic Faith and Apostolic Order of the undivided Church,” observed Hewett.

“We need to take the 39 Articles seriously and Newman’s Tract 90 the purpose of which was to establish the contention that the fundamental ecclesiological identity of the Church of England was Catholic rather than Protestant. He has given us a way to talk to one another. The Chicago Quadrilateral is also part of our patrimony.”

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