Thoughts and opinions from a Priest in the PNCC
Tope Koleoso from Jubilee Church in London, England:
Dare To Believe God For Miracles – Tope Koleoso from Adrian Warnock on Vimeo.
A line that captures the PNCC teaching on the sacramental nature of the Word of God:
We want the full Gospel, not just propositional truths, but the power of God.
Amen!
From Kosciol.pl: Abp Gołębiewski: wiele możemy się nauczyć od Kościołów reformowanych (Archbishop Gołębiewski: There is much to be learned from the Reformed Churches).
Od protestantów możemy się nauczyć większego szacunku dla Słowa Bożego —“ powiedział metropolita wrocławski (We have the opportunity to learn great regard for the Word of God from the Protestant Churches says the Metropolitan of Wrocław)
Unfortunately, the article is only available in the Polish language. The translations provided above are mine. More on Archbishop Gołębiewski
As I’ve noted in previous posts, the Roman Church held a Synod on the Word of God this past October. Let’s pray that the Roman Church follows the PNCC in elevating the hearing of and teaching on the Word of God to sacramental status.
An newly ordained Episcopal priest offers his first Sunday, Rite I, service and communes the President of the United States. From Scribere Orare Est: How the President of the United States Showed Up for my First Sunday Mass
Today I celebrated my first Sunday mass.
My first mass ever was celebrated this past Wednesday at 7:15 AM. Bethany got up extra early to be there, as did the rector and a handful of others. It was deeply meaningful.
But today was my first Sunday mass. And, to make it even better, it was at the 8:00 AM, Rite I liturgy, a liturgy that has been a deeply meaningful part of my own spiritual journey. Our senior warden is a regular at the service and when I saw him yesterday he gave me some good advice. —First,— he said, —Wait a couple seconds after the end of the prelude before you begin. Second, take your time. Don’t rush. Let the service be as it should.— I heard, marked, and inwardly digested his advice, pondering them in my heart as I got ready this morning. I was a little nervous, but primarily excited.
As I was putting on my cassock in my office, I heard another priest come in from outside. I poked my head out the door. —Good Morning!— I called out to our Associate for Worship and Pastoral Care.
She smiled, —Good morning. How do you feel?—
—A little nervous,— I admitted.
—Well, have you heard the news?— she asked.
I was a little confused. I thought for a moment, wondering what the news could be, and then said, —No, I don’t think I have.—
She smiled broadly, —The President of the United States is going to be in the congregation.—
I sputtered, —The President, like George W. Bush??—
She smiled, —Yep…—
…people, and many, many Christians. From Huw Raphael: More like this…
One of our issues, drawing on Huw’s citation of a quote on the vast differences between God and humanity, is that we think of ourselves as the mouse in the fable of the Lion and the Mouse. We think that we can somehow return the King’s favor, that the King just might need us, not for His reasons, but to save Him. Our overwrought sense of confidence leads us down paths we shouldn’t tread. We stop relying on Him and His word, and rely on what we devise — because God needs us to make things right. In our imperfection we go to instinct — our natural instinct being the creation of barriers.
I recently read Fr. Ray Blake’s Pelagianism: I hate it. In it he states:
Pelagianism denies the action of Grace in the world, man is saved by his own goodness and efforts, rather than by God.
It is what we do, rather than what God does that matters, therefore the value of the sacraments is the psychological effect they have in our lives, rather than the direct intervention of God. It denies the power of Grace…: Pelagians above all would deny the role of the Holy Spirit, of His act of sanctification. Wherever there is attempt to place man at the heart of the faith, there we should expect to find Pelagianism.
Pelagianism expects Man to be strong rather God’s grace to be powerful. Catholicism, or as we could call it, mainstream Christianity, acknowledges mankind is weak and wholly dependant on those things God gives him…
Yep, and me too. Pelagianism means we are the deciders. When I look at my Church, the PNCC, I see the Church that believes in the overwhelming power of God, given through the gift of sanctifying grace. Believing that we must say: ‘To whom shall the power of the sacraments be denied?’
When we receive the gifts of God, through the sacraments, we face God’s power to change even the hardest of hearts. Grace moves in and reorients us. When a Church believes that; the barriers are broken down. Whatever our positions may be, our stands, we are whittled down and we are drawn closer to the people we should be. God makes change happen. That change is for everyone. In Him we are made more human, more genuine, and the headstrong, Pelagian mouse in us dies. We learn our need, for God, and for each other. We learn, as Huw says, that Christ takes us beyond [division].
Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if any one hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20).
From the Boston Post. I originally found this at The Deacon’s Bench. Almost like an episode of How’s It Made.
From the Rev. Canon Chandler Holder Jones, SSC: Vatican Recognition of Anglican Orders With Old Catholic Infusion.
An interesting article pointing to a new book No Ordinary Fool: A Testimony To Grace by Father John Jay Hughes, plus an excellent picture of PNCC Bishops Gawrychowski, Bończak, Hodur, and Gritenas.
From Ekklesia: Orthodox Patriarch addresses Synod of Catholic bishops for the first time.
“It is well known that the Orthodox Church attaches to the synod system fundamental ecclesiological importance. Together with primacy, synodality constitutes the backbone of the Church’s government and organization. … Therefore, in having today the privilege to address your Synod our hopes are raised that the day will come when our two Churches will fully converge on the role of primacy and synodality in the Church’s life, to which our joint theological commission is devoting its study at the present time”.
A prayer that echos in the PNCC as well.
Dialog is great, but only bears fruit in self examination. Unfortunately the door to self examination appears to be closing – a negative affect of Benedict’s reform. Certain of the Roman Church’s bishops are using Church discipline, focused on correcting liturgical abuses, as an excuse for door slamming. Those very same bishops continue to perpetuate every sort of post Vatican II abuse while at the same time invoking Roman elitism in furtherance of personal agendas; an excuse for closing their ears. Frankly, I agree with Benedict’s reforms. Correct the abuses and excesses of the post Vatican II Church, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. It is not playing that way in the U.S., and appears, at least to me, as an opportunity for self-serving under the cloak of the reform-of-the-reform.
On the Synod itself, I pray that the Roman Church’s Synod on the Word elevates the role of the hearing and preaching on the Word of God. This is one of the sacraments of the PNCC. The PNCC’s understanding of the sacramentality of the Word is core to the Church’s efforts in proclaiming Christ. As a PNCC clergyman you cannot take the role of preacher lightly, or use your time in the pulpit as an opportunity to focus on anything other than the Word. You must seek the inspiration of the Spirit, a gift of your ordination, and use those gifts to God’s purpose.
The Young Fogey pointed to a discussion board conversation dealing with Anglican Apostolic Succession at the Byzantine Forum.
Typical of such discussions is the back and forth about who has “valid orders,” what Rome thinks of such in opposition to Orthodoxy, and does the Dutch Touch
What tends to surprise me is the lack of understanding exhibited in regard to the status of the Polish National Catholic Church and Utrecht.
This is an attempt to clarify some of the statements in the forum.
Ok, now everything is as clear as mud. Really though, I do encourage all who wish to study the PNCC to do so. We publish a lot, and are great on full disclosure. The minutes of Supreme Council meetings and Synods are available both in book form and in the pages of God’s Field. Buy a book, get a subscription, or just ask. It will go a long way in getting the facts straight.
George Weigel posits a question in a column from The Pilot: CAMPAIGN 2008: Marriage, civility, persecution
Will the Catholic Church have to get out of the civil marriage business (i.e., priests no longer serving as officers of the court for purposes of validating a marriage)? Will Catholic marriages in the United States eventually resemble marriages in, say, communist-era Poland: a sad joke of a civil ceremony, followed by the liturgical ceremony?
At least in Poland people were honest enough to stop at the civil step if that was all they wanted.
Frankly I hope that such a turn of events does occur. Clergy should not be “officers of the court” for any purpose. We do not represent earthly government, nor should we align ourselves, or encumber ourselves, with the requirements governments put upon us. We should use great care in not equating the sacrament of marriage with a legal contract between two people (which is all a civil marriage is)
Such a move, getting the government out of the Church’s sacrament and the Church out of the government’s business of contract oversight, would only serve to bring a greater level of honesty to the whole process. The Church and couples should be free from the hypocrisy of it all — freedom from the notion that the Church is only a way point for marriage, later for the baby naming ceremony, later for the funeral.
I have seen faith filled couples come to church because that’s where they want to be. I have also seen people go through the motions, lying to themselves and to the Church for months, just for the pretty ceremony — the one grandma wants. Tens of thousands of dollars for lies and shame. Money that could be saved if only they had stopped by the local court, put down $10, and signed a contract. That was all they really wanted. If the word ‘sacrament’ passed through their minds for more than a millisecond I’d be surprised.
Let’s not make churches “officers of the court” as part of an elaborate faí§ade – filled with pretense and business opportunities for wedding consultants. Let’s not make the Church a party to corruption. Let those who come to Church come freely. When they come they will find the doors open to them, doors that open to a lifetime of faith.
As an aside, no Mr. Weigel, you don’t need a government ‘ceremony.’ It can be as simple as putting pen to paper, signing off on a legal agreement as it were. Why play make believe?
Frankly I think Mr. Weigel is full of beans. He cannot see beyond John Paul/Poland shrine he has built to the stuff John Paul really believed in. God’s Kingdom and His Church are greater than human folly.
I posted earlier on the upcoming R.C. Synod on the Word of God. Zenit published a list of participants:
Here is the list of participants Benedict XVI appointed for the 12th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, to be held Oct. 5-26 in the Vatican. The theme is “The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church…”
What I found interesting was the list of auditors. Besides a few scholars and university types as well as the traditional religious communities, there is a number of newer communities like the “Shalom” Catholic community, Brazil, and the NeoCatechumenal Way. An interesting mix.
Hopefully efforts at evangelizing on the Word of God will not be focused on these institutes and communities but as something core to the Church’s mission — something for every parish and every bishop, priest, and deacon. Remember deacon’s – one of your core jobs is the proclamation of the Word.