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VOLUME XXVIII, NUMBER 2 EASTER,
2008 |
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VOLUME XXVIII, NUMBER 2 EASTER,
2008 |
Dear Friends,
When our dear Lord cried out from the Cross, "It
is finished!" these were words of victory, not defeat. Jesus came to save
you from your sins. He fulfilled in His Person and Work every requirement of
the Old Testament Law. He offered Himself as Priest and Victim upon the Cross
to pay the price of sin. He has finished the work of salvation His Father gave
Him to do. His is the victory over the world, the flesh and the devil.
St. Peter says, "Christ died, the Just for the
unjust, that He might bring us to God." The veil in the temple was rent
asunder showing that through His precious blood, Christ is the Way to the
Father. You can not enter the Presence of God trusting in your own
righteousness, but in His great mercy 'under the blood of the Lamb.'
The teaching of the Old Testament is that without the
shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. The Lord did not deal with your
sin by simply setting it aside, saying everything is alright. He sent His Son
into the world to make the acceptable sacrifice for sin. "There was no
other good enough / To pay the price of sin, / He only
could unlock the gate / Of heaven, and let us in." None can go unto the
Father but through His blood.
In the Sixth chapter of
The word Lent speaks to the lengthening of daylight
as Spring draws nigh. Spring is the renewal of the
earth after the time of death of Winter. It is
nature's way of proclaiming the blessed hope of the glorious resurrection of
our Lord on the third day according to the Scriptures. Easter is the Spring of
Souls from the prison of sin, for Jesus as a sun has risen and the Winter of your sins is flying. Those who believe on Jesus
have His life to raise them up from sin and death in newness of life to live
forever with the Lord.
We trust that you will have a most Blessed Easter and
be filled with the confidence that "Now is Christ risen
from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them
that slept." Because He lives, you, too, will live as you will be
glorified together with Him. May the words of Jesus' victory become your words
of blessed assurance. "It is finished!"
Yours in that Blessed Hope,
Faithfully in Christ,
Prayer
for the Increase of the Ministry O Almighty God, look
mercifully upon the world which thou hast redeemed by the blood of thy dear
Son, and incline the hearts of many to dedicate themselves to the Sacred
Ministry of thy Church; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who
liveth and reigneth
with thee and the Holy Ghost, One God, world without end. Amen.
The
Election of The Rt Rev’d Leo J Michael
Bishop Ordinary
of the Diocese of the Holy Trinity and
The Enthronement Service will be
held on Thursday, June 12, during the Annual Synod of the diocese
Which will be held
at Saint Joseph of Glastonbury Church,
"Whosoever shall be
saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith.
Which Faith, except every one do keep whole and
undefiled, without dot he will perish everlastingly." - Saint Athanasius
HOW DO WE WORSHIP THE LORD?
We offer incense at the
beginning of the Mass and at the offering of the oblation, and everything and ever
person is symbolically made fragrant as the censer is swung to each person and
thing in turn. That represents the fitting preparation of the place and the
people before holy acts are done and holy things are taken and holy mysteries
are handled. When the oblation is placed upon the Altar every thing and every
person is censed and the incense is swung to send a cloud of fragrance over the
people; in that, I think, is a thought that is well to grip and take away with
you.
When the incense is
swung over the people it represents the truth that a Christian life should be a
fragrant thing; when you go out of church you ought to take with you the
fragrance of a Christian life. The presence of a Christian in home or street or
work should be like the fragrant swing of the censer leaving behind an
atmosphere that is touched with heavenly values. I once heard some one say that
a person’s cat ought to know if its owner is a Christian. I am quite
certain the people in the same street ought to know, and that there ought to go
out with the fragrance of our Christian life and fellowship and worship, so
that men have knowledge that we have been with Jesus.
Again, we offer incense
when the Blessed Sacrament is elevated at the Mass, for that is our supreme
moment of prayer, as the perfect offering is made and the presence e of angels
and archangels and the company of heaven is recognized, so we add to our
singing our silence, and to our silence the symbolic offering of the fragrant
incense.
Pp
60-61, The Symbolism of the Sanctuary, 1927/1943, A.
R. Mowbray & Co. Ltd.,
THE
SEVEN OECUMENICAL COUNCILS OF THE UNDIVIDED CHURCH
These are a detailed course of instruction in the Faith set
forth in a series of Letters written, where possible, at weekly intervals. The
writing of these letters provided an opportunity to demonstrate the way in
which the Faith revealed in the Holy Scriptures has been clarified by the
Fathers in the face of false interpretations and the intrusion of alien
teachings. These Letters were written to provide a sufficient guide so that the
Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments begin to come alive in the way the
Fathers experienced them. This is an invitation to a fresh discovery of the
spiritual riches of the Catholic Church.
SOME THOUGHTS ON GOOD SHEPHERD SUNDAY
by Bp.
Leo Michael
What a
day to celebrate the ordination, when we shall be
making of John Slavin a shepherd through the
sacrament of the Holy Orders, when we hear again the words of our Lord “I
am the Good Shepherd and I lay down my life for my sheep”. In
today’s gospel Jesus articulates what a shepherd should be and who he
should not be: He needs to be a Good shepherd and not a hireling. In the person
of our Lord, the shepherd is a GOOD Shepherd and also the lamb that is
sacrificed. A shepherd as a lamb sounds like an oxymoron. Contradictory as it
may seem in its denotation, verily the shepherd becomes the Lamb of God that
takes away the sins of the world.
The
shepherd is the one who has a unique relationship with his sheep. The sheep
know him and follow him and they are certain that he will lead them to verdant
pasture. Psalm 21 addresses the Lord as our shepherd and as sheep there is
nothing we shall lack. Fresh and green are the pastures where he gives me
repose, near restful waters he leads me to revive my drooping spirit. He will
guide me along what he knows to be right: if I walk in the darkness no evil
shall I fear. I know that he will be there with his crook and with his staff.
Personally
I have had some experience as shepherd boy in my early childhood days. My mom who worked as a nurse in a government hospital, would
ask us to graze our sheep and cows. It was a steep hillside with thorny bushes
and rocks. I was seven or eight year old then, and the landscape looked huge
for me then. I had to make sure that the sheep did not slip and fall and I had
to bleat to mimic them at times to get their response, if I lost sight of them.
At times, pretending to be a young one, I would bleat and the lambs would also
respond. I needed to make sure that they all reached their pen. It was a small
house that we lived in and the pen was just next to our house. Any little noise
would wake us up. When they give birth to the young ones, we would stay awake
at night to make sure that the birthing was right. What a joy it was to see
them when they were born.
Our
Lord applies this example of his times, an example of a shepherd that every one
of his audience was familiar with. He is the Great and Good Shepherd, who is
not a hireling. He will not run away at the face of danger, because his sheep
is in danger. He would fight and defend his sheep till they are secure. Simply
put, someone can go only over his dead body to steal his sheep.
What is
great about this Good Shepherd is that He is God the Shepherd and true enough
He lay down his life for his sheep. In this act of sacrifice, he was not only
the shepherd, but the sheep, the lamb, the victim that was sacrificed. Call to
priesthood, is just the beginning of a struggle in living out the calling. It
could be martyrdom, but in our day and age it is a bloodless one. If anyone
thought wearing this collar is going to command respect, they are mistaken. If
anyone taught and thought, that the ordination to the holy orders can be
recalled at will, they make mockery of such a holy estate and persist in their
foolhardiness, for they have no clue of what it calls one for. The role of a
shepherd can never ever be compromised, sidelined, bought off, having other
preferential option, not even the secular job that we have for livelihood, for
it’s a call from above: Feed my lamb, feed my sheep. Only if they feared
their conscience and remembered the day they made their vows to the Lord on the
day of their ordination, there will be so much of integrity and incessant work
for God’s glory and His Kingdom. The Lord refers to the hireling; they
are the ones only concerned about their welfare, their benefits, and their
retirement. Matthew Henry very aptly comments on this concept of a 'hireling', “How basely the hireling deserts his post; when
he sees the wolf coming, though then there is most need of him, he leaves the
sheep and flees. Note, those who mind their safety
more than their duty are an easy prey to Satan's temptations. (b.) How fatal
the consequences are! the hireling fancies the sheep
may look to themselves, but it does not prove so: the wolf catches them, and
scatters the sheep, and woeful havoc is made of the flock, which will all be
charged upon the treacherous shepherd. The blood of perishing souls is required at the hand
of the careless watchmen.
“
The
call to the Holy Orders is a call from God to take care of the souls that are
very dear to Him. And the accountability is going to be grave on the Day of
Judgment, make no mistake about it. And our process of discerning the vocation
is through prayers and the internal disposition of the candidate and of course
one’s seminary training coupled with their on the job training in a
pastoral setting. The twelve apostles sat and learnt at the
Resonating the very words of our Lord in the
synagogue, for his ordination motto, Deacon John has chosen the Gospel of
Matthew Chapter 10 verse 8 "Freely ye have received, Freely Give" He
told me, “I prayed over this for a
long time and I feel it sums up my calling well. I truly love working with
those who have nothing, it is why I originally was drawn to the prison ministry
and hospital chaplain.” We need to feel aglow with the zeal
for His Kingdom and therein lies the call to be His
heart, hands, eyes and feet.
It is a
call to servitude. I believe that the washing of the feet is not confined to
Maundy Thursday alone; in the case of every priest and deacon and bishop, we
are called to serve. It is in giving that we receive. St. Francis of
Catholic or Protestant?
These are two words within the English lexicon that
are sorely misunderstood by most people.
This is due largely in part because of (believe it or not) World War
II. It was at this time that the
military began to issue what has come to be known as “Dog
Tags.” These are the aluminum
identification tags worn around the necks of all uniformed men and women of the
American armed forces. On these
“dog tags” are an individual’s name,
branch of service, blood type, etc. Also
included is the optional “religious preference.” During World War II there were but two options:
Catholic or Protestant. The theory at
this time was that if you were not Roman Catholic then you had to be
Protestant.
The word
“Catholic” has its origins in the Greek language, but was adopted
early on by the Church in the Latin speaking West. This word simply means “throughout the
whole,” i.e., universal. The East
used the word “Orthodox” to describe themselves, and this simply
means, “right thinking,” i.e.,
traditional. Up until 1054 AD the
Catholic West and the Orthodox East were united as
The meaning
of the word “Protestant” has its origins in the two Latin words pro
and test. Pro means
“for” and test means word with an emphasis on truth; thus,
the word “Protestant” is someone who is “for the true
word.”
So, back to
the original question Catholic or
The Papal Claims Examined
from Catholic
Principles
by The Revd Frank N. Westcott
It is a sad and most unfortunate fact,
yet one which is easily capable of demonstration by any competent historian,
that all along the ages, Rome’s interests have been advanced by forgeries
and falsification of the Fathers; and that such interpolations are quoted with
approval today, in Roman controversial books; and that it is not safe to accept
patristic quotations in such books, without verifying them at first hand.
There are plenty of historic facts which are utterly inconsistent with the
assumption that the supreme judicial and spiritual authority of the Church, has
always been in the hands of the Bishops of Rome. For example: the first
difficulty which required judicial action in the Apostolic Church, was settled
by a council of the whole Church at Jerusalem, under the presidency, not of St.
Peter, but of St. James, who pronounced sentence in his own name, without any
regard to St. Peter.
When Victor, Bishop of Rome, AD 196, undertook to excommunicate the Asiatic
Churches, because they disagreed with him about the time of the observance of
Easter, he was rebuked by the other Bishops, including Irenaeus,
and his excommunication was ignored, and had no effect whatever.
In the fourth century, the Council of Sardica allowed
a condemned Bishop to appeal to
The great Arian heresy which denied the divinity of our Lord,
was settled by the Nicene Council, which was called, not by the Pope, but by
the Emperor Constantine. Hosius presided, and the
heresy was finally refuted, not through the pronouncement of the Pope, but
through the argument of Athanasius; while Pope Liberius himself became a heretic.
Then the heresy denying the divinity of the Holy Ghost,
was settled at the Council of Constantinople in 381, at which the Nicene Creed
was reaffirmed, and the sentences defining doctrine concerning the Holy Ghost
added, and the Roman Bishop was not present either in person or through his
legates. Meletius of Antioch presided at the council,
and was succeeded by Gregory Nazianzen, Patriarch of
Constantinople; and so in the settlement of the two greatest heresies, the
authority of the Bishop of Rome counted for little or nothing; and it is
interesting to note that the Bishops assembled in council at Constantinople in 381,
in their Epistle to the Western Bishops assembled at Rome, called the Church of
Jerusalem the “Mother of all Churches.”
Of course the most complete refutation of the Roman claim of supremacy has been
the historic position of the four patriarchates of the Eastern Church, which
have never acknowledged the claims of such universal jurisdiction, and yet were
in communion with the patriarch of
The claims of supreme and spiritual jurisdiction over the whole Church, on the
part of the Bishop of Rome, cannot stand the test of catholicity, and so become
articles of faith, unless they have been acknowledged always, everywhere, and
by all Catholics; and this we have shown to be historically incredible.
Roman Catholics are very fond of asserting that a visible Church must have a
visible head; and that as there is no other Bishop who claims to be the head of
the Church but the Pope of Rome, therefore he must be that head. We reply, that in the Holy Scriptures St. Paul asserts that Jesus
Christ is the Head of the Church; and he nowhere recognizes any other head;
though he constantly insists on the visible, organic nature of the Church
itself. St. Augustine asserts the same fact, thus: “Since the whole
Christ is made up of the head and the body, the head is our Saviour
Himself, who suffered under Pontius Pilate, who now, after He has risen from
the dead, sits at the right hand of God; but His body is the Church; not this
Church, or that, but the Church scattered over all the world . . . . For the
whole Church, made up of all the faithful, because all the faithful are members
of Christ, has its head situate in the heavens which
governs this body: though it is separated from their sight, yet it is bound to
them by love.” Then again, it must be remembered that the greater part of
the Catholic Church is made up of souls in
But supposing the visible Church must have a visible head: we reply, as a
practical matter of fact, the universal episcopate assembled in general council
was from the first regarded as the head of the Church; the ultimate source and
seat of authority, to which the Bishop of Rome himself was always subject: as
is proved by the fact, that the universal episcopate settled heresies, defined
the Faith, and deposed Popes who were themselves heretics, and excommunicated
them. Gregory the Great, as we have seen, expressly repudiated the title of "universal
Bishop” which he most certainly would not have done, if he had considered
himself the “head of the Church,” in the modern Roman sense.
It makes a neat turn of an argument to say that the visible Church must have a
visible head; and then to set forth the Pope as that head; but after all, it is
merely a question of historic fact, and history points to the universal
Episcopate as the head, and not to the Pope of Rome. If the Pope of Rome is the
head of the Church, then when the Pope dies, apparently the Church has no head,
and remains a headless monster, perhaps for several months, until another Pope
is elected and enthroned. Surely this is a curious condition of things, that
the Church should be continually sloughing off its head, and growing another,
every generation or so; so that every little while it has no head at all. The
collective episcopate does not die; but lives on from age to age,
and as the head of the Church, is abiding and permanent.
The whole growth of the papal claims may be summarized by four words: Primacy,
Supremacy, Sovereignty, and Infallibility. The Primacy of Rome, Anglicans admit
to be lawful; not as of divine appointment, but as a matter of precedence and
executive convenience, originating from the prominence of the Imperial city.
The Supremacy of Rome, Anglicans reject, as disturbing the original balance of
power defined by the general councils and canon law of the Church. The
Sovereignty of Rome, Anglicans repudiate, as mere secular Imperialism
transferred to the Church, from the State. The Infallibility of the Roman
pontiffs, the Anglican Church denies, as an assumption by one man in the Church
of a power, or faculty, conferred by our Lord on the Church as a whole. From
what has been said, it seems evident that there is no scriptural evidence that
St. Peter was appointed supreme head of the Church by our Lord, and that there
is no historical evidence of any sort which proves that St. Peter ever
attempted to transfer any authority, peculiar to himself to the Bishops of
Rome; and that what the early Church conceded to the Patriarch of Rome, was a
primacy of honor among equals, and not a supremacy of authority, by divine
appointment.
THE MARIAN DOCTRINES
Here is a list of the Marian doctrines which belong to the Faith of the Undivided Catholic Church to which our Constitution and the Solemn Declaration commit us.
In the case of the first four, we name the Ecumenical Councils which proclaimed those doctrines.
1) That Mary is rightly called the Mother of God - Theotokos
2) That Mary is 'Ever-Virgin' - Perpetual Virginity
3) That Mary is without sin
Nicea II Decree
4) That Mary has been Glorified - Her Assumption or Dormition
(As accepted in the
King Alfred the Great described the Assumption as the greatest of Our Lady's Feasts.)
5) That Mary is an intercessor, and that we may seek her prayers
(liturgical sources)
Visit The Holy Catholic Church - Anglican Rite
Visit The Diocese of the Resurrection (HCC-AR)
Visit The
Pro-Cathedral Church of the Incarnation,
The purpose of The Holy Catholic Church
(Anglican Rite) is to restore and
perpetuate the Faith, Order, Worship and Witness of Western
Orthodox-Catholic Christianity as it existed in the English Church from
the time it arrived on the shores of Britain in the First Century, to the time
of the Great Schism in 1054 (or the Norman Conquest of 1066), and as set forth
by the "ancient catholic bishops and doctors," and especially as
defined by all
Seven Ecumenical Councils of the undivided Church.
WE ARE NOT JUST ANOTHER "CONTINUING ANGLICAN" JURISDICTION WE ARE CONTINUING CATHOLICS.
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We shall continue to witness to Christ's Good News
and maintain our vision of a truly Catholic Church, expressing that
Catholicism in an Anglican way. This is not the same as expressing
Anglicanism in a Catholic way. We are Anglican Rite Catholics, not Comprehensive
Anglicans. |