The Apostolic Constitution Released
Tuesday 10 November 2009
The Apostolic Constitution
Anglicanorum
coetibus providing for Personal
Ordinariates for Anglicans
Entering into Full Communion with the Catholic Church has been
released. Also released was the companion document
Complementary
Norms. Together they explain and define the Vatican
response to Anglican inquiries about communion with the Roman
Catholic Communion. See the links below to the Vatican web site.
Read further responses and news at the official Traditional
Anglican Communion
Journal Messenger including the Primate Archbishop John
Hepworth's comments.
The Primates Response to the Vatican Announcement
20 October 2009 -
I have spent this evening speaking to bishops,
priests and lay people of the Traditional Anglican Communion in England,
Africa, Australia, India, Canada, the United States and South America.
We are profoundly moved by the generosity of the Holy
Father, Pope Benedict XVI. He offers in this Apostolic Constitution the
means for “former Anglicans to enter into the fullness of communion with
the Catholic Church”. He hopes that we can “find in this canonical
structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious
to us and consistent with the Catholic faith”. He then warmly states “we
are happy that these men and women bring with them their particular
contributions to our common life of faith”.
May I firstly state that this is an act of great
goodness on the part of the Holy Father. He has dedicated his
pontificate to the cause of unity. It more than matches the dreams we
dared to include in our petition of two years ago. It more than matches
our prayers. In those two years, we have become very conscious of the
prayers of our friends in the Catholic Church. Perhaps their prayers
dared to ask even more than ours.
While we await the full text of the Apostolic
Constitution, we are also moved by the pastoral nature of the Notes
issued today by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. My
fellow bishops have indeed signed the Catechism of the Catholic Church
and made a statement about the ministry of the Bishop of Rome,
reflecting the words of Pope John Paul II in his letter “Ut Unum Sint”.
Other Anglican groups have indicated to the Holy See a
similar desire and a similar acceptance of Catholic faith. As Cardinal
Levada has indicated, this response to Anglican petitions is to be of a
global character. It will now be for these groups to forge a close
cooperation, even where they transcend the existing boundaries of the
Anglican Communion.
Fortunately, the Statement issued by the Archbishop of
Canterbury reflects the understanding that we have gained from him that
he does not stand in our way, and understands the decisions that we have
reached. Both his reaction and our petition are fruits of a century of
prayer for Christian unity, a cause that many times must have seemed
forlorn. We now express our gratitude to Archbishop Williams, and have
regularly assured him of our prayers. The See of Augustine remains a
focus of our pilgrim way, as it was in ages of faith in the past.
I have made a commitment to the Traditional Anglican
Communion that the response of the Holy See will be taken to each of our
National Synods. They have already endorsed our pathway. Now the Holy
See challenges us to seek in the specific structures that are now
available the “full, visible unity, especially Eucharistic communion”,
for which we have long prayed and about which we have long dreamed. That
process will begin at once.
In the Anglican Office of Morning Prayer, the great
Hymn of Thanksgiving, the Te Deum, is part of the daily Order. It is
with heartfelt thanks to Almighty God, the Lord and Source of all peace
and unity, that the hymn is on our lips today. This is a moment of
grace, perhaps even a moment of history, not because the past is undone,
but because the past is transformed.
XArchbishop John Hepworth
Primate
New IAF Bookstore Address
As of Monday 8 June 2009, the IAF Bookstore is being hosted by Trinity Anglican
Church in Rochester, New Hampshire, USA. Take the IAF link to the left and when
there the
Bookstore link. If you have questions you may also e-mail the bookstore at
IAFBooks@trinity-anglican.org.
Traditional Anglican Communion
The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) is a worldwide association of
orthodox Anglican churches, working to maintain the catholic faith and resist
the secularization of the Church. Our member churches comprise more than 400,000
members on 6 continents.
We strive to faithfully carry the catholic message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
to a world which desperately needs it, and to preserve the "faith once delivered
to the saints" in its Anglican form as the true and valid expression of that
message.
Primate clarifies aspects of
several reports on TAC-Holy See Initiative
From the Messenger
Journal, February 2009
Ed. Note: SINCE the publication of a report on the
Traditional Anglican Communion and unity in the semi-official Vatican
publication "Civilta Catholica" (in Italian in October last year, in
English in December) there has been speculation about precisely what structure
might be considered appropriate for the Traditional Anglican Communion.
This speculation reached new heights in early February with a major feature in
the Catholic Record (the Catholic weekly paper from Perth, Australia.)
SINCE the publication of a report on the Traditional Anglican Communion
and unity in the semi-official Vatican publication "Civilta Catholica" (in
Italian in October last year, in English in December) there has been speculation
about precisely what structure might be considered appropriate for the
Traditional Anglican Communion. This speculation reached new heights in early
February with a major feature in the Catholic Record (the Catholic weekly
paper from Perth, Australia.)
In an interview with Archbishop Hepworth, His Grace agreed to clarify some
aspects of these reports for the Messenger Journal as follows:
“It is possible for a church to come into union with the Bishop of Rome, in
which case it is known usually as "a ritual church sui iuris — that is a church
with its own rite and canonical regulation. There are some twenty-eight of these
churches, and they appoint their own bishops by synodical processes, and seek
confirmation of the election from the Bishop of Rome.
Much of the Concordat of the Traditional Anglican Communion was designed to
mirror the processes of a ritual church, a point noted by some Vatican
officials. We have not anticipated that our present application would lead to
this sort of structure — most of these rites are descended from ancient churches
that have never been part of the Roman or Western rite. Of modern origin,
however, are the Personal Prelatures and Apostolic Administrations that are
essentially vehicles for specific groups to coalesce around their own episcopate
for a particular pastoral reason.
We have taken the advice of those with whom we have been meeting, and not sought
any particular structure. We understand that no existing canonical structure
might prove appropriate. Since the idea of a Personal Prelature is itself a
modern creation, dating only to the late Pope, from a structural point of view
the Holy See is open to new forms of community within the Church.
We have simply asked, in the words of our letter, to "seek a communal and
ecclesial way of being Anglican Catholics in communion with the Holy See, at
once treasuring the full expression of catholic faith and treasuring our
tradition within which we have come to this moment."
We have not sought to design something for ourselves. We have asked for the
guidance of the Holy See, given the reality of our position and the mind of our
episcopate.
We remain in quiet prayer, while growing our Communion in key parts of the
world. We agreed, rightly, to allow the Holy See the opportunity to respond to
the difficult problems that our letter undoubtedly caused. When there is a
reply, I am committed to presenting it to a full meeting of our College of
Bishops, and to formal meetings of each of the general synods of our churches
that voted to support this initiative."
Ed. Note: The text of the above was also carried in
Catholic Online.
Former CMS Diocese added to TAC
Union with the Holy See cited as reason
His Grace
Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion visited
South India in early February 2009.
This was long in the planning and included the reception of a former
Church Missionary Society (CMS) Diocese into the Traditional Anglican Communion
with its Bishop, The Right Reverend Lukose Vargese, clergy and people.
The CMS was
established in South India in 1816 at Kerala. Later in 1947 a union church, the
Church of South India, consisting of mainly Protestant churches including the
Anglican Church spread throughout South India.
However, many Anglican Christians refused to join and struggled on as
best they could.
Saint Thomas the
Apostle is believed to have brought Christianity to India and landed at Kerala
in 52A.D., which then became the centre of the Christian church from the first
century. European missionaries arrived in India 15 centuries later.
The archbishop said,
“Christianity is particularly strong in the southern parts of India, and a
particular reason for seeking unity with the TAC was our petition to the Holy
See.
Archbishop Hepworth
said the first overtures for unity with the TAC had been made in 2002 via Bishop
Chacko, the TAC Diocesan of Travancore and Cochin.
Unfortunately Bishop
Chacko died last year, before the unity with this diocese could be fully
implemented. A touching moment was
the visit by the primate and the Indian bishops to the tomb of Bishop Chacko.
Over 1100 people
received communion at the Primate’s Mass on the Sunday of the visit.
Source:
The Messenger February
2008
A Letter from the Primate
Advent and Christmas 2008 – The Most Reverend John Hepworth
 Advent and Christmas 2008 Christians
are people of the past and of the future. Our faith is shaped and formed by the
events of the past. The power of God in creation. The Godly guidance of humans
as they were taught the ways of God and rebelled against the teaching. The
patient preparation of a Godly people to receive the Divine Son. The Christ
moment – in birth and death and resurrected glory. The Word of God intruded into
our history and our lives by the Holy Spirit. The history of a Christian people,
saved and yet sinful.
Our struggle to be worthy of a God who created us and
redeemed us makes no sense unless we are also a people of the future. The future
for each of us is death, a death in which we are reborn to eternal life. Then we
shall see God – the Creating, Redeeming, Sanctifying God – face to face. The
future is also the final consummation of God’s faithful people into the eternal
city, the new and heavenly Jerusalem. The future is the Christ King coming in
power and majesty to judge the world by fire.
Advent opens our minds and hearts
to the future, as we prepare once again to celebrate the events of the past by
which we are made the people of God. For a moment at the start of each church
year, we allow ourselves to be brought to a vantage point from which we can
glimpse our own future and the future – almost beyond the ability of our minds
to grasp – of the whole of the cosmos of creation.
And then we immerse ourselves
in the moments of our salvation, following once again the rich pathway from
Bethlehem to Nazareth, from Galilee to Jerusalem, from a manger to a cross, from
a tomb to immortality. We learn as we follow this pathway each year, and the
little that we learn year by year will take us to heaven. We stumble along the
way. We recover and return to the manger, and marvel at the Word before us. We
seek the forgiveness of the Christ child. And the Child who will suffer the
cross restores us to the innocence and goodness of that first creating moment.
Our song at Christmas is that of the angels. “Glory be to God on high, and on
earth peace, goodwill to all men!” We return to the song of the angels again and
again through the year of grace that we keep Sunday by Sunday. The angels will
indeed surround us as we gather, and will join us as we sing their song.
It has
been a good year for our Communion. Sin and wickedness have touched us, but we
have glimpsed greatness as we have seen our people respond. We are in a very
real sense a people waiting to glimpse the dawn, and the psalms sung by the
Temple Watch have been very much our own as we “watch and pray” for the unity,
visible and eucharistic, for which we have worked and prayed so long.
In
Zimbabwe, we have watched the struggle of our people with poverty, violence,
injustice and now an epidemic of cholera. This Christmas, there is neither food
nor medicine for these people who have become His poor.
In the Congo we have
seen new church buildings and the homes of our people again damaged by war in
that country that seems to be always at war. This Christmas, our people will be
in the hills, still too afraid to be in their homes.
In Cameroon, another of our
people who worship in French, the simplicity of mud churches echoes that of
Bethlehem itself, and the violence of Islam echoes the ancient might of the
Empire into which He was born.
And so it will be in Kenya, which I visited in
the past few weeks, and sat with the orphans who have a building but no beds,
and a school with no seats, but a people so burning with the love of the Christ
child that are building eleven churches to the south of Lake Victoria, and five
to its north, in the midst of violence and persecution. Under a roof of rough
plastic sheeting where a new mud church is rising, eighty-seven young people
came forward for Confirmation and First Communion one afternoon, and an
uncountable parade of mothers in white uniforms committed themselves to the
ideals of the Mothers Union.
And in central India, churches have been destroyed
and the homes of Christians ransacked by a newly intolerant Hinduism, and our
fellow Christians have yet again taken us to the law courts in yet more violence
among those who bear the Christ child’s name. But in the South, new churches
gather on flat rooftops and in unfinished buildings, and prepare to celebrate
the birth of the true God in a land that has given birth to too many Gods that
are false.
In Pakistan, to celebrate His birth except in secret will be to
invite death this Christmas.
In Central America, where our new Spanish Province
has its heart, the violence of the drug lords (a powerful symbol of the
wickedness in too many of our nations) hurts domestic life and travel as does
poverty and crime.
But we have good things to celebrate.
Our very small church
in Ireland has nurtured and nourished our work in Kenya, and seen the seed give
a rich harvest. Our church in England boasts two great shrine churches at
Portsmouth and Lincoln, the glory of both still emerging in restorations. In
France and Switzerland we are gathering Anglican people estranged from their
faith. In Japan the sacrificial witness of a faithful bishop, a small band of
faithful clergy (including one who lives as a hermit in the hills above Kobe,
praying for the conversion of his people), has begun to reverse the liberal tide
in Anglican dioceses.
In South Africa, our bishop has been gathering and richly
educating our clergy who otherwise would spend most of their time in lonely
isolation from each other. A new altar linen and vestment making business has
been established, and its profits will make that church less dependent on
missionary giving.
In Canada, three beautiful churches are overseen by three
tireless bishops, and each has presents to the world the timeless beauty of
Anglican worship. Canada has been a powerhouse of support to my work as Primate.
I am most grateful.
In the United States, at the cutting edge of Anglican
apostasy, we provide havens of peace and beauty in our parishes. Just as
importantly, we have a vital ministry to those who are still trapped in the
structures of apostasy, and to those who are isolated and deeply hurt, and who
have yet to discover an Anglicanism that they can once again trust.
In New
Zealand, among the most abusively liberal Anglican environments anywhere, we at
last have parishes emerging and ministries being developed, and two newly
ordained deacons studying for the priesthood.
In the Torres Strait the tenth
anniversary of our work is being celebrated with comprehensive planning to
transform these remote island communities into models of Christian society.
In
Australia, we have just celebrated our twentieth anniversary; we have taken the
daring step of basing three regional bishops serving both our Communion and
Forward in Faith Australia to the North, the South and the West. Our cooperation
in shared Lenten and Advent services with local Roman Catholic parishes is
growing. Our church school on the Gold Coast of Queensland has just achieved two
thousand enrolments from pre-school to university entrance. For twenty years, we
have been sorely tested and richly blessed.
In many of our churches, a new
awakening of the desire to “sell all that you have, and give to the poor, and
come follow Me” has seen unexpected growth in the religious life. But all our
plans for Him are as nothing alongside His plans for us.
We thank God for the
places where we are being tried, and the places where we are being rewarded. We
pray for the unity of His body, still at times seemingly that of a Child.
My
hope and prayer this Christmas is for the richest blessing of the Christ child
to come upon each of you: my brothers who are your bishops throughout the world,
the priests and deacons who serve you parish by parish, the men and women who
have given their lives to Jesus Christ, and whose communities are “lights to the
world in their several generations”, to all of those who have done something
beautiful for God by supporting our work this year, and each and every one of
our people, who gather to worship at the manger, and who have caught the vision
of the God who came down from heaven. May the Christ child be with you!
+
Archbishop John Hepworth
Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion
Unity with the Holy See
Letter from the Primate, The Most Rev. John Hepworth - 25 July 2008
His Grace, Archbishop John Hepworth has released the following message to the
College of Bishops, Vicars General and those assisting the TAC to achieve unity
with the Holy See.
“My Dear Fathers, Brothers and Sisters,
It is my great pleasure to be able to attach a copy of a letter I received this
morning (25 July 2008) from Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, via the Apostolic Nuncio in Australia. It is a
letter of warmth and encouragement. I have responded, expressing my
gratitude on behalf of "my brother bishops", reaffirming our determination to
achieve the unity for which Jesus prayed with such intensity at the Last Supper,
no matter what the personal cost this might mean in our discipleship.
This letter should encourage our entire Communion, and those friends who have
been assisting us. It should also spur us to renewed prayer for the Holy
Father, for Cardinal Levada and his staff at the Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, and for all our clergy and people as we move to ever closer
communion in Christ with the Holy See.
I am particularly thankful to the Cardinal Prefect for his generous mention of
"corporate reunion", a pathway seldom travelled in the past, but essential for
bringing about the plea of our Master to His Father "May they be completely
one"’.
The Traditional Anglican Communion
Archbishop John Hepworth
Primate
Read Cardinal
Levada’s Letter here.
Last updated Tuesday 9 June 2009 at 1210 PDT
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