Alleluia! Christ is Risen! The Empty Tomb: doorway to the Truth!

Door wide open!

The tomb where Jesus' body once lay is empty! Alleluia! Christ is Risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

On the occasion that many of us converts who have journeyed home to Rome, 'swam the Tiber', 'landed on the Rock', etc., celebrate with gratitude the sublime and wholly necessary gift of the Catholic Faith, please permit, at the risk of sounding triumphalist, an invitation to those not yet Catholic, or those lapsed, to come home!

The stone was rolled away — death could not contain the Lord of life! Jesus, by His life, death and resurrection, has opened to us the door to eternal salvation. Only through Him can we find eternal life. To peer into the Empty Tomb is to peer into eternity, to peer into the Light of Christ. The Holy Shroud of Turin reminds us that a great light produced the image imprinted on the cloth, a light greater than any which man could ever produce. The Light has overcome the darkness of this world.

Ordinariate Light

The Personal Ordinariates which were created by Pope Benedict XVI were created so that Anglicans who desire union in the truth with Rome could enjoy the Anglican Patrimony in the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

As one who has been watching the Anglican community splinter again and again, and who has watched and earnestly prayed for Anglican communities locked out of parish buildings for holding to what they consider biblical Christianity, a matter has occupied this blogger's thoughts for some time.

A commenter in the combox of the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society blog sums up this blogger's thoughts: For those leaving ACNA, what can we do to welcome them to the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter?

The Anglican Church in North American, ACNA, was formed out of communities in many instances pushed aside by their former parent Anglican bodies. As ACNA began to come together, the questions which divided them from their former parent bodies still lingered unresolved. One of those issues was the matter of Anglican women clergy.

The Reformed Episcopal Church (REC), a member community of ACNA, rejects women clergy.

(T)he Reformed Episcopal Church retains its conviction that the threefold-ordained ministry of bishop, presbyter, and deacon are reserved for males only. This position is solidly anchored in the canons of the church and the resolute commitment of every bishop in the Reformed Episcopal Church. The second part of the letter conveys the principled reasons that the Reformed Episcopal Church in North America became a founding member of the ACNA with influential voice and vote, and rehearses the practical benefits we have enjoyed as a result of continuing this relationship.—http://www.anglican.ink/article/pastoral-letter-bishops-reformed-episcopal-church-womens-order

Would it come as a surprise that the REC could split from ACNA over the very issue which has already divided many Anglicans from the Canterbury Communion? The issues which divide Anglicans from Anglicans are the issues which in many cases unity orthodox Anglicans with Holy Mother Church. It is a well known fact that the Roman Church and the sister churches in communion with the Apostolic See hold to the apostolic teaching that the priesthood is reserved to men. And, despite the frustrating attempts of liberal religionists who test the patience of faithful Catholics, the matter of women priests is closed. So saith Pope Saint John Paul II. The Church, therefore, offers those seeking apostolic authenticity a harbour and refuge in which they can enjoy the undefiled teaching of Jesus Christ.

Door to unity in the Truth!

We read of the following in a recent post at the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society blog: https://anglicanorumcoetibussociety.blog/2018/03/19/acnas-anglo-catholic-exodus/

ACNA’s Anglo-Catholic Exodus

by Simon Dennerly

Long standing tensions within the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) between the Protestant majority and the Anglo-Catholic minority, eerily similar to that in the Anglican Communion, have finally come to a head. The Bishops of the Anglo-Catholic ‘Missionary Diocese of All Saints‘ have issued an address stating they are considering leaving the ACNA and seeking union with “Non-Papal Catholics” specifically mentioning the Polish National Catholic Church (PNCC)- although mislabeled as the Polish National Council Church in the PDF statement provided to this blog (published below).

Reasons given for the upcoming split are the increasingly Protestant character of the ACNA, with one bishop citing the goal of the ACNA is to “complete the Reformation”, and also woman’s ordination in the ACNA, stating if the Anglo-Catholic faction opposed it they could “shuffle off to Rome”. The statement also acknowledges the Diocese of All Saints is currently unsustainable as a body.

The statement came out of their annual synod and retreat, held this weekend just gone, and mentions the loss of clergy and one parish already. Multiple clergy sources from within the Diocese of All Saints have stated they have individually contacted the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter, or the Western Rite Orthodox Vicarate for the Russian Orthodox Church outside of Russia (ROCOR), and know of other clergy that have done the same. If All Saints does enter union with the PNCC, it is unknown how many of the listed 35 parishes would actually follow.

Door to heaven!

The doors to the Ordinariate are wide open. For those considering "shuffling off to Rome", the doors to a familiar home are wide open. The Anglican Patrimony, purified of its rebellious theology and all distortions of the Apostolic Tradition, is alive and well in the Personal Ordinariates of the Catholic Church.

As a convert of some 36 years alive and thriving in the Catholic Church, enjoying for some two years life in the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, do hear this my brothers and sisters pondering the Ordinariate option—the most beautiful elements of your heritage are waiting for you in the Ordinariate.