5th February 2010
UNITED IN COMMUNION, BUT NOT ABSORBED
Understanding the Pope’s Welcome
By The Most Reverend Peter Elliott
THE Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has appointed the Most Reverend Peter Elliott, Roman Catholic Auxiliary Bishop of Melbourne, as their Delegate for contact by Anglicans wishing to respond to Pope Benedict's plan to establish Ordinariates in Australia. Bishop Elliott is essentially a collator and relator - the information goes to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which assesses the need for an Ordinariate and recommends establishment to the Holy Father. The appointment of an Ordinary is still to be made.
Bishop Elliott writes for the Messenger Journal Online and we welcome him as a regular contributor. His article can also be read in the February issue of Parish Journal distributed in Australia. Read his article here.
2nd February 2010
Bishop sees Pope’s offer as “most important development in Christian History of the Torres Strait since Coming of the Light”
THE Bishop of the Torres Strait, the Right Reverend Tolowa Nona SSC has welcomed Pope Benedict’s offer of Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. [Read more]
28th January 2010
Death of Bishop Sania Townson
The death of the Right Reverend Sania Townson, Assistant Bishop, Diocese of Torres Strait in the Church of Torres Strait, Australia, (Traditional Anglican Communion), occurred at the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Brisbane on Wednesday 20th January 2010. Bishop Townson was 78 years.
His funeral will be held in Townsville where the Anglican Bishop of North Queensland, the Right Reverend William (Bill) Ray has graciously offered the use of his cathedral. Sania Townson was ordained for that diocese and ministered there for a number of years before coming ‘home’ to the Torres Strait.
In the 1930’s, as a boy, he had watched the magnificent gothic pulpit being carved on Saibai Island for the parish church. During the Second World War, he would paddle a canoe to the mainland of New Guinea during the night, passing Japanese warships, to fetch food for Islanders who were in hiding. He was a pearl fisherman and worked on building the Pilbara railway before his ordination as a priest. One of his co-consecrators when he became bishop was the Traditional Anglican Communion bishop in Japan, Raphael Kajiwarra, who preached from that same gothic pulpit, and made a beautiful statement about coming “in peace, not for war”. In return, the congregation of Islanders sang for him in Japanese.
The Solemn Requiem Mass and Funeral will take place in the morning of Saturday 6th February 2010 at a time yet to be advised. The Bishop of the Torres Strait, the Right Reverend Tolowa Nona, the Vicar General Fr Gordon Barnier, the two archdeacons and the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth, Assistant bishops and clergy of the TAC will attend, together with family and friends and those who mourn.
May he rest in peace.
8th December 2009
Homily preached on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, St Mary the Virgin, Anglican Catholic Church, Traditional Anglican Communion, Melbourne
by The Most Rev Peter J. Elliott, Auxiliary Bishop, Melbourne: Titular Bishop of Manaccenser
Delegate of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference for the Anglican Rite Ordinariate project
“England was, in a sense, the cradle of belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. This might explain why December 8th is designated as "the conception of the Virgin Mary" in the calendar in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer”. [Read the homily in full here]
9th November 2009
The Vatican has released the text of:
APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS PROVIDING FOR PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICANS ENTERING INTO FULL COMMUNION WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH , 09.11.2009
The Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, Archbishop John Hepworth stated the Apostolic Constitution is even more generous in its full text than we had been led to believe and he expresses profound gratitude to the Holy Father who has responded so perfectly to our requests. [Read the full text here]
9th November 2009
Traditional Anglican Communion in Britain accepts Papal offer.
The Traditional Anglican Communion’s province in Great Britain has become the first to accept Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans. [Read More]
9th November 2009
Cardinal defends Pope’s offer to Anglicans
By Anna Arco and Andrew M Brown 6 November 2009
CARDINAL Cormac Murphy-O'Connor has strongly defended Pope Benedict XVI's decision to extend a hand to Anglicans wishing to enter communion with Rome but maintain their identity. [More]
24th October 2009
More roads lead to Rome as divine divide diminishes
Archbishop John Hepworth interviewed by The Australian Newspaper
ON Tuesday the Vatican unveiled a brand-new structure designed to facilitate groups of traditionally…[Read the Interview here]
20th October 2009
HISTORIC STATEMENT FROM ROME–
NOTE OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH ABOUT PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICANS ENTERING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH [Read Statement]
20th October 2009
The Archbishop of Westminster and the Archbishop of Canterbury issue joint Statement in response to the Statement from Rome
[Read it here]
2nd September 2009
Homily preached by Bishop David Robarts OAM to mark the Twentieth Anniversary of the Anglican Catholic Church in Australia (ACCA) in Western Australia. Pentecost 2009.
Like Haggai, I am acutely conscious, and painfully so, that we are living among the ruins of what has been; the old Temple of Anglicanism has fallen down around us. Yet we must move beyond nostalgia for what has been along with acrimony, negativism, or doom and gloom at what is, to our ever purposeful God of unfailing hope; for He summons us to the rebuilding of the Temple in our own day.
When I read the sermons of St. John Chrysostom or St. Bernard of Clairvaux – or John Henry Newman for that matter - I don’t find them relativising the Gospel or seeking to “be relevant”. Yet they speak with a refreshing and demanding conviction that hits me between the eyes and spans the centuries with a contemporary impact all too rarely demonstrated today. [Read homily here]
9th August 2009
Great things for the Lord in TAC - Zambia
Fr Andrew writes: I want to share with you one of the great things the Lord has done in our life and the life of His Church here in Zambia in the month of July 2009. [Read his Letter here]
26th July 2009
The TACs Church in Southern Africa is alive and flourishing reports Bishop Michael Gill:
THE steady progress made by (the late) Bishop Trevor Rhodes has been consolidated and parishes are gathering momentum. [More...]
15th July 2009
Churches in Communion?
Bishop Chislett SSC attempts to place discussion TAC/Holy See in its proper context
YOU only have to keep an eye on the blogs to know that uninformed speculation continues regarding the approach of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) bishops to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome. This article is an attempt at putting some of the discussion in its proper context. [Read the article]
15th July 2009
Anglican Catholic Bishops participate in March for Life protest
There were two very large Roman Catholic Pro-Life Masses to begin the day. One was at Notre Dame Basilica, where the celebrant was the Archbishop of Ottawa, and the other at St. Patrick's Basilica. The churches were filled to overflowing and hundreds had to watch on closed circuit TV in the church halls. There were special services in a number of other Ottawa churches. Read full account...
Faithful celebrate the glories of the Anglican Tradition with powerful and inspiring liturgy.
MERCEDES College is a Roman Catholic school in the centre of Perth with a spectacular chapel that is well suited to traditional worship. It was here on Pentecost Sunday that a great celebration took place, marking the 20th anniversary of the ACCA in Western Australia.
From the venue itself, to the presence of the Rev’d Fr Professor Peter Black, professor of Philosophy & Religion from Notre Dame University, officially representing Archbishop Hickey, and Mgr Kevin Long, Rector of St Charles' Seminary with his 22 robed seminarians, it was easy to feel that this celebration was undergirded by the positive encouragement and goodwill of those with whom the TAC seeks to be in full communion. Read more...
28th June 2009
Letter from the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion,
The Most Reverend John Hepworth
11th March 2009
Driving the faithful from their church
Lent 2009: IN the providence of God, Good Shepherd Parish, Rosemont has had a long history of being a church that stands up for what the Bible calls “the faith once delivered to the saints” – meaning what the Church has been entrusted to uphold, teach, and clarify for the people it serves in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Now Good Shepherd Parish is being sued for its property.
Attorneys for The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania sued the Anglo-Catholic parish of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont on Philadelphia's historic mainline, telling the rector and Vestry to turn over title to the church property and demanding an "accounting" of church monies and assets.
In 2002 Bishop Charles Bennison inhibited and "deposed" the Rev’d David Moyer. Bennison always wanted to seize the property of Good Shepherd. He first tried to do it in February of 2002. Now after 7 years, the Standing Committee has decided to try and seize the property.
This move is shaping up to be a major test. With entire dioceses leaving The Episcopal Church (TEC) it can scarcely be said that Good Shepherd is the only target. Good Shepherd is one of the handful of fully orthodox Christian churches still in TEC.
Source: VirtueOnline
25th February 2009
Primate clarifies aspects of several reports on TAC-Holy See initiative
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 [more]10th February 2009
Benedict XVI’s 2009 Lenten Message.
Pope Benedict this year chose to focus on the value and meaning of fasting, taking the scripture account of the Lord Jesus' 40 days' fast before his temptation in the desert. His message has as its title a verse from the Gospel of St. Matthew:
“He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry”. [Read the message in full]
SDO began in North-East England in 2003. It continues today as an ecumenical devotional society whose Members pray a common Office of Matins, Vespers and Compline, but who plan their Bible-reading individually.
EVENSONG 4.00p.m..
