Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller opens the US Ordinariate’s symposium in Houston

I am following the livestream of the US Ordinariate’s Symposium in Houston today.

The Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Archbishop Gerhard Ludwig Müller has just finished his ground-breaking paper by assuring us of his prayers, his blessing and the full support of the Congregation.

He began by expressly looking forward to full cooperation between the Ordinariate and the Pastoral Provision. It was also significant that Msgr. Steenson had opened the proceedings by greeting first Fr. Christopher Phillips of Our Lady of the Atonement, San Antonio, and Fr. Allan Hawkins of St. Mary the Virgin in Fort Worth.

Archbishop Müller went on to point out that Anglicanorum Coetibus is most decisively “the Pope’s personal project”. He is following with interest and enthusiasm the development of the Ordinariates, said the Archbishop: “You are very much in his thoughts and prayers”. He went on to say that in setting up the Ordinariates “the Holy Father was responding to a movement of the Holy Spirit”.

The CDF Prefect’s paper was in three parts: the theology of communion, the canonical structure of the Personal Ordinariate in the work of communion, and the culture of communion.

Here are just some of his ideas (the full text of his paper will be published later):

• “The communion of the Church flows from the communion of the Blessed Trinity”, which is not based on uniformity but on the distinctiveness of the three persons in the one Godhead. In fact this word “distinctiveness” was constantly underlined by the Archbishop, who called on us to preserve this distinctiveness.
• Humans tend to want “to construct unity by enforcing uniformity, which tends towards the elimination of those who do not conform or comply”. Here the Archbishop specifically pointed to totalitarian regimes. This is particularly poignant in a week, when we remember the “Machtergreifung”, the coming to power of the Nazis on 3oth January, 1933.
• Our unity as members of the Body of Christ does not destroy our distinctiveness created by God, but rather he spoke of “distinctiveness and interdependence”.
• “Unity in faith permits a diversity of expression”. This is clearly demonstrated by the existence side-by-side of the Roman Rite and the Eastern Rites, which “form the richness of the Catholic Church in the world”.
• The Personal Ordinariates are not a particular ritual church because they derive from the Roman Rite. But they are also not a type of religious order or personal prelature.
• The Ordinariates offer “equal membership” of clergy, laity and consecrated religious.
• Anglicanorum Coetibus reponds to two needs: 1) to maintain Anglican liturgical, spiritual snd pastoral traditions within the Catholic Church and 2) to integrate those coming from Anglicanism into the larger Catholic Church. (I think it is interesting to note in which order the Archbishop mentioned these two needs and the word “maintain”.)
• Archbishop Müller then listed some of the ways that the Ordinariate structure “safeguards the distinctiveness of Anglican patrimony”: the celebration of the Eucharist, the Divine Office etc. according to the books of the Anglican tradition; special programmes of formation and houses of formation for Ordinariate seminarians; synodal structures and procedures (the Governing Council is a “unique feature”, combining the duties of the presbyteral council and the college of consultors of a territorial diocese).
• Communion with the Bishops’ Conference, with the local bishop and with the Holy See are “specifically enshrined” in the Apostolic Constitution.
• Similarly the clergy themselves are “called to maintain fraternal bonds” with other Catholic clergy.
• Why the oversight by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith? Because the CDF has the task of “healing rifts in the Body of Christ”.
• When the Archbishop talks of a “culture of communion”, he specifically refers to the impact that communion has on the life of the individual.
• It is natural for the Ordinariates to focus first and foremost on “unity on the macro level”, i.e. communion with the chair of Saint Peter.
• It is also natural that “faith formation, structures, buildings and finance” should form the focus of the first years, but there are aspects of witness which are of equal importance:
• Anglicans will want to know what kind of reception we have found and how we have made our home in the Catholic Church.
• Other Catholics will be interested that we are here to stay and to see how we integrate.
• Our task will be to preserve the integrity of the Ordinariate parishes but also to integrate into the wider Church.
• Ordinariates will be “architects of the culture of communion”.
• Archbishop Müller reminded us of the words from the First Letter of Peter: “Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you”.
• Unity is undermined by a “culture of suspicion”.
• The Archbishop particularly took blogs to task, stating that they are a way of promoting what he called “unbridled, unreflected” comment and dissent. He stated that love must be the foundation of our work as bloggers.
• He stated categorically: “I can think of no better patrimony to share with the Church and no better way than the Ordinariates”!
• He called on us repeatedly to “be courageous”, not just in leaving Anglicanism, which has caused much heartache and sacrifice, but also in being a Catholic. The modern age challenges the truth of the Christian faith.
• The witness of men and women “joyfully living their faith” is so important..
• Cynics whose faith has grown lukewarm may tend to make you wonder if you have “exchanged one dysfunctional ecclesial home for another” (laughter from the audience).
• He stressed again the importance of “winning the trust and confidence of the local Catholic community”.
• and of giving an “example of diversity grounded in the unity of faith”.