Friday, November 13, 2009

Welcoming the Anglicans: A Conversation with Monsignor William Stetson



InsideCatholic.com
by Rev. Dwight Longenecker
11/13/09

Msgr. William Stetson is the secretary of the pastoral provision, the structure provided by Pope John Paul II in 1980 to enable married former Episcopal priests to be ordained as Catholic priests. The pastoral provision also empowers the establishment of "personal parishes" -- groups to which the Church grants special pastoral care (in this case, non-Catholic Christians from the Episcopal Church) -- that follow the Anglican Use liturgy.

The pastoral provision is overseen by an ecclesiastical delegate -- at the time of its institution, then-Bishop Bernard Law. Since 1996, the ecclesiastical delegate has been Archbishop John Myers of Newark. Monsignor Stetson works for the archbishop -- meeting candidates, managing the examination process, and guiding the application for dispensations to Rome.

I interviewed Monsignor Stetson during a retreat for priests of the pastoral provision in Tampa, Florida, this week.

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Father Longenecker: You've been working in this area for more than ten years, and you belong to the Opus Dei prelature. How is the new personal ordinariate different from a personal prelature?

Monsignor Stetson: In the new ordinariate, the faithful will receive all their pastoral care from priests in the ordinariate. In a personal prelature, the faithful normally receive their sacraments and pastoral care from the clergy of their diocesan parishes.

FL: The Anglican personal ordinariate -- who's in? Who can belong?

MS: Former members of the Episcopal/Anglican Church who, at the time of coming into full communion, request in writing to be members of the ordinariate. Also, priests -- married or single -- may request to be part of the ordinariate, and then they may move forward through the selection and discernment process to be ordained as Catholic priests. It is also possible for the faithful who are presently Catholic, but who converted from Anglicanism, to belong to the ordinariate.

FL: What about cradle Catholics who have converted to Anglicanism? Can they belong to the ordinariate?

MS: This touches the question not only of those individuals but also Latin Catholics who wish to belong to the ordinariate for whatever reason. The Apostolic Constitution says that those who were baptized as Catholics outside the ordinariate will not normally belong to the ordinariate, unless they belong to a family that is part of the ordinariate.
more...

See also from CNA, "Fr. Rutler discusses Vatican's Anglican provision."

2 Comments:

At 10:46 PM, Blogger Raul said...

Hi Fr. Longenecker,

I just saw your post. I like what you wrote. May I copy your post for my blog - http://experienceswithopusdei.blogspot.com/ ?
I will provide a link back to the original and credit you as author.
This will also let my readers know more about your blog.

Hope its ok. :)

Raul

 
At 8:35 AM, Blogger Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. said...

Greetings in Christ, Raul,

This post is originally from InsideCatholic.com and is, as you noted, by Fr. Longenecker. I reposted it to my blog. Just as long as you credit the author, Fr. Longenecker and cite the post's origin, in this case "InsideCatholic.com," you can copy any article to your own blog. Please note that the article's title is linked directly to it's origin: http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7219&Itemid=121&ed=1.

I normally scour the Internet daily, so as to post interesting articles to my blog. Sometimes, I also make comments on an article or post my own writing in a post. The aim of my blog is to "evangelize the gospel of Jesus Christ, promote the mission of the Church and the Pope's fight against the 'tyranny of relativism.'"

Your blog, "Experience with Opus Dei" is excellent. I've always been interested in the spirituality and charism of Opus Dei. I love their dedication to our Lord.

I'd be happy if you linked to my blog and I'd love to link to yours.

Blessings,

Denice

 

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