THE P RTAL
July 2014
Page 23
Ecumenism in
the front row
The Ordinary and Monsignor
Steven Lopes from the CDF
talk about Ecumenism
The Ordinary
of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, Monsignor Keith
Newton, has described the Ordinariate as a “great ecumenical gesture”. He said it demonstrated to
Christians everywhere how wide the Catholic Church was prepared to open its arms “to show that there can
be unity with diversity”.
Antonio Mennini, had earlier said in his address that
the more he saw of the Ordinariate in practice, the
more convinced he became of the wisdom and holiness
of Pope Emeritus Benedict’s decision to establish it.
“It shows the world just how wide and how large the
unity with diversity
Catholic Church can be”, he said. “And it can become
Mgr Newton was speaking at a fund-raising summer larger still; larger than we can imagine, and in this way
reception (on 10 June) organised by the Friends of we can build up God’s kingdom”.
the Ordinariate charity in the garden of the Apostolic
ecumenism in the front row
Nunciature in south west London.
The theme of the Ordinariate and ecumenism
taking ecumenists by surprise
was taken up later in June, when an official of the
The Ordinary said that it may have taken ecumenists Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith who has
by surprise, but the Ordinariate was, in fact, an been closely involved with the Ordinariate project
ecumenical initiative which expressed the vision since its conception described the Ordinariate as
held out in the Second Vatican Council Decree “ecumenism in the front row”.
on Ecumenism. This taught that the one Church
subsisted in the Catholic Church and that elements of
Monsignor Steven Lopes, who is a member of the
it were to be found elsewhere, in other churches. “We commission charged with developing the official
experienced those elements in the Anglican Church liturgical texts for the Ordinariates, made the comment
and have brought them with us into full communion, at the plenary session for the clergy of the Personal
so that this teaching is now expressed in a very tangible Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham on Thursday
way”, Mgr Newton said. “We are very much, therefore, 19 June, at which he was the guest speaker.
a fruit of the Council”.
“It has at its heart the fundamental principle for the
Ecumenists should be very excited
ecumenical movement: that the unity of faith which is
about the Ordinariate
at the heart of the communion of the Church can exist
The Ordinary went on to speak of the concept of in diversity of expression”
“receptive ecumenism” which holds that the primary
ecumenical responsibility is to ask not what do other
He told the seventy or so clergy who attended the
traditions first need to learn from us, but what do we session at St Patrick’s Church, Soho Square, London
need to learn from them? This, too, he said, was a very that the Ordinariate is ecumenism. “It has at its
important aspect of the Ordinariate because, for the heart the fundamental principle for the ecumenical
first time, it was showing how that concept could be movement: that the unity of faith which is at the heart
put into practice. “Ecumenists should be very excited of the communion of the Church can exist in diversity
about the Ordinariate,” he said.
of expression”.
It also pointed to the possibilities of the future, when
other Christian traditions might also enter the full
communion of the Catholic Church, bringing aspects
of their heritage and traditions with them.
showing the world just how wide and
how large the Catholic Church can be
This message, Monsignor Lopes told the clergy, must
be explained and amplified every time the opportunity
The Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain, Archbishop arose to do so.
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