Heroes of the Ordinariate

Ordination of priests by the Bishop of Brentwood — with Jeff Woolnough, David Waller and Lee Bennett.

Thanks to the Hermeneutic of Continuity, I found this brilliant Ordinariate blog:

Father Ed Tomlinson's Blog

Well worth a read, much of what is written there is of an extremely high standard, very good indeed and has answers to many of the common questions and criticisms of the Ordinariate. For my part, I cannot state strongly enough how we are blessed to have these brave men and their families join us in the fullness of communion. They are directly and openly living out Jesus call that we might all be one (Jn 17:21) and a shining example of true faith and commitment to each one of us. I am truly humbled.

What extraordinary courage it must take to walk away from a job and a home and follow Christ to such an extent that you expose yourself to all kinds of abuse and calumny (Mt 5:11) in order to be truly Catholic. Their journey has involved the difficult step of acknowledging that they had been put in the impossible position of retaining Catholic identity in an obviously liberalising body. They have therefore taken the brave move of hearing Christ's call grounded in the body which demonstrable holds the revealed faith for all ages— the Catholic Church. They have joined with us as one at the behest of the Pope himself.

The journey involves a definitive turning away from those who are formed by, and thus embrace secular culture. Those who, during the last century, grew more convinced by secular liberalism than the faith of the ages.

We all know those who consider that the church is ‘out of touch’ or ‘out of date’ . Yet what extraordinary witness that today, 40 years on from the birth of that project and all too aware of the repercussions we have observed, we can note that renewal and growth is occurring only where the faith is taught in fullness. Where the Vatican is unrolling a reform centred on a new evangelisation, a new translation, and the re-examination of Vatican II which proves beyond doubt that it was misunderstood and misrepresented in so many different ways.

If we have the courage to view these events with an open heart we can see clearly that it is all pointing us towards a renewed fidelity with the faith of the ages rather as opposed to propelling forwards into a brave new world which sets aside the tried and tested knowledge about human history and society. This approach is, in fact, a lack of humility before history. The confidence with which some pronounce society changing policies demonstrates their successful seduction by what Hayek termed 'the fatal conceit'; the idea that we know better than our ancestors, that we can consistently determine the consequences better than those who went before us, circumvent the prohibitions they observed, and yet somehow achieve what they did not achieve.

As I have said many times before, I shall stick with eternal Rome: "As for me and my house, we shall serve the LORD" Joshua 24:15