From our friends at the Fellowship of St. Alban:
Liturgical changes in the Ordinariate Use – a guide for diocesan Catholics
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We at the Fellowship of St. Alban – being the avant-guard of this Use in the great state of New York – have recently celebrated our first anniversary. During the past several years, a liturgical commission has been working to renovate the so-called “Anglican Use”, the third Vatican approved form of the Roman rite.Those of us who celebrate the Ordinariate Use every week can forget that most of our Roman Catholic neighbors have no idea what the Ordinariate is, or if they do know, do not necessarily understand our nature. Consequently, we wish to advertise a special instructional mass this coming Sunday – Advent I – to introduce the newly approved, and in force, liturgical Use for all Ordinariate congregations in the U.S., Canada, England, and Australia. If you have a special interest in Catholic liturgy, have a love of the historical English cultural and musical tradition, wish to learn more about the Ordinariate and our group, or are just curious about what the Vatican’s congregation of Divine Worship has been spending its time on these days, this is a good opportunity to visit the Fellowship of St. Alban.
To give a sneak peak, some of the features of this use are as follows:
- Ad Orientem celebration of the mass.
- Restoration of the Prayers at the Foot of the Altar
- Rite of Ritual Sprinkling
- Classic forms of beloved English prayers
- Restored Vetus Ordo offertory prayers
- Mandatory use of the Roman Canon for Sundays and solemnities
- Restoration of the Last Gospel
- All in beautiful, traditional English (with some exceptions in beautiful, traditional Latin)
As can be seen in this abbreviated summary, the liturgical commission has restored the best of the Latin and English liturgical tradition. As such, it is a great leap forward in Pope emeritus Benedict XVI’s wish for a New Liturgical Movement, and a reform of the post-conciliar reform.
The instructed mass will be held at 3pm, Sunday, December 1, in Good Shepherd Catholic church in Henrietta, NY.
Come for the beauty and reverence, stay for the fidelity to the teachings of the Catholic Church!
Ben, I am delighted to see your post. Two weeks ago I attended this Mass and was looking forward to this coming weekend to learn more about the liturgical revisions. I will be there. And it is easy to confirm what you’ve posted — and to look forward to learning more! I have found the people to be very hospitable and welcoming. (I wish I could say the same for RC’s, even priests, who still think this is a Protestant service, and others who discourage attendance. Hospitality for our new brothers and sisters in Christ? Welcoming them? Where is OUR joy at this reuniting which has taken place in our own locale, in our own lifetimes after centuries? There are only about 35 such churches in the entire US and we have one in Henrietta! IMO, they deserve our welcome and our joy, and our encouragement!)
This particular Sunday will be an excellent opportunity, as there will be liturgical explanations not regularly available. AND — missing from many RC parishes — is a warm after Mass fellowship Yes, it IS THE MASS! See you there?
I didn’t realize there were priests discouraging the laity from joining us at St. Alban’s. I hope they’re merely misinformed … So sad either way.
I pray that our new Bishop will embrace and perhaps even promote the Ordinariate as a key piece of the New Evangelization, which it is so clearly intended to be.
Yes, many are misinformed; education would help. Also, it should be understood that Fr. Cornelius celebrates the Novus Ordo Mass too!
Or perhaps some of these priests hate any semblence of orthodoxy with holiness and revernence
Come join us Sunday, Richard!
Would it be helpful to bring a pre-Vatican II missal?
I can answer that one. No. There will be an excellent handout to follow and pray from, plus a music book. We can just bring ourselves. Communion is given under both forms, with the communicant kneeling (on kneelers.)
Thanks Ludwig. When we’re in the area, we will attend. God bless.
Just to clarify – Fr. Z has a blog post addressing the Ordinariate in which he makes clear that we who have received all of the Sacraments of Initiation in the Roman Catholic Rite are not free to join the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. We are free to attend the Ordinariate’s liturgies, but we are to remain in the Roman Church, under the jurisdiction of our Roman Ordinary. This may explain some of the perceived reluctance on the part of Roman Rite priests to encourage their flock to attend the new Ordinariate’s liturgies.
And like the Maronites and Ukrainian Rite Catholics, our new brethren in the Ordinariate have a different Ordinary (bishop) than our Roman Rite bishop-designate, +Matano.
I would like to make a small addition to annonymouse’s helpful comment: In contrast to the Maronites and Ukrainian Catholics, the Ordinariate faithful are members of the Roman church also, and a part of the Latin rite. That is, we are accurately described as Roman Catholics, who use a form (or Use) of the Roman rite, although under a different Ordinary. The situation is a new one, so broad education is helpful. Our priest, Fr. Cornelius, also regularly celebrates the Ordinary form of the Roman Rite, in his current “domicile”, the Southern Tier. Thus, not only is he a Roman Rite priest who celebrates the Ordinariate Use (or Anglican Use) of the Roman rite, but also a Roman rite priest who celebrates the Ordinary Form, and I suspect that in time, he will also celebrate the Extraordinary Form.
Andrew – thank you for your helpful comment/correction, which clarifies my post and correct my understanding. And happy Feast Day!
Annonymouse’s post is somewhat misleading. We can do a lot more than “attend liturgies.” We can fully participate in such liturgies, receive Communion and fulfill our Sunday Mass obligation. I believe we can also have a confessor who is a priest in the Anglican ordinariate, and receive ‘last rites’. We need to differentiate becoming members of an Anglican Ordinariate PARISH, and becoming members of the Anglican Ordinariate itself, and that we may do the former but not the latter, remaining under our own bishop’s authority.
However, if we marry into an Anglican ordinariate family, we can also become members of the Anglican Ordinariate. And I believe there are other exceptions as well. Perhaps having been abused under the bishop of a non-Anglican Use RC diocese would be a valid reason; I’m not sure. I believe living close to an Anglican ordinariate parish if we are far from a Roman rite-non Anglican Ordinariate church is also sufficient reason for becoming members at least of that parish. There may be other reasons of pastoral need as well. There is still a lot to clarify on a case-by-case basis. For example, the question of whether or not two prior Roman Catholics can join an ordinariate parish, baptize their children there and also raise their children as members of the Ordinariate. Then the adults, having their children as family members, can theoretically become members of the Ordinariate.
Attending the Anglican Ordinariate may be useful for Catholics whose bishops have stone-walled against the Latin Mass, and against individual Anglican conversions, for finding a new home in the Ordinariate. I don’t mean this to be complete, as I only have friends in one situation and don’t know all the details, but I do believe that implying only “attending liturgies” is what is permitted leaves out much of the picture. At the very least it is a great place to go on the Sundays in which the CMA is launched. 🙂 And maybe that is the real reason some priests/bishops discourage attending the Anglican Ordinariate Mass?
That seems to be a tough call. On the one hand, one goes to the new rite mass but one remains Roman Catholic. One sure can make friends and have fellowship there. But where does one draw the line as far as remaining in the Roman Rite? Can one participate in activities of the parish of the new rite. What about going to confession, spiritual direction? Especially when one may be unable to find a suitable pries, in the Roman rite, for this assistance.