A day at the Seattle Aquarium

St Mark's in Portland

This Sunday, we went to St Mark's Church in Portland, Oregon (APCK).

The parish left the Diocese of Oregon (TEC) back in the 1990s. It is a wonderful Anglican Missal/1928 Prayer Book catholic parish in the heart of Portland.

We attended the 10am High Mass (not actually a high Mass, but only lacking the solemn vestments for the deacon and subdeacon).

The church was beautiful, an exquisitly ornamented Roman basilica-style church, full of color and images. The incense was pleasant and the minor propers sung by male voices was superb. But what really blew me away was getting to sing the "Amen" at the end of the hymns.

The sanctuary is separated from the nave by a marble screen topped with statues, reminescent of old St Peter's in Rome.

The church is dark and colorful, seating about 150 if you include the side chapel aisles. There were probably about 80-90 people there.

One of the most wonderful things was that the percentage of children in the congregation was probably the highest I've ever encountered.

The people were very nice as was Father Lillegard, the Rector.

It was great to hear the zimbelstern on the organ. The side chapel of the blessed Mother was very tasteful. In all, a great worship experience; a jewel of the pacific northwest. I wish it were closer so that we could visit more often.

Photos from Grandma's house

The view out Grandma's (my mother's) front door.

Mount Si in Snoqualmie, Washington.

Grandma's house.

Momma's baking some bread from scratch.

The Vicar is on holiday

But I may still have some posts before I return for Advent.

Tour the pope's cathedral

There is a fantastic new online tour of the Archbasilica of St. John the Lateran. Check it out. Tours of other Roman basilicas are to follow.

This offer was 400 years in the making

This article from the Catholic Herald was so interesting, I just could not help but post it.

Fr Michael Rear says that new provisions for the reception of Anglicans should not surprise those who are familiar with English history

6 November 2009

Pope Paul VI presents a mounted 13th-century fresco of Christ to Dr Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, on March 23 1966 at the Vatican (AP Photo)

Years before Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I, and absolved the people of England from their allegiance to her (at a stroke turning Catholics into traitors), years before the threat of a Catholic invasion and plots to unseat her, Pope Pius IV had invited the Queen to send Anglican bishops to the Council of Trent, and, it was rumoured, was willing to approve the use of the Book of Common Prayer in the English Church.

The next initiative came not from Rome but from King James I, who wrote to Pope Pius V offering to recognise his spiritual supremacy and reunite the English Church to Rome, if only the Pope would disclaim political sovereignty over kings. The offer was rejected. Too late would a new pope, Urban III, succeed to the papacy two years before James died, and declare: "We know that we may declare Protestants excommunicated, as Pius V declared Queen Elizabeth of England, and before him Clement VII the King of England, Henry VIII... But with what success? The whole world can tell. We yet bewail it in terms of blood. Wisdom does not teach us to imitate Pius V or Clement VII."

Hopes ran high under Urban VIII. Archbishop Laud of Canterbury mentions in his journal that on the very day he was appointed he was seriously offered the dignity of being a cardinal. Nothing more is known of this mysterious offer, but soon a Benedictine monk, Dom Leander, was sent to England by the pope to report on the English Church. Dom Leander, a close friend of Archbishop Laud from their student days, had been expelled on suspicion of being a Catholic from St John's College, Oxford, where they had shared a room.

Dom Leander made extensive contact with Anglican bishops and his report was optimistic and lengthy.

"In the greater number of the articles of the faith the English Protestants are truly orthodox... they contend they have been treated unworthily as heretics and schismatic; that greater differences than theirs were tolerated by the Council of Florence; and that the importance of Great Britain and its dependencies renders it an object of as much importance to reconcile her to the Roman Church, and as much worthwhile to call a special council for the purpose, as it could have been to obtain the reconciliation of the Greeks." But he did note that the Puritans were very numerous and fierce. Dom Leander suggested a way of reconciling "moderate Papists and moderate Protestants". This was by allowing:

1) Communion under both kinds;
2) Marriage of the clergy;
3) Liturgy in English;
4) The admittance of English Protestant clergy to benefices (coming to agree in points of faith) either by re-ordination sub conditione, or by way of commenda;
5) To allow Roman Catholics to take the Oath of Allegiance to the monarch.

The plan hotted up. Gregory Panzani was sent as an agent and spent two years in England in detailed discussion with the King and others in Church and state. Opposition to unity, he noted, came from Jesuits and Puritans. Most Anglican bishops were in favour of unity. Some, particularly the Bishops of Gloucester and Chichester (nothing changes) were very keen, and only the bishops of Durham, Salisbury and Exeter "were violently bent against the See of Rome". But like Leander, he spoke warily about the rising power of the Puritans. The Civil War broke out. King Charles was beheaded, going to the scaffold declaring: "I die in the Christian Faith, according to the profession of the Church of England." Archbishop Laud was impeached for corresponding with Rome and treating with the pope's men in England, and he too was beheaded.

And for the next 15 years there was no Anglican Church. All the bishops were banished, imprisoned or fled. Priests lost their parishes. The Book of Common Prayer was banned. Presbyterianism became the new religion.

The restoration of the monarchy under Charles II restored the church. Enough exiled bishops were alive to consecrate new ones. The king opened Parliament calling for religious toleration and the repeal of laws against Catholics, but the House rejected his proposals and actually increased the discriminatory legislation. Nonetheless, it was in the reign of Charles II that what amounted to a Uniate Church was proposed:

1) The Archbishop of Canterbury to be designated Patriarch, responsible for governing the Church in the three realms, except a few rights reserved to Rome;
2) A Roman Legate, a native Englishman, to reside in England to exercise the rights reserved to the pope;
3) Existing archbishops, bishops and clergy to remain in office if they accept Catholic ordination;
4) An annual General Synod to be convened;
5) The King to nominate bishops;
6) Complete religious freedom for Protestants;
7) Priests and bishops could be married, though celibacy would be introduced later;
8) The Eucharist in two kinds for those who wish;
9) Mass in Latin, with English hymns;
10) A Catholic catechism based on Scripture to be published;
11) Some religious orders to be restored;
12) The most disputed questions, like the infallibility the Pope and his right to depose monarchs, not to be discussed either in the pulpit of in writings, though Catholic preachers could dispute with Protestants, providing they avoided the narration of miracles or speaking of a material purgatory.

Nothing happened. The Protestants were far too powerful. But as the centuries went by the vision of unity was kept alive by many individuals. The 1833 Oxford Movement of Newman, Pusey and Keble gave it fresh impetus. The Association for the Promotion of the Unity of Christendom was formed in 1838. At the first Lambeth Conference, in 1867, the Bishop of Salisbury presented a petition signed by more than 1,000 clergy and 4,500 laity urging the Anglican bishops to end the long separation of their church from Rome.

The Catholic League was formed to promote reunion. Many do not know this, but the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity began in 1908 as an Anglican initiative to promote unity between Anglicans and Catholics; only from 1936 was it decided, under the influence of a French priest, Abbé Paul Couturier, to widen its scope to embrace all Christians.

After the Appeal for Christian Unity at the 1920 Lambeth Conference, Cardinal Mercier of Belgium and Lord Halifax gathered a group of theologians into what became known as the Malines Conversations, producing a plan for a Uniate Church similar to that proposed in the reign of Charles II. The talks ended when the Archbishop of York visited the Pope, the first Anglican archbishop to visit the Pope, and explained that Lord Halifax had no official standing.

It was not until the Second Vatican Council that the time became more auspicious, and through the visit of Archbishop Michael Ramsey to Pope Paul VI in 1996, the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC)_was created "to work for the restoration of complete communion of faith and sacramental life". Archbishop Ramsey had already indicated what form he thought it might take.

Building on the plans of past centuries he suggested: "Unity could take the form of the Anglican Communion being in communion with Rome, having sufficient dogmatic agreement with Rome, accepting the Pope as the presiding bishop of all Christians, but being allowed to have their own liturgy and married clergy and a great deal of existing Anglican customs; that is to say, it would be in a position rather like the Eastern Uniate Churches in relation to the see of Rome."

Bishop Butler in 1970 picked up the old idea of the Archbishop of Canterbury becoming a Patriarch of the English Rite "with its own bishops, liturgy and theological tradition". Later the same year Pope Paul VI stressed there would be no seeking to lessen the prestige and usage proper to the Anglican Church, which he called a sister church. He returned to the theme, assuring Archbishop Coggan in 1977: "these words of hope 'The Anglican Church united not absorbed' are no longer a mere dream".

To suggest now, as some have done, that Pope Benedict is seeking to undermine the Anglican Church is unfair and untrue. He has not undermined it; it has undermined itself. Strictly speaking, there is now no such thing as the Anglican Communion. It would be more accurate to call it a Federation of Anglican Communions, for there are several groupings, which are no longer in communion with each other or with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Cardinal Kasper addressed the Anglican bishops at Lambeth, pointing out the difficulty this presents. " In several contexts, bishops are not in communion with other bishops; in some instances, Anglican provinces are no longer in full communion with each other." How can the Catholic Church maintain a dialogue for organic unity with an Anglican Communion so divided in itself? The ARCIC conversations were inevitably downgraded to cooperation and friendship, but are still most important for all that, and more so now when relations are under strain.

For there are very large numbers of Anglicans, like the allegedly 400,000 Anglicans of the Traditional Anglican Communion, and others no longer in communion with their diocesan bishops, who have separate "episcopal visitors". Many of these have earnestly requested Rome to complete the ARCIC process with them. This put Rome on the spot. Cardinal Kasper referred to the dilemma at the Lambeth Conference in 2008.

He asked: "Should we, and how can we, appropriately and honestly engage in conversations also with those who share Catholic perspectives on the points currently in dispute, and who disagree with some developments within the Anglican Communion or particular Anglican provinces?" Not an easy question to answer.

What would the Anglican Church do if 400,000 Methodists asked to come into the Church of England while being allowed to keep their distinctive traditions? My guess is that it would be churlish to refuse, and they would be warmly welcomed, despite the possible risks. Rome has drawn from the precedents of history, and this favourable response is neither a novelty nor a surprise.

Calling a spade

Bishop John Broadhurst, Bishop of the Fulham jurisdiction in the Diocese of London and Chairman of Forward in Faith, has released a preliminary response to the text of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus. He has a knack for telling it like it is, especially when the obvious is so hard to discern.


". . . I have been horrified that the Church of England while trying to accommodate us has consistently said we cannot have the jurisdiction and independent life that most of us feel we need to continue on our Christian pilgrimage. What Rome has done is offer exactly what the Church of England has refused. Indeed it has offered the requests of Consecrated Women? with the completion of its ecumenical hopes. We all need now to ask the question 'is this what we want?' For some of us I suspect our bluff is called! . . ."

O Divine Redeemer

In my sermon for All Souls' Day, I made reference to the song "O Divine Redeemer" by Charles Gounod. You can play the song (above), sung so beautifully by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. You will want to turn up the volume for this one.

As James Welch reports: Gounod's compositions include over a dozen operas (the most famous being Faust), 17 Mass settings, a host of sacred and secular choral works, six oratorios (the most famous being La Rédemption), two symphonies, chamber music, solo piano and organ pieces, and even teaching methods for piano and French horn. His most recognizable instrumental piece is Funeral March of a Marionette, written in London in 1872 for piano and later orchestrated in 1879. This colorful piece was much later adopted as the theme music for the Alfred Hitchcock television show.

Gounod composed both the words (in French) and music to "O Divine Redeemer" in April 1893, six months before his death, so it is one of his last compositions. Some consider it to be one of his last expressions of faith. The song was written originally for mezzo-soprano with orchestral accompaniment. The original title of the song is Repentir, meaning "Repentance," and is subtitled Scene sous forme de priere, (literally, "Scene in the form of a prayer").

The standard English translation, which is a little watered down from the imagery in the original French, goes like this:

Ah! turn me not away, receive me, tho' unworthy!
Hear Thou my cry, behold, Lord, my distress!
Answer me from Thy throne, haste Thee, Lord, to mine aid,
Thy pity show in my deep anguish!
Let not the sword of vengeance smite me,
Tho' righteous Thine anger, O Lord!
Shield me in danger, O Regard me! On Thee, Lord, alone will I call.

O Divine Redeemer! O Divine Redeemer!
I pray Thee, grant me pardon, and remember not my sins!
Forgive me, O divine Redeemer!
Night gathers round my soul; fearful I cry to Thee;
Come to mine aid, O Lord! Haste Thee, Lord, haste to help me!
Hear my cry, Save me, Lord, in Thy mercy;
Hear my cry! Come and save me, O Lord!
O, divine Redeemer! I pray Thee, grant me pardon,
And remember not, O Lord, my sins!
Save, in the day of retribution, from Death shield Thou me, O my God!
O, divine Redeemer, have mercy! Help me, my Savior!

Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord

St Matthew's Episcopal Church in Comanche, TX is all prepared for the Requiem Mass of All Souls' Day.

We are diminished

The opening lines of Bishop Iker's sermon at the requiem Mass for Father John H. Heidt put it well. I know I will miss his company and his lively and thoughtful input any discussion. May he rest in peace.

The Rev'd Canon John H. Heidt
1932 - 2009
Rest in Peace

For a tribute to Fr Heidt from Fr Geoffrey Kirk at the recent meeting of Forward in Faith, click here.

In the footsteps of Tikhon and Grafton

The audio from the recently completed conference at Nashotah House is now available from Ancient Faith Radio. Have a listen.

A wonderful hymn resource

Check out smallchurchmusic.com! It is a wonderful resource for church hymns. They have organ and piano mp3s for download as well as voice recordings and sheet music. A few classical numbers are included for preludes as well as the Healy Willan service music. Most of the offerings are public domain, but there are a few copyrighted tunes for purchase as well. The organ sounds great, by the way. Here are a few of my favorites:

The creator of the site is Clyde McLennan, a pastor and software designer in Perth, Australia. He has served in a number of small churches. The stated purpose of the site is to "make good quality accompaniments for congregational singing available at no cost (or minimal cost in the case of copyrighted music).

The gravitational force of logic

In response to the recent papers on the ordination of women at Christ Church in Plano, Texas and Father John Hollister's analysis of of, Father Robert Hart has made an interesting observation.

Hart writes: "The 'conservatives' among the Anglicans have failed to understand the gravity of logic. It works the same way as this illustration. If I stand at the top of a thirty-foot hill with a big round rubber ball, and decide to roll the ball only ten feet down the hill and no farther, like it or not, the ball will roll the entire thirty feet to the bottom before it stops after rolling even farther still. It does not matter that I intended only to roll it ten feet. Once I let go, gravity will take the ball the whole way.

"This is how a premise works in relation to logic. Once you let go of the ball, that is, once you state or merely accept a premise, the gravity of logic will take over. Perhaps you only meant to let women be priests, but not to let the premise take its own logical course to the final end. However, the premise itself is subject to the gravity of logic, and must keep rolling until you are 'blessing' Adam and Steve in the imitation sacrament of Unholy Unmatrimony. Those who want to argue that this was not inevitable have two problems facing them: First, we predicted this would happen, and second, it has.

. . . The logic of their position requires that we reject the clear meaning and teaching of Scripture, as understood everywhere and always by the Church, provided only that we may use some concocted theory about priorities as an excuse. They have released this premise, and cannot stop it from rolling the whole way to the bottom."

I thought Hart put it extremely well. I remember Fr Gary Kriss (Dean of Nashotah when I was a student there) making the point in a letter to the Living Church after the election of Gene Robinson that two General Conventions in Minneapolis made the same decision about the sacraments. If male or female doesn't matter in one sacrament (orders), why should it make any difference for another sacrament (matrimony)?

I used to cringe every time I would hear Fr. David Roseberry talk about how we shouldn't tamper with the truth of God's Word or how to understand the Bible, we must "stand under" its authority (knowing that Roseberry had a big asterisk attached to these statements).

What was even more strange is this statement on their website: "In the Anglican tradition, the priesthood is open to men and women, married or single, who have earned the Master of Divinity degree, completed a series of courses for ordinands, and gone through the discernment process."

"In the Anglican tradition"? talk about an overstatement. To be more accurate they should say, "In some Anglican provinces in the last few decades." And to be even more accurate, they should add, "but not in our jurisdiction." When Christ Church left the Diocese of Dallas a few years ago, they first went to the Diocese of Peru (Southern Cone) where women are not ordained priests. Then they joined the Anglican Mission in America, which after careful consideration decided not to ordained women to the priesthood. Since the leadership is arguing for it, does that mean they are looking to change jurisdictions again? And where will this process end up? Or, to put it another way, will gravity take over?

Going to the bull sale

Today is the Dudley Bros. Annual Bull Sale in Comanche. The Dudleys are members of St. Matthew's. Maddy and I went to have a look. There were plenty of bulls to see (and a few horses). To get an idea of what an auction is like, see the videos below.




Here are the videos:

New acolyte in Dublin

Austin DeLavergne served as an acolyte for the first time tonight, the Feast of King Edward the Confessor, and did a great job.

Christ the King

Here are a few pictures of Christ the King Episcopal Church in Fort Worth. The rector is Father Jon Jenkins.

Have a seat at the console

. . . of the largest pipe organ in the world. Thanks to the magic of computer technology, you can click the picture above and get a personal view of what it looks like to sit at the console of the municipal organ of the Atlantic City Convention Hall.

The organ's console is the biggest in the world. It has 1,235 stop tabs controlling 587 flue stops, 265 reed stops, 35 melodic percussions, 46 non-melodic percussions, 164 couplers, 18 tremolos, and 120 swell pedal selectors for the 7 swell pedals controlling 15 swell boxes. Officially, that comes to 33,114 pipes. The console is also the only one in the world with 7 manuals, of which the lower ones have been extended to 6 and even 7 octaves, opposed to the normal 5.

The Main Auditorium is a truly vast space (488 feet long, 288 feet wide, and 137 feet high, which comes to over 15 million cubic feet of space). To fill the place with sound, Emerson Richards designed an organ with some mind-boggling and previously unheard of specifications. These include ten 32-foot stops, a 64-foot stop (one of only two in the world), 10 stops on 50-inch wind pressure (most organ pipes are about 10-inch wind pressure) and four on 100 inches (a pressure not employed in any other organ).

The 100-inch stops are: Grand Ophicleide 16-8; Tuba Imperial 8, Tuba Maxima 8-4; Trumpet Mirabilis 16-8-4. They had to be specially designed so as to not turn into projectiles when played. The loudest of these, the Ophicleide produces 130 dB at 1 metre distance. Needless to say, it is recognized by Guiness as the loudest organ stop in the world.

An experiment was carried out in the 1950s when most of the organ was working. Everything was coupled to the Great, and when played, the ice cracked in the hockey floor of the hall and the organ could be heard (and felt) outside along the boardwalk nearly 1000 feet away from the organ console.

Unfortunately, the organ has fallen into a state of disrepair over recent decades, leaving it only partially playable. The Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society is working hard to preserve and restore this historic instrument. Have a look at their video below.

St Mike's Reunion

This Sunday, a reunion group for the St. Michael's Conference, Southwest was held at the Church of the Holy Apostles in Fort Worth. There was a great turnout of teens for confession, fellowship, dinner, Solemn Evensong, a faculty talk, and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament to close the evening. Here are some pictures.

"When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, 'Alas, my master! What shall we do?' He said, 'Do not be afraid,^B)"> for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.' Then Elisha prayed and said, 'O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.' So the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha" (2 Kings 15-17).

"And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth' "(Revelation 5:6-10).

Have a listen to the conference hymn:


O everlasting God, who hast ordained and constituted the services of Angels and men in a wonderful order: Mercifully grant that, as thy holy Angels always do thee service in heaven, so, by thy appointment, they may succour and defend us on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Father Jones gave great address on angels. According to It's a Wonderful Life, "Every time a bell rings, an angels gets his wings." That may be what the teacher says, but is it what the Bible says?

O saving Victim opening wide
the gate of heaven to us below;
Our foes press on from every side,
thine aide supply, thy strength bestow.

All praise and thanks to thee ascend
for evermore, blest One in Three;
O grant us life that shall not end
in our true native land with thee. Amen.

Therefore we, before him bending,
this great Sacrament revere;
types and shadows have their ending,
for the newer rite is here;
faith, our outward sense befriending,
makes our inward vision clear.

Glory let us give and blessing
to the Father and the Son,
honor, thanks, and praise addressing,
while eternal ages run;
ever too his love confessing
who from both with both is One. Amen.

Thou gavest them bread from heaven;
Containing within itself all sweetness.

O God, who in a wonderful Sacrament hast left us a memorial of thy passion: Grant us, we beseech thee, so to venerate the sacred mysteries of thy Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of thy redemption; who livest and reignest, world without end. Amen.

Blessed be God.
Blessed be his holy Name.
Blessed be Jesus Christ, true God and true Man.
Blessed be the Name of Jesus.
Blessed be his most Sacred Heart.
Blessed be his most Precious Blood.
Blessed be Jesus in the most holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Blessed be the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete.
Blessed be the Mother of God, Mary most holy.
Blessed be her holy and Immaculate Conception.
Blessed be her glorious Assumption.
Blessed be the name of Mary, Virgin and Mother.
Blessed be Saint Joseph, her most chaste spouse.

Blessed be God in his Angels and in his Saints.

Happy St Matthew's Day

Today, for our titular feast, we had a Mass in the church garden in Comanche, followed by a potluck supper. Thank you so much to all who came and who brought something to eat and who stayed to clean up. What a wonderful group of people!



We thank thee, heavenly Father, for the witness of thine apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of thy Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Exaltation of the Holy Cross

From a sermon of Andrew of Crete (740) on the Holy Cross:

"Had there been no cross, Christ could not have been crucified. Had there been no cross, life itself could not have been nailed to the tree. And if life had not been nailed to it, there would be no streams of immortality pouring from Christ's side, blood and water for the world's cleansing. The bond of our sin would not have been canceled, we should not have obtained our freedom, we should not have enjoyed the fruit of the tree of life and the gates of paradise would not stand open. Had there been no cross, death would not have been trodden underfoot, nor hell despoiled.

Therefore, the cross is something wonderfully great and honorable. It is great because through the cross the many noble acts of Christ found their consummation--very many indeed, for both his miracles and his sufferings were fully rewarded with victory. The cross is honorable because it is both the sign of God's suffering and the trophy of his victory. It stands for his suffering because on it he freely suffered unto death. But it is also his trophy because it was the means by which the devil was wounded and death conquered; the barred gates of hell were smashed, and the cross became the one common salvation of the whole world."