Ordinariate Watch: The New Evangelism & the Ordinariates

"In the Red Chapel of Nashotah House there’s an icon of Bl. Jackson Kemper (many believe him to be a Saint!) which portrays him spreading out seeds from a bag that are actually little churches all across the land. He not only is known for founding Nashotah House, but a multitude of Episcopal parishes in the Catholic tradition all across the American mid-west. To say that Bishop Kemper would be devastated to see what’s happening to Anglo-Catholics in America – and around the world – today would be an understatement to say the least, but his missionary zeal is an integral part of our Anglican patrimony. It is a part of the Anglo-Catholic DNA, from New York’s Bishop Hobart, to Oxford’s Bl. John Henry Newman; to the Midwest’s Bishop Kemper and James DeKoven to California’s Fr. Neal Dodd (check out his IMDB page!). And we must not forget Bishop Charles Grafton, Frs. Charles Lowder and Lincoln Wainwright, and Fr. Basil Jellicoe! The list goes on and on.

This missionary zeal is what is being incorporated into the Ordinariates. There are Anglican Use societies popping up all around the United States, usually very small at this point, with the future goal of becoming full Catholic parishes for the Ordinariate, worshipping according to the Anglican Use. This is the “other side” of our forming the Ordinariate in this country, with the more popular story of the already-established Anglican parishes choosing to come in en masse. The latter gets the secular press headlines, but the former is where the substantial future of the Ordinariate lies...." To read more, click here.