Last week I had the privilege of attending the Episcopal Diocesan Ecumenical and Interreligious Officers (EDEIO) annual meeting at their beautiful retreat house Duncan Conference Center in Delray Beach, Florida. I represent the Catholic Association of Diocesan Ecumenical and Interreligious Officers (CADEIO) as liaison to EDEIO.
EDEIO is the national network of those designated by their diocesan bishops of the Episcopal Church to foster the search for wider visible unity among Christian churches and collegial relationships with members of other religions. EDEIO provides support for diocesan ecumenical and interreligious officers of the Episcopal Church as it encourages ecumenical activity within parishes and dioceses, and enhances communication on anything ecumenical or interreligious. EDEIO also supports ecumenical and interreligious activity through educational events in Episcopal parishes, dioceses, provinces and other ecclesial bodies. It regularly hosts ecumenical guests and dignitaries at the Annual General Convention, where its presence serves to focus attention on ecumenical issues.
CADEIO is the national network of those delegated as Ecumenical/Interreligious Officers in each Catholic diocese in the United States, to whom is given the care of Christian unity and understanding among faiths. The purposes of CADEIO are to stimulate the exchange of ideas, experiences and networking among the ecumenical officers of the dioceses in union with Rome; to promote programs which further the work of Christian unity and interreligious cooperation; and to work with the Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and other ecumenical and interreligious agencies.
One of the more stimulating and at times animated discussions between our respective networks at the meeting had to do with the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter established officially on Jan. 1, 2012, by Pope Benedict XVI. The Ordinariate was established for those groups of Anglicans/Episcopalians in the United States who seek to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. This is the second Ordinariate created in light of the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus “on the groups of Anglicans,” the first having been created for England and Wales on Jan. 15, 2011. A personal Ordinariate is an intended canonical structure within the Catholic Church enabling former Anglicans to maintain some degree of the distinctive elements of their theological, spiritual and liturgical patrimony.
The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is equivalent to a diocese; the Ordinariate is composed of parishes, groups, religious communities and individuals of the Anglican heritage gathered around the Ordinary. The newly appointed Ordinary is Father Jeffrey N. Steenson, the former Episcopal bishop of the Rio Grande, who was ordained a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, N.M. He was installed earlier this week to his new post. He serves under the direct authority of the pope, in partnership with the bishops of the USCCB. Father Steenson and his wife Debra, have three grown children and a grandson. Because he is married, he will not be ordained a bishop but will become a full voting member of the USCCB. Earlier this month, a class of about 40 former Episcopal priests began and intensive, Internet-based course of studies to become Catholic priests within the Ordinariate.
In their own literature explaining the purpose of the Ordinariate they refer to the Second Vatican Council Document, Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church. The Ordinariate explains, “Here the one Church of Jesus Christ is said to subsist in the Catholic Church: although many elements of sanctification and of truth are found outside of its visible structure, these elements, as gifts belonging to the Church of Christ, are forces impelling toward catholic unity. There is an inner dynamic in the life and teaching of Anglicanism which continues to draw Anglicans to its source. The Personal Ordinariate is Pope Benedict XVI’s response to ‘this holy desire.’”
Father Joseph D. Wallace is coordinator, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, Diocese of Camden.
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