The Rt Rev'd Andrew Burnham SSC,
Bishop of Ebbsfleet

LIFE & MISSION IN THE
SEE OF EBBSFLEET

EBBSFLEET & RICHBOROUGH LENT APPEAL

Diocese of Ho, Ghana

Our Lent Appeal this year is for the very poor Diocese of Ho, Ghana, whose bishop, Bishop Matthias, has links with Ebbsfleet and Richborough. Please be generous: we are trying to provide them with a Four-Wheel Drive vehicle to cover very difficult terrain. Canon Bernard Dagnall formerly of Newbury is Bishop Matthias’ Commissary.

Please make cheques out to the Bishop of Ebbsfleet’s Mission Fund and write Ho Lent Appeal on the back of the cheque to ensure that transactions are properly accountable and audited.

In the media ...

January 20th - Bishop Andrew interviewed for the BBC News web site

EBBSFLEET EXTRA

CLICK HERE to download the February 2010 issue of Ebbsfleet Extra, a monthly newsletter for the See of Ebbsfleet, incorporating the Bishop's monthly Pastoral Letter and news about the life of the See.
(B&W version)

February 22nd Day of Prayer on the Feast of the Chair of St Peter

Resources

General Information & Prayers

Morning & Evening Prayer (with Benediction) (BCP texts)

These can be obtained as booklets from the Additioanl Curates Society. They are free of charge but cost the See of Ebbsfleet 60p per copy requested. Please keep your requests to what is absolutely necessary. Supporting donations should be sent to the Bishop's Office.

Ebbsfleet Chrism Masses 2010

Saturday March 27th @ 11.30am
Holy Nativity, Knowle

Tuesday March 30th @ 11.30am
St John, New Hinksey, Oxford
directions

Wednesday March 31st @ 11.30am
St James, Wednesbury

Priests and people in the South West are invited to attend the Plymouth Chrism Mass which is to be celebrated by Bishop John Ford, Bishop of Plymouth on Wednesday March 31st at 7.00pm at St Peter, Plymouth

Paschal Stational Masses

Tuesday May 4th @ 7.00pm
St Mary, Bathwick

Wednesday May 12th @ 7.00pm
St Paul, Charlestown

Tuesday May 18th @ 7.00pm
Coventry

Thursday May 20th @ 7.00pm
Birmingham

The Bishop of Ebbsfleet's Pastoral Letter - February 2010

Anglo-Catholics & the See of Peter

NGLO-CATHOLIC is one of those labels which proves so tricky to define. It nearly always gets changed to 'high church' by the media, who mean by it people who like 'smells and bells', 'fancy' worship rather than 'plain' worship. The first people to use the term, however, the 'Tractarians', were not especially interested in bells, and would certainly not have burned incense. Back in 1838, the first use of the term in English, the emphasis was on the continuity of the Church of England with the Church of apostolic times. The Church, the Tractarians said, was a divine society and not an instrument of the state. The ministry of the Church and her sacraments were holy, catholic, and apostolic.

There was an early division among the Tractarians, what was called a 'parting of friends'. Some, notably John Henry Newman, were led by their theological explorations to become Roman Catholics. Others, notably John Keble and Edward Bouverie Pusey, took refuge in the 'Branch Theory', the idea that Rome, Constantinople (the Orthodox), and Canterbury were all ancient churches, sharing the ministry of bishop, priest, and deacon, descended from the apostles, and the sacraments, ordained by Christ. Tragically divided, in human terms, these 'branches', the Anglo-Catholics said, were nonetheless branches of the One Vine, in a way that Methodists and Baptists, say, were not (because they have no bishops and a different view of sacraments).

Throughout the twentieth century there was a continuing exploration of what it might take for the main 'branches' to recognise one another. Rome have talked to the Orthodox. Anglicans have talked to Rome, and to the Orthodox. In addition there have been extensive dialogues and conversations with churches of the Reformation, what we tend to call 'nonconformists'. Since 1966, when Archbishop Michael Ramsey and Pope Paul VI met in Rome, there has been particular enthusiasm for ARCIC - the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission - and we were never more optimistic about reunion in the West than in 1982, when Pope John Paul II and Archbishop Robert Runcie knelt together to pray in Canterbury Cathedral. In 1995 the Pope issued an Encyclical Letter, Ut Unum Sint ('That they may all be one' [John 17]), inviting Christians separated from Rome to explain just what they required to change before they were re-united with the Holy See.

The latest initiative, Anglicanorum Coetibus, this year, is yet another invitation from the Holy See to Anglicans to return in groups. Our day of prayer on 22nd February, the Chair of Peter, is our opportunity to think about this, in the company of Our Lord himself, and, where possible, with Roman Catholics. It is not a day of decision but a day of prayer. Though it is addressed to Anglicans in general, the particular focus of Anglicanorum Coetibus is, of course, Anglo-Catholics. We are the ones who have longed for the re-union of the Catholic Church. We are the ones who, with candles, and devotions, and incense, and music, and prayers, and vestments have got as close as we can to Roman Catholic practice. That's the 'high church' bit. More important, we are the ones who in matters of faith and morals - what we believe about the Gospel, the Creeds, the Ministry, and the Sacraments - and how we live - have always claimed to be 'Catholic'. Do we mean it? And, if we do, what do we do about it? Individually and in groups. That's what we are saying our prayers about.

May the prayers of Our Lady of Walsingham, St Thérèse and John Henry Newman assist us as we seek to discover and build unity in the Church of Jesus Christ.



This pastoral letter may be downloaded as a PDF file for display purposes by clicking here,

or as an RTF file for easy copy-and-pasting into pew sheets and parish magazines by clicking here.

Pastoral Letters from previous months can be accessed by clicking here.

Most-recently updated pages

03/02/2010 - Forthcoming events of interest
03/02/2010 - Home page
02/02/2010 - Brean Children & Young People's Eucharistic Festival 2010
02/02/2010 - Bishop Andrew's Pastoral Letter for March 2010 - Sing a New Song to the Lord
02/02/2010 - Ebbsfleet Extra - March 2010 (B&W version)
02/02/2010 - Plainsong Gospel Acclamations for Lent - PDF (courtesy NLM)

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