Upcoming at Epiphany

From the Pastor:    Upcoming at Epiphany

      We have some incredible things coming up soon at Epiphany. Next Sunday, September 23, one of our members will be giving a special talk on the Blessed Mother, how she saved Europe and Poland in the 17th century. Jean Paul is an expert in this area and has given similar talks many places and now he brings it home to us. He will speak after the 10:30 Mass on the 23rd, beginning at approximately 12:30, giving you time to get some coffee and donuts and head over to the parish room where you will be enthralled by his historical and Catholic explanation of Our Lady’s graces saving whole countries as seen clearly a few centuries ago. We can use a repeat of history!
      The following day, Monday, September 24th, at 7:00 pm, we will have a first for our parish, for our pastor, and, perhaps, a first for our diocese. I have been asked to celebrate a Mass according to Divine Worship, The Missal of the Personal Ordinariate of the chair of St. Peter for the Feast of Our Lady of Walsingham. What is that, you ask? Below I have copied and pasted some information about this group within the Catholic Church which was established specifically for Anglicans and Episcopalians who converted to the Catholic Faith. They don’t have a church or priest of the Ordinariate anywhere in our diocese so, according to their own rules, any Catholic priest willing to celebrate an occasional Mass for them may do so. (As far as I know, we only have one family attending here regularly which is attached to the Ordinariate.) It is very much like the Traditional Latin Mass except everything is done in English and all prayers are said/chanted out loud. You are all welcome to attend and see how other Catholics celebrate Mass. As they are fully Catholic, you are, of course, welcome to participate even in receiving Holy Communion, provided that you are properly prepared, just as you could if you attended Divine Liturgy at a Byzantine or Mass at a Syro-Malabar church. Here is the basic information for this lesser known branch of the Church:

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter is equivalent to a diocese, created by the Vatican in 2012 for people nurtured in the Anglican tradition who wish to become Catholic.
--Founded to serve Roman Catholics across the U.S. and Canada, it is the first diocese of its kind in North America.
--Based in Houston, Texas, this Ordinariate has more than 40 Roman Catholic parishes and communities across the United States and Canada.
--The Ordinariate was created to provide a path for groups of Anglicans to become fully Roman Catholic, while retaining elements of their worship traditions and spiritual heritage in their union with the Catholic Church. The Ordinariate is a key ecumenical venture exemplifying the Second Vatican Council’s vision for Christian unity, in which diverse expressions of one faith are joined together in the Church.  
--The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was established in response to repeated and persistent inquiries from Anglicans who over time, have come to identify the Catholic Church as their home. Those joining the Ordinariate have discerned they are truly Catholic in what they believe and desire full membership in the Catholic Church.
--There are three Personal Ordinariates in the world: Our Lady of Walsingham in the United Kingdom; the Chair of Saint Peter in the United States and Canada; and Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia.
--Parishes and communities in the Ordinariates are fully Roman Catholic, but retain elements of Anglican traditions in their liturgy, hospitality and ministries.
--In the Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism (Unitatis redintegatio), the Catholic Church specified what it would look like to bring all Christians together into communion. The Council said Christian groups would bring their own distinctive traditions to the Catholic Church; they would not be suppressed or absorbed. The Vatican’s remarkable ecumenical gesture in establishing the Ordinariates affirms the Catholic Church’s view that the patrimony of differing Christian spiritualities and liturgies is a treasure meant to be shared within the Catholic tradition.
--Called to be gracious instruments of Christian unity, members of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter are led by a bishop who is appointed by the Pope. Bishop Steven J. Lopes is the first bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.
--Like other bishops in the United States and Canada, the bishop serves under the direct authority of the Pope to build up the Catholic Church through mutual mission and ministry.
--The bishop is a full member of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.

I hope you are able to make both the talk about Our Blessed Mother and the Ordinariate Mass on her Feast day. Mark your calendars!

With prayers for your holiness,
Rev. Fr. Edwin Palka

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