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Why the Society of Catholic Priests?
“Take delight in the Lord… be still before the Lord… refrain from anger, leave rage alone…”
The New York/New Jersey region had a preliminary meeting and it was a good day, thanks in large part of the kind hospitality of St Paul’s,Carroll Gardens and a congenial group of people who gathered.
Robert Hendrickson, our communications coordinator began the day’s reflections with the first nine verses of Ps 37; its message of joy in the Lord, patience ad stillness as God’s purposes unfold and its call to a non-reactive, non-anxious calm seems to speak precisely to the unfolding nature of the Society at this point.
After calling together the initial steering committee and making contact with our sister organization in Great Britain- it has been immensely rewarding to begin hearing from people and even better to actually see people. The Society of Catholic Priests is slowly emerging from the realm of ideas and possibilities and becoming tangible . A couple of things became obvious in the conversation - first that there is a real hunger for a group focused on mutual support and collegiality freed of the competitive and issue driven nature of things- that there is a desire for a solid, creedal, sacramental and prayer book centered spirituality. Along with those hopes, there is a real suspicion and fear that the Society could become – or could be intended-- as another party or divisive group-that it is going to define itself against other groups or positions (the last thing the Episcopal Church needs is one more re-active effort) that it could feed into the precious or the arcane fascinations that can be the shadow side of anglo-catholicism. There is a tendency in the Church these days to revert to the questions that divide and to look at each other as proponents of one position or the other. Those questions are important and we are called to witness to our convictions. But the questions are not everything and our work within the church’s councils are not the whole of our ministry. Yesterday’s conversation revealed a great deal of energy and hope for a society that is healthy and balanced and effective in deepening priestly spirituality and developing real friendships among us.
The patience that the Psalm calls for will serve us well in the months ahead- my sense is that there will be a great deal of wisdom in the chapters as they are formed- and that there will be a great deal of skepticism which- if we pay attention to it- will keep the group honest and grounded.
The Society’s great promise at the moment seems to be that it will call priests together and call us back to convictions and joyful passions that animated our experience of the sacramental life and that propelled us towards the ordination process, seminary, and the work we now carry out. There was, for almost all of us, a real joy in prayer and in communion, in reflection on the Church’s heritage and its work, there was a real delight in the friends we found. If we can capture some of that and learn to live It will be a great honor for Christ Church, New Haven, to welcome the Society in its beginnings and there will be a great deal of joy in getting to know each other and finding our skepticism answered and our hopes exceeded. If you are planning on joining us- find someone who is longing for this sort of a group- and encourage them to come with you. Find someone who is suspicious, who assumes that this group will fall into the old divisions and suspicious or get lost in one irrelevancy or the other- and tell them that they can help us build something grounded and joyful. Best of all, pray and participate in the life of the Society so that our best hopes are realized and our skepticism answered- and that we find patience and delight in the Lord and companionship with each other.
Letter of 8/09:
In the undercroft of Christ Church New Haven is a relatively small, wooden altar, no longer in use, that was built for and memorializes one of the American Catholic Congresses of the early 20th century. It would have been difficult for those who attended those conferences to imagine how the next nine or so decades would play out- forms for private confession in the prayer book and the opening of holy orders to women would seem equally as unlikely.
At the turn of the 20th century, the rector of this parish included in the materials in the cornerstone of the third church, an almost wistful hope that the day would come when he and his compatriots could be remembered in prayer after their death. In the meantime, full Requiem Eucharists and votive candles have become as unremarkable as the influx of “A celebration of the life of…” has re-shaped an understanding of what the funeral service might be. Failing seminaries, dioceses splitting and re-aligning, dismal statistics and all of this is balanced by new initiatives in service and community life projects for young people, efforts continue to connect parishes and to re-shape the ties among us.
So what, then might a Society of Catholic Priests offer at this point in the life of the Anglicanism in North America. First, it answers a real need that many of us feel to connect with others of similar- though never identical- concerns. Whether the question is developing and honoring a personal rule of life that offers stability - or finding a way to help a parish comprehend the depth and the riches of the faith we carry- to worship, to think and to act out of the gracious heritage that is ours- these are not projects that an individual can easily sustain without collegial support.
Whatever this Society accomplishes will depend in its ability to draw together priests with common commitments, concerns, and hopes. Second, and this comes to mind during the General Convention, it will not work as voice or force for advocacy within the Church. To take one relatively minor point, priests drawn to this society may well enthusiastically support the revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts or have serious reservations about the process or the results. Conversation that helps us all clarify our thinking and lets us hear each other – that in fact leaves individuals better prepared to go and argue their point perhaps-is the goal. Third, the Society, if it is effective, will bring into our awareness a great cloud of witnesses- not only the men and women whose ministry has sustained the catholicity of the Anglican tradition in North America- but the many people in all sorts of places who are continuing to work to deepen the church’s sacramental and devotional life, to strengthen its faith in great mysteries of our faith and to express all of this in both worship and service that is honest, demanding, and effective.
We invite you to join with us- to help us create local chapters and to contribute to the larger conversation as this Society of Catholic Priests takes up these three tasks- to create connections among us, to strengthen us in the things that are central and energizing to our faith and vocations and to celebrate the heritage and the future of the Anglo-catholic movement in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Church of Canada.
At this point, we are planning a regional gathering in New York City in September. In November, we expect to welcome the Rev'd Canon Andrew Nunn, rector general of the SCP in the UK, as we inaugurate the Society in North America at our first annual provincial (national) meeting in New Haven, Connecticut.
Eventually, as local chapters are established and as they elect rectors- membership will be through the local chapter and would follow a conversation with leaders from the local chapter. We are not setting dues and foresee keeping the Society working on as low an overhead as possible. Members are expected to make some annual gift- to provide for the costs of communication and any necessary expenses. Conferences and meetings will, by necessity be self-supporting and expenses will be kept as low as possible- conference and meeting fees will reflect real costs. An annual budget- of income and expenses will be provided for anyone who makes a financial contribution.
To establish and sustain the Society on this basis will require committed and active leadership- and leadership that emerge from the members of the Society. There are a few of us working now to set this Society in motion- but we look forward to the day that local chapters and regional chapters are able to provide and support a regularly changing pool of leadership.
If you have ideas or what to help shape the formation of the Society- we need to hear from you. First, we hope you will join. Second, we hope you will help create a diocesan or regional gathering in your area. Let us know if you have questions or if there are specific ways in which the Society might support your ministry and deepen your spiritual life. Help us envision how this Society might contribute to the spiritual health and the vitality of the parishes we serve and the larger church as well. If you feel called to participate in a Society with these goals and operating under these commitments, let us hear from you and help us explore where this beginning might lead.
Fr David Cobb, rector
Christ Church, New Haven
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