Convert Priest Thrilled To Host Pope And Archbishop Of Canterbury
By CNA
By David Kerr
Catholic convert Father Peter Hughes prefers to describe himself as “an Anglican who is now in full communion with Peter.”
“In a personal sense I have made this journey, and it has been both a fascinating and a demanding one,” said Fr. Hughes, the prior of San Gregorio al Celio monastery in Rome, in an interview with CNA.
Fr. Hughes was received into the Catholic Church in 2000, after many years as an Anglican vicar in his native Australia and in England.
This weekend he will experience his life come full circle as he hosts both Pope Benedict XVI and the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams. The two religious leaders will pray Vespers together to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the monastic Camaldolese Order, which has overseen San Gregorio since the mid 1500s.
“The thought of living one’s own ecclesial tradition in a different context and celebrating what is rich in both …is reflected in this whole celebration,” said Fr. Hughes.
He believes this weekend’s events signify the “deepest desire” of the Pope and the Anglican leader “to move towards a communion which symbolically, structurally, sacramentally, institutionally can finally reach its consummation.”
The venue of San Gregorio monastery comes with added significance for English Christians. In the late 6th century Pope Gregory the Great dispatched St. Augustine from the monastery to convert the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity, thus making them “not Angles, but Angels.” St. Gregory actually built the monastery on the site of his family home.
“This is the third time that a Pope has met with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the house of Gregory the Great,” Fr. Hughes explained.
“So, this connection with the English, this connection with Canterbury is fundamental to the celebration.”
In recent years, the search for unity has been made more difficult as many Anglican churches have liberalized their stance on moral issues, such as homosexuality.
An internal report published last year also suggested that the rate of decline among Anglican congregations is so severe that the Church of England could be “functionally extant” or effectively dead in 20 years.
But Fr. Hughes is still hopeful for Christian unity.
“We’re always searching for expressions of God’s will. I think the desire for unity is as strong as ever. I think we need to look for ways in which we can stimulate our progress,” he said.
“This weekend is a way of saying, ‘this is another step on the way,’ another way of lifting our spirits and saying this is still something to hope for and this is still something to work for concretely.”
Not “functionally extant” but “functionally exTINCT”.
Otherwise the article is good.
We can only hope and pray for the acceptance of those of other denominations to return to the Church. We should especially pray for all Anglicans, Episcopalians, Lutherans, and those of the Orthodox Church that are still seperate.
All should keep their traditions but vow to work in getting their flocks into loving palms of the Holy Spirit.
I don;t know about this priest personally, but I have been to Rome 3x over the last two years for work purposes, and had an extended stay right after Christmas this year. I visited this Church, and saw one of their Vespers services.
I was expecting a glimpse of traditional Roman Catholic monasticism, but what I got was a very progressive-almost dissident- service which at least to me didn’t look anything like Roman Catholic, but could pass as Episcopalian, Lutheran, or any non-denominational prayer service.
While that is all well and good in it’s proper place, this service had nothing to do with Catholicism. It was disappointing. These few monks of the Camaldolese Order (there’s less than 10 at this Church in Rome, and world wide the Camaldolese Order is under 100 members) were all elderly. The sparcely attended service proves that it’s not altogether appealing to the Romans or tourists.
These few liberal monks who would rather host ecumenical dialog services rather than preserve Catholic traditions are doing the Church and their own ancient Order a real disservice. Young people like me don’t like their agenda, we like our Catholic roots/tradition. They are doing thmselves a disservice because they are not attracting young recruits with their antics and agenda. At less than 100 members world-wide, they’ll be gone soon, and so will their 1,000 year history. And that’s tragic.