Ninth Sunday After Pentecost

July 13, 2008

Homily for the Anglican Usage Mass

of

Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church

7809 Shadyvilla Lane

Houston, Texas 77055

Matthew 13:1-23

            In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

            It’s good to be here with you this morning.  I am Fr. Eric Bergman, the Chaplain of the St. Thomas More Society of St. Clare Church, one of your sister Anglican Use Communities here in the United States.  I come to you from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and am grateful to Fr. Noble for his generosity in inviting me to preach and be the principle celebrant of the Mass today.

            If you do not know why I am here, I can say simply that I attended this weekend’s Anglican Use Conference in San Antonio, and I have come to Houston to visit some of the friends we made when we went on pilgrimage to Rome last September.  But my presence with you today is not really that simple.   I come to you also as an ambassador in my capacity as the Chaplain of the Anglican Use Society, the sponsor of each year’s Anglican Use Conference.  I have come to help you understand why we had a conference in the first place, in order that we might see an increase in the fruit we bear together.

            Jesus says in today’s Gospel, in which we heard the parable of the sower, that in order for us to bear fruit thirty, sixty and a hundred fold, we must not only hear the Word of God, we must also understand it.  He says, “As for what is sown in good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it.  He indeed bears fruit.”  Then, what must we understand?

            First, those of us who are part of the Anglican Use Catholic communities have a particular calling to reconcile our separated brethren to Mother Church.  This is accomplished not only by virtue of the individuals our communities might have the honor to catechize and bring into fellowship with the Vicar of Christ.  We also accomplish this reconciliation by serving as lighthouses, so to speak, for Protestants of every stripe.  In the Anglican Use, Protestants see that the Church esteems the gifts they possess.  One need not foreswear the gifts God has given him in order to become Catholic.  Rather, these gifts can be incorporated into the fullness of the Truth that is the Catholic Church, if they are consistent with Catholic faith and practice.  Indeed, every time we offer this particular form of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, we demonstrate that unity does not have to mean uniformity.  We are a sign that to come home, our separated brothers must embrace the Truth – certainly – but they need not stop being who they are.  This is the first reason the Anglican use Society sponsors an annual conference.

            Second, Anglican use parishes have a particular role to play in preserving what is beautiful about our Anglican patrimony and heritage.  One comment made to me several times this past weekend was how beautiful the liturgy was celebrated under the direction of Fr. Christopher Phillips, the Pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement.  I hear the same comment many times each week back in Scranton, especially from those who come not fully knowing what to expect.  If this beauty is to be preserved within the fullness of the Faith, it is up to us former Anglicans who are now Catholics to preserve it, because only the Catholic Church refuses to change with every passing fad.  Anglicanism, unfortunately, is being deformed beyond recognition with every passing day.  The Anglican Use communities can say with confidence that such deformities will not happen here, for we are aboard the barque of Peter—we are preserved from the storm raging about us.  The Church wants us to be transformed, but we need not alter our traditions to affect this transformation.  In fact, it is the traditions we can preserve only in the Catholic Church that encourage the transformation to sanctity that Jesus desires for each of His children.  The Anglican Use Society sponsors an annual conference to remind the world that the preservation of our particular patrimony is a good thing for precisely this reason—our traditions help people become better Catholics.

            The third call of the Anglican Use parishes is to provide an example of faith to those considering making the same journey.  Out in San Antonio, we got to hear several inspiring stories about the sacrifices various former Anglicans made in order to come into full communion with the Holy See and the Vicar of Christ, our Pope.  We heard from Fr. Christopher Phillips who made the journey twenty five years ago.  And we heard from Oliver Vietor, the leader of the new Anglican Use community in Phoenix, who made the journey with his small flock just last year.  The stories were an inspiration and example in and of themselves, but then so was the very ground we walked upon.  Each Anglican Use community in the United States is a testament to what is possible if people simply are willing to go where their consciences are telling them that God is leading them.  The Anglican Use Society holds its annual conference at an Anglican Use parish – either an old one or a new one – to showcase what we might accomplish when we step out in faith.

            In order for us to bear fruit in ever greater volume, all of us who are part of the Anglican Use must understand these three things God has so clearly called us to do, to reconcile our brothers, preserve our heritage, and be an example to those on their way home.  We must understand our role as reconcilers, preservers, and examples if we are to articulate why it is we exist when those who are ignorant of our mission or hostile to our mission ask us the hard questions.  We’ve all heard them, “Why don’t you celebrate Mass like everybody else?  Why was there a married priest preaching at your church today?” We can hardly communicate our mission to the next generation if we ourselves are not clear on what we are doing.  And if we cannot communicate to the next generation, we cannot very well bear fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred fold.

            The fruit we bear can be counted in the conversions and the vocations we help to generate.  As the Anglican Communion disintegrates in 2008, the relatively few Catholics who are part of the Anglican Use communities will have the obligation—an even more urgent obligation—to indicate clearly that there is another option for those who have been set adrift and are looking for a life boat.

            I can tell you that we are beginning to do a good job in this regard.  Each conference we hold generates a few vocations—one man who attended the 2006 Conference as an Episcopalian has already been ordained a Catholic priest, Fr. Jeffrey Whorton, serving in New Mexico—and the number of conversions is impossible precisely to quantify.  Our role is to put the material out there and allow the Holy Spirit to do His work.  So master the material.  Understand what we are doing, so you can explain what we are doing, so we can bear the fruit God intends for the Church.

            Such clarity is of special importance to you, the people of Our Lady of Walsingham, for the Board of the Anglican Use Society has asked Father Noble that your parish host next year’s conference.  You do not need to worry about the practical aspects:  the organization, the recruitment of speakers, even the financial obligation.  As Chaplain of the Anglican use Society, I can assure you we will take care of all that.  What each of you can do is hear and understand.  And in your understanding, help us bear fruit.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen

The Rev. Eric Bergman, Chaplain

St. Thomas More Society

2301 N. Washington Avenue

Scranton, PA 18509

(570) 343-0634

www.stthomasmoresociety.org