Dear Clergy and Friends of EADM,
May the light of the Christ-child be with you at this season and into the future!
As I write this letter to you, the final preparations will be being made for Midnight Mass at each of our oratories. This is a time of anticipation and rebirth as Christ is welcomed again into our hearts, and as we join in worship with the heavenly host we recall also our bonds with other members of the Church Militant at this time of common purpose and rejoicing.
This past year has been an eventful one for our small communion. I have been very glad to see the development of our work through several of our missions in the United States as well as, in a quieter way, here in England. Naturally, the ordered work of the clergy in daily worship and the liturgical life of our oratories does not make for “news” as such, yet the private offering of the Holy Sacrifice remains the most important work of our communion and stands at the heart of the mystical and contemplative traditions that we represent. Alongside this, some of the developments we have seen during the past twelve months have included the following events.
Bishop Tony has continued to provide sterling support as he has settled into his new role as a member of the Council of Three, for which the Church is most grateful. His work among prisoners on California’s Death Row has resulted in his receiving several incarcerated men into the Catholic Church this year.
The Marian Orders have been united under a common administration and Fr. Charles Reynolds was consecrated earlier this year as a Mitred Abbot (under the ecclesiastical name Shin Maram) to lead these orders as well as the Mariavite Mission (formerly Order) in Texas. From within his community, Br. Chuck has been chrismated and has begun the journey towards testing his vocation in preparation for Holy Orders.
The movement for social change that has spread around the world this past year has found an advocate and ally in the form of Fr. Dan, our priest in Pennsylvania. He has spoken ably at the Occupy Wall Street gathering in Scranton and continues to be actively involved with the call for a more just society. His work towards drug-free treatment of those experiencing mental distress has again been to the fore.
Mgr. Jason, Vicar-General, completed his Master of Theology degree in June. He and I have continued to work closely on the esoteric aspects of EADM’s mission, with further expansion of this work anticipated during the coming year.
Bishop Andrew has announced that he is to marry his fiancée Geraldine. He and I continue to work together very closely through our shared work in education, where we continue to provide life-changing opportunities for students within sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia.
My biography of Archbishop Joseph-René Vilatte, one of the Old Catholic forefathers of our church, was published earlier in the year and has received appreciative comments from other scholars of our movement. An updated edition will come out next year, as will my next work on Free Catholic history, which is currently in preparation.
Archbishop Brennan of the Order of Corporate Reunion has established a memorial stone to Archbishop Lee of Lambeth in New York. We are still looking into the possibility of commemorating Archbishop Lee at his unmarked grave in Brookwood Cemetery, but have not as yet traced the legal owner of the grave as is necessary before any amendment to the memorial could be made. We continue to encourage donations to the Archbishop Mathew grave restoration fund. If you are interested in helping, please do make contact.
Bishop Tony and Mgr. Jason were this year appointed Frater Coadjutor Knights of the Valiant Order of St. John the Baptist, our church’s ecclesiastical merit order.
We continue to receive enquiries from clergy and scholars interested in the history of our mother church, the Apostolic Episcopal Church, and those churches with which it has enjoyed close relations over the years, as well as from others concerned with the history of the Liberal Catholic Church. Through these enquiries I am pleased to say that friendly contact with members of other churches has often resulted, and their assistance has been greatly valued in furthering scholarship into what is often a complex and difficult area of study. Our archives have continued to grow with the addition of further historic documents and this year has seen much welcome progress in our research.
Further developments during the past year, resulting in the closure of a religious Order and several missions of our church, have provided considerable challenges for us to overcome. Nevertheless, these events have ultimately served to strengthen the mission of our church and to enable it to become a closer and better-defined body. E.A.D.M. has always set itself out very deliberately as a church in the canonical tradition of Catholicism, with direct lineage from Rome and professing the Catholic faith in its true and historic fullness, faithful both to the legacy of the Fathers and the esoteric tradition that runs alongside it. Its structure and traditionalism therefore stands in opposition to those bodies that, while they may use the designation “church”, are essentially loose and undisciplined online collectives of independent clergy in the modernist vein. Furthermore, E.A.D.M. expresses its responsibility to the Christian life and the wider public through a system of open and accountable canonical governance which binds all clergy of this communion and ensures that the focus of our activities is not upon personalities and disputes but, as it should be, upon the Church and the Sacraments. It is entirely right that those who are not willing to commit to this vision and to the responsibilities that it entails should not continue to be a part of the body of clergy of this church.
Let us never forget that the clergy are the obedient servants of the mission of Christ, bound together by one Faith and one Church, of which our body is an autocephalous and validly-constituted rite. The Christian path is one which, however complex, is ultimately governed by Divine Order, and in which every event has its place, however obscure or bewildering it may appear to mortal mankind. The Church seeks to mirror such an order, that we may be “goodly and quietly governed” in spiritual matters, and most importantly so that we may enjoy the freedom that comes from the knowledge that when disruptive currents come our way, the underlying basis – both in faith and in structure – of our communion is such that it may provide a safe harbour. Even though our material position is very different to that of the larger churches, nevertheless it is the necessary goods for spiritual life in the Sacraments that are to be counted as our riches beyond price, and that call forth the best that we can give to our Maker and Redeemer.
Those who have experienced the sacramental life of our church have commented on the extent to which powerful spiritual energies are visibly present and active within this communion. As we look to the year ahead, let us pray that we may continue as a vehicle for those energies to the greater glory of God and the establishment of His kingdom.
In Xto,
++John
