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Seventeenth Sunday of the Year
30 July 2006
Dear Friends in Christ,
In the late 1970’s, a small group of Episcopal priests who wanted to become Catholics asked Pope John Paul II if it would be possible for him to do two things: 1. Create special parishes of former Episcopalians which would preserve the distinctive features of the Anglican liturgical tradition, and 2. Allow for the priestly ordination of those married men who had been ministers in the Episcopal Church before becoming Catholics. In 1980 the pope responded to their petition by creating a "Pastoral Provision" which allowed for both of the requested exceptions, and in the United States today there are now over 70 former married Episcopal ministers who are Catholic priests and about half a dozen parishes which pray according to the Roman Rite for Anglican Usage. In fact, the very first married Episcopal minister to be ordained to the Catholic priesthood was Father James Parker of the Diocese of Charleston, who is now retired after 24 years of priestly service. Also part of our diocese through the Pastoral Provision are Father William Ladkau and the Church of the Good Shepherd in Columbia, and in a few months our diocese will have a third priest ordained according to the Pastoral Provision, this time to serve in Greenville.
Dwight Longenecker, an alumnus of Bob Jones University, moved to England after his undergraduate years in Greenville to study sacred theology at Oxford University. There he became an Anglican, and he was eventually ordained a priest of the Church of England and served in parish ministry for 10 years before he, his wife, and their children were received into full communion with the Catholic Church. Dwight has explained this long pilgrimage of faith in several essays and books, including More Christianity, The Path to Rome, and Surprised by Truth 3. Five years ago, Dwight met with Bishop Baker in the rectory of St. Mary’s Church (on the very night of my liturgical installation as pastor here!) to discuss the possibility of moving back to the United States with his family to become a candidate for ordination under the Pastoral Provision, and this summer that dream became a reality. Dwight and Alison Longenecker and their four children (Benedict, Madeleine, Theodore, Elias) moved from England to Greenville in June, and Dwight now serves as lay chaplain at St. Joseph’s High School while Bishop Baker awaits the rescript from Rome which will allow him to ordain Dwight to the priesthood for the Diocese of Charleston. In the weeks ahead, you will see Dwight functioning in the sacred liturgy in various capacities as he completes the final preparations for his priestly ordination, and I ask you to welcome the Longenecker family into the St. Mary’s family with great warmth and hospitality.
Father Newman