First Anglican Divine Worship in Toronto!

History being made...

Tomorrow evening, the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the LORD, will be the first time in the Archdiocese of Toronto and all of Canada that the Holy Mass will be celebrated according to the Anglican Use Missal. The Mass, not only authorized, but requested by Archbishop Thomas Collins will be celebrated at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Mississauga as part of the Anglicanorum Coetibus in Canada Conference being held t his weekend. Archbishop Collins is Delegate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for Anglicanorum Coetibus in Canada. Father Christopher Phillips, Pastor, Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas is the Celebrant. He is the founding pastor of the first Anglican Use parish, erected in 1983 under the terms of the Pastoral Provision. Together with Archbishop Collins and Father Phillips, the other Keynote Speaker is Father Aidan Nichols, O.P. Father Nichols has the honorary status of Affiliated Lecturer in the University of Cambridge. He has also taught at the Pontifical University of St Thomas, Rome; St Mary’s College, Oscott; and Blackfriars Hall, Oxford. He has published some thirty books, and over seventy articles.

The Anglican Use Missal is the approved Missal by the Holy See for those Anglicans entering the Church under the Pastoral Provision of Pope John Paul II. The Pastoral Provision was initiated for married Episcopalian clergy to become ordained as Catholic priests who with their parishes chose to come into union with the one true Church. The provision has been only for the United States and was never applied to Canada. This provision is specific and those church communities under the Traditional Anglican Communion are not part of it. Though, clearly a new strucuture for all Anglicans is being established under Anglicanorum Coetibus.

The Missal is beautiful. Also known as the Book of Divine Worship, the Anglican Use Missal is based on the Book of Common Prayer, itself a protestant version of the Mass in England at the time of the break under Henry VIII and based upon what would have been the Sarum Rite, its protestantism stripped away and parts of it brought into conformity with the Missa Normative (Novus Ordo liturgy) specifically the Offertory and the Mystery of Faith. Fortunately, they will be able to correct the 1970 ICEL language in these parts. The final Missal or Missals to be used by the Anglican Ordinariates are not yet known.

St. Joseph's Parish in Mississauga hosted a chant conference recently with Father Samuel Weber, Director of the Institute of Sacred Music for the Archdiocese of Saint Louis in the United States.