From our New Bishop Primate, Bishop Scott Lanham To my brothers and sisters, For those of you who do not know me, I am 37, married and raising a daughter with Autism. I was ordained to the priesthood in 2008 and the episcopate in 2012, by Bishop Tom in each case. I have a Bachelor of Science in Theology and Government from Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. I have a Master of Business Administration from Liberty University. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis closed the high school seminary as I was preparing to start high school. They began an “associate seminarian” program in my junior year of high school (1993-1994). I was a member of this program for two years before entering the college seminary in 1995. It was in the seminary I was introduced to western, non-Roman Catholicism. I left the seminary and the Roman church over papal infallibility in 1996. I still felt called to the priesthood (though not to celibacy, but that is a topic for another time), and so I began a search throughout the independent movement that lead me to the Old Catholicism and the Celtic Rite. In 2003 I was invested as a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of the Temple of Jerusalem, and in 2007 elevated to Knight Commander. I run marathons and still compete in martial arts competitions at the international level. I spent nine years in the Army, serving in the Balkans and Iraq. I continue to serve in the Coast Guard Auxiliary. My single greatest joy is celebrating the Mass. A close second is celebrating the Liturgy of the Hours. I truly believe the Mass should be the focal point of all priestly ministry. When you consider the range of ministries available and myriad of roles priests play in the world, all of them can be filled by any person, lay or ordained, except celebrating the Mass. My first spiritual director, now the Roman Bishop of Knoxville, TN, once told me that without celebrating the Mass, the priest is little more than a social worker. While I don’t wish to downplay the roles social workers play in helping those truly in need, he was correct in that the priest, being the only person who can bring the consecrated host to the people of God, must focus on Eucharist before all else. Everything in priestly life is secondary to the Eucharist. I would like to take a few moments to discuss some matters which I think are important. These are the priorities for my tenure as your primate. I would like to begin by thanking my predecessor, Bishop Tom. He did a tremendous job in laying the groundwork for the initial establishment of our communion. We would not be here today without his leadership. Living the Gospel One of my mentors in seminary once commented that at the last judgment, God is not going to ask us to explain the difference between transubstantiation and consubstantiation, being sure to include in our answer the role of the hypostatic union and the Immaculate Conception. Rather, He is going to ask if we fed, clothed, visited, healed, etc. While we don’t buy into the notion of salvation earned through works, it is a fact that genuine faith breeds works. Moreover, it is when people see these works, performed with love and charity, that they begin to see that Christians have a point. This form of passive evangelism, in my opinion, is far more powerful than the active evangelism of simply preaching. Adherence to orthodoxy My first priority is adherence to orthodoxy. I wish to note the use of the lowercase “o”. While we have much in common with our Eastern brethren, I am not saying we should try to be them. However I believe it is vital that we hold to an orthodox theology. Doctrinally, that means holding to anything established by the seven ecumenical councils of the undivided church. These things are theological essentials, and in essentials we must have unity. As a corollary, any theological innovations that took place after the Great Schism, unless heretical, are acceptable for private belief. I think it is even acceptable to discuss them publicly as long as we do not teach them as binding doctrine. Just so I’m clear, I’m not saying any of them are untrue. I am simply saying that absent an ecumenical council of the undivided church, they cannot be deemed binding as doctrine. These are therefore nonessentials. I think it is important for us to show liberty in nonessentials. After all, what joins us and other Christians is far more important than the small matters that divide us. Preserve the autonomy of bishops In general, within their respective jurisdictions, bishops are the primary teachers and shepherds. Even as primate, I don’t see it as my role to insert myself into the affairs of the individual diocese. There are exceptions, such as in the case of blatant heresy or abuse of episcopal authority. Fortunately, such cases are extreme matters, and I don’t anticipate every having to take such a drastic action. And if I did so, it would only be after great prayer, deliberation, and consultation with other bishops and faithful. Which brings me to my next point… Preserve the collegiality of the bishops Historically, the universal church has been manifest in the college of bishops. So while bishops have autonomy, bishops, including the primate, are held accountable by the college of bishops as a whole. Episcopal unity, in a spirit of charity, is key for the unity of the communion. If you don’t believe this, look back over history. Every crack in the church has been preceded by a crack in episcopal unity. Let us strive to avoid the turmoil of such splits. Ministerial alliances I’m not the sort of person who is ever going to get worked up over the notion of “the one true church”. In fact, I reject such a notion. I do believe in one true faith, but I don’t believe God is ever going to make salvific judgments based of what amounts to club affiliation. To this end, I think it is important for the different members of the body of Christ to work together. Even if our beliefs differ (predestination vs. free will, for example), our ultimate goal, the winning of souls for Christ, is the same. So if we can work with our separated brothers and sisters on some ministry, we should. This is not the same as drafting a communion agreement, which must e addressed in the canonically establish manner. A ministerial alliance is simply an agreement between local groups to share the work of carrying out Christ’s message in a working ministry. A caveat: there is a lot of pettiness among the different churches. This is especially true of the independent movement. People get bent out of shape about episcopal lineage or the use of this or that prayer book or who ordains whom and so forth. We must be above this pettiness. We will not debate lineage. We will not argue over who is more “authentic” than whom. We simply cannot do this. Either people can work with us or they cannot. We cannot negotiate over things that have no impact on anyone outside our communion. If that keeps us out of some soup kitchen or prevents working with some organization, so be it. There are plenty of groups that will be happy to work with us and leave our internal matters to those of us affected by them. We need to work with those groups. Clergy formation I would ask the bishops and abbots to establish a system of days of recollection and retreats for clergy and seminarians within their dioceses. I understand that we are spread far and wide, and don’t expect that we come together for a synod or the like. But it is important to the ongoing development of clergy to take time away every so often. I would also like to see the bishops and abbots to come to a consensus on education and training for aspirants to orders. In this way we do not rush anyone to orders unprepared. I think we should be cognizant of pastoral concerns, and if there is a legitimate pastoral reason mere education should not preclude one from orders per se. We can educate informally later if we have a good reason for that course of action. These are the issues which affect us on a macro level. These are the issues which I think we must keep in mind as a communion. While individual communities will have their own particular issues, those matters are best handled by the affected communities. I trust everyone, lay and ordained, secular and religious, will handle these matters with the requisite prayer, faith, and love. The peace of Christ be with you all, Most Reverend Scott C. Lanham, KCTJ Bishop-Primate Celtic Rite Old Catholic Church.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:04:56 +0000
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