Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Imported stuff from an old blog
2006 comment
Apostolic Succession (2006)
An important thing for bishops is called apostolic succession. Here's why it is important: only a bishop can consecrate and ordain. You can't just wake up one morning and declare you are a priest or a bishop.
If only a bishop can make a bishop, it is logical that any bishop can trace his/her lineage all the way back to the original apostles.
I can do that, and I have dozens of separate lines of succession that lead back to the apostles.
My personal pedigree is documented online—
Bishop Wynn Wagner succession details
In a nutshell, upstream from me are...
Within 12-hours of its posting, the apostolic succession document was found and sent around to most Liberal Catholic bishops in the USA. The LCCI is my former affiliation. Msgr Tony Howard (Frisco TX) is the one who sent the document. And within a few hours after he sent it out, I got three people telling me that he had done this. Of course I don't mind that he found it and shared it with others! That is why the document is online, for God's sake. It does underscore that everything on the internet is available to everyone.
The vagabond bishop (2006)
I am an “episcopus vagans,” which means a bishop with no particular jurisdiction.
“Vagans” is a cool word. It comes from vagus -- first used in the 1400s. It means a wanderer. Our word vagabond comes from vagus. Our word vagrant comes from the same place but through an indirect route.
The early church didn't have bishops and priests. It only had priests, but today's bishop does what the priest did in the ancient church. When Christianity made inroads into rural areas, the pastor/priests knew they needed help. The solution was to ordain assistant priests who could baptize and preach and share the Lord's Supper with those outside the cities.
These assistants did nothing on their own: they were a kind of assistant to the pastor. The words slowly changed: the assistants came to be called priest, and the pastors became to be called Elders or Presbyters or Bishops.
My consecration as a bishop takes me back to the ancient church. I am just a priest with a church. Thanks to Bishops Plummer, Jones, and Bryant, I am a whole / complete priest. There is no jurisdiction.
Our church is not part of a larger group, and that is just the way the congregation likes it.
St Mychal Judge is truly like the ancient church. The pastor is a whole priest and can ordain and confirm.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Stepping down the energy (2006)
One of the hard things I had to learn as a priest was to "step-down" the energy of the Eucharist before making it available to members of the congregation.
There's a part of the Mass where the priest offers the body and blood back to God. The "Angel of the Mass" takes our oblation to God's altar in heaven.
After the Angel departs, the energy of the host and wine are only a fraction of what they had been only a few seconds earlier. I secretly used this "trick" of the liturgy to step-down the energy. In other words, the Angel did most of the work for me.
When I celebrate Mass as a bishop, the trick no longer works. Either there is more energy (with the Angel taking the same amount but leaving the additional power)... or the Angel has stopped helping me stap-down the power.
The Angel is definitely present. Its departure is still explosive, and yet there remains a strong energy on the alter.
I don't know what to do with this change yet. Hopefully nobody will get zapped too strongly before I figure out how to step-down the higher energy level.
From priest to bishop (2006)
I said "bishop" in front of my name would never happen. Never is a relative term. What I should have said was that I never wanted a jurisdiction to manage... to diocese to oversee.
In the primitive church, there were no priests. The town's pastor was what we would now call a bishop. It was only after Christianity started moving into rural areas that pastors discovered they couldn't be everywhere at once. Travel into the words wasn't very fast on foot or horse. The pastor needed to have an assistant. The pastor became the bishop, and the assistant became the priest.
Even today, priests are assistants to the bishop. They can only do sacraments and other ministries okayed by the bishop for that jurisdiction. There is a absolute hierarchy in most sacramental churches.
The arrangement works when there is a good working relationship between the bishop and his/her priests. It was this relationship that failed.
On May 6, 2006, The Most Rev Dr John Plummer (Tennessee) and The Most Rev Rob Angus Jones (California) and The Most Rev James Bryant (Texas) came to St Mychal Judge Church in Dallas Texas. In a special Eucharist service, they consecrated me as a bishop. One of our parishioners -- Robert Putnam -- "gave me away" and all of the congregants were invited to come up at the start of the service and lay their hands on me as a way of supporting my consecration.
Here are some snapshots of the consecration service: http://www.mychaljudge.com/gallery
The rite was kind of typical: mild substrate of chaos resting on a foundation of rock.
Afterwards I was completely buzzed... probably more than in all my ordinations combined (cleric, doorkeeper, reader, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, and priest).
- - - - -
Later in the afternoon we got a frantic phone call: one of my consecrating bishops had dropped a glass jug which shattered into a zillion pieces. One large piece stabbed his foot, nicking an artery. He had a geyser. Fortunately, he was able to put something on the wound until three of us could get to him and take him to the emergency room.
Or as I told him later: "Dude, I am sooooo upset with you. This was supposed to be my day... it was supposed to be All About Wynn... and here you go trying to carve a stigmata in yourself to get some attention... humph."
He is fine.
From Liberal to Old (2006)
I resigned as a Liberal Catholic (LCCI) priest the first of May, 2006. The biggest reason is a problem that developed between me and the Ordinary (i.e., bishop). Leaving was my choice: nobody suggested it.
Other factors sealed my decision:
Reminder: everything in this post dates to 2006. You will find more recent postings beyond this. We are not in chronological order for this post.
B is for Bishop,
And B is for Blog:
This Catholic guy,
He rides a Hog!
— Reader Marti Martinson, Washington DC
(NOTE: "Hog" refers to the bishop's Harley-Davidson.)
And B is for Blog:
This Catholic guy,
He rides a Hog!
— Reader Marti Martinson, Washington DC
(NOTE: "Hog" refers to the bishop's Harley-Davidson.)
Episcopus Vagans (2006)
What I am now is an Episcopus Vagans. I am not in any jurisdiction. There is no bishop/cardinal/pope/poobah over me. I am still a loose cannon, but now I have my on deck to roll around on!
The model is the ancient churches. There were no "priests" until Christianity moved into the country-side. The pastor of a church did everything. When people outside the towns were baptized, pastors recognized they couldn't be everywhere.
The solution was for the pastors to create a kind of assistant pastor, people who could move around out in the sticks. Eventually, the pastor in the city became known as the bishop for his jurisdiction. The itinerant minister was called a priest.
Priests were given permission to say Mass and hear confession. Sometimes there was an archpriest who could ordain priests on special permission of the bishop.
I believe this is still a good model. Synods and denominations perform little good, except to stress how fractured and dysfunctional Christianity is. Every town and village should be served by a bishop/priest who knows and understands the needs of his or her community.
It doesn't mean that I believe everyone should be ordained who raises his hand. We already have that in the Universal Life Church (ULC). What I think is that no consecrated bishop should have to answer to any other bishop.
According to this model, the priesthood is but one final stopping point before becoming a bishop: just like the deaconate is typically not a terminal Order but a probationary stop before the priesthood.
The liturgy used for my consecration is at the Global Library.
What I am now is an Episcopus Vagans. I am not in any jurisdiction. There is no bishop/cardinal/pope/poobah over me. I am still a loose cannon, but now I have my on deck to roll around on!
The model is the ancient churches. There were no "priests" until Christianity moved into the country-side. The pastor of a church did everything. When people outside the towns were baptized, pastors recognized they couldn't be everywhere.
The solution was for the pastors to create a kind of assistant pastor, people who could move around out in the sticks. Eventually, the pastor in the city became known as the bishop for his jurisdiction. The itinerant minister was called a priest.
Priests were given permission to say Mass and hear confession. Sometimes there was an archpriest who could ordain priests on special permission of the bishop.
I believe this is still a good model. Synods and denominations perform little good, except to stress how fractured and dysfunctional Christianity is. Every town and village should be served by a bishop/priest who knows and understands the needs of his or her community.
It doesn't mean that I believe everyone should be ordained who raises his hand. We already have that in the Universal Life Church (ULC). What I think is that no consecrated bishop should have to answer to any other bishop.
According to this model, the priesthood is but one final stopping point before becoming a bishop: just like the deaconate is typically not a terminal Order but a probationary stop before the priesthood.
The liturgy used for my consecration is at the Global Library.
Apostolic Succession (2006)
An important thing for bishops is called apostolic succession. Here's why it is important: only a bishop can consecrate and ordain. You can't just wake up one morning and declare you are a priest or a bishop.
If only a bishop can make a bishop, it is logical that any bishop can trace his/her lineage all the way back to the original apostles.
I can do that, and I have dozens of separate lines of succession that lead back to the apostles.
My personal pedigree is documented online—
Bishop Wynn Wagner succession details
In a nutshell, upstream from me are...
- Wedgwood/Leadbeater (Liberal Catholic)
- Gul (Old Catholic)
- Carlos Duarte Costa (Roman Catholic / Brazil)
- Cranmer (Church of England)
- Philippine Independent Church
- Ancient Celtic Church
- Greek Orthodox
- Armenian Catholic
- Chaldean Churchm
- Chalcedonian (“Byzantine”) Orthodox
- Syrian Orthodox “Jacobite” Church
- Coptic Church
Within 12-hours of its posting, the apostolic succession document was found and sent around to most Liberal Catholic bishops in the USA. The LCCI is my former affiliation. Msgr Tony Howard (Frisco TX) is the one who sent the document. And within a few hours after he sent it out, I got three people telling me that he had done this. Of course I don't mind that he found it and shared it with others! That is why the document is online, for God's sake. It does underscore that everything on the internet is available to everyone.
The vagabond bishop (2006)
I am an “episcopus vagans,” which means a bishop with no particular jurisdiction.
“Vagans” is a cool word. It comes from vagus -- first used in the 1400s. It means a wanderer. Our word vagabond comes from vagus. Our word vagrant comes from the same place but through an indirect route.
The early church didn't have bishops and priests. It only had priests, but today's bishop does what the priest did in the ancient church. When Christianity made inroads into rural areas, the pastor/priests knew they needed help. The solution was to ordain assistant priests who could baptize and preach and share the Lord's Supper with those outside the cities.
These assistants did nothing on their own: they were a kind of assistant to the pastor. The words slowly changed: the assistants came to be called priest, and the pastors became to be called Elders or Presbyters or Bishops.
My consecration as a bishop takes me back to the ancient church. I am just a priest with a church. Thanks to Bishops Plummer, Jones, and Bryant, I am a whole / complete priest. There is no jurisdiction.
Our church is not part of a larger group, and that is just the way the congregation likes it.
St Mychal Judge is truly like the ancient church. The pastor is a whole priest and can ordain and confirm.
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Stepping down the energy (2006)
One of the hard things I had to learn as a priest was to "step-down" the energy of the Eucharist before making it available to members of the congregation.
There's a part of the Mass where the priest offers the body and blood back to God. The "Angel of the Mass" takes our oblation to God's altar in heaven.
After the Angel departs, the energy of the host and wine are only a fraction of what they had been only a few seconds earlier. I secretly used this "trick" of the liturgy to step-down the energy. In other words, the Angel did most of the work for me.
When I celebrate Mass as a bishop, the trick no longer works. Either there is more energy (with the Angel taking the same amount but leaving the additional power)... or the Angel has stopped helping me stap-down the power.
The Angel is definitely present. Its departure is still explosive, and yet there remains a strong energy on the alter.
I don't know what to do with this change yet. Hopefully nobody will get zapped too strongly before I figure out how to step-down the higher energy level.
From priest to bishop (2006)
I said "bishop" in front of my name would never happen. Never is a relative term. What I should have said was that I never wanted a jurisdiction to manage... to diocese to oversee.
In the primitive church, there were no priests. The town's pastor was what we would now call a bishop. It was only after Christianity started moving into rural areas that pastors discovered they couldn't be everywhere at once. Travel into the words wasn't very fast on foot or horse. The pastor needed to have an assistant. The pastor became the bishop, and the assistant became the priest.
Even today, priests are assistants to the bishop. They can only do sacraments and other ministries okayed by the bishop for that jurisdiction. There is a absolute hierarchy in most sacramental churches.
The arrangement works when there is a good working relationship between the bishop and his/her priests. It was this relationship that failed.
On May 6, 2006, The Most Rev Dr John Plummer (Tennessee) and The Most Rev Rob Angus Jones (California) and The Most Rev James Bryant (Texas) came to St Mychal Judge Church in Dallas Texas. In a special Eucharist service, they consecrated me as a bishop. One of our parishioners -- Robert Putnam -- "gave me away" and all of the congregants were invited to come up at the start of the service and lay their hands on me as a way of supporting my consecration.
Here are some snapshots of the consecration service: http://www.mychaljudge.com/gallery
The rite was kind of typical: mild substrate of chaos resting on a foundation of rock.
Afterwards I was completely buzzed... probably more than in all my ordinations combined (cleric, doorkeeper, reader, exorcist, acolyte, subdeacon, deacon, and priest).
- - - - -
Later in the afternoon we got a frantic phone call: one of my consecrating bishops had dropped a glass jug which shattered into a zillion pieces. One large piece stabbed his foot, nicking an artery. He had a geyser. Fortunately, he was able to put something on the wound until three of us could get to him and take him to the emergency room.
Or as I told him later: "Dude, I am sooooo upset with you. This was supposed to be my day... it was supposed to be All About Wynn... and here you go trying to carve a stigmata in yourself to get some attention... humph."
He is fine.
From Liberal to Old (2006)
I resigned as a Liberal Catholic (LCCI) priest the first of May, 2006. The biggest reason is a problem that developed between me and the Ordinary (i.e., bishop). Leaving was my choice: nobody suggested it.
Other factors sealed my decision:
- The LCCI doesn't permit same-gender marriage ceremonies.
- There are some flaws in the liturgy used to consecrate a bishop. (minor)
- The LCCI Eucharist suppresses the notion that it is a sacrifice.
Reminder: everything in this post dates to 2006. You will find more recent postings beyond this. We are not in chronological order for this post.
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