Charismatics partner with traditionalists

Companions of the Cross shares gifts with traditional Anglican community

Former Anglican Catholic Church of Canada bishop Carl Reid is presented with
the Anglican Use sodality in Ottawa monstrance by Father Scott McGaig,
the Companions of the Cross moderator. Photo by Deborah Gyapong / CCN.

The B.C. Catholic has a story by Deborah Gyapong about the odd, yet fulfilling, pairing of a charismatic order and a traditional Anglican group:

One might think putting the Companions of the Cross, a relatively new charismatic order of priests in charge of a traditional Anglican Use community in Ottawa a bit of an odd mix.

The Companions, founded by Father Bob Bedard more than 25 years ago, are a charismatic order used to contemporary praise and worship, sometimes with hands raised in the air. The parishes they serve in Ottawa, Toronto, Halifax, Detroit, and Houston have been known to sing in tongues from time to time.

Worship styles could not be more different. The Anglican Use liturgy uses the language of Shakespeare and rubrics, including a ballet of genuflection and many silent prayers, more similar to those of the Tridentine or Traditional Latin Mass. Instead of contemporary worship, the small parish relies on old hymns that are chosen less for their singability than for their theological import in relation to the day’s readings from Scripture. Yet the small congregation often belts them out in four-part harmony.

Read the full story at The B.C. Catholic website.