Today the Prefect of the CDF, Card. Levada, and the Secretary of the CDW, Archbp. DiNoia, were available in a press briefing at the Holy See Press Office.
The Pope is issuing an Apostolic Constitution to create personal ordinariates for Anglicans who want to rejoin the Catholic Church.
Note the language…. PERSONAL ORDINARIATES.
Just yesterday I was speaking about the word "ordinary". The usual sort of "ordinary" is a diocesan bishop. But, as I explained, there are other sorts of ordinaries as well.
This could be important down the line also for SSPXers.
NB: Keep in mind that the Holy Father has from time to time expressed openness to discussing different ecclesial structures and even the role of Peter. He has spoken of his role as primarily one of unity. He also let go of the title Patriarch of the West. Just a few reminders, before reading, that the Pope thinks deeply about these issues.
The following has been released with my emphases and comments:
NOTE OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH ABOUT PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICANS ENTERING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH , 20.10.2009
NOTE OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH ABOUT PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICANS ENTERING THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
With the preparation of an Apostolic Constitution,[the Church’s most authoritative type of document] the Catholic Church is responding [NB: responding… not initiating… responding…] to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion.
In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony. Under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution, pastoral oversight and guidance will be provided for groups of former Anglicans through a Personal Ordinariate, whose Ordinary will usually be appointed from among former Anglican clergy. [Does this not sound like a possible structure also for the SSPX? However, you know that the appointment would ultimately be by the Holy See.]
The forthcoming Apostolic Constitution provides a reasonable and even necessary response to a world-wide phenomenon, by offering a single canonical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local situations and equitable to former Anglicans in its universal application. [Not to mention the SSPX.] It provides for the ordination as Catholic priests of married former Anglican clergy. [Get that? Married clergy.] Historical and ecumenical reasons preclude the ordination of married men as bishops in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Constitution therefore stipulates that the Ordinary can be either a priest or an unmarried bishop. [A priest can be an ordinary.] The seminarians in the Ordinariate are to be prepared alongside other Catholic seminarians, though the Ordinariate may establish a house of formation to address the particular needs of formation in the Anglican patrimony. In this way, the Apostolic Constitution seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be integrated into the Catholic Church.
[Interesting. Doesn’t this simply raise all of the Church’s boats by raising the water level?]
Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which has prepared this provision, said: "We have been trying to meet the requests for full communion that have come to us from Anglicans in different parts of the world in recent years in a uniform and equitable way. With this proposal the Church wants to respond to the legitimate aspirations of these Anglican groups for full and visible unity with the Bishop of Rome, successor of St. Peter."
These Personal Ordinariates will be formed, as needed, in consultation with local Conferences of Bishops, and their structure will be similar in some ways to that of the Military Ordinariates which have been established in most countries to provide pastoral care for the members of the armed forces and their dependents throughout the world. [In other words, they have no geographical borders, but are aimed at groups of people who may be scattered around. Thus, there could be an Ordinariate for, say, the USA or for Nigeria or for England, etc.] "Those Anglicans who have approached the Holy See have made clear their desire for full, visible unity in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. At the same time, they have told us of the importance of their Anglican traditions of spirituality and worship for their faith journey," Cardinal Levada said.
The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church, particularly through the efforts of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. "The initiative has come from a number of different groups of Anglicans," Cardinal Levada went on to say: "They have declared that they share the common Catholic faith as it is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and accept the Petrine ministry as something Christ willed for the Church. For them, the time has come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion." [Did anyone notice that folks such as Card. Kasper were not the presenters for this press conference? Also, consider that the true aim of ecumenism must ultimately be for all people to become Catholic. Along the way there are various stages of rapport… but there must be one goal: bring people to the fullest way of following their path to salvation, which – though we know God saves whom it pleases Him to save – is always and only through Christ and mediated through the Catholic Church He founded. And that Catholic Church has, as a necessary part of its structure, the Petrine Ministry.]
According to Levada: "It is the hope of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, that the Anglican clergy and faithful who desire union with the Catholic Church will find in this canonical structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious to them and consistent with the Catholic faith. Insofar as these traditions express in a distinctive way the faith that is held in common, they are a gift to be shared in the wider Church. The unity of the Church does not require a uniformity that ignores cultural diversity, as the history of Christianity shows. Moreover, the many diverse traditions present in the Catholic Church today are all rooted in the principle articulated by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: ‘There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism’ (4:5). Our communion is therefore strengthened by such legitimate diversity, and so we are happy that these men and women bring with them their particular contributions to our common life of faith."
[In that statement, above, substitute the Anglican elements with SSPX/traditional Catholic elements.]
Background information
Since the sixteenth century, when King Henry VIII declared the Church in England independent of Papal Authority, the Church of England has created its own doctrinal confessions, liturgical books, and pastoral practices, often incorporating ideas from the Reformation on the European continent. The expansion of the British Empire, together with Anglican missionary work, eventually gave rise to a world-wide Anglican Communion.
Throughout the more than 450 years of its history the question of the reunification of Anglicans and Catholics has never been far from mind. In the mid-nineteenth century the Oxford Movement (in England) saw a rekindling of interest in the Catholic aspects of Anglicanism. In the early twentieth century Cardinal Mercier of Belgium entered into well publicized conversations with Anglicans to explore the possibility of union with the Catholic Church under the banner of an Anglicanism "reunited but not absorbed".
At the Second Vatican Council hope for union was further nourished when the Decree on Ecumenism (n. 13), referring to communions separated from the Catholic Church at the time of the Reformation, stated that: "Among those in which Catholic traditions and institutions in part continue to exist, the Anglican Communion occupies a special place."
Since the Council, Anglican-Roman Catholic relations have created a much improved climate of mutual understanding and cooperation. The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) produced a series of doctrinal statements over the years in the hope of creating the basis for full and visible unity. For many in both communions, the ARCIC statements provided a vehicle in which a common expression of faith could be recognized. It is in this framework that this new provision should be seen.
In the years since the Council, some Anglicans have abandoned the tradition of conferring Holy Orders only on men by calling women to the priesthood and the episcopacy. [So, the ordination of women helped spark this…] More recently, some segments of the Anglican Communion have departed from the common biblical teaching on human sexuality—already clearly stated in the ARCIC document "Life in Christ"—by the ordination of openly homosexual clergy and the blessing of homosexual partnerships. [The blessing of sodomy has also sparked this…] At the same time, as the Anglican Communion faces these new and difficult challenges, the Catholic Church remains fully committed to continuing ecumenical engagement with the Anglican Communion, particularly through the efforts of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity.
In the meantime, many individual Anglicans have entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. Sometimes there have been groups of Anglicans who have entered while preserving some "corporate" structure. Examples of this include, the Anglican diocese of Amritsar in India, and some individual parishes in the United States which maintained an Anglican identity when entering the Catholic Church under a "pastoral provision" adopted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope John Paul II in 1982. In these cases, the Catholic Church has frequently dispensed from the requirement of celibacy to allow those married Anglican clergy who desire to continue ministerial service as Catholic priests to be ordained in the Catholic Church. [There is a progression from individuals, to parish groups, to larger groups under an "ordinary".]
In the light of these developments, the Personal Ordinariates established by the Apostolic Constitution can be seen as another step toward the realization the aspiration for full, visible union in the Church of Christ, one of the principal goals of the ecumenical movement.
Again, substitute some of the distinctively Anglican elements in this with elements having to do with traditional Catholics, members of the SSPX with their aspirations.
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As a canonist, I always hate to react to something until I’ve actually pored over the actual document – it will be quite interesting to read the Apostolic Constitution when it comes out.
Still, there are some points that will be of major interest. Levada talked about the Constitution would allow for the ordination of married former Anglican clergy. As this entity moves forward, one wonders, will those young men brought up as “Anglo-Catholics” (or whatever the terminology that develops will be) will be able to get married and then ordained? Would a married Anglican deacon who converts be able to be subsequently ordained as a priest? What about those baptized Catholics who converted to Anglicanism in order to get married and ordained, will they be permitted to be dispensed from the discipline of celibacy?
I was truly interested in the joint statement released by the Archbishop of Westminster and the Arcbishop of Canterbury, which included a statement that the Petrine ministry is “willed by Christ for his Church”…and the Archbishop of Canterbury signed this. If he’s acknowledging that the Petrine ministry is willed by Christ for his Church, how can he remain disconnected from that Petrine ministry?
Overall, this is an incredibly good day for the Church! Welcome home!
These Personal Ordinariates will be formed, as needed, in consultation with local Conferences of Bishops, and their structure will be similar in some ways to that of the Military Ordinariates which have been established in most countries to provide pastoral care for the members of the armed forces and their dependents throughout the world.
Exactly what influence/authority will a local bishop have over such an Ordinariate and its Anglican bishop? This may be the fly in the ointment in terms of the applicability of such a structure to the SSPX. I simply cannot believe the local bishops will accept any sort of full autonomy by either the Anglicans or the SSPX. There must be some fine print involved here.
If they continue with the Anglican Missal we can look forward to the Tridentine Rite in English!
I reckon this is the type of model for eventually letting the SSPX have jurisdiction – it’s all very closely based on Opus Dei’s “personal prelature” model.
Basically, the Pope is saying his role is as a shepherd: the sheep can be blue, green or pink, but if they’re sheep they belong to him. (And if they can “do” liturgy in the traditional manner he’s especially interested!)
I had to chuckle…When was the last time that the background of any major announcement began, “Since the 16th century…”? Now, that’s a sense of history so lacking today!
Question. Will the allowance of married Anglican Use clergy be continued after these conversions? That is does it end with the initial converted clergy? Eg, Can a man who converted from Anglican Communion with his family as a child, or as a single adult or married man, pursue Catholic ordination and be married? Or is it that they are now (Roman?) Catholic and the Catholic disciplines apply?
haleype,
Until we see the Consititution itself, as Tim says, we have nothing with which to speculate. On the other hand, “full communion” implies that the Episcopal Conferences cannot oppose a juridical structure provided in Canon Law (whatever anybody’s personal preferences might be). To do so would be a rather schismatic act in itself by the Episcopal Conference (which juridically actually has less theological entity than a Personal Ordinariate, in analogy with a Diocese.
If one reads “between the lines” here, he can envision a large group of faithful Catholic former Anglicans, pulling the cart in the same direction as the Pope, and the Ordinary bishops truly in full communion with him, and possibly, the same might be said of the (newly regularized) SSPX. That is one of the beauties of “communion” (about which our reigning Pope is the world expert: it is mutual and associative (in the mathematical sense).
Any Catholic bishop who refused “communion” with a particular Church in communion with the Roman Pontiff would be breaking communion with the Pope himself, and placing himself in schism.
Check, and checkmate. That sounds a bit ruthless to me, but I don’t think it is entirely inappropriate to mention it. I see it as an example of how the Petrine Ministry benefits the unity of the Church, and not only in obvious ways.
The married clergy question is an interesting one. Will it simply be that those who are ALREADY Anglican priests and ALREADY married will be allowed to continue as priests in the Catholic faith, or will new married priests continue to be ordained under this provision? That could be problematic….sort of a “workaround” for the married clergy advocates.
Still…this is a great day!
I certainly hope that any liturgical structures will include the Anglican Use Mass as well as the Sarum Rite. Traditional anglican’s currently have such a hodgepodge of liturgy I hope the vatican will be very firm on what Liturgy can and cannot be used. The Traditional Anglicans in my area use the 1928 book of prayer and I garuntee you they wouldn’t willingly change, but at the same time they want reunion so… hopefully strict guidlines are set.
This is such a wonderful day!
Peggy R,
I’ve been wondering about that myself! I don’t think we know just yet. It may depend on how much “self governance” (sui iuris) Personal Ordinariates are given.
I would be interested in how the Eastern Orthodox Churches will react to this development.
I’m very interested to see the apostolic constitution when it comes out. Like Tim I do wonder how this will effect their seminaries and if young men of this anglo-catholic group will be allowed to married and then be ordained? While I see it as part of the Anglican identity they might want to preserve, I do see this being a big cause of tension in other parts of the Church, particularly with those already campaigning for the married priesthood within the Latin Rite.
Welcome home, our brothers and sisters!
Re: local bishops’ power
Local bishops don’t have power over military chaplains. The military chaplains, wherever they serve in the military, are under the military archdiocese for a country.
If local bishops have a problem, they have to go to the chaplain and make nice, or to the military archbishop and make nice. They don’t have any say-so.
I’m sure most local Latin Rite bishops are used to this by now, especially since they also don’t have power over Maronite priests, Byzantine priests, Ruthenian priests….
Further thought on the married clergy. If subsequent men are allowed to marry and take orders, then it would seem, if Anglican Use parishes are in communion with Rome, any Roman Catholic man can decide to join an Anglican Use parish and pursue both orders and marriage–without the cultural history of a married clergy. It seems that the “system” could be gamed.
While in theory this could apply to the SSPX, I think the situations are different. In the case of the Anglicans, we have a group who is seeking communion with the Catholic Church on the terms of the Church.
In the case of the SSPX, we have a group seeking to be recognized on its own terms, demanding that the Church accept its vision. (This may be, as I seem to recall Fr. Z mentioning in the past, a case of “talking tough” for the die hards).
Still, just because the framework established can be used for the SSPX, I don’t think the case can be made that they should be treated the same or viewed as being in the same condition.
Time will tell of course whether my fears are grounded of course, and I’d rather turn out to be wrong than right…
Peggy,
Don’t worry too much about men “gaming” the system. Right now, a man could transfer his “affiliation” from the Latin Rite to one of the “Greek” Rite Catholic Churches, and be ordained as a deacon or a priest in that new (for him) Rite. This need not be seen as “gaming” the system. Such men are pursuing a divine vocation, not making a “career move”. And they’ll never be rich, if “rich” is defined by monetary wealth.
However this is not a possibility in a current Anglican Use parish, since such parishes depend on the Latin Rite Bishop of the diocese. The “Pastoral Provision” is a provision of the Latin-Rite Church.
This is good news! To repeat seanl, welcome!
Brian Day- As a Greek Catholic I think they will totally not care and have no reaction since this concerns things not on (what they believe to be) their territory and it involves Western Christians. Of course the ex-Catholic Eastern Orthodox bloggers out their might let out some groans and grunts here and there.
Suburbanbanshee- I always that is true as long as the chaplains are on a military property or operations, if they go outside the base or wherever they are on the local bishops territory from what I understood.
Currently in Texas there are 4 Anglican-use Parishes fully in union with Rome. The one here in Houston is called Our Lady of Walsingham. If you’re interested in learning more about them, their website is http://www.walsingham-church.org/ (it has links to all the other Anglican-usage parishes as well). The Liturgy is quite beautiful (especially High Mass) & I wish I could attend more often.
Ah, inter-religious conclusions, i love it :)
How is the “personal ordinariate” different from the “personal prelature”?
Will current Anglican-use parishes now be under the authority of these personal ordinariates? How will they differ?
Geoffrey has beaten me to the punch. Why the need to create a new structure, the personal ordinariate, as opposed to a personal prelature? I’m sure there’s some nuance here that I’m not grasping… Some of us in Opus Dei have been hoping for the creation of other personal prelature, (and the Anglicans and the SSPX seemed the likeliest candidates for this) so that we are no longer unique in that category.
I dont believe the Anglican Use liturgy in English is the Old Roman Gregorian Rite of 1962, if only it was this would be significant because they we could have the Novus Ordo suppressed and replaced by the Old Roman Rite in English, no as usual in liturgical matters there will be more confusion.
Oh, Father, what wonderful developments!
Responding to: “consider that the true aim of ecumenism must ultimately be for all people to become Catholic. Along the way there are various stages of rapport… but there must be one goal: bring people to the fullest way of following their path to salvation, which – though we know God saves whom it pleases Him to save – is always and only through Christ and mediated through the Catholic Church He founded. And that Catholic Church has, as a necessary part of its structure, the Petrine Ministry.”
That was my own journey as well – and I rejoice that the church that founded my faith will follow the same path that led me, personally, to enter the Catholic Church in Confirmation on August 15 of this year.
Geoffrey asked: How is the “personal ordinariate” different from the “personal prelature”?
One very important difference is that a personal prelature needs the permission of the local ordinary to be allowed in a diocese. A personal ordinariate does not. A personal prelature more resembles a religious community or order, a personal ordinariate more resembles a diocese. Think of the overlapping jurisdictions of Latin Rite dioceses and Eastern Rite eparchies.
The “Archbishop of Canterbury” can be disconnected from Rome even if he signs a document recognizing the Petrine perogative because Anglicans have no Holy Orders so hes not even a priest, they reject many Church teachings. I can see lots of mischief happening allowing married Anglican clergy who must be reordained because Rome has stated that their orders are invalid in the late 1800s i believe by Pope Leo 13th. Also will they when in union try to push married clergy in the Roman Rite, I hope that currently married are allowed but from then on no.
Would it perhaps be a good idea to cease all speculation and comment and ‘get on our knees’ to pray for the success of this historic, bold and courageous step taken by Pope Benedict.
Much now depends on many things – not least the reaction from traditional Anglicans, many of whom may get ‘cold feet’ when it comes to the crunch. Let’s now wait for the Holy Father’s Apostolic Constitution.
Paul Francis: amen! And I will offer a rosary towards that end.
Jordanes– let me preface this by saying I could absolutely be mistaken on this point– but I thought that the need for the local ordinary’s permission in the case of Opus Dei was not written into the laws governing personal prelatures as a whole, but was rather a matter of Opus Dei’s particular law, since that had always been their practice since the earliest days, many years before its erection as a pp in 1982. I humbly await clarification from those who are far better-versed in these matters than I…
Oleksander,
I was thinking much more long term. You may be right about the Eastern Churches thoughts about the Anglicans, but I was thinking about possible future ecumenical dialogue.
Does anyone have any information on the diocese of Amritsar in India that is referred to in the letter? I can’t seem to find any mention of a corporate reunion there – there is, apparently an Anglican diocese of Amritsar, and another group that calls itself the “Anglican Catholic Church” which has a diocese headquartered there, but I can’t find any mention of a Roman Catholic presence there.
Deo Gratias!
This brilliant Holy FATHER is truly the Vicar of Christ on earth and shepherd to all souls. THIS is a truly progressive move, not at all in a liberal dissenting manner.
Yes, as many souls as possible in the Church for the saving of as many as possible, for access to the sacraments and the means of holiness that only the Catholic Church can channel.
We give thanks, most Holy Trinity, for this advance in unity and the healing of a long time schism. Many many faithful Anglicans make use of this bridge to full unity.
Abp John Hepworth of TAC responds:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11378
Felicitas,
Thanks for that reference. It is a heart-warming response on the part of Abp Hepworth.
Comment by Margaret — 20 October 2009 @ 11:15 am
I hope this helps. My understanding about Opus Dei, and its spirit, accords with what you say. Canonists and theologians of Opus Dei have asserted that Opus Dei is not a particular Church, never was, never will be. So a Personal Prelature is not equivalent juridically to a “diocese”, which is the typical example of a “particular Church”. There is a complementarity between the jurisdiction of the Prelate of Opus Dei, and the local Bishop, which was pointed out recently in a program about Opus Dei that is appearing on EWTN.
Typically, there are no marriages performed in Centers of Opus Dei, for example, since those require “ordinary jurisdiction”, and for various reasons, including record-keeping, the parish is the usual place for Matrimonial celebrations. Hearing confessions also requires jurisdiction, but it is customary for a diocesan bishop to grant such jurisdiction to priests who are not incardinated in his diocese, as long as they have faculties from their proper Ordinary.
While we won’t know for sure until the Apostolic Constitution is published, just by inference from the name, “Personal Ordinariate”, I have the impression that these structures will be, or will be regarded as, particular Churches, for all intents and purposes. So the “theme” for them will be a certain Anglican Liturgy, spirituality, and culture, and they will be subject to an Ordinary, who will either be a Bishop, or a priest with most of the powers of a Bishop which are needed to exercise “ordinary jurisdiction” over all the faithful of the Ordinariate. It may be that various specific, and slightly different, structures will result thereby. We won’t know until the Constitution is published.
Geoffrey asked: How is the “personal ordinariate” different from the “personal prelature”?
Perhaps the most significant difference is that a personal prelature is by nature a clerical institution, whereas military ordinariates are “juridically likened to a diocese” (as mpm pointed out, military ordinariates are generally considered particular Churches).
Canon 296 provides that “Lay persons can dedicate themselves to the apostolic work of a personal prelature by agreements entered into with the prelature.”
According to CLSA’s New Commentary on the Code of Canon Law (pp. 397-398): “This organic presence of lay associates in the prelature does not change its particular nature, nor does it change the status of these lay people. Their presence does not technically make of the prelature a portion of the people of God, like a diocese, nor do these members become detached from the jurisdiction of the local ordinary where they have a domicile or quasi-domicile. … These lay faithful continue to belong to their local parish….”
The same commentary says that the ordinary of a military ordinariate “normally a bishop, has the rights and duties of a diocesan bishop unless the nature of things or particular statutes determine otherwise” (p. 506). The commentary summarizes certain of the provisions of Pope John Paul II’s apostolic constitution on the military ordinariate, Spirituali militum curae (1986) as follows (p. 506, footnote 20): “The military ordinary … has jurisdiction which is personal (concerning all who are part of the ordinariate), ordinary (in both the internal and external fora), and proper but cumulative (i.e., simultaneous with that of the diocesan bishop, since those belonging to the ordinariate do not cease to be faithful of the particular church where they have domicile or quasi-domicile)…. Clerics may incardinate into the military ordinariate, which may operate its own seminary….” Furthermore, the military ordinary belongs to the conference of bishops (p. 506).
The note says that the structure of the personal ordinariates will be “similar in some ways to that of the Military Ordinariates,” so we’ll have to wait and see to find out how similar.
ORDINARIATES
a very diplomatic move around the one dogmatic problem with Anglican conversion, the non-celibate Bishop. First Archdeacon of the Anglican Rite to be named, I guess, in 4 months.
… and a question to WDTPRS-ers. Bishops cannot be married, but what are the regulations for Cardinals? Technically, they also do not have to be Bishops.
I liked this part:
“It is the hope of the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, that the Anglican clergy and faithful who desire union with the Catholic Church will find in this canonical structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious to them and consistent with the Catholic faith. Insofar as these traditions express in a distinctive way the faith that is held in common, they are a gift to be shared in the wider Church.”
Not a difference to be tolerated, but a gift to be shared.
Brian Day: As Oleksander said, there are those Orthodox who will look at this action as a long-overdue move by the Western Church toward bringing back its wayward sects, but others, who are genuinely interested in the eventual reunion of East and West will see in this a sign of the Pope of Rome’s willingness to foster an authentic communion of Churches, rather than impose a monolithic uniformity, which has blighted papal history. Even more than the rhetoric, they will watch the implementation closely to see how well the ecclesiology of communion actually fairs. (The earlier “Pastoral Provision” was rather a mixed bag.) And, of course, they will want to confirm that the Pope holds fast to Sacred Tradition (doctrine, liturgy, and morals) and does not water it down for the sake of a facile re-union.
Glory of the Olive branch…
Daily I have prayed for union with the Anglicans. Prayers are heard!
I would be curious what the new prayerbook/missal would look like.
Folks, consider the weight of what has happened. Were Lancelot Andrewes, most of the Caroline Divines, Charles I Stuart, Charles II Stuart, Edward Bouverie Pusey, T. S. Eliot, Charles Williams, C. S. Lewis — if these gentlemen had been confronted with the current state of the Anglican church — would one and all have availed themselves of what Holy Father has offered today — as would have Newman after Tract 90 and before 1845. And James II Stuart would have stayed on the throne with Anglican support. And Irish Emancipation would have happened in 1689, with no Battle of the Boyne, no crisis in Northern Ireland, etc., etc. In short, the entire history of the British Isles would have been radically different.
I predict that within a few years the entire Anglo-Catholic community will swim the Tiber, and the remainder of Anglicanism will be Broad Church in everything but ritual.
I predict further than within 20 years Liberal Roman Catholics will flock to the Anglicans, and we’ll not have them around around anymore.
“For them, the time has come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion.”
This Papal act seems to highlight the true objective for Catholic ecumenism that can only be oriented towards full visible communion in the same faith, sacraments and government under Peter.
Tim Ferguson wrote: I was truly interested in the joint statement released by the Archbishop of Westminster and the Arcbishop of Canterbury, which included a statement that the Petrine ministry is “willed by Christ for his Church”…and the Archbishop of Canterbury signed this.
The joint statement reads:
The same wording is used by Cardinal Levada:
In both formulations, the petitioners are the ones declaring “that they … accept the Petrine ministry as [something] willed by Christ for his/the Church,” not the authors as such. So the statement says nothing about what Dr. Williams holds regarding the Petrine ministry.
ah thanks Greg – I should have crossed checked Levada’s wording. The “missing word” in the first statement is “something,” whereas, when I read it, my mind supplied the words “it is” – to read “accept the Petrine ministry as it is willed by Christ for his Church, implying an acknowledgment on the part of the signatories (not just the petitioners) that Christ willed the Petrine ministry for his Church. Much clearer now, thanks!
ORDINARIATES
a very diplomatic move around the one dogmatic problem with Anglican conversion, the non-celibate Bishop. First Archdeacon of the Anglican Rite to be named, I guess, in 4 months.
Not a dogmatic question but one of discipline.
… and a question to WDTPRS-ers. Bishops cannot be married, but what are the regulations for Cardinals? Technically, they also do not have to be Bishops.
Comment by j
I don’t think there is any chance of a Cardinal being named.
j asked: Bishops cannot be married, but what are the regulations for Cardinals? Technically, they also do not have to be Bishops.
Cardinals don’t have to be clerics at all. However, in practice the Pope names his Cardinals from among the bishops, and it has been a long time since a layman has been a Cardinal. A layman can be married and still be a Cardinal — celibacy has never been a requirement of holding the office and rank of Cardinal, which is not and has never been an order.
Further thought on the married clergy. If subsequent men are allowed to marry and take orders, then it would seem, if Anglican Use parishes are in communion with Rome, any Roman Catholic man can decide to join an Anglican Use parish and pursue both orders and marriage—without the cultural history of a married clergy. It seems that the “system” could be gamed.
Comment by Peggy R
My guess is that celibacy will be grandfathered in in an Anglican use ordinariate.
Jordan wrote: Cardinals don’t have to be clerics at all. … A layman can be married and still be a Cardinal—celibacy has never been a requirement of holding the office and rank of Cardinal….
Actually, there never have been any lay cardinals, strictly speaking, at least according to the all-knowing Wikipedia. Any layman named cardinal received tonsure and minor orders. So while some cardinals were not ordained subdeacon, deacon, priest, or bishop (and thus were not bound to celibacy), all were clerics. Both the 1917 Code (can. 232) and 1983 Code (can. 351) restrict the eligible pool to those “who have been ordained at least into the order of the presbyterate.” The 1983 canon further enjoins that “those who are not yet bishops must receive episcopal consecration.”
His Eminence Avery Cardinal Dulles–RIP–requested and was granted a dispensation from this latter requirement of the universal law. And while the supreme legislator could not be bound by his own ecclesiastical law, the juridical movement has been one of restricting the cardinalate not only to priests, but even to bishops, presumably in recognition of the collegial function of the office. So it remains to be seen whether a layman (a non-cleric) could, in fact, be made a cardinal.