Fr. Z's Blog

Quite a while ago I proposed that Anglican Archbp. Rowan Williams issue a document entitled Romanum coetibus with provisions for Catholics who think and behave like Anglicans.  By means of Romanum coetibus, a safe haven in the very loose Anglican embrace would be erected where the editor and readers of The Tablet and NCR, at their request mind you, could keep their now traditional pottery cups, big puppets, out of tune guitars and the obsolete ICEL translation, as well as gain the long-desired free election of bishopesses. All without the spirit-repressing domination of masculine Rome!

This is a parody of Anglicanorum coetibus, of course. But those masters of self-parody have made fiction come to life.

I read on the site Virtus Online, that an Anglican is actually setting up something for disaffected Catholics. It is as if he read my parody and took it seriously.

LIMA, PERU: Reverse Ordinariate set up to receive Roman Catholic Bishop and Three Priests into Anglican Diocese

By David W. Virtue in Lima
www.virtueonline.org
January 16, 2012

On February 19, 2012 Bishop Oscar Rojas Quinto [A vagus bishop who is not in union with the Holy See.] and three of his clergy will be received as priests into the Anglican Church of Peru, along with their congregations from Huancayo in the mountains of central Peru.

These former Roman Catholics have been in conversation and prayer for over a year following the request of Bishop Oscar to be received as Anglicans and become part of the Anglican Diocese of Peru.

Bishop Harold William Godfrey, who heads the Diocese of Peru, called it a “reverse Ordinariate.” The word Ordinariate was taken from Pope Benedict XIV’s initiative to give Anglican clergy and congregations a way to maintain some of their traditions while becoming Roman Catholics.

The Peruvian initiative is different. For ex Anglicans joining the Roman Church, the Ordinariate is a destination in which the clergy are re-ordained as Roman Catholic clergy because Rome does not recognize Anglican orders.

This proposal has provided a place where the move can be formally considered by both sides. Upon mutual agreements, the clergy will be received as Anglicans without the need for re-ordination since Anglicans recognize ordination in apostolic succession. Once received, the bishop and their clergy are fully part of the Anglican Diocese and their participation in the Ordinariate is over. Clergy from churches not in apostolic succession have to be re-ordained.

This first group is ex Roman Catholics. As a community of former Roman Catholics, they have suffered from persecution and prejudice. They have been accused of being “false priests”; their services have been broken up and legal action threatened, said the Rev. Ian Montgomery, Canon to the Ordinary.

“These are brave men and women who have endured much for the sake of the Gospel. It is an honor to count them a part of the Anglican family. The Anglican community in Peru has many clergy from other traditions. We are too young to have many who have grown up through our ranks. The clergy from evangelical traditions outnumber those from Roman traditions two to one. We welcome into the Ordinariate those from evangelical traditions. There are more who are in the process of conversation.” Montgomery said this can not be rushed as the decision is a mutual one freely entered into after much prayer.”

[…]

You can’t make it up fast enough.