VATICAN CITY, 15 JAN 2011 (VIS) - "In accordance with the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus' of Pope Benedict XVI (4 November 2009) and after careful consultation with the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has today erected a Personal Ordinariate within the territory of England and Wales for those groups of Anglican clergy and faithful who have expressed their desire to enter into full visible communion with the Catholic Church", reads an English-language communique released today. "The Decree of Erection specifies that the Ordinariate will be known as the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and will be placed under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman.
"A Personal Ordinariate is a canonical structure that provides for corporate reunion in such a way that allows former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their distinctive Anglican patrimony. With this structure, the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus' seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be fully integrated into the Catholic Church.
"For doctrinal reasons the Church does not, in any circumstances, allow the ordination of married men as bishops. However, the Apostolic Constitution does provide, under certain conditions, for the ordination as Catholic priests of former Anglican married clergy. Today at Westminster Cathedral in London, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, ordained to the Catholic priesthood three former Anglican bishops: Reverend Andrew Burnham, Reverend Keith Newton, and Reverend John Broadhurst.
"Also today Pope Benedict XVI has nominated Reverend Keith Newton as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Together with Reverend Burnham and Reverend Broadhurst, Reverend Newton will oversee the catechetical preparation of the first groups of Anglicans in England and Wales who will be received into the Catholic Church together with their pastors at Easter, and will accompany the clergy preparing for ordination to the Catholic priesthood around Pentecost.
"The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church. The initiative leading to the publication of the Apostolic Constitution and the erection of this Personal Ordinariate came from a number of different groups of Anglicans who 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 now come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion".
For more see:
Atonement Online
The Anglo-Catholic
Oh, but wait...
For those Anglicans wishing to avail themselves of Anglicanorum coetibus in Canada, Archbishop Thomas Collins of Toronto is the liaison for the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada and the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. Archbishop Collins will be hosting a gathering for all those interested in an Ordinariate in Canada on March 24-26. Father. Christopher Phillips of Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas plans to attend as well as Traditional Anglican Communion Primate, Archbishop John Hepworth.
The meeting will be held at Queen of Apostles retreat centre in Mississauga. I attended once as a Grade 9 student whilst in Catholic high school in Toronto at the age of 13 after which I did not attend church for more than a decade.
Hopefully, these good Anglo-Catholics will not have the same experience but after looking at the Chapel, it's hard to believe that it's actually worse than in 1970!
Oh, and would you mind bringing a few Anglican traditions over to the Church in Toronto?
2 comments:
I was hoping St Mary Magdelene or Smaokhy Tom's would come over...
Well, liturgically speaking it would be wonderful. But I'm afraid that both these places drank the Anglican kool-aid and other than liturgy are rather "low" church communities.
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