Beginning of end of English Reformation
Marjorie Jeffrey
Issue date: 10/27/09 Section: Commentary
On Wednesday, Pope Benedict XVI endeared himself even more to conservative Catholics and Anglicans around the world, ushering in a new era for so-called Anglo-Catholics and effectively bypassing the ecumenical dialogues, which have made little or no progress over the course of years. The announcement was made that an "Apostolic Constitution" had been approved that would sweep away obstacles to Anglicans coming into the Church, leaving the hierarchy of the Anglican Church astounded.
This "personal ordinariate" structure allows individuals, congregations, parishes and dioceses to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while keeping their Anglican traditions and liturgy, like the system that Eastern Rite Catholics enjoy. The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was informed of the announcement approximately two weeks before, and while he seemed surprised, perhaps he should have seen it coming: The Traditional Anglican Communion has been pushing for a move like this on the part of Benedict for some time.
This will allow the many more traditional elements in the Anglican Church to seek "corporate reunion" with Rome. They will be able to keep their married priests and bishops, and there may even be a possibility that Anglican Catholic married laymen may be able to seek ordination as priests on a case-by-case basis. The conservative Anglicans who have been displeased with liberal teaching on homosexuality and the ordination of women priests will, most likely, leave the Anglican Church for the Anglican Catholic Rite.
The announcement essentially forces those schismatic traditional Anglican groups that call themselves Catholic to either use the new provision or accept the policies of the mainstream Anglican Communion. It is most likely that there will be a tremendous number of individual parishes making this move to Catholicism, and therefore some turmoil over whether the parishes will be allowed to keep their buildings and resources. It would be best if the Anglican Church would gracefully turn them loose and thus purge themselves of the troublesome traditionalists. The likelihood of that happening is small, so there will probably be more than a few property battles as provision takes effect.
This "personal ordinariate" structure allows individuals, congregations, parishes and dioceses to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while keeping their Anglican traditions and liturgy, like the system that Eastern Rite Catholics enjoy. The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, was informed of the announcement approximately two weeks before, and while he seemed surprised, perhaps he should have seen it coming: The Traditional Anglican Communion has been pushing for a move like this on the part of Benedict for some time.
This will allow the many more traditional elements in the Anglican Church to seek "corporate reunion" with Rome. They will be able to keep their married priests and bishops, and there may even be a possibility that Anglican Catholic married laymen may be able to seek ordination as priests on a case-by-case basis. The conservative Anglicans who have been displeased with liberal teaching on homosexuality and the ordination of women priests will, most likely, leave the Anglican Church for the Anglican Catholic Rite.
The announcement essentially forces those schismatic traditional Anglican groups that call themselves Catholic to either use the new provision or accept the policies of the mainstream Anglican Communion. It is most likely that there will be a tremendous number of individual parishes making this move to Catholicism, and therefore some turmoil over whether the parishes will be allowed to keep their buildings and resources. It would be best if the Anglican Church would gracefully turn them loose and thus purge themselves of the troublesome traditionalists. The likelihood of that happening is small, so there will probably be more than a few property battles as provision takes effect.
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David Irby
posted 11/24/09 @ 12:50 AM CST
This is an excellent article. But it is incorrect in two respects. Anglican bishops, who convert under this plan, will not be able to be Catholic bishops, if they are married. (Continued…)
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