This press statement has been issued following a meeting of the RC Bishops of England and Wales.
Implementation of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus
The Establishment of a Personal Ordinariate in England and WalesFull text appears below the fold.
Update
The Church Times has a report from today’s press conference on its website, see Ed Thornton We have no designs on your churches, says Archbishop Nichols
Much has been achieved over many years as a result of the dialogue and the fruitful ecumenical relations which have developed between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. Obedient to the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ to His Heavenly Father, the unity of the Church remains a constant desire in the vision and life of Anglicans and Catholics. The prayer for Christian Unity is the prayer for the gift of full communion with each other. We must never tire of praying and working for this goal.
During his visit to the United Kingdom in September, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI was therefore keen to stress that the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus: “…should be seen as a prophetic gesture that can contribute positively to the developing relations between Anglicans and Catholics. It helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity: the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all.”i
It is now just over one year since the Apostolic Constitution was published. The Pope’s initiative provided for the establishment of personal Ordinariates as one of the ways in which members of the Anglican tradition may seek to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. As the Holy Father stated at that time, he was responding to petitions received “repeatedly and insistently”ii by him from groups of Anglicans wishing “to be received into full communion individually as well as corporately.”iii Since then, it has become clear that a number of Anglican clergy and their faithful do indeed wish to bring their desire for full ecclesial communion with the Catholic Church to realisation within an Ordinariate structure.
In collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome, the Bishops of England and Wales have been preparing for the establishment of an Ordinariate early in January 2011. Although there may be practical difficulties in the months ahead, the Bishops are working to address these at a national and local level.
Five Anglican Bishops who currently intend to enter the Ordinariate have already announced their decision to resign from pastoral ministry in the Church of England with effect from 31 December 2010. They will enter into full communion with the Catholic Church early in January 2011. During the same month, it is expected that the Decree establishing the Ordinariate will be issued and the name of the Ordinary to be appointed announced. Soon afterwards, those non-retired former Anglican Bishops whose petitions to be ordained are accepted by the CDF, will be ordained to the Catholic Diaconate and Priesthood for service in the Ordinariate.
It is expected that the retired former Anglican Bishops whose petitions to be ordained are accepted by the CDF, will be ordained to the Catholic Diaconate and Priesthood prior to Lent. This will enable them, together with the Ordinary and the other former Anglican Bishops, to assist with the preparation and reception of former Anglican clergy and their faithful into full communion with the Catholic Church during Holy Week.
Before the beginning of Lent, those Anglican clergy with groups of faithful who have decided to enter the Ordinariate will then begin a period of intense formation for ordination as Catholic priests.
At the beginning of Lent, the groups of faithful together with their pastors will be enrolled as candidates for the Ordinariate. Then, at a date to be agreed between the Ordinary and the local diocesan Bishop, they will be received into the Catholic Church and confirmed. This will probably take place either during Holy Week, at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday or during the Easter Vigil. The period of formation for the faithful and their pastors will continue to Pentecost. Until then, these communities will be cared for sacramentally by local clergy as arranged by the diocesan Bishop and the Ordinary.
Around Pentecost, those former Anglican priests whose petitions for ordination have been accepted by the CDF will be ordained to the Catholic Priesthood. Ordination to the Diaconate will precede this at some point during Eastertide. Formation in Catholic theology and pastoral practice will continue for an appropriate amount of time after ordination.
In responding generously and offering a warm welcome to those seeking full ecclesial communion with the Catholic Church within the Ordinariate, the Bishops know that the clergy and faithful who are on that journey of faith will bring their own spiritual treasures which will further enrich the spiritual life of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The Bishops will do all they can to ensure that there is effective and close collaboration with the Ordinariate both at diocesan and parish levels.
Finally, with the blessings and encouragement they have received from Pope Benedict’s recent Visit, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales are resolved to continue their dialogue with other Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities on that journey towards the communion in faith and the fullness of unity for which Christ prayed.
I think this is slipshod and hasty!! There will be many regrets from the RCC for this almost total abrogation of their normal procedures. All my mates who have Poped in the past spent a couple of years (at least) at the Beda or some other seminary. Roman Catholic formation has been cheapened and made a nonsense by this, and I see no good reason for it! Provision can easily be made by former Anglican priests who have been through the proper training and there is absolutely no reason who laity should be short changed and not receive the full… Read more »
“These boots are made fer walkin’, and that what they’ll do, and some day these boots are gonna to walk all over you…” (Descending chromatic bass guitar line) Nancy Sinatra couldn’t have said it any better…..
As a solo swimmer, I can see that the formation time is short, far short of the RCIA process that I went through. Having said that I can also see the need to move quickly, so as to keep the groups of pilgrims together around their pastors and to get the structures of the Ordinariate in place and operating in a reasonable timeframe. It’s also true to say that most members of the first Ordinariate groups will need little grounding in Catholic theology – the formation will be more around cultural and pastoral differences than theological ones. My own RCIA… Read more »
Couldn’t agree more with Martin and I hope the CDF are vigilant. A tiny ordinariate, with a disproportionate number of clergy..thats my prediction.
Apparently the 100 souls of the TAC in the UK…23 are clerics wanting to join the ordinariate!
You are quite right Martin if the circs surrounding joining the RcChurch were ‘ordinary’! But people are joining an extraordinoriate, and frankly, to take this step, the average lay person is already likely to be initiated into rather more orthodox ways than some visitors to this blog! Although, not of course, into Catholic ‘culture’. However, isn’t Catholic culture itself due to change and become rather more mission orientated now there will be allies in full communion, possessed with the gift of Anglican Patrimony?
“This should make for a very happy 2011 for all concerned, both Anglican and RC, traditional and liberal.
– Posted by: Clive on Friday –
My sadness, Clive, is that there will stil be some quasi-Anglicans – now in the Roman Church – who really believe that women are in a separate category from men in God’s mind, despite sharing the same ‘Image and Likeness of God’ as men.
I am mindful of that great Apostle Paul’s understanding on this important matter:
“IN CHRIST there is neither male nor female!”
These persons are not in the main mission minded.. they come from elderly declining social clubs. Where there are people, like some of the inner city parishes they have been kept going by immigrants. However in all fairness this can be true of the Catholic Church in England and Wales as well. Anglican patrimony indeed… in reality it is a group of persons who have spent the last 150 years pretending to be Roman Catholics and appropriating Roman Catholic ideas and liturgy. The real Anglican patrimony lies with those who follow the Protestant theology of Cranmer. They don’t want to… Read more »
Ron, stop erecting straw men.
The Catholic church teaches the equality of men and women before God..they just have separate callings. Lets not side track this thread.
Fr Ron, if they really do believe that women are inferior to men, then they have no business joining the RC Church which upholds the fundamental equality and dignity of all. Whether someone can be a priest or not is not a question of human dignity (or a kind of human right) – if it was then we would be advocating a bizarre kind of clericalism. There are many men who cannot be priests in the RC Church for a variety of reasons.
As someone who has stumbled across this blog I would like to say how mean and sub-christian some of the comments about the Ordinariate have been. Fr Ron Smith in particular seems to delight in being snide. If this is what ‘Thinking Anglicans’ are like then count me out.
“Where there are people, like some of the inner city parishes they have been kept going by immigrants.” And your point is??? If a parish is welcoming and dynamic, has a true sense of mission, and, reflecting its local population, has within it people who originate from other lands, what is the problem? And since when did Anglican Patrimony equal English?? “They don’t want to be under our Bishops and yet the latter are giving them £250,000!” At the request of the Holy Father himself, who has urged them to be generous. Thankfully, neither the bishops nor the Holy Father… Read more »
William, I do not quite get your drift here. Are you still advocating the cause of patriarchalism -something that many Christians have abandoned long ago. Remember that, if a priest’s first task is to celebrate the presence of Christ on the altar, Blessed Mary first celebrated the Presence of Christ in her womb – a mere woman! She’s probably blushing even now to realise that the majority of her advocates as Queen of Heaven in the Roman Church, would still not dignify her part in the first ‘Showing of Christ’ at the Incarnation – as an action surely as significant… Read more »
I had hoped that my first sentence made clear that I was not advocating patriarchalism. I believe in the dignity and equality of men and woman. I do not believe there is any conflict here with my Catholicism, which inspires me to treat others as I would desire to be treated myself.
Note this comment by William “There are many men who cannot be priests in the RC Church for a variety of reasons.” Accurate with regard to men. However, women cannot be priests for only one reason–they are women. “Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination. The Lord Jesus chose men (viri) to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry.” –Catechism of the Catholic Church.Chapter III Article 6 (VI) # 1577. [Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (English) edition.p. 336] Ordination is not a… Read more »
“a group of persons who have spent the last 150 years pretending to be Roman Catholics” Well then, that pretense certainly seems to be *good for one’s health*: I might have to reconsider it! ;-p But seriously: “The real Anglican patrimony lies with those who follow the Protestant theology of Cranmer.” That’s part of it . . . but equally is the Catholicism of Laud, and later Pusey. Can you not understand that the “Via Media” draws from the best of BOTH ways, RIW? “The Catholic church teaches the equality of men and women before God..they just have separate callings.”… Read more »
Sorry JCF, but seventeenth century Churchmen did not believe in the intercession of saionts, prayers for the dead. Anglo-Catholicism is not really in continuity with it.