Pope's historic offer creates
an Anglican tradition
within the Catholic Church
Nov. 9, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution for Anglicans wishing to convert, published today, has surprised everyone by the scope of its ambitions and its extraordinary tributes to Anglican spirituality, elements of which the Pope believes will greatly enrich the Catholic Church. There is a sense in which Rome is recognising, for the first time, that you can be Anglican and Roman Catholic.
The immediate reaction from Forward in Faith has been very positive indeed. Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham said this morning: “I had thought the original notice from Rome was extremely generous. Today all the accompanying papers have been published and they are extremely impressive.”
The opening words of the Constitution show that the Pope regards this as a historic moment for Western Christianity. The Holy Spirit has driven Anglicans to seek full communion with Rome “repeatedly and insistently”, he says.
So he clearly believes it is his God-given mission to make special arrangements for those who are bringing with them “the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion … as a precious gift”.
The broad outline we already know: the former Anglicans will be given quasi-dioceses called Ordinariates, presided over by Ordinaries who may be ex-Anglican married bishops.
The surprise, as I noted earlier, is just how much status these Ordinaries will be granted: they will sit on Bishops’ Conferences and may even use their episcopal insignia.
“Married bishops in all but name”, is how Ruth Gledhill describes them. That’s overdoing it, I think, since the married ones will not be in bishops’ orders.
She also says that this is “everything that Catholic Anglicans hoped for and more”. Fair enough: it’s more than many Anglo-Catholics were expecting, though I see there’s a ban on Catholic clergy who converted to Anglicanism joining the Ordinariate (and quite right, too, in my opinion).
In addition to a structure of parishes, the Ordinariate will be allowed “houses of formation” for seminarians, though these will be incorporated in wider seminary training. The door is not closed on “case by case” ordination of married laymen, though it will be very much the exception rather than the rule.
But here’s a surprise: according to Article 7 of the Norms, “When necessary, priests, with the permission of the Ordinary, may engage in a secular profession compatible with the exercise of priestly ministry”.
In other words, Ordinariate priests may work as (for example) teachers, doctors or social workers, just as Anglican non-stipendiary ministers may.
Whether permission would extend to the private sector I don’t know, but this is a clever solution to the problem of some ex-Anglican priests who would urgently need to support their families after leaving their previous ministry. (The Catholic Church can’t afford to pay for many new full-time priests, that’s for sure.)
Also, Anglican priests already in secular jobs would be eligible to become Ordinariate priests. (I’m wondering if I dare point out that the Rev George Pitcher could “come over” and be the
Telegraph’s first Catholic priest religion editor – but that’s about as likely as me defecting to Canterbury.)
Another notable feature of the Constitution: it makes provision for what are effectively new orders within the Ordinariate structure: “The Ordinary, with the approval of the Holy See, can erect new Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, with the right to call their members to Holy Orders, according to the norms of canon law.”
So the Pope clearly envisages the Ordinariate as a living and growing entity within the Catholic Church worldwide, not just England and Wales.
Ruth Gledhill thinks the problem of church buildings can and should be overcome (and it’s nice to be able to praise one of her posts for a change):
This leaves the delicate problem of where these congregations will worship. Many are already talking of local ecumenical sharing agreements. In other words, congregations would divide into two – but still use the one church. Would the Church of England be generous about that? After all, the requests to The Episcopal Church for generosity in the case of its own departing flocks, and with all the local ecumenical projects embracing everything from Methodist to Orthodox up and down the land, it would look a tad hypocritical if dioceses began expelling priests and congregations whose only crime was to espouse the ‘One Holy Catholic Apostolic Faith’ in deed as well as Word.
However, don’t expect any decisions about parishes, buildings or appointments for some time. The practical hurdles remain formidable – but my initial impression is that quite a few have been surmounted today.
I turned first to Damian Thompson for the British reaction, whereas apparently, he turned first to what the Times of London would say about the new AC. No anathema, what a welcome surprise!
Vatican holds the line on celibacy
for Anglican rebels
by Ruth Gledhill
Nov, 9, 2009
The Vatican today held the line on priestly celibacy as it published the document which opens the door for hundreds of thousands of disaffected Anglicans to become Roman Catholics.
Pope Benedict XVI has made it as easy as possible for traditional and “continuing” Anglicans to convert to Catholicism while retaining key elements of their ecclesiastical heritage, observers commented.
The Apostolic Constitution even allows for married Anglican bishops to be granted the status of retired Catholic bishops, to become members of the local Catholic bishops’ conference and to be granted permission to use the “insignia” of episcopal office, such as the mitre, pectoral cross and staff, by the Holy See in Rome.
But after a hard-fought battle within the Holy See, former Catholic priests who left the Church to marry and subsequently became Anglican clergy will not be permitted to return.
Married Anglican clergy, as long as their marital state is not “irregular”, will be allowed to train for the priesthood in special seminaries set up within the new Anglican Ordinariates, similar to dioceses.
The new law “does not signify any change... in the discipline of clerical celibacy,” the Holy See said.
The constitution, signed by Pope Benedict XVI and published in the Vatican’s official bulletin, states that the admission of married men to the clergy will be considered “on a case by case basis".
Under the structure as published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith the onus for paying for the new clergy, the ordinary in charge or “bishop”, the seminaries and other costs, will be down to the ex-Anglicans themselves.
This is unlikely to disconcert the established Church’s Catholic Anglicans as most Anglican congregations have become used already to paying their vicar’s £20,000 stipend and his pension contributions.
The UK branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion, which has about 400,000 members worldwide and is led by Archbishop John Hepworth in Australia, has already indicated that its members will move over to the Ordinariate.
But the most significant group to go in Britain is likely to be those who make up the 1,000-plus membership of the traditionalist group Forward in Faith.
Father John Broadhurst, the chairman of Forward in Faith and Bishop of Fulham in the London diocese, said: “I had thought the original notice from Rome was extremely generous. Today all the accompanying papers have been published and they are extremely impressive.
“I have been horrified that the Church of England, while trying to accommodate us, has consistently said we cannot have the jurisdiction and independent life that most of us feel we need to continue on our Christian pilgrimage.
“What Rome has done is offer exactly what the Church of England has refused.”
He told his members: “We all need now to ask the question: 'Is this what we want?' For some of us I suspect our bluff is called. This is both an exciting and dangerous time for Christianity in this country.
“Those who take up this offer will need to enter into negotiation with the Church of England about access to parish churches and many other matters. This situation must not be used to damage the Church of England, but I do believe we have a valid claim on our own heritage in history.
“
The doctrinal standard demanded by Rome is the New Catechism, which most of us use anyway. We would be allowed to use Anglican or Roman rites and our ordinaries would have jurisdiction. We will all need to meet and talk.”
In statements accompanying the document, the Holy See said it had been published in response to “repeated and insistent” petitions from Anglicans to join the Church. The Holy See insisted its provision was “not an initiative on the part of the Holy See, but a generous response ... to the legitimate aspirations of these Anglican groups."
The statement said: “In recent times the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately."
The new ordinariates, similar to dioceses, will allow the new converts to preserve “elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony” while entering “full communion” with the Catholic Church.
The document is expected to be discussed by the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams when the two meet privately in Rome in two weeks' time.
The long-scheduled meeting will coincide with celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Johannes Willebrands, a Dutch cardinal who was a pioneer in Catholic ecumenism and who died in 2006.
An adviser to Dr Williams said that Dr Williams did not wish to comment on the Apostolic Constitution because it was a matter for the Catholic Church.
Asked why, in that event, Dr Williams attended the press conference at the Catholic administrative headquarters with the Archbishop of Westminster to announce its pending arrival last month, the adviser said: “Because he was asked to.”
The Church of England is the mother church of the worldwide Anglican Communion, which has about 77 million followers. The Catholic Church counts some 1.1 billion faithful.
Speaking of priestly celibacy - the issue that has seemed to 'excite' most secular commentators on the Rome's 'Anglican opening' - as it did Ruth Gledhill above - Benedict XVI managed to work in some strong words by Paul VI on that subject towards the end of his homily in Brescia yesterday:
In the encyclical on priestly celibacy, he wrote: "'Taken possession of by Jesus Christ' (Phil 3,12), to the point of abandoning all of oneself to him, the priest configures himself more perfectly to Christ even in the love with which the Eternal Priest loved his Body, the Church, offering all of himself for her... The consecrated chastity of his sacred ministers manifests, in fact, the virginal love of Christ for the Church, and the virginal and supernatural fecundity of this marriage" (Sacerdotalis caelibatus, 26).
I dedicate these words of the great Pope to the many priests of the Diocese of Brescia, well represented here, and to the young men who are being formed in the seminaries.
Benedict XVI has always included a line on encouraging more priestly vocations in his out-of-town homilies and in his messages to bishops on ad-limina visit. But yesterday's reference was more pointed than usual. After all, it is the Year for Priests. And maybe he was also thinking of the AC coming out today.
The other Pauline pearl that Benedict shared with us yesterday is addressed to everyone, not just priests. Once again quoting from Paul VI, this time from 1968, that fateful year:
"So many," he said, "expect attention-getting gestures, energetic and decisive actions, from the Pope. The Pope is not duty-bound to follow any line other than confidence in Jesus Christ, which is more urgent for his Church than anything else. It will be He who will still the tempest.
"This is not about a sterile or inert expectation, but of vigilant waiting in prayer. This is the condition Jesus has chosen for us so that he can operate in fullness. Even the Pope needs to be helped with prayer"(Insegnamenti VI, [1968], 1189).
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 12/11/2009 00:04]