The Vatican has reaffirmed its support for Anglican ordinariates, affirming that these communities have an enduring and valued place within the Catholic Church.
On March 24, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document titled “The characteristics of the living Anglican heritage in the ordinances established under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus“
The document is the result of a meeting held March 1–3 in Rome, during which Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the department, invited the Ordinariate bishops – including Bishop Steven J. Lopes was also included. Personal Ordinance of the Chair of St. PeterBishop David Waller of Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in Englandand Bishop Anthony Randazzo Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross – To consider how they live and integrate their Anglican spiritual and theological heritage within the Catholic Church.
The document highlights key features of the Anglican heritage lived out in the Ordinariates, including a distinctive “ecclesiastical ethos” in which both laity and clergy participate actively in church administration, and a focus on evangelization through beauty in worship, music, and art.
According to the document, direct access to the poor is “a defining element of the heritage”, as is a pastoral culture that combines divine worship with daily life, which the document calls “an almost monastic rhythm taken from the English spiritual tradition” that characterizes ordinary parish communities.
The bishops said the family is emphasized as the “domestic church” because “the home is…the first place where the faith is learned and lived.”
The document also highlighted the importance of scripture-centered preaching and spiritual direction and the sacrament of asceticism.
The bishops said that, despite the great geographical distances between the three ordinariates, they share “a core common identity” and provide “a unique reflection of the face of the Church and a distinctive contribution to the living richness of her identity as ‘one, holy, Catholic and apostolic’.”
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston serves as the mother church and cathedral of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, which extends to the United States and Canada. Established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, the ordinariate was given its own cathedral when Lopes was appointed and installed on February 2, 2016.
In a message sent to parishioners, Lopes welcomed the document as an important encouragement, calling it “an exhortation to live this heritage in all its richness.” We have been given a unique set of tools – the way we worship, the way we structure parish life, the centrality of family life, etc. – that add to the vitality of the Catholic Church. Our common identity arises from loyalty to this heritage and this mission. Our diversity does not detract from the underlying communion of the Church… it strengthens it.”
Lopes encouraged parishioners to share the document with family and friends who may wonder why the Ordinariate’s experience of Catholic life looks different from the norm.
He wrote, “Prior to today’s publication of this document, you would have had to piece together the details of our heritage from dry legal documents.” “Now the Holy See is providing us with a more organic reflection on our identity and mission – and clearly telling us that ordination is not just a means to an end but that there is a long and bright future ahead of it!”
Ordinance: A Brief History
The Anglican ordinariates originated in 1980, when St. John Paul II approved pastoral provisionwhich allowed married former Episcopal priests to be ordained as Catholic priests and allowed the formation of Anglican-use communities within existing Roman Catholic dioceses.
This was the first major step towards preserving elements of the Anglican theological and spiritual heritage for those entering into full communion with Rome.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI took this further by issuing the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibuswhich created individual ordinariates as permanent structures within the Catholic Church.
Each of the three Anglican ordinances is a personal (non-territorial) jurisdiction, similar to a diocese, but defined by people (those with an Anglican background who have entered into full communion with the Catholic Church) rather than by strict geographical boundaries.
According to the website of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, “Any Catholic may participate in ordinary religious rituals and functions, just as members of the ordinariate may participate in religious rituals and functions in any Catholic parish.”
The personal ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross includes Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Guam, the Philippines and surrounding areas.
The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is based in London and covers England, Scotland and Wales.
