Pope says "Let my people go" CofE says "you can have ém"

Breaking news from London is that the Church of England has effectively evicted the Anglo-Catholics.

In a statement that has the potential to go down as one of the most important in English church history, the Church of England's Revision committee on Women in the Episcopate declared:

"After much discussion, the members of the Committee were unable to identify a basis for specifying particular functions for vesting which commanded sufficient support both from those in favour of the ordination of women as bishops and those unable to support that development. As a result all of the proposals for vesting particular functions by statute were defeated." (italics mine)

The phrase in italics essentially tells the Anglo-Catholics that no provision will be made for them that allows them to fully separate themselves from the ministry of women bishops. This was the minimum that groups like Forward in Faith were asking for.

This particular committee was formed to draw up the legislation that would allow women to become bishops in the Church of England. Groups like Watch and Inclusive Church want simple legislation that makes it possible for women to be bishops.

Groups of traditionalists like Forward in Faith and evangelical groups want to be separated from the ministry of women bishops. First prize for them would have been a separate province, effectively what the Pope has established with the Anglican Ordinariates. Their second prize was a "statutory provision" that created an easily legally enforceable provision that would allow them to separate themselves from the ministry of women bishops while remaining within the Church of England (and not becoming a separate province).

Crafting this compromise has proved very difficult. The best that the committee could come up with was a Code of Practice. One of the key objections to this was that the female bishop herself would have to allow for provisions to be made for "traditionalists". Those who want to understand the minutiae can have a look at "Why the Code of Practice is no good for traditionalists in the C. of E."

In general the committee has been more sympathetic to the Anglo-catholics than the General Synod has been. On October 8th they stated that they had "voted to amend the draft Measure to provide for certain functions to be vested in bishops by statute rather than by delegation from the diocesan bishop under a statutory code of practice." This caused hopes to soar in the Anglo-Catholic camp. It appeared that they could be looking at a second prize.

Those hopes soared higher still when on the 22nd October the Vatican announced the creation of the Anglican Ordinariates.

Anglo-Catholics felt a bit like a neglected lot on auction. No one was showing much interest and then a mysterious buyer called in a phone bid that was three times the best bid from the floor. Would the bidders on the floor match or even offer a better bid? The ball, as they put it, was now in the CofE's court. Would the CofE return it with interest and give them what Rome had offered but within the CofE?

The answer now appears to be a firm no and the Pope's offer is the only game in town.

As we all no doubt know from our personal lives it is not always easy to change for purely positive reasons. We need negative pressures to move us in the right direction. The decision of the revision committee appears to be the stick actually beating people out of the Church of England. The carrot that the Pope is holding must look a lot more attractive to-day.

The Celibacy issue

There is a general assumption that if priestly celibacy becomes the norm in the Anglican Ordinariates then they will experience a problem with vocations.

This argument is based on two assumptions:

1. The Anglicans and Eastern Churches are right about celibacy.

2. That celibacy rule is what caused the vocation crisis.

The first is an issue I will leave to another time but the second is clearly false because the Latin Church is not finding it difficult to recruit priests where the seminaries are orthodox and the faithful are praying for vocations (usually in perpetual adoration chapels).
The traditionalist groups (dedicated to celebrating the Traditional Latin Mass) like FSSP (Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter) and the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) for example have a two-year waiting list.
A few diocese in the US also have seminaries that are full or nearly full. In some cases the problem is where to find more space for the seminarians. Lincoln, Nebraska is an example.
In Australia, Cardinal Pell reformed the seminary in Sydney and now it is full. See Story One and Story Two
Celibacy is not the problem, orthodoxy in the seminaries is.

Rome gives 100%

Early Bird spotting Kudos go to Fr. Anthony Chadwick of the TAC parish in Normandy and Early Bird commentary Kudos go to Sub Tuum (Darn! Do those Cistercians never sleep?)

With Apostolic Constitution "Anglicanorum coetibus" and the accompaning Complementary Norms the Holy Father has done all he could reasonably do to open the Church to the largest group of Anglicans possible.

The documents are practical and show sensitivity, even with regard to what are strictly inessentials, such as allowing former Anglican Bishops to use the insignia of the episcopal office even if they are not consecrated Catholic Bishops.

While the Apostolic Constitution is much as expected, it is the Complementary Norms that are most interesting as they give more attention to the details, wherein the devil oft dwells.

The celibacy-obsessed media is going to want to focus on how the celibacy issue will play out. So I will get that out of the way first before getting down to more important matters.

The theme in some of the secular press the last week or so has been that the Holy Father is letting a trojan horse into the Catholic Church and thousands of Catholics would be flocking to the Ordinariates to allow them to become married priests.

Well that door is well and firmly shut:

1. Catholics baptised outside the Ordinariate are not ordinarily (the pun is not mine - it is in the document) allowed to join the Ordinariate. So that would, in general, exclude anyone baptised in a 'normal' Catholic parish. (Complementary Norms: Article 5 §1)

2. Priests ordained in the Catholic Church will not be allowed to be priests in the Ordinariate. (Complementary Norms: Article 5 §2)

The documents make clear that celibacy in the Latin Rite Church remains the norm and that a married clergy is an exception. The provisions for a married clergy will stay in place indefinitely as the ordinariates will be receiving married clergy from the Anglican Church for the foreseeable (and even unforeseeable) future.

It is evident that this is the "full provision" that Anglo-Catholics have been asking the Anglican Church for. The ordinariates are basically going to function as dioceses within the Catholic Church. So what they are asking from the Anglican Church they have now been clearly given by the Catholic Church.

The ordinariates are also going to be fully incorporated into the Latin Rite Church. They are in no way akin to an Eastern-rite Catholic Church. Latin Rite Canon Law is going to apply and structures, while parallel, feed in at appropriate places into the Latin Rite Church structures, such as at the level of Bishops' conferences.

Priests will be incardinated into the Ordinariate. Lay-faithful and religious will have to make a profession of Faith, receive the Sacraments of baptism and confirmation, albeit conditionally, if there is doubt as to the validity of the sacraments received. The lay-faithful and religious will also have to request in writing to join the Ordinariate.

The ordinariates are erected by and subject to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith(CDF). The power of the CDF seems to be on the increase. The Ecclesia Dei Commission was recently moved to the CDF and now the Anglican-Catholic ordinariates are also going to be subject to them. It was thought that this move was to be a short-term measure while the SSPX and the Holy See were in doctrinal talks and once that was sorted out they would revert to another congregation. This move may indicate that Catholic Traditionalists may also be attached to the CDF for the long haul. (Anglicanorum coetibus: Section 1§1, Complementary Norms: Article 1)

Priest in the ordinariates will also be allowed to use the Roman Rite. That will allow them to assist the local Catholic diocese. Co-operation with the local diocese and the Bishops' conference are recurring themes in both documents. This provision will get the minds of a few Catholic traditionalists working. If Anglican-Catholic priests can use the Roman Rite and the Traditional Latin Mass is one of the forms of the Roman Rite then .....

Another interesting aspect of the structure is that the ordinariates are going to be erected within the confines of a Bishops' conference but that within the confines of each Bishops' conference there may be more than one ordinariate. As the Anglicans likely to take up the offer come from a diverse set of groups this is a particulary wise and generous provision as it will avoid turf-wars between the groups and allow the maximun number to enter. On the other hand it is possible that an existing Anglican diocese (of groups like the TAC) may stretch over more than one Catholic Bishops' conference. That could take some working out.

The Complementary Norms (article 11) make a number of concessions to Anglican Bishops who may not be eligible to be consecrated Bishop because they are married:

1. As Ordinary, they will have full juridictional power.
2. If they are not the Ordinary they can be called upon to assist the Ordinary.
3. The Ordinaries will be full members of the Catholic Bishops' conferences and former Anglican Bishops will be treated as retired Bishops and will be invited to the meetings of the Bishops' conferences.
4. They can request the Holy See to use the insignia of the Catholic Episcopal office.

Some thought has also been given to financial matters. The priests of the Ordinariate are going to be the ongoing financial responsibility of the Ordinary. The Ordinary will have to make provision for those who are ill, disabled or aged.

The Complementary norms state that the the Ordinary "will" enter into discussion with the Bishops' conference to see what resources are available. The "will" is interesting: Perhaps more a note to the Bishops' conferences that Rome will be watching them to see how generous they are - rather than an instruction to Ordinaries to do something they would be daft not to do.

Specific mention is made of the fact that priests in the ordinariates may have suitable secular employment - possibly essential to those with large families.

In the past some (rather uncharitable) gripes have been heard about convert clergy (accustomed to the perquisites of the Anglican communion) draining finances from their Diocese. These provisions will make this scenario unlikely.

The spirit of generosity and the level of detail in the documents makes it clear that this is not an "offer" that can be negotiated. Anglicans who think that this is an opening gambit from Rome and that they can hold out for better terms will be sorely diasppointed.

The Pope is not negotiating; he has given everything that he can. Time will tell if this generosity of spirit is matched by Anglo-Catholics.

Fools for Christ

A Traditional Anglican called Piperspop made the following comment on the TAC acceptance over on the Catholic Answers Forum.

"They voted to accept something they have not even seen!

What fools these mortals be!

Cardinal Levada issued 2 sections of the AC earlier this week, and there will be NO ongoing married priests after those that are currently married. This means they will not be any more likely to find priests than Roman Catholics.

I want to see if there will be anything left of Anglicanism, or if this will be like the Anglican Use, conversion of all, and gone after one generation."

Lets deal with that first comment now. I will get back to the rest in subsequent posts.

Archbishop Hepworth (TAC) has publically stated that they would have accepted a much more limited offer and that they were overwhelmed by the Pope’s generosity.

The TAC would like to present their acceptance of the Pope’s offer by Easter 2010. As they have a synodical form of government they need all of their assemblies/synods to accept before that date and therefore have a tight schedule.

While others (perhaps quite understandably, dither) they are positioning themselves to take a leadership role in early days of the ordinariates. Note the request for Bishop Mercer to be made ordinary in the UK.

The adherents of the TAC in the 1990s (and in fact well before that) were quite prescient in foreseeing that the “ordination” of women would lead to the “consecration” of women bishops and that would, as Cardinal Kasper has now made clear, make visible corporate re-union with the Catholic Church impossible. As they had read the course of events so clearly then it may be wise to pay careful attention to their actions now.

In the past they have sacrificed much to preserve Anglo-Catholicism and the hope of re-union, leaving their Anglican communities and churches behind.

Currently, they are willing to sacrifice much to be re-united. All of the married bishops will have to stand down. While some may become ordinaries they will still not be the ones ordaining their priests and deacons as Cathollic priests.

I trust that God will reward this fidelity and sacrifice and that we will see a steady growth of Anglican-Catholicism (i.e. Anglicans in full union with the Catholic Church, preserving all that does not conflict with Catholic teaching)

If they are fools then they are fools for Christ and Christian unity.

TAC in UK accepts "Ordinariate"

The Traditional Anglican Communion in the UK voted last Thursday (October 29th)to request that they form part of the proposed Ordinariate in the UK.

During the Forward in Faith conference Archbishop Hepworth of the TAC had stated that the motion would be placed before the Synod of the Traditional Anglican Church in the UK (and other Synods of the TAC) that the Apostolic Constitution of Benedict XVI be accepted and that its immediate implementation be requested.

The website of the TAC in the UK is now reporting that the following resolution was passed:

"The Resolutions
That this Assembly, representing the Traditional Anglican Communion in Great Britain, offers its joyful thanks to Pope Benedict XVI for his forthcoming Apostolic Constitution allowing the corporate reunion of Anglicans with the Holy See, and requests the Primate and College of Bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion to take the steps necessary to implement this Constitution.

That this Assembly is of the respectful opinion that Bishop Robert Mercer CR might be considered for the position of Ordinary in Great Britain."

This is not unexpected as the TAC was the group that had approached Rome and Archbishop Hepworth had publically stated that the offer of the "ordinariates" exceeded their expectations.

The TAC in the UK numbers about twenty parishes (they also have one in France). Some of these parishes would be more accurately described as mass centres rather than parishes in the full sense of the word.

This is good news as it is the first indication that the Pope's offer is being accepted.