Saturday, December 11, 2010

Ordinariate Watch: Cathedral of the Incarnation Votes in Favor of Anglican Ordinariate


The congregation of the Cathedral of the Incarnation has voted overwhelmingly in favor of the proposed Resolution that the Cathedral of the Incarnation accept the terms of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus and request admission, at the earliest possible moment, to the anticipated personal ordinariate to be erected in the United States of America.

To read more, click here.

What will happen to the small ACA congregations who opt to affiliate with the proposed Anglican ordinariate in one of the cash-strapped archdioceses or dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in North America?

Are these ACA congregations considering in their discernment process what is happening in the Roman Catholic archdiocese or diocese in which they are located before seeking admission to the Roman Catholic Church?

Are they ready to turn their church property over to the Roman Catholic Church--to do with as it sees fit?

Are they prepared to attend the local Roman Catholic parish instead of their own church--to use the new Roman Missal instead of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and the American Missal?

Are they ready to exchange The Hymnal 1940 for Marty Haugen and the Dameans?

3 comments:

William Wheatley said...

Anglicans entering the Ordinariate will not be part of the local Roman Catholic Diocese, as the ordinariate has the status of a diocese spanning the entire United States, and will have its own bishop. A small congregation coming into the Ordinariate and which does not have its own church facility may, with the permission of the local Catholic bishop, use a local parish building for its services, using the Anglican forms of worship and the Anglican hymns. The local Catholic bishop and the local Catholic priest will have no say over the form of worship or selection of hymns used by the Ordinariate congregation.

Robin G. Jordan said...

William,

The Apostolic Constitution states:

III. Without excluding liturgical celebrations according to the Roman Rite, the Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, WHICH HAVE BEEN APPROVED BY THE HOLY SEE, so as to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared.

It further states:

IV. A Personal Ordinariate is entrusted to the pastoral care of an Ordinary appointed by the Roman Pontiff.

V. The power (potestas) of the Ordinary is:

a. ordinary: connected by the law itself to the office entrusted to him by the Roman Pontiff, for both the internal forum and external forum;

b. vicarious: exercised in the name of the Roman Pontiff;

c. personal: exercised over all who belong to the Ordinariate;

This power is to be exercised jointly with that of the local Diocesan Bishop, in those cases provided for in the Complementary Norms.

VI.§ 5. Candidates for Holy Orders in an Ordinariate should be prepared alongside other seminarians, especially in the areas of doctrinal and pastoral formation. In order to address the particular needs of seminarians of the Ordinariate and formation in Anglican patrimony, the Ordinary may also establish seminary programs or houses of formation which would relate to existing Catholic faculties of theology.

VIII. § 1. The Ordinary, according to the norm of law, after having heard the opinion of the Diocesan Bishop of the place, may erect, with the consent of the Holy See, personal parishes for the faithful who belong to the Ordinariate.

XII. For judicial cases, the competent tribunal is that of the Diocese in which one of the parties is domiciled, unless the Ordinariate has constituted its own tribunal, in which case the tribunal of second instance is the one designated by the Ordinariate and approved by the Holy See. In both cases, the different titles of competence established by the Code of Canon Law are to be taken into account.[20]


Cont'd.

Robin G. Jordan said...

The Complementary Norms for the Apostolic Constitution state:

Article 9

§1. The clerics incardinated in the Ordinariate should be available to assist the Diocese in which they have a domicile or quasi-domicile, where it is deemed suitable for the pastoral care of the faithful. In such cases they are subject to the Diocesan Bishop in respect to that which pertains to the pastoral charge or office they receive.

§2. Where and when it is deemed suitable, clergy incardinated in a Diocese or in an Institute of Consecrated Life or a Society of Apostolic Life, with the written consent of their respective Diocesan Bishop or their Superior, can collaborate in the pastoral care of the Ordinariate. In such case they are subject to the Ordinary in respect to that which pertains to the pastoral charge or office they receive.

§3. In the cases treated in the preceding paragraphs there should be a written agreement between the Ordinary and the Diocesan Bishop or the Superior of the Institute of Consecrated Life or the Moderator of the Society of Apostolic Life, in which the terms of collaboration and all that pertains to the means of support are clearly established.


They further state:

Article 10

§2. Candidates for priestly ordination will receive their theological formation with other seminarians at a seminary or a theological faculty in conformity with an agreement concluded between the Ordinary and, respectively, the Diocesan Bishop or Bishops concerned. Candidates may receive other aspects of priestly formation at a seminary program or house of formation established, with the consent of the Governing Council, expressly for the purpose of transmitting Anglican patrimony.

§5. The Ordinariate sees to the continuing formation of its clergy, through their participation in local programs provided by the Episcopal Conference and the Diocesan Bishop.

Article 14

§2. If there is no vicar, in the event of absence, incapacity, or death of the pastor, the pastor of the territorial parish in which the church of the personal parish is located can exercise his faculties as pastor so as to supply what is needed.

§3. For the pastoral care of the faithful who live within the boundaries of a Diocese in which no personal parish has been erected, the Ordinary, having heard the opinion of the local Diocesan Bishop, can make provisions for quasi-parishes (cf. CIC, can. 516, §1).


I also recommend that our readers take the time to read the Roman Catholic Code of Canon Law which will also be binding upon any Ordinariates erected in the United States.