Ordinariate Watch: Creating the Myth

A former Anglican bishop, who will be ordained this week as a Catholic priest, offered details of his approach to Rome in an interview with the Catholic Herald.

Andrew Burnham told how he sought out Vatican officials to explore the possibility of a special provision for Anglicans wishing to enter the Catholic fold. “What we asked for is what we got,” he said—although the process was complicated.

Also in the Catholic Herald, columnist William Oddie observes that some Anglican leaders would like to thwart the development of the Catholic ordinariate. One point of contention, he notes, is the use of churches. Some Anglican leaders are insisting that Anglicans who enter the Catholic Church must abandon their parish church buildings, even if all members of the parish are united in their desire to become Catholics.

To read the rest of this Catholic Culture piece and the articles linked to it, click here.

Church Reveals Fine Details of Ordinariate

Personal ordinariates for groups of Anglican converts around the world are likely to develop their own missal according to traditional Anglican use, an English Church official has said.

Fr Marcus Stock, the general secretary of the Bishops of England and Wales, said that while an ordinariate in Britain would be likely to follow the Roman Rite, he expected that there an Anglican use of the Roman Rite would be developed.

Fr Stock said: “When we are talking about the ordinariate we’re not just talking about England and Wales but for across the world and I’d be surprised if something isn’t developed for use for all the ordinariates. I don’t think they’ll develop particular ones.

“There will be an Anglican Traditional Use, such as there is in the United States who use the book of divine worship, which again they might simply adapt that for use in ordinariates around the world.”

To read the full article, click here.



To examine The Book of Divine Worship, which is out of print and which is based to a large extent upon the Episcopal Church's 1979 Book of Common Prayer, a service book that has itself been the centre of controversy, click here.