George Conger: Vatican defines Anglican "patrimony" for the Anglican Ordinariate

The Book of Common Prayer and its liturgical descendants are the elements of Anglicanism that will be preserved for former Anglicans and Episcopalians who have entered the Catholic Church, an official at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has reported.

In November 2009, Pope Benedict released the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, creating a permanent home for Anglicans who wish to be reconciled to the Catholic Church but hoped to retain portions of their “Anglican patrimony”. In an interview published in the December issue of The Portal, Mgr. Steven Lopes of the CDF defined this distinctive “patrimony”.

“We here have thought a lot about what constitutes Anglican patrimony, particularly as it involves the liturgy, and we have a working definition. It is to say that ‘Anglican liturgical patrimony is that which has nourished the Catholic Faith, within the Anglican tradition during the time of ecclesiastical separation, and has given rise to this new desire for full communion’,” Mgr. Lopes said.

In October 2013, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham – the English branch of the Ordinariate -- launched a new Mass text which included passages from Thomas Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer. Keep reading

Also see
A look at the new Ordinariate Anglican Use liturgy
Patrimony: The Order of Mass for the Anglican Ordinariates

What George Conger does not mention in his article is that the new Anglican Use rite is a traditional language rite intended only for the use of congregations in the Anglican Ordinariate in the United Kingdom that use sixteenth century Tudor English in their worship. Most congregations in the Our Lady of Walsingham Ordinariate use contemporary language in their celebrations of the Mass. They are required to use the latest English translation of the third edition of the Roman Missal. These congregations were using the Roman rite when they were still a part of the Church of England. What this means is that the new Anglican Use rite will quickly fall into disuse with the decline and disappearance of the few Ordinariate congregations using traditional language in their worship.  The rest of what the Vatican identifies as the Anglican "patrimony"--Anglican hymnody, anthems and chant--may have a longer life in the Roman Catholic Church as a number of Roman Catholic parishes both in the United Kingdom and the United States have been using Anglican church music since Vatican II.

The complete order of mass of the new Anglican Use rite has to my knowledge not been posted on the Internet. If it has, please let me know where.

The Vatican, of course, will have nothing to do with the real Anglican patrimony--the Biblical and Reformation theology of the unaltered Anglican formularies.