Released on Tuesday, the updated Complementary Norms for the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus were approved by Pope Francis on March 8th and signed by Cardinal Luis Ladaria and Archbishop Giacomo Morandi, Prefect and Secretary of the CDF, respectively, on March 19, 2019.
Anglicanorum coetibus governs the institutions and Personal Ordinariates that minister to the lay faithful originally of the Anglican tradition, known as Episcopalians in the United States.
The updated Complementary Norms integrate the experience of the past 10 years and seek to make their application more in tune with the spirit of the Apostolic Constitution.
Currently, three Ordinariates of former Anglican ministers and lay faithful exist: the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales; the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in the United States; and, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Australia.
The new Norms introduce several modifications to those promulgated in November 2009.
Liturgical celebrations
The most substantial change regards the use of the Missal, known as Divine Worship, in liturgical celebrations. An entire article, number 15, was added to regulate the liturgical form approved by the Holy See for use in the Ordinariates.
Divine Worship “gives expression to and preserves for Catholic worship the worthy Anglican liturgical patrimony, understood as that which has nourished the Catholic faith throughout the history of the Anglican tradition and prompted aspirations towards ecclesial unity.”
First, use of the liturgical form is restricted to the Personal Ordinariates.
Second, the Norms allow any priest incardinated in an Ordinariate to celebrate Mass according to Divine Worship when not in a parish belonging to the Ordinariate, if done privately. The celebration of Mass with a congregation is possible, if the pastor of the church gives his permission.
Third, if a pastoral necessity exists or no Ordinariate priest is available, any diocesan or religious priest may celebrate Mass according to Divine Worship for members of the Ordinariate. Non-Ordinariate priests may also concelebrate Mass under the liturgical form.
Pastoral Provision
Two changes are made to Article 4. The updated Norms extend the Ordinariate to allow former Anglican ministers already incardinated in a Catholic Diocese by virtue of the Pastoral Provisionto be incardinated into a Personal Ordinariate. They also say that clerics joining an Ordinariate must excardinate from their former Diocese.
The Pastoral Provision was issued in 1980 to receive married former Anglican clergy into ordained Catholic ministry in the United States.
Baptism of lay faithful
A new paragraph is inserted into Article 5. It says any validly baptized Christian who was evangelized by the Ordinariate may join it by receiving the Sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist. A person who has not been validly baptized may also join through the Sacraments of Initiation.
Clergy formation
Article 10 regards the formation of clergy, and was adapted to the current situation. The new Norms change “candidates for priestly ordination” to “Ordinariate Seminarians”, who study at institutions with Latin-rite seminarians.
It also allows the Ordinariate to organize its own programs for the ongoing formation of clergy.
It was a missed opportunity not to allow the Ordinariate retain a degree of theological uniqueness similar to that of the eastern Catholic churches. As it is, the Ordinariate is Roman Catholicism with Anglican liturgy, and thus not classically Anglican or even Tractarianly Anglican…
The only good thing is that so few Anglo-Catholics got suckered into it.
I came into the Anglican tradition from the outside, and briefly considered the Ordinariate. The downfall for me was reading the documents that govern it. One little bit was “any differences of theology would be resolved by the Roman Catholic Catechism.”
In the end, my impression was that the Ordinariate was advertised as “come and be Anglican under the wings of Rome.” The truth was, however, that it simply ‘fast-tracked’ making Roman Catholics out of Anglicans: “Welcome! Now believe THIS theology, worship with THIS liturgy, and submit to our authority over EVERYTHING.” I went CANA instead.
Just read the article above! It fairly drips of control issues.
It’s just as well I never joined the Ordinariate. I’d never be able to keep all the rules straight…
All three of the above comments seem to have the wrong idea about the Ordinariates. The Ordinariates were set up by Pope Benedict XVI in response to several requests from Anglicans or groups of Anglicans who wished to be FULLY Catholic, but to retain some of the features of Anglicanism. This is precisely what happened.
In matters of doctrine, Ordinariate members are fully Catholic. However, they are able to use a liturgy which resembles the Book of Common Prayer in many respects, especially the Cronmerian language. Some Anglican musical settings have also been preserved.
So, LfxN, “theological uniqueness” was never a proposition.
Edgarson has certainly got the wrong end of the stick if he thinks that some Protestant beliefs could be retained.
Dr Professional talks about “so few Anglo Catholics being sucked in.” Few is a relative Term. I think that there are now 105 former Anglican clergymen now now Catholic priests in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. There are more studying in seminary, with I think three to be ordained priest this summer. So the number of priests is continuing to grow.
The number of lay members of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is around 2,500, with a similar number in America, but fewer in Australia. Maybe 6000 all together, but this figure is growing all the time. Not huge numbers, but not insignificant either.
Still think there was an element of distain from Benedict regarding Rowan Williams as he fired the Ordinariate broadside on his visit to England. The Ordinariate seems more of an irritant to Romans today.
The Ordinariate in the beginning was sold as a safe harbor for a few parishes and as an influx of the unique Anglican patrimony to the Roman church. Read the fine print. If you want to be Roman Catholic, there are usually several options in your neighborhood.
One of these requests was from Abp. Hepworth of the TAC with its 300,000 members including those within ACA; okay some members were inactive. Do you know of a single ACA bishop who after signing the Roman Catechism in England went through the reeducation camps to join the Ordinariate? The Romans didn’t want anglo-catholic priests like Fr. Moyer from TEC. Fr. Phillips from Our Lady of the Atonement was already an insider and the Romans didn’t want him. Steenson didn’t last long either.
And was replaced by a bishop with no connection to Anglicanism whatsoever.
I stand by my statement that the Ordinariate was billed as a way to be welcomed into the Roman Catholic Church as Anglicans. While it is hyperbolic to say that that meant fully Anglican (of course it could not have), the truth is that members could not be Anglican in any meaningful way.
What can you mean when you say “retain some of the features of Anglicanism”? I would argue that no, that did NOT happen in any meaningful way. Anglicanism is about far more than the wording of the confession and absolution, or the prayers before the Eucharist.
It would have been more honest to simply welcome the disaffected Episcopalians into the Roman Catholic Church without the Ordinariate. The liturgy is not THAT different. It would have certainly been more honest that way.
I believe it is Fr. Hart who recently surmised it was Roman Catholic missionaries that infiltrated the Continuum claiming to be anglo-catholic.
As an Anglican who loves the 1662 BCP and the 39 Articles, and traditional psalm and canticle singing, and cathedral music, but the Bible first of course, all this seems like another country, or even another world. I just felt like saying that.
Thinking aloud, I wonder whether all this fuss about having to consider Catholic this and Anglican that is all worth it at the end of the day. I have witnessed the grace of God working through Christian leaders and Pastors whom I know for a fact do not know any of this “stuff”, but bring redemption and healing to people. I do admire the 1662 BCP, the 39 Articles and the rest. But, in the last analysis, does it actually matter whether one is in the Ordinariate or not to share God’s love with the people? Having witnessed to the ways in which the church has departed from its established Way (the Apostolic faith and tradition etc), as Bishop Gavin has aptly put it in the 499 Episode of Anglican Unscripted, the most fundamental matter that we need to be concerned is: Whether There is There?
There there. It’s all too so-so. Some think it’s OK if all doctrine is 50-50. Genuine repentance and faith are the first essential, but doctrine that is true to the Bible is way up there as well, as the generations after me tend to put it.
No ordinariate or continuing Anglican grouping where I am… and am concluding RCIA in the weeks ahead. For me, there was no health remaining in the fallen Anglican Communion [in Canada]. I will be confirmed RC on the Eve of Easter.
Thanks be to God!
Afterthought upon reading the whole thread:
I do not believe that an Anglican Use Ordinariate is set up within Canada (or if there is I don’t know of it). With nothing of a lively, [or small-o] orthodox Anglicanism available to me in Central Canada, I joyfully complete my initial RCIA formation and will become Catholic in 3 days! WOO-HOO!