Thank you so much for your understanding!

I am grateful, too, for the sincere efforts the Church of England has made to understand the reasons that led my Predecessor, Benedict XVI, to provide a canonical structure able to respond to the wishes of those groups of Anglicans who have asked to be received collectively into the Catholic Church: I am sure this will enable the spiritual, liturgical and pastoral traditions that form the Anglican patrimony to be better known and appreciated in the Catholic world.

Franciscus

Address before Justin Welby, leader of the "Church of England" 

June 14, 2013

[Dedicated to the dear Ordinariates of England & Wales and Australia]

You report: American Anglican Ordinariate, anti-Tradition zone

We have received the following report from a reader:

You have previously posted on your blog reports about Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson's animosity towards the Traditional Mass and another contributor, Augustinus, followed up with mention of the Mass being celebrated Friday mornings at Mount Calvary in Baltimore, a church of the Anglican Ordinariate.

You should know that after Mass there last Friday, September 21st, it was announced that, while the celebration of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form is "allowed" [sic] to Ordinariate priests, it cannot be celebrated at Ordinariate premises, "since that form of the Mass is not integral to the Anglican patrimony."

This is less than three months after the termination of another weekday Traditional Mass at an archdiocesan parish due to a priest's reassignment.  That church, St. William of York, with its communion rail and removable low altar, and Mount Calvary were two of the few churches in Baltimore that are well-suited to accommodate the Traditional Mass. 

                                       

Rorate can add that - having confirmed the content above with other sources -, according to our own Roman inquiries on this matter, one man seems to be responsible for the embarrassing and outrageous hatred displayed by the Ordinary of the United States, Msgr. Steenson, regarding the Traditional Mass of the Roman Rite: Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington. Wuerl had been put in place as a sort of liaison between Rome and the Anglicans before the official creation of the Ordinariate, and still acts as the Capo di tutti capi of the Ordinariate, on which he imposes his personal idiosyncrasies and hatreds.

We do not think, though, that this excuses Steenson's unbelievable weakness in his foremost administrative task: defending the rights and prerogatives of his priests and faithful. He may think the rights ascertained by Summorum Pontificum to all priests of the Latin Church, including those of his own Ordinariate, are an easily dismissable "problem" created by "difficult" people, with which he should not waste his scarce "political capital". We say with utmost certainty that this weakness will come back to haunt him and all his priests and faithful in more "serious" matters. We would have thought that his Episcopalian experiences would have warned him to the dangers of ceding territory to the Enemy, but, alas, some lessons are never learned by those constitutionally unable to learn them.

Since the Anglican Ordinariate of the United States has become an explicit and rabid Anti-Traditional area, at least in its highest position, it is unlikely that Rorate will report any of its future developments. We stay with Fisher, More, Byrd, Campion, and Newman, and all the various Traditional rites, forms, and uses of the Latin Church  - they can stay with the "Anglican Patrimony" of Annibale Bugnini. As Vicky Gene Robinson (Steenson's contemporary fellow "bishop" of the Episcopal Church in the early 2000s - Robinson, starting in March 2004, Steenson in October 2004) might say, godspeed on your new "life journey"...

NLM: "The Potentialities of the English Missal for the Ordinariate and the Roman Rite"

The Ordinariates for former Anglicans established by Anglicanorum coetibus can be something mediocre and tame - but they can also be something truly great for the whole Church. The name of the game-changer is "The English Missal" (the Anglo-Catholic translation of the traditional Roman Missal in Early Modern English), not as the sole rite, but as a possibility open to all their priests - and our friend Shawn Tribe, of The New Liturgical Movement, explains why.

It all depends on the will and determination of the leadership in the Ordinariates. They can give this great gift to the universal Church, or they can just remain as a mostly uninteresting  and uninspiring ghetto. It is their choice.

Some recent events put my mind once again to the matter of the English Missal.

The English Missal, as many of you know, is essentially a hieratic English translation of the pre-conciliar Missale Romanum. It was a missal which had been used by various Anglican Catholics, or Anglo-Catholics, in the 20th century.

Fr. John Hunwicke, who himself described the English Missal as "the finest vernacular liturgical book ever produced," summarizes its contents and its use accordingly:

For most of the 20th Century, Anglican Catholic worship meant a volume called "The English Missal". It contained the whole Missale Romanum translated into English; into an English based on the style of Thomas Cranmer's liturgical dialect in the Book of Common Prayer. The "EM" took everything biblical from the translation known as the King James Bible or Authorised Version.

I have often commented on my own hope -- one which I know is shared by many others -- that we would see the English Missal (or something closely akin to it) form one of the liturgical options made available within the context of the Ordinariate. Now it will no doubt be quickly pointed out that the use of the English Missal was by no means universal even amongst Anglo-Catholics and would be generally unfamiliar to many other Anglicans; from what I have gathered from others far more familiar with the situation within Anglicanism, this is certainly true. In light of that, it perhaps would not be the right choice to make it the sole liturgical book of the Ordinariate (which should presumably include a liturgical book which is much closer to something like the Book of Common Prayer) but it surely could be made available as an additional option, a kind of "Extraordinary Form" if you will -- the analogy here is imperfect but I think it gets the basic idea across.

The benefit, from my perspective, is that this liturgical book combines some of the very things which form an important and identifiable part of the Anglican patrimony -- namely, beautiful hieratic liturgical English with correspondingly beautiful English liturgical chant and options for the use of English sacred polyphony -- with the familiar Catholic texts and ceremonies of the Roman liturgical books. In that regard, my own feeling is that it provides a very worthy synthesis which could be well suited to the Ordinariate and its mission -- taken alongside another liturgical book more akin to the BCP. [Read the whole article at The New Liturgical Movement.]

Ordinariate for Australia officially established

As reporte here since December 2011, the Holy See established today the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, for former Anglicans in Australia. From the Bollettino:

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, erected the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, in the territory of the Australian Episcopal Conference.

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI, has named as the first Ordinary of Our Lady of the Southern Cross the Rev. Fr. Harry Entwistle.

The Anglican-Catholic Personal Ordinariates can, of course, establish quasi-parishes anywhere in their assigned area without a binding permission of the local bishops, but merely hearing their opinion. That was granted to the Ordinariates by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in the Complementary Norms to Anglicanorum coetibus:

Article 14 ...  §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).

A relevant address: The Pope on Tradition, Ecumenism, and Vatican II

As we know, in vast areas of the earth, faith is in danger of being put out, as a flame that finds no more fuel. We find ourselves before a profound crisis of faith, before a loss of the religious sense that is the greatest challenge for today's Church. The renewal of the faith must thus be the priority in the effort of the entire Church in our day. I hope that the Year of Faith may contribute, with the cordial collaboration of all components of the People of God, to make God present in this world and may open to man acess to the faith, that he may entrust himself to that God who has loved us to the end (cf. John 13,1), in Jesus Christ, crucified and risen.

...

The coherence of the ecumenical effort with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council and with the entire Tradition has been one of the areas to which the Congregation, in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, has always paid attention. We can see today not a few good fruits born of the ecumenical dialogues, but we must also recognize that the risk of a false irenicism and of an indifferentism, completely separated from the mind of the Second Vatican Council, demands our vigilance. This indifferentism is caused by the ever more common opinion that truth would not be accessible to man; it would thus be necessary to limit oneself to search for rules for a praxis which would improve the world. And, therefore, faith would be replaced by a moralism with no profound meaning. The center of true ecumenism is, instead, the faith in which man finds truth, that reveals itself in the Word of God. Without faith, the entire ecumenical movement would be reduced to a kind of "social contract" to be joined for a common interest, a "praxeology" for creating a better world. The logic of the Second Vatican Council is completely different: the sincere search for full unity of all Christians is a movement animated by the Word of God, by divine Truth that is spoken to us in this Word.

The crucial problem, that marks in a transversal way the ecumenical dialogues, is, for this reason, the question of the structure of revelation - the relationship between Sacred Scripture, the living Tradition in Holy Church, and the Ministry of the successors of the Apostles as a testimony to the true faith. And here the problematic of ecclesiology, which is part of this problem, is implied: in what way the truth of God reaches us. It is fundamental here, among other things, to distinguish between Tradition, with a capital letter, and traditions. I do not wish to enter in details, but just to make an observation. An important step in this distinction was accomplished in the preparation and application of the provisions for the groups of faithful coming from Anglicanism, who wish to join the full communion of the Church, in the unity of the common and essential divine Tradition, preserving their own spriritual traditions, liturgical and pastoral, that are consistent withh the Catholic Faith (cf. Cost. Anglicanorum coetibus, art. III). There is, in fact, a spiritual wealth in the various Christian confessions that is the expression of the one faith and gift to be shared and to be found together in the Tradition of the Church.

Today, therefore, one of the fundamental questions consists of the problematic of the methods to be adopted in the various ecumenical dialogues. These also must reflect the priority of faith. To know the truth is the right of the interlocutor in every true dialogue. It is the very demand of charity for brother. In this sense, it is necessary to face with courage also the controversial questions, always in the spirit of fraternity and reciprocal respect. It is important to offer a correct interpretation of that "order or 'hierarchy' of truth in Catholic doctrine," mentioned in the Decree Unitatis redintegratio (n. 11), which does not mean in any way to reduce the deposit of faith, but to make emerge the internal structure, the organicity of this one structure. Also the study documents produced by the various ecumenical dialogues have great relevance. Such texts cannot be ignored, because they are an important, though temporary, fruit of the common reflection matured throughout the years. Nevertheless, they are to be recognized in their adequate significance as contributions offered to the competent Authority of the Church, who alone is called to judge them in a definitive way. To ascribe to such texts a binding or almost conclusive weight for the ecclesial Authority would not, in a final analysis, help on the path to a full unity in the faith.

One last question that I would finally wish to mention is the problem of morals, which is a new challenge for the ecumenical path. In the dialogues, we must not forget the great moral questions related to human life, family, sexuality, bioethics, liberty, justice, and peace. It will be important to speak on these matters with only one voice, drawing the foundation on Scripture and on the living tradition of the Church. This tradition helps us understand the language of the Creator in his creation. By defending the fundamental values of the great tradition of the Church, we defend man, we defend creation.

Benedict XVI

Address to the participants of the Plenary Session of the

 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith 

January 27, 2012
[Rorate translation]

They have no idea of what they are talking about

In his comment filled with platitudes on the meeting today (the "Feria Quarta", or Wednesday-centered, periodical meeting of the full composition of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - which was supposed to deal, among other matters, with the latest responses of the Society of Saint Pius X/SSPX to the Doctrinal Preamble presented to them by Cardinal Levada last September, as we had mentioned some days ago), Paolo Rodari, Vaticanist for Italian daily Il Foglio, had this nugget:

There is a paradox inside the current Pontificate: the Pope who pleads respect for tradition loudly strives to find an agreement with "the extreme right" of the Catholic world. It is easier for him to sort things with the Anglicans, that part of Christianity mostly keeping Liberal positions.

There is no "paradox" at all, because there was no agreement with people keeping "Liberal positions". Quite the opposite, the Personal Ordinariates for former Anglicans were created precisely because Anglo-Catholics are in general so far from the Liberal (doctrinal, ecclesiastical, and liturgical) positions maintained by most in the Anglican Communion. The Pope did not go after simply any Anglicans, but those who wished to become truly Roman, giving them the structure that they needed and for which they had longed for generations. Which is why most Traditional-minded Catholics were and are thrilled with Anglicanorum Coetibus and rejoice in every occasion in which former Anglicans are welcomed into the Church - as we did last Sunday with Mount Calvary, in Maryland. We know most of them are our allies and our friends. They wish us well, and we wish them well.

If only Traditional-minded Catholics were given the canonical structures that they need! Then, Rodari, Tornielli et al. would see clearly that there is much more convergence than "paradox" in all of this. At the moment, it clearly seems they have no idea what they are talking - and writing - about (not a surprise, really).

[Image: Christmas at Our Lady of the Atonement, San Antonio, Texas]

The most beautiful poster in January

Welcome home!

From the local archdiocesan newspaper:

Baltimore Episcopal parish, priests to be received into Catholic Church

By Catholic Review Staff

Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter

Congratulations to the former Anglicans in America for their structure established today by Pope Benedict XVI, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. Father Jeffrey Steenson was named to head the Personal Ordinariate.

Anglican Catholic Personal Ordinariate in the United States...

... will be established and named on January 1, 2012, as announced by Cardinal Wuerl today in the ongoing meeting of the USCCB (the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops). A Q&A on the new Ordinariate has been made available at the conference website. Congratulations to those who have been so patient!

The first Anglican Catholic Personal Ordinariate, dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham, was created for the faithful of England and Wales in January 2011.

(Sources: The Anglo-Catholic; The Ordinariate Portal)

Reform of the Reform beginning with the Ordinariates?...

From The Tablet:

Priests to face east at ordinariate Masses

21 October 2011

Masses celebrated by priests in the ordinariate are likely to be ad orientem, according to one of its leaders. While the liturgy for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham has yet to be approved by the Holy See, Mgr Andrew Burnham said the Congregation for Divine Worship "is likely to commend eastward celebration, when the dynamic of the building suggests it". Mgr Burnham also said that it may also recommend kneeling at mention of the Incarnation during the Creed.

(The full text of the talk of Msgr. Burnham can be found at the Ordinariate Portal.)

The American Ordinariate for Catholics of Anglican Patrimony:FALL 2011

The Personal Ordinariate for Catholics of Anglican heritage in the United States is to be erected in the Fall of 2011 - at least, that is the wish of the Holy See. More details from Cardinal Wuerl's report to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, delivered yesterday, on the first day of their Spring meeting:

Consultation on

Implementation of Anglicanorum coetibus

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Ordinariates and the pensée unique

Breaking news from the most useless and expensivedebate society in the world

Summary: In the most liberal religious building in Italy (Bose), the most useless debate society in history keeps on as if nothing had changed.

From the Holy See Press Office:

The Anglican - Roman Catholic International Commission has completed the first meeting of its new phase (ARCIC III) at the Monastery of Bose in northern Italy (May 17-27, 2011). The Commission, chaired by the Most Reverend David Moxon (Anglican Archbishop of the New Zealand Dioceses) and the Most Reverend Bernard Longley (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham) comprises eighteen theologians from a wide range of backgrounds across the world. [If you wish to waste your time, keep reading it here.]

The Anglican side included a delightful provocation: a "bishopess" (the "Right Reverend" Linda Nicholls, Area "Bishop" for Trent-Durham, "Diocese" of Toronto) and a "canoness" ("Canon" Alyson Barnett-Cowan, pictured above in Saint Peter's with another Anglican "canon"- image source). The ladies, of course, helped the number of ordained clerics on the Anglican side reach the total of zero.

So, "Whence Ecumenism," Michael Davies's repeated question regarding ARCIC? The Personal Ordinariates mandated by Anglicanorum Coetibus are the true ecumenism, not ARCIC. But it is hard, very hard, to give up a lifetime of soft theology, empty careerism, free travel, free lodging, and free food.

Sancta Dei Genetrix, Regina Angliae, ora pro nobis.
Sancte Augustine, ora pro nobis.

They could start by disowning Luther

Interesting interview granted by the Bishop of Regensburg (and chairman of the Ecumenical Office of the German Episcopal Conference), Gerhard Ludwig Müller, on Easter Tuesday - and that, as far as it can be seen, has not been made available in English.

The general tone is one that is to be much appreciated: the great problem of the "Ecumenical dialogue" (the one that followed the Council's Unitatis Redintegratio decree) is that both Protestants and Catholics have been in a framework designed by Protestants and favored by Protestants, as if the "modern 'church'" founded by Luther and his cohorts were the goal, as if Protestantism had a 500-year head start on what the Church should look like - while Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox are still "stuck in the Middle Ages".

In the end, the most controversial words of the interview, which, for the German media, were these:

It is time that those on the Protestant side of the argument completely dissociate themselves from Luther's view that the pope is the Antichrist. Because that was not intended for the Pope as an individual Christian. [It meant that] The Catholic Church was to be considered thus in her self-image. This can not be dismissed as a time-related controversy. We need to move on from the shadows of our denominational perspective on the Church's history.

The words of the bishop have been heavily criticized - including by Catholics (of course) who view them as somewhat quaint. No Protestant says that today! Sorry, we know that Protestantism is not in the best shape in the nation of Luther and Melanchton, but it does not matter: plenty of Protestants around the world (go ask the dozens of millions of new Evangelicals in Latin America) do hold Luther's view of the Holy Roman and Apostolic See faithfully. 

It really remains to be seen if the bishop meant what he said about Luther - in our view, he just wanted to point out the huge hypocrisy of Ecumenical "dialogue", in which only Catholics need to be subdued while we all reach for that final ecumenical nirvana: a Protestantized United Church. That will not happen: after 50 years of failures, the Anglican Ordinariates, created by a German Pope, are a palpable sign of the only path to true Ecumenism. [Image: Bull 'Exsurge Domine', 1520]

Aidan Nichols OP on the future liturgy of the Ordinariate

From a recent interview with Fr. Aidan Nichols OP, published in the English Catholic:

The Church of England Anglo-Catholics, from what I understand, do the ordinary form of the Roman liturgy. In the TAC (Traditional Anglican Communion -- Pascal) elsewhere in the world, there is a love for distinctly Anglican liturgies with Book of Common Prayer language, though corrected where necessary. What liturgical dimensions do you see as “gifts to be shared” with the wider Church as the AC suggested?

“English Anglo-Catholics (I gather) tend to retain some elements of the Prayer Book tradition, notably for weddings and funerals. Their parishes may also have Evensong and Benediction. But they will be asked to consider using the distinctive liturgical book which has been prepared for the English Ordinariate once it has received recognition from the Holy See (hopefully by Pentecost) – otherwise they cannot claim to have much distinctive patrimony, liturgically speaking. One reason why there is to be a distinct English book for those with an Anglican Communion background is because the TAC congregations who predominate elsewhere have a different liturgical history which will need to be taken into account. Relevant gifts could include: a high sacral register of liturgical language; the Catholicism-compatible elements in the historic Prayer Books; the Use of Sarum; the better aspects of modern Anglican revision.”

Ordinariate for Australia to include Japan?

It would be a good precedent if Ordinariates were not always limited to the area of one "Episcopal Conference". From Western Australia's Catholic newspaper The Record:

AN Ordinariate for Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church is set to be established in Australia by Pentecost this year, and will include Japan. ...

The Traditional Anglican Communion, a group of disaffected Anglicans who have been seeking full communion with Rome for years, will host a festival in Perth on 26 February at Holy Family Catholic Church in Como for the Anglican Ordinariate for Australia. 

TAC Bishop Harry Entwistle - one of four TAC Bishops in Australia and the Torres Strait Islands who will be ordained as Catholic priests, likely just before the Ordinariate is officially established, told The Record the festival is a public statement that “this is no longer just a theory, it’s really happening”. “It’s an opportunity to gather those who are more than just casually interested,” he said of the festival, which is for Catholics and Anglicans who, like the TAC, have long been disillusioned with the Anglican Church’s liberalisation with female clergy, among other things. ...

Bishop Entwistle, of TAC’s Western District encompassing WA, is part of an implementation team that includes officials from the Holy See and Bishop Elliott, who is himself a convert from Anglicanism. ...

Bishop Entwistle’s vision for the Western District of the ordinariate will include weekly Masses at his Maylands base of Saints Ninian and Chad Church and monthly Masses in areas outside Perth including Albany and Bunbury. Anglican Catholics in these areas will attend ‘regular’ Catholic Masses between these monthly Masses until more priests are ordained to service these areas.

Japan’s Anglican Catholics constitute a small group led by a retired Anglican Bishop. Bishop Entwistle said the Japanese are happy to adopt a Western Ordinariate like Australia as they are among a persecuted minority. However, he said that the “one size fits all” concept does not apply to Ordinariates around the world.

First Anglican Ordinariate erected

As expected, under the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, the Holy Father today erected the first Personal Ordinariate for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman, with Father Keith Newton appointed as the ordinary. As a married priest, he will not be ordained a bishop.

Full note of the Holy See Press Office:

"In accordance with the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus' of Pope Benedict XVI (4 November 2009) and after careful consultation with the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has today erected a Personal Ordinariate within the territory of England and Wales for those groups of Anglican clergy and faithful who have expressed their desire to enter into full visible communion with the Catholic Church", reads an English-language communique released today. "The Decree of Erection specifies that the Ordinariate will be known as the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and will be placed under the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman.

"A Personal Ordinariate is a canonical structure that provides for corporate reunion in such a way that allows former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their distinctive Anglican patrimony. With this structure, the Apostolic Constitution 'Anglicanorum coetibus' seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be fully integrated into the Catholic Church.

"For doctrinal reasons the Church does not, in any circumstances, allow the ordination of married men as bishops. However, the Apostolic Constitution does provide, under certain conditions, for the ordination as Catholic priests of former Anglican married clergy. Today at Westminster Cathedral in London, Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, ordained to the Catholic priesthood three former Anglican bishops: Reverend Andrew Burnham, Reverend Keith Newton, and Reverend John Broadhurst.

"Also today Pope Benedict XVI has nominated Reverend Keith Newton as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Together with Reverend Burnham and Reverend Broadhurst, Reverend Newton will oversee the catechetical preparation of the first groups of Anglicans in England and Wales who will be received into the Catholic Church together with their pastors at Easter, and will accompany the clergy preparing for ordination to the Catholic priesthood around Pentecost.

"The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church. The initiative leading to the publication of the Apostolic Constitution and the erection of this Personal Ordinariate came from a number of different groups of Anglicans who have declared that they share the common Catholic faith as it is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and accept the Petrine ministry as something Christ willed for the Church. For them, the time has now come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion".

Personal Ordinariate for Former Anglicans in England and Wales to be erected this week

As reported in The Catholic Herald:

A Statement from the General Secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

THE ESTABLISHMENT IN ENGLAND AND WALES OF A PERSONAL ORDINARIATE FOR GROUPS OF FAITHFUL AND THEIR CLERGY FROM THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION ENTERING INTO FULL COMMUNION WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

Introduction

On or before 15 January 2011, it is expected that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will publish a Decree which will formally establish a ‘Personal Ordinariate’ in England and Wales (from here on referred to as ‘the Ordinariate’) for groups of Anglican faithful and their clergy who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. . . . .

See The Catholic Herald to read the remainder of the announcement and guide to the Ordinariate.

An auspicious start

[7:00 AM] January 1, 2011: the pieces of the English and Welsh (British?) Anglican Catholic Ordinariate begin to fall into place. Caritas in Veritate seems to have been the first to report:

I have heard on the grapevine that five former Anglican bishops, their wives and three former Anglican nuns from Walshingham are to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Chuch at 12.30pm tomorrow, New Years Day, at Westminster Cathedral.

I presume that the former bishops concerned (and their former dioceses) are: Andrew Burnham (Ebbsfleet), Keith Newton (Richborough), John Broadhurst (Fulham), Edwin Barnes (assistant bishop, Winchester) and David Silk (assistant bishop, Exeter).

This will be the first step on the road to the eventual establishment of the Ordinariate for former Anglicans who wish to be in full communion with the Catholic Church.

Several other blogs have confirmed it (tip: reader P.K.T.P.).

(UPDATE by CAP 1/2/11: The formerly FiF-affiliated C of E "flying bishops" John Broadhurst, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton, three nuns from the Anglican shrine in Walsingham and the wives of two of the former C of E bishops were received into the Church at the 12:30 P.M. Mass in Westminster Cathedral on January 1, 2010. See Three ex-Anglican bishops are received into full communion and First Anglicans are received into the Roman Catholic Church in historic service. Further articles can be found on blogs such as Caritas in Veritate, The Anglo-Catholic, English Catholic, De Cura Animarum, and Valle Adurni.)

Ordinariate in England and Wales: January 2011

In less than two months, the first Ordinariate established according to the norms of Anglicanorum Coetibus will be established in England and Wales. Let us all pray for this incredible canonical achievement, which is a great hope for all Catholics and a precedent of particular relevance for Traditional Catholics.

From the website of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales:

In collaboration with the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in Rome, the Bishops of England and Wales have been preparing for the establishment of an Ordinariate early in January 2011. Although there may be practical difficulties in the months ahead, the Bishops are working to address these at a national and local level.

Five Anglican Bishops who currently intend to enter the Ordinariate have already announced their decision to resign from pastoral ministry in the Church of England with effect from 31 December 2010. They will enter into full communion with the Catholic Church early in January 2011. During the same month, it is expected that the Decree establishing the Ordinariate will be issued and the name of the Ordinary to be appointed announced. Soon afterwards, those non-retired former Anglican Bishops whose petitions to be ordained are accepted by the CDF, will be ordained to the Catholic Diaconate and Priesthood for service in the Ordinariate.

It is expected that the retired former Anglican Bishops whose petitions to be ordained are accepted by the CDF, will be ordained to the Catholic Diaconate and Priesthood prior to Lent. This will enable them, together with the Ordinary and the other former Anglican Bishops, to assist with the preparation and reception of former Anglican clergy and their faithful into full communion with the Catholic Church during Holy Week.

Before the beginning of Lent, those Anglican clergy with groups of faithful who have decided to enter the Ordinariate will then begin a period of intense formation for ordination as Catholic priests.

At the beginning of Lent, the groups of faithful together with their pastors will be enrolled as candidates for the Ordinariate. Then, at a date to be agreed between the Ordinary and the local diocesan Bishop, they will be received into the Catholic Church and confirmed. This will probably take place either during Holy Week, at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday or during the Easter Vigil. The period of formation for the faithful and their pastors will continue to Pentecost. Until then, these communities will be cared for sacramentally by local clergy as arranged by the diocesan Bishop and the Ordinary.

Around Pentecost, those former Anglican priests whose petitions for ordination have been accepted by the CDF will be ordained to the Catholic Priesthood. Ordination to the Diaconate will precede this at some point during Eastertide. Formation in Catholic theology and pastoral practice will continue for an appropriate amount of time after ordination.

In responding generously and offering a warm welcome to those seeking full ecclesial communion with the Catholic Church within the Ordinariate, the Bishops know that the clergy and faithful who are on that journey of faith will bring their own spiritual treasures which will further enrich the spiritual life of the Catholic Church in England and Wales. The Bishops will do all they can to ensure that there is effective and close collaboration with the Ordinariate both at diocesan and parish levels.

Finally, with the blessings and encouragement they have received from Pope Benedict’s recent Visit, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales are resolved to continue their dialogue with other Christian Churches and Ecclesial Communities on that journey towards the communion in faith and the fullness of unity for which Christ prayed.