Today’s announcement of the Apostolic Constitution is a response by Pope Benedict XVI to a number of requests over the past few years to the Holy See from groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and are willing to declare that they share a common Catholic faith and accept the Petrine ministry as willed by Christ for his Church.
Pope Benedict XVI has approved, within the Apostolic Constitution, a canonical structure that provides for Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of distinctive Anglican spiritual patrimony.
The announcement of this Apostolic Constitution brings to an end a period of uncertainty for such groups who have nurtured hopes of new ways of embracing unity with the Catholic Church. It will now be up to those who have made requests to the Holy See to respond to the Apostolic Constitution.
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Fascinating. The wrinkle which most interested me about this development today was the joint communication from Rowan and Vincent. It went further than the “we’re still friends” that I had imagined. Instead, the AC is in a way taking credit for a development it is not a part of. Just brilliant.
We’ve heard leaks lately from the royal family that they’re not happy with the state of the CofE. I wonder if Prince Charles is tempted by this new arrangement? He might be giving up the throne (is he ever really going to get it?), but it could be a trial balloon for the whole family, to see if the mostly-areligious british people would care. Or maybe not!
Cross posted from SF:
[blockquote]Heh.
A brilliant attempt at a spin—nay an attempt to actually take some of the credit—for a plan that will allow a chunk of members of the COE to leave and go to Rome.
Priceless.
“The Apostolic Constitution is further recognition of the substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality between the Catholic Church and the Anglican tradition. Without the dialogues of the past forty years, this recognition would not have been possible, nor would hopes for full visible unity have been nurtured. In this sense, this Apostolic Constitution is one consequence of ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.â€
Yeh, yeh . . . that’s it. All of that dialogue has led to . . . [drum roll] . . . the Roman Catholic church setting up a handy way for certain members of the Anglican Communion [and others] to join the Roman Catholics. And it’s all attributable to all that great dialogue that the ABC and others are involved in.
But for him, none of this “success†would be happening! ; > ) [/blockquote]
But it was certainly kind for Rome to allow Rowan to attempt to save a little face by doing a “joint statement” . . .
Oddly, the fact that last week Cardinal Kasper published a book on ‘Ecumenical Dialogue’:
http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-27239
seems to be overlooked by everyone commenting on the press conference that Abps. Nichols and Williams gave. Perhaps their press exposure was not in fact meant as a face-saving exercise.
Almost thirty years ago, the Vatican made a “Pastoral Provision” for US Episcopalians that looks somewhat similar to this (please let me know if I’m wrong about this). Details are at
http://www.pastoralprovision.org
It looks like seven parishes have signed up since then.
The evidence is mounting that we are in the midst of a new kind of reformation, and the lines that have demarcated the churches for the last half millennium are now up for renegotiation. What this move suggests to me is not only whither Anglican Christianity, but also whither the Roman Catholic Church.
I have come to believe over the last few years that much would be gained if Anglicans and Roman Catholics found a fresh way of viewing each other — and cooperating. One of the problems with the Church of Rome is that their position has not been one of negotiation but of demand, when encountering other traditions. For example, as an Anglican of an evangelical variety I have no problem at all in accepting the primacy of the See of Rome as the churches together seek to undertake their mission, however I have real difficulties when I am asked to accept the infallible authority of the Bishop of Rome within the context of the Magisterium. Obviously, the problems I have in the Anglican-Roman direction the Catholic has in the Roman-Anglican direction.
I would like to think that this is the Catholic Church learning a little flexibility, and that that is a glimmer of light toward a genuine rapprochement…
MarkP –
Actually, only 1 parish – St. Mary the Virgin, Arlington,Texas – “signed up” for the Anglican Use. The others were formed as AU communities by former Episcopalians. St. Mary’s did convert as a community.
#7 There have been some positive dialogues – though ARCIC has obviously run into the sand. Formally between RCs and Lutherans, and between RCs and Church of the East. Relations with the Moscow Patriarchate seem to be thawing. Informally Evangelicals and Catholics Together have produced some interesting statements, the most recent being on the [url=http://www.firstthings.com/article/2009/10/do-whatever-he-tells-you-the-blessed-virgin-mary-in-christian-faith-and-life]Blessed Virgin Mary[/url].
Probably the most informative statement now out on the Vatican announcement and that of Abps. Nichols and Williams, is this from Abp. Hepworth:
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=11378
I note that in it he refers to the ‘fruits of a century of prayer for Christian unity, a cause that many times must have seemed forlorn’. Probably not a coincidence.