Surprising aspects of the document include the provision that married former Anglican bishops can serve as the ordinary, or head of an ordinariate, take part in bishops’ conference meetings and be able to keep the episcopal insignia – for example, their crosier and mitre. Former Anglican clergymen entering the Catholic priesthood in the ordinariate would be allowed to take secular jobs, providing them with a means of supporting themselves. Cardinal Levada said the provision “opens a new avenue for the promotion of Christian unity while, at the same time, granting legitimate diversity in the expression of our common faith”.
Speaking on the day the document was published, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, who is one of the Church of England’s “flying bishops” who minister to Anglicans who do not accept women priests, said that traditionalists have been given what they asked for “handsomely”. He said that any transition would be difficult and it was a time for prayer and discernment.
“If we’re open-hearted and imaginative enough to accept the offer and realise that it will be an untidy transition, but that the ministry is not about that, then the difficulties can be overcome,” he said.
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Catholic Herald: Rome opens arms to world's Anglicans
Surprising aspects of the document include the provision that married former Anglican bishops can serve as the ordinary, or head of an ordinariate, take part in bishops’ conference meetings and be able to keep the episcopal insignia – for example, their crosier and mitre. Former Anglican clergymen entering the Catholic priesthood in the ordinariate would be allowed to take secular jobs, providing them with a means of supporting themselves. Cardinal Levada said the provision “opens a new avenue for the promotion of Christian unity while, at the same time, granting legitimate diversity in the expression of our common faith”.
Speaking on the day the document was published, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, Bishop of Ebbsfleet, who is one of the Church of England’s “flying bishops” who minister to Anglicans who do not accept women priests, said that traditionalists have been given what they asked for “handsomely”. He said that any transition would be difficult and it was a time for prayer and discernment.
“If we’re open-hearted and imaginative enough to accept the offer and realise that it will be an untidy transition, but that the ministry is not about that, then the difficulties can be overcome,” he said.
Read the whole article.