The English ordinariate, it seems, will be well on its way by the middle of this month. Three former Anglican bishops were received into full communion with the Catholic Church during a Mass at Westminster
Cathedral on January 1. One of the comments following the Herald online report, noting that they were received in secular clothing, opines that “For Bishops to wear ties is simply saintly and to lose all that prestige they once held is stunning to the mind of a Catholic Bishop”.
Well, indeed. But I think that their former prestige is the least important aspect of what they are giving up: they are abandoning certainty and recognition within an established institution, for uncertainty within an institution ”“ the ordinariate ”“ that doesn’t even exist yet. What this shows is an absolute faith in the Catholic Church of which it will be a part, especially as it is embodied by the present Holy Father.
I last saw the most senior of the three, John Broadhurst, formerly Bishop of Fulham, splendidly caparisoned in full episcopal fig (I have known him, on and off, for over 30 years, and have never seen him except in clericals: I can hardly imagine him in a secular collar and tie) at the 150th anniversary of that great Anglo-Catholic institution, Pusey House, Oxford, just after the publication of Anglicanorum coetibus. I asked him for his reaction to the document (it was pretty clear that most of those present were elated by it): his reply had to do, not with the visionary excitements of the proposed ordinariate, but with its practicability: “it’s doable”, he simply replied.
Yes, Rome simply responded very quickly to those who were asking for a way in. It will be interesting to watch as TEC and ACC cointinue their heretical ways.
I’m happy to read an article that was positive about it, instead of grumpy carping. For those that feel called to it, it could work beautifully. Good, and prayers for all…
I’m still in the (regular) Roman Catholic church. However there is a Anglican church that has petitioned to be accepted into the ordinariate close by, (and hopes that it will happen around Pentacost this year). When it does, I shall swim the Tiber, home.
Right now, I am going to my regular Catholic 10,000 souls megaparish on Sundays and to this new, tiny 28 soul microchurch on Wednesdays for Compline. (My pastor says that as an RC I can’t take communion in the Anglican church until they do formally enter communion).
Woo Hoo! Go Guys!
Oddly enough I was received into the Catholic church almost exactly 8 years ago, being confirmed on Pentacost Sunday in 2003. I feel like I’m watching “Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother” coming into the battle – also after 8 years. {Judges 3: 7-11}
I am grateful that the Barque of Peter took me on board when I was drowning, and the Catholic church has been a blessing. But even so, it’s been a long 8 years.