To be honest, with regard to the first comments, I do not understand…[Professor Tina Beattie’s] perplexity. It seems quite simple: it means that a goodly number of Anglicans and their clergy will be entering into full communion with the Catholic Church. Moreover, surely their arrival will only enrich the diversity of the Catholic Church, as they bring their own traditions, or “patrimony”, of liturgical worthiness, pastoral sensitivity and biblical engagement. They will speak an idiom clearly understood by Anglicans, who may then, we pray, feel moved to explore further the path to full communion by means of this familiar idiom.
Here, one suspects, is her problem. The Ordinariate reveals clearly that for the Catholic Church ecumenism is not about ongoing “dialogue” for its own sake. It is about encouraging and convincing Christians to enter into full communion with the Church, from which they are estranged due to actions centuries ago. If it means anything regarding the relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church it is that the Church has only one goal, ultimately, for ecumenical dialogue with Anglicans: that they return to the Church. This may disturb many Anglicans, for sure, but that is no reason to stop the progress of ecumenism.
Her second comments raised the eyebrows as she describes the actions of Ordinariate Catholics as “Protestant”. How it can be Protestant to enter into Communion with the Catholic Church is beyond me!
I very much appreciate Fr. Hugh’s clarity on this, as opposed to what comes out of both Canterbury and Westminster. I’ve just completed a blog post about all of this over at The Conciliar Anglican:
http://conciliaranglican.wordpress.com/2011/02/01/the-ordinariate-and-salvation/
Bottom line, though, is that in these conversations about ecclesiology we very rarely ask questions about how our understanding of the Church helps or hinders our soteriology. I think that Rome is right to push us to face our own ecclesial deficiencies, but Anglicans should be prepared to ask what might be perceived as uncomfortable questions about the way our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters understand the saving grace of a relationship with Jesus Christ.
Sorry to see the blog unreadable – black background and small white type. The direction of Anglican ecumenical work has been toward agreements of full communion with mutual recognition and shared ministry as an intermediate goal looking to organizational unity in the future as the separate organizations grow together in this ministry. The Roman policy of organizational union first is a dead end. When Rome accepts Anglican orders we’ll be able to enter into full communion, but reordination is for me a deal breaker.