At a news conference following his report, Cardinal Wuerl said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the Vatican were to establish the U.S. ordinariate by the end of the year. “I think it will be sooner rather than later,” he said.
Two Anglican congregations in Maryland — St. Luke’s in Bladensburg and Mount Calvary in Baltimore — have announced their intention to join the new ordinariate once it is established.
Addressing the bishops at the close of the first day of their spring general assembly near Seattle, the cardinal said St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston has developed and the Vatican has approved an intensive nine-month program of priestly formation for Anglican clergy who wish to become Catholic priests.
Wonderful news!!! Thanks be to God!!!
Interesting that converting priests are to undergo ten months training whereas in England they are being priested in a matter of a few weeks.
The question and answer session, seen over the internet, was fairly interesting because a lot of the bishops seemed to know next to nothing about the Anglican liturgy and there were intimations that congregations would naturally move toward a Roman rite. There is such a thing as a Bible-oriented high-churchgoer and when congregations trend in the direction of the Ordinariate it may present a dilemma for parishioners wanting to remain with the congregation without intent to convert. Suddenly classical Anglicanism becomes a realm of disallowed thought. Our heroes fall in the realm of heretics, some of whom were executed in the 1500s. But it is not like there are a lot of orthodox high-church alternatives left anywhere. Any thoughts on this?