Maybe We’ll All Be Catholics Again Someday
I’m not expressing a personal wish.
But I am observing an amazing phenomenon – namely the induction, or shall we say the reinstatement of Protestant Anglicans back into the Catholic fold. So the R.C. Church is providing a “new kind of structure” to facilitate the induction of dissenting Anglicans – a way of doing church that keeps the unity but allows room for diverse expressions. This is like – revolutionary for the R.C. Church, no?
But the thing that tickles me is how similar this is to the way the Evangelical Covenant does theology – and ecclesiology. I wonder if anyone’s picked up on that… Here’s the stories:
With the preparation of an Apostolic Constitution, the Catholic Church is responding to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion.
In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony. Under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution, pastoral oversight and guidance will be provided for groups of former Anglicans through a Personal Ordinariate, whose Ordinary will usually be appointed from among former Anglican clergy.
The forthcoming Apostolic Constitution provides a reasonable and even necessary response to a world-wide phenomenon, by offering a single canonical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local situations and equitable to former Anglicans in its universal application. It provides for the ordination as Catholic priests of married former Anglican clergy. Historical and ecumenical reasons preclude the ordination of married men as bishops in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Constitution therefore stipulates that the Ordinary can be either a priest or an unmarried bishop. The seminarians in the Ordinariate are to be prepared alongside other Catholic seminarians, though the Ordinariate may establish a house of formation to address the particular needs of formation in the Anglican patrimony. In this way, the Apostolic Constitution seeks to balance on the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups and their clergy will be integrated into the Catholic Church.
Amazing.
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=34678#
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/apost_constitutions/index_en.htm
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Hello, I stumbled across your blog when trying to get an insight into the Asian Evangelical blogosphere. As a Catholic, I can answer question and I believe that this move is not too revolutionary. The Catholic Church does have a history in providing for groups of Christians outside the fold (mostly Eastern Orthodox) who wish to reunite. For instance, when the Ruthenians and Ukranian Orthodox at the Union of Brest in 1595 were reunited to Rome, Rome allowed them to maintain their married priest, liturgical traditions, omit “Filioque” in the Creed, and even the Julian calendar.