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Developments - 2009 Apostolic Constitution

Unitas, the Catholic League, is delighted to welcome the announcement of an Apostolic Constitution for the Universal Church, establishing 'Personal Ordinariates' for ecclesial bodies of Anglicans desiring the fullest expression of Catholic faith and life through the recovery of full eucharistic communion with the Holy See.

In the early 1990s, officers of the Catholic League approached Cardinal Hume and other members of the Bishops' Conference proposing the establishment of a similar structure to enable Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church, while retaining their distinctive liturgical, spiritual and theological cultures as part of the rich diversity that is proper to the Universal Church. The model was not right for the times; but Cardinal Hume readily recognised that true reconciliation involves uniting all in a spirit of mutual learning and spiritual reception of each others gifts and treasures.

Since that period, rather than focusing on controversies within the Anglican Church, the Catholic League has concentrated on work to promote 'spiritual ecumenism', the concept made popular throughout the world by Father Paul Couturier in his efforts to deepen prayer for Christian Unity - 'according to Christ's will, according to Christ's means' - especially during 2003 when we arranged the 50th anniversary celebrations of Couturier's death and in 2008, the centenary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to which he had given new life in 1993. More recently, we have supported and prayed for the inspiring new work at the Centre for Catholic Studies at Durham University on 'receptive ecumenism', taking the spiritual ecumenism commended in 1964's Decree on Ecumenism to a new level, at which each church imagines what treasure the Lord has entrusted to other traditions that it needs to ask to receive as a gift towards its own completion of the path towards unity. Evidently now, the Holy Father Pope Benedict XVI has decided that the rich gifts of the Anglican tradition are to be embraced within the Catholic Church and be made to belong to her as treasures of her own.

A special Pastoral Provision has long been available in the United States for Catholics worshipping in the Anglican tradition, but this applied to North American conditions and liturgical traditions. The new Apostolic Constitution will apply the lessons learned to the entire Catholic Church. Furthermore, while the US parishes of Anglican tradition were within the jurisdiction of an existing Catholic diocesan bishop, the new Ordinariates will normally be led by their own bishop (who in accordance with Catholic and Orthodox tradition will be unmarried), or a former Anglican priest.

The rite to be used, following the experience of the Pastoral Provision in north America, will be a variant of the Latin Roman Rite, from which all Anglican liturgy is derived. Thus the Ordinariates will not be seen as 'ritual Churches' or the Oriental Catholic Churches in communion with the Holy See (for instance the Ukrainian Greek Catholics, the Melkites or the Syro-Malankara Church).

Unitas, the Catholic League, is especially pleased that this provision, to be enacted as an Apostolic Constitution, with thus the highest level of canonical authority, has been granted in a thoroughly ecumenical manner. There has been significant consultation with the Anglican Churches' authorities, especially the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. Both the Holy See and the Anglican Church stress that the Constitution will not be concerned with the position within Anglicanism; that it does nothing to draw energy or commitment away from the theological dialogue of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission or the International Anglican=Roman Catholic Commission on Unity and Mission; or that it represents any diminution of the commitment and effort of the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion towards visible unity and full communion. It is a response to many and widespread requests from Anglicans around the world and the wider ecumenical work towards reconciliation and Christian unity remains unaffected. Indeed, Cardinal Walter Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has repeatedly stated that that the two churches are closer now than at any time since the 16th century, that with various uncertainties within the Anglican tradition now decided, the truest work of dialogue, exchange and mutual collaboration can now begin in earnest. The very high level of official Catholic representation and participation at the 2008 Lambeth Conference indicates how strongly both churches continue to be oriented towards full visible communion.

When the League was founded in 1913, it was only 17 years after Apostolicae Curae, when all hopes of Anglican-Catholic reconciliation seemed dashed. It was also only three years after the famous 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference, which saw the first grouping of all the main Protestant, Reformed and Anglican Churches to discuss and plan for mission and unity for the rest of the new century - and an end to the rivalry and scandal of separation. The League's founders wanted to remind Church people that, however difficult the challenge, true unity and faithful proclamation of the Gospel require the reconciliation of the whole Church together, not just parts of it. Over the years this 'still, small voice' of witness by a few has become the mainstream view of all the main Christian traditions. So, the last ten decades have seen 100 years of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; the official and lasting establishment of ARCIC alongside many other dialogues towards unity with the Catholic Church; the liturgical renewal of all the Western Christian traditions; the profound friendships among Christians of all churches, whether at the local congregation's level, or the local dioceses, or between the leaders at world level - especially for English Christians between successive Popes and Archbishops of Canterbury; and the launch of IARCCUM, the means for Anglican and Catholic bishops to collaborate pastorally, practically and in proclamation on the ground. The Apostolic Constitution is the fruit of this - it enables those who wish to be Catholics to bring their Anglican tradition with them in a distinctive, lasting and continually formative way, so that it can now be integrated into the wider Catholic tradition from within. It is also the 'corporate reunion' that has long been hoped for. And, using this term, Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, explicitly indicates that this prayer has been answered. The Catholic Church gladly gffers full communion with the Holy See and recognises and invites those who have desired to know it as Anglicans to respond and receive the gift in exchange for what they bring. Furthermore he confirms the importance for Catholics of unity with all Anglicans, for the sake of the Gospel of Christ and following him faithfully, and disposes the Catholic Church - again from within - to a greater understanding of Anglican culture, heritage, spirituality and worship.

It is a cause for great rejoicing that in the centenary year of the Liturgical Movement founded by Dom Lambert Beauduin, whose spirituality did so much to inspire Paul Couturier, the Holy Father has given realisation to something that Father Lambert suggested at the unofficial Malines Conversations (1921-25): the idea of 'the Anglican Church, united not absorbed' that has caught the imagination of all Anglican and Roman Catholic ecumenism since. We hope that the new provision to make this a reality in Catholic life may be seen as a portent of the 'unitatis redintegratio', the re-integration into unity, that is already the manifesto of the Catholic Church's teaching on Christian Unity from the Second Vatican Council, and the shape of the Church in the future. Now it can fully be recognised that that there is nothing that is distinctive of the Anglican Church, or any other tradition, that cannot be embraced wholeheartedly within the Catholic Church too.

Fr Mark Woodruff, acting Director

The report from the Vatican Information Service, 20 October 2009, follows:

NOTE ON ANGLICANS WISHING TO ENTER THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

In a meeting with journalists held this morning in the Holy See Press Office Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and Archbishop Joseph Augustine Di Noia O.P., secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, presented a note on a new measure concerning "Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church".

Commenting on the English-language note, which has been published by his dicastery, Cardinal Levada explained how, "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 worldwide 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".

"The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church, particularly through the efforts of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. The initiative has come from a number of different groups of Anglicans" who, said Cardinal Levada, "have declared that they share the common Catholic faith as it is expressed in the Catechism of the Catholic Church and accept the Petrine ministry as something Christ willed for the Church. For them, the time has come to express this implicit unity in the visible form of full communion".

The Cardinal further indicated that "it is the hope of the Holy Father Benedict XVI that the Anglican clergy and faithful who desire union with the Catholic Church will find in this canonical structure the opportunity to preserve those Anglican traditions precious to them and consistent with the Catholic faith. Insofar as these traditions express in a distinctive way the faith that is held in common, they are a gift to be shared in the wider Church. The unity of the Church does not require a uniformity that ignores cultural diversity, as the history of Christianity shows. Moreover, the many diverse traditions present in the Catholic Church today are all rooted in the principle articulated by St. Paul in his letter to the Ephesians: 'There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism'.

"Our communion", the cardinal added in conclusion, "is therefore strengthened by such legitimate diversity, and so we are happy that these men and women bring with them their particular contributions to our common life of faith".

In a joint declaration on the same subject, Catholic Archbishop Vincent Gerard Nichols of Westminster and Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury affirm that the announcement of the Apostolic Constitution "brings to an end a period of uncertainty for such groups who have nurtured hopes of new ways of embracing unity with the Catholic Church. It will now be up to those who have made requests to the Holy See to respond to the Apostolic Constitution", which is a "consequence of ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.

"The on-going official dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion provides the basis for our continuing co-operation", the declaration adds. "The Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC) and International Anglican Roman Catholic Commission for Unity and Mission (IARCCUM) agreements make clear the path we will follow together.

"With God's grace and prayer we are determined that our on-going mutual commitment and consultation on these and other matters should continue to be strengthened. Locally, in the spirit of IARCCUM, we look forward to building on the pattern of shared meetings between the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales and the Church of England's House of Bishops with a focus on our common mission".

The full statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is available here at the website of the Holy See. And go here to read the 20 October 2009 joint statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Dr Vincent Nichols.

Earlier Developments - The League's Response to the General Synod and the Lambeth Conference 2008

For our position on the General Synod of the Church of England and the Lambeth Conference 2008, and the implications for Christian Unity, please download the PDF document here.

Future Developments - The New Translation of the Mass of the Roman Rite into English

The new text of the Ordinary of the Mass in the Roman Rite is now approved. Visit the website of the US Catholic Conference of Bishops' Commission on Divine Worship to prepare now for its introduction in a few years' time.