I’ve been encouraged to comment on the Vatican’s (presumably strongly Benedict driven) regulations for admitting renegade Anglicans to Rome. It’s a bit hard to know exactly what to say, since in some ways it’s a bit hard to know exactly what they mean. I’ve had a go at translating the main provisions.
In each instance below I give Papa Ratzi’s version followed by my own take.
I. §1 Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church are erected by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith within the confines of the territorial boundaries of a particular Conference of Bishops in consultation with that same Conference.
§2 Within the territory of a particular Conference of Bishops, one or more Ordinariates may be erected as needed.
§3 Each Ordinariate possesses public juridic personality by the law itself (ipso iure); it is juridically comparable to a diocese.
§4 The Ordinariate is composed of lay faithful, clerics and members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, originally belonging to the Anglican Communion and now in full communion with the Catholic Church, or those who receive the Sacraments of Initiation within the jurisdiction of the Ordinariate.
§5 The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the authoritative expression of the Catholic faith professed by members of the Ordinariate.
Anglicans must believe exactly the same things as Roman Catholics, but can escape local structures. As former heretics they will come under the direct authority of the Holy Inquisition, which can bypass the local bishops as needed. Ordinariate is newspeak for an ersatz diocese that doesn’t have a local bishop, but is run directly from Rome.
II. The Personal Ordinariate is governed according to the norms of universal law and the present Apostolic Constitution and is subject to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and the other Dicasteries of the Roman Curia in accordance with their competencies. It is also governed by the Complementary Norms as well as any other specific Norms given for each Ordinariate.
You can forget the local freedom you were used to as Anglicans.
III. Without excluding liturgical celebrations according to the Roman Rite, the Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See, so as to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared.
You can still go on using the Roman Rite, only now you’ll be able to use it legally. If you have actually been using a heavily modified Anglican rite, you can always ask us to approve it. We will be happy to consider your many illegal adaptations and see if we can pretend they are your Anglican heritage. You will, however have to give up that really valued heritage of illegally modifying things to your own satisfaction.
IV. A Personal Ordinariate is entrusted to the pastoral care of an Ordinary appointed by the Roman Pontiff.
We are keen on bypassing the local bishop and extending papally centralised authority.
V. The power (potestas) of the Ordinary is:
a. ordinary: connected by the law itself to the office entrusted to him by the Roman Pontiff, for both the internal forum and external forum;
b. vicarious: exercised in the name of the Roman Pontiff;
c. personal: exercised over all who belong to the Ordinariate;
This power is to be exercised jointly with that of the local Diocesan Bishop, in those cases provided for in the Complementary Norms.
You have the power the Pope gives you, but even this Pope’s got to pretend the local bishop has some, so we put this last bit in to keep him happy.
VI. § 1. Those who ministered as Anglican deacons, priests, or bishops, and who fulfill the requisites established by canon law and are not impeded by irregularities or other impediments may be accepted by the Ordinary as candidates for Holy Orders in the Catholic Church. In the case of married ministers, the norms established in the Encyclical Letter of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis coelibatus, n. 42 and in the Statement In June are to be observed. Unmarried ministers must submit to the norm of clerical celibacy of CIC can. 277, §1.
§ 2. The Ordinary, in full observance of the discipline of celibate clergy in the Latin Church, as a rule (pro regula) will admit only celibate men to the order of presbyter. He may also petition the Roman Pontiff, as a derogation from can. 277, §1, for the admission of married men to the order of presbyter on a case by case basis, according to objective criteria approved by the Holy See.
§ 3. Incardination of clerics will be regulated according to the norms of canon law.
§ 4. Priests incardinated into an Ordinariate, who constitute the presbyterate of the Ordinariate, are also to cultivate bonds of unity with the presbyterate of the Diocese in which they exercise their ministry. They should promote common pastoral and charitable initiatives and activities, which can be the object of agreements between the Ordinary and the local Diocesan Bishop.
§ 5. Candidates for Holy Orders in an Ordinariate should be prepared alongside other seminarians, especially in the areas of doctrinal and pastoral formation. In order to address the particular needs of seminarians of the Ordinariate and formation in Anglican patrimony, the Ordinary may also establish seminary programs or houses of formation which would relate to existing Catholic faculties of theology.
We’d just like to point out that you’re not in Holy Orders yet. Yours are absolutely null and void. You – the fake bishop – may allow celibate Anglican priests to train and become real priests in the Catholic Church. You may only allow married men to do so with the Pope’s permission. You should encourage your priests to try to work with the local diocesan priests, who will, quite frankly almost certainly look down on them. The not-quite-a-bishop and the real bishop should try to identify some things ex-Anglicans might be able to do with the real Catholics in your area.
VII. The Ordinary, with the approval of the Holy See, can erect new Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, with the right to call their members to Holy Orders, according to the norms of canon law. Institutes of Consecrated Life originating in the Anglican Communion and entering into full communion with the Catholic Church may also be placed under his jurisdiction by mutual consent.
You can have your own monks and nuns, provided we let you. Existing Anglican monks and nuns who convert can choose whether they want to have anything to do with you.
VIII. § 1. The Ordinary, according to the norm of law, after having heard the opinion of the Diocesan Bishop of the place, may erect, with the consent of the Holy See, personal parishes for the faithful who belong to the Ordinariate.
§ 2. Pastors of the Ordinariate enjoy all the rights and are held to all the obligations established in the Code of Canon Law and, in cases established by the Complementary Norms, such rights and obligations are to be exercised in mutual pastoral assistance together with the pastors of the local Diocese where the personal parish of the Ordinariate has been established.
If the local bishop agrees, you can ask the Pope’s permission to set up parishes. If the local bishop won’t allow you to set up a parish in his diocese, you can go over his head to the Pope. The parishes are meant to form relationships with the local ones who almost certainly don’t want them.
X. Both the lay faithful as well as members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, originally part of the Anglican Communion, who wish to enter the Personal Ordinariate, must manifest this desire in writing.
We’re not just going to take your vicar’s word for it that his congregation is coming over.
X. § 1. The Ordinary is aided in his governance by a Governing Council with its own statutes approved by the Ordinary and confirmed by the Holy See.
§ 2. The Governing Council, presided over by the Ordinary, is composed of at least six priests. It exercises the functions specified in the Code of Canon Law for the Presbyteral Council and the College of Consultors, as well as those areas specified in the Complementary Norms.
§ 3. The Ordinary is to establish a Finance Council according to the norms established by the Code of Canon Law which will exercise the duties specified therein.
§ 4. In order to provide for the consultation of the faithful, a Pastoral Council is to be constituted in the Ordinariate.
The clergy can run things. You must keep the laity sweet by consulting them on their opinions. But you can still go ahead and make the decisions the clergy want to make anyway.
XI. Every five years the Ordinary is required to come to Rome for an ad limina Apostolorum visit and present to the Roman Pontiff, through the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and in consultation with the Congregation for Bishops and the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, a report on the status of the Ordinariate.
You are not your own boss. Get used to it. The Inquisition is keeping an eye on you.
XII. For judicial cases, the competent tribunal is that of the Diocese in which one of the parties is domiciled, unless the Ordinariate has constituted its own tribunal, in which case the tribunal of second instance is the one designated by the Ordinariate and approved by the Holy See.
All your many divorced and remarried members will be excommunicated. You will need to get them annulments. Until you can set up your own mechanisms, you can use the local diocesan tribunal.
XIII. The Decree establishing an Ordinariate will determine the location of the See and, if appropriate, the principal church.
We will decide what your structures are, but to sweeten the taste we’ll look at whether to give you a fake cathedral as well as a fake diocese.
I think that just about covers it.
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Brilliant.
As to 1.1 and 1.2, my concerns are that there may not be parity in that each may not go to the same lengths.
I think your commentary is about right as a practising Catholic who trained as a Catholic Priest and passed my Canon Law Exams your reading of the document is correct
Is there any word in the Apostolic Constitution about the Vatican’s right to change the rules for the Anglican Romans AFTER they enter into the Roman games? It could happen – and by fiat, without consultation with the Anglican Romans.
It isn’t clear to me that those appointed by the Pope to be the Ordinary of these mini dioceses are going to be bishops, or rather archpriests acting as vicars of the Pope.
In the Norms is says that the man chosen will be ordained a priest (again) but nothing about a consecration to the Episcopacy. Apparently, a married priest can be considered for the office, and this Anglican ‘bishop’ or episcopal vicar will meet with the Roman diocesan bishop and the Conference of bishops, but will have the status of a retired bishop. No vote I guess.
Still pretty murky. And if celibacy is required of new converts to this Anglican rite, does this not mean that a major source of priests for Traditional Anglicans will disappear — just as it has for the Roman Church?
Yes, that’s my understanding of the rules – my reading between the lines suggests that this is primarily to allow for a married Anglican bishop (who therefore can’t be a Roman bishop) to be ordained priest and appointed ordinary. He will (as a former Anglican bishop) be able to apply for the use of “episcopal insignia” i.e. staff, mitre and ring (I think). So you will have a Roman priest, who was an Anglican bishop, running things like a bishop, and dressing as a bishop. Welcome to Wonderland!
I understand all this now. Think I’ll stay put.
Meanwhile the poor are still poor, the hungry are still hungry, the homeless are still homeless, the lonely are still lonely, and the gospel is still not being shared with those who have not yet accepted it.
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