New Path for Anglicans to Enter Catholic Communion

4 thoughts on “New Path for Anglicans to Enter Catholic Communion”

  1. Interesting thoughts Rita. I also wonder what will happen when an unbaptized inquirer approaches an Anglican/Catholic parish. Will that person be subject to the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults?

    For another take on the news, see John Allen’s account in the NCR: bit.ly/1ZcmZp

  2. Nick, I think the answer to that question is no. The Anglican liturgy that is being carried over is based on the medieval Catholic liturgy, which was a period in time when the catechumenate itself was dormant and its rites truncated to fit into the one celebration of baptism. To the best of my knowledge, there is no catechumenate in the Book of Common Prayer. There would certainly be nothing like the ritual repertoire we have in the RCIA.

    On a related subject, interestingly enough, the 1962 Roman Ritual, now permitted as the “extraordinary form” of the Roman Rite, contains a seven-stage catechumenate which was the immediate precursor to the RCIA. I haven’t heard of any communities using it.

  3. I think the personal ordinariate is more akin to the military ordinariate (which is what they called it before it became the Archdiocese for the Military Services)than to the Eastern Catholic Churches, so I doubt that someone coming to the Roman Church from the Anglican communion will have to enter the Anglican ordinariate.

    The question about an unbaptized person entering the Anglican Catholic ordinariate is interesting. If they are keeping their own ritual books, they will probably keep whatever the practice is now. I think their equivalent of the RCIA is not an official rite.

    What kind of formation will we have for an Anglican Roman Catholic who wishes to become part of a not-Anglican Roman parish (even the language is going to be interesting in all this).

    I’m also curious about what authority a local bishop has if they are part of another bishop’s ordinariate.

    So many questions.

  4. Yes, there are lots of questions! Here’s another: What to do about the status of Confirmation in the Anglican Church? Currently, Rome does not accept it as valid. Will we reconfirm all of them in the Personal Ordinariate, just as we have been re-ordaining their priests?

    Vicky, you may be right that the analogy to the Eastern Churches does not hold, but to the extent that there is a group here that is interested in preserving its distinctive tradtions, I think there is a comparison to be made. I do not think the military ordinariate is an apt analogy, as the military does not have their own “religious patrimony” or liturgical rites. Of course, perhaps there will be a parallel in terms of administration, in that it will work independently of the local diocese. The Personal Ordinariate for the disaffected Anglicans has been compared to Opus Dei. I don’t know if that’s correct either, but I offer it for reflection!

    I’ve got a copy of the document the Episcopal Church in the USA uses for their catechumenate, which as you note is optional, but I can’t seem to lay my hand on it right now. I’m uncertain as to whether it “counts” however, since it is so new. Which documents will be considered the religious patrimony, and which are not, remains a mystery to me. I can’t imagine some of their new eucharistic prayers being accepted, for example. We shall see.

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