Anglican Roundup

Rome is planning to establish "ordinates" (personal dioceses) for Anglican converts, but everyone is responding as if they were establishing an Anglican Rite on the Eastern model with a synod of bishops, a seperate code of canon law, and the ability to make their own liturgical decisions! Yes, a bunch of Anglican ordinates spread around the world could evolve into their own bishop's conference, etc. but all that is a mere far distant possiblity.

Look upon the ordinates as a solution to a bureaucratic problem of the Vatican, i.e. it would be very cumbersome to have an Anglican "Form" parish or two in many dioceses reporting to the Roman Rite bishop, so you consolidate them within a country in a working relationship to a national bishops conference, and the bishops and Rome have a more efficient way of working with people who come over, and that will be helpful to those who come over giving them a more consistent and supportive environment.

Again since there will be no Anglican Rite (i.e. synod of bishops, seperate code of canon law, etc) Rome will likely treat the Anglican Form of the Mass as an additional Form of the Roman Rite along side the Ordinary Form and the Extraordinary Form much as there have been various Forms of the Roman Rite for various religous orders over the centuries.

The person ordinates may provide Rome with a solution to their problem of bringing into communion the devotees of the Tridentine form, allowing them to set up an ordinate in each country to administer parishes that follow exclusively the Extraordinary Form. If the coming Apostolic constitution is more general in form rather than particular to the Anglican tradition, that may be the direction Rome is going.

Everyone is making too much of what may be really be just an innovative administrative process serving a real pastoral need.

Jack Rakosky
votfcleveland.org