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Vatican releases rules for ex-Anglicans, insists 'no change' on celibacy
by John L Allen Jr on Nov. 09, 2009
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Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF versionBY JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
Almost three weeks after announcing plans to welcome Anglicans who want to become Catholics, the Vatican today released a legal blueprint for the creation of new structures for these potential converts. According to an apostolic constitution and complementary norms issued this morning, those structures will have wide latitude to incorporate elements of Anglican tradition – though not latitude without limits.
Pointedly, a Vatican statement released this morning insists that permission to have married priests in these new structures does not betoken “any change in the church’s discipline of clerical celibacy.”
The apostolic constitution, titled Anglicanorum Coetibus (“On Groups of Anglicans”) was released today in Rome by Cardinal William Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
Among the highlights:
- The new structures, which are essentially non-territorial dioceses called “personal ordinariates,” will be erected within the borders of a national bishops’ conference, and there can be more than one within each conference. While the document says ordinariates will be created “in consultation” with a bishops’ conference, ultimately the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is in charge.
- Membership is for former Anglicans. Catholics who have never been Anglicans are not “ordinarily” eligible, unless they belong to a family that’s part of an ordinariate – though the term “ordinarily” suggests there may be circumstances in which a Catholic who’s never been Anglican can nevertheless join one of these structures.
- Mass and the other sacraments will be celebrated according to the Anglican tradition, using books approved by the Vatican.
- “As a rule,” only celibate men should be made priests. However, former Anglican ministers who are married may be ordained Catholic priests while remaining married. On a case-by-case basis, the leaders (called “ordinaries”) of these new structures can also ask Rome’s permission to ordain other married men who have never been Anglican ministers.
- Former Catholic priests who became Anglicans can’t be priests, and likewise men in “irregular” marriages are ineligible.
- Former Anglican bishops not recognized as bishops in the new ordinariates may nevertheless take part in bishops’ conference meetings (with the status of a retired bishop), and may ask Rome’s permission to wear the insignia of a bishop.
- Priests will be permitted to have a “secular” job outside the church, with the permission of their ordinary – perhaps a concession to the reality that at least at the beginning, these ordinariates are likely to struggle with financial resources.
- In a concession to the collaborative style of governance within Anglicanism, the ordinariates are required to have a Governing Council (with at least six priests) that will have a deliberative vote on matters such as proposing new ordinaries to Rome, approving candidates for the priesthood, and creating or suppressing parishes, centers of formation and religious congregations. The ordinariates are also required to have Pastoral Councils, while for normal dioceses they are encouraged but optional.
- Ordinaries will have the power not only to ordain priests and erect parishes, but also to create new religious orders of men and women under their jurisdiction.
- Clergy of an ordinariate are to assist the diocese in which they live, and likewise clergy of the diocese can be made available to assist with the activities of the ordinariate.
- Candidates for the priesthood in an ordinariate will study alongside other Catholic seminarians, but may also have their own program of formation.
The full text of the apostolic constitution and complementary norms may be found on the Vatican Web site.
There is a change in celibacy
There is a change in celibacy though if as the fourth bullet says, some married men never ordained as Anglicans may be permitted to become priests. I don't actually approve of that exception but I can see the point of allowing them some leeway in the beginning of this move to allow that. However, there should be a window on that of a few years and then the window closes shut!
'On a case-by-case basis, the
'On a case-by-case basis, the leaders (called “ordinaries”) of these new structures can also ask Rome’s permission to ordain other married men who have never been Anglican ministers.' I would hardly call that 'no change on celibacy'.
Also, 'Ordinaries will have the power not only to ordain priests ...' does this mean that they must be ordained to the Episcopate?
Here is a big question that
Here is a big question that does not appear to have been answered...what about Anglicans who are married, but have prior marriages? Will the new 'ordinates' have to form tribunals, and will they have to go through the scrutiny of each prior marriage for years before becoming Catholic and receiving Sacraments? If not, then is the Vatican going to re-evaluate the process for annulment and convalidation? This seems quite unfair, as I work with both the RCIA and the parish process for annulment and convalidation, and parishioners who desire to become Catholic have to wait YEARS for prior marriages to be annulled. One couple waited 4 years to enter the Church, receive Eucharist and have their civil marriage convalidated due to prior civil marriages. This must be addressed!
Just as an FYI,
Just as an FYI, former-Anglican Priest 'irregular' marriages will NOT be able to be ordained to the priesthood. Neither will Catholic-turned-Anglican Priests. Anyone baptised Catholic will not be able to join the Ordinaries, except for special circumstances.
Therefore the person who has divorced and remarried will not be able to become a priest. Anyone (I am thinking of one person in particular) who went from the Catholic priesthood to the Anglican priesthood will not be able to switch back, except into the territorial diocese.
Also Catholics who turned Anglicans will not be able to pursue the Priesthood in these ordinaries, they would have to join the territorial diocese. Also Someone can not be Catholic and just join the Ordinariate. They would have to be baptised as an Anglican, or as a Catholic in the Ordinariate.
Hope this helps to spread some light on the matter.
I do not wish to be
I do not wish to be uncharitable, but as a cradle Catholic who struggled as a young man with the choice between fatherhood and priesthood and eventually felt called to the former -- and, frankly, not without some twinges of disappointment even forty years later -- I experience a bit of envy mixed with regret when I hear about those who are able to answer both calls being received into the Church.
The Norms released with the
The Norms released with the Apostolic Constitution states that Anglican clergy in "irregular marriages" will not be eligible for ordination, so probably, there will be very few previously married clergy who will be ordained.
I have a question on Mr.
I have a question on Mr. Allen's third bullet about the Mass. Isn't it true that the Anglicans believe in Consubstantiation vs. the Catholic belief in Transubstantiation? I hate to bring up a 500 year old debate, but it is a big one, if "Mass ...will be celebrated according to the Anglican tradition". I hope I am missing something, please fill me in. Thanks
No it's not true that
No it's not true that 'Anglicans believe in consubstantiation' - I speak as an Anglican. ARCIC I and its subsequent clarification details a good deal of the range of Anglican theological views on what happens in the eucharist - but concludes that Anglican doctrine is clear about the real presence of Christ in the sacrament - which the ARCIC consultors described as substantial converegence with Catholic dogma.
Does the document indicate
Does the document indicate that the former Anglican bishops and priests will have to be re-ordained? Since there is a prior ruling that Anglican orders are not valid, I would think something like that would need to happen or is the prior ruling just fading quietly into the night?
Yes, they will have to be
Yes, they will have to be re-ordained.
The backlash from Anglicans
The backlash from Anglicans worldwide over the insulting and disrespectful premise from Benedict that all Anglican Orders (for priests and bishops) have never been valid, is yet to hit. I predict it will be much greater than the men in Rome ever imagined. One thing for certain, the thousands of Anglican priests and bishops who firmly believe their ordinations and consecrations are one hundred per cent valid and that their entire life as servants to God's people has been on equal footing with all other branches of the Holy Catholic Church, will wish those departing to Rome do so quickly and without one penny of compensation. The anger is growing. The treatment of the Archbishop of Canterbury by Rome will not be forgiven easily. He was humiliated and I fear it is only going to get worse as anger grows. The Pope doesn't feel women are equal in Christ's eyes and therefore can't serve as priests and bishops (Anglicans have come to see this teaching as flawed and sinful) and Benedict's views on human sexuality are so ignorant and backward that he only generates hatred and disenfranchisement of LGBT human beings. These are the reasons Benedict is opening his doors to Anglicans who think the same way. This is a shameful and despicable act of a coward. It is also a great sin, it is the opposite of everything Christ taught. Hypocrites! The price for crossing the Tiber is going to be very high. Benedict devalues women and gay, lesbian, bi and transgendered people. Great example for the man who is suppose to be a shepherd to all.
I can't think of anything
I can't think of anything favored by progressive Roman Catholics that isn't already accepted and practiced by the Episcopal Church USA. Why, then, don't they convert? It would seem to be, if nothing else, intellectually honest. And if the Roman Catholic Church adopts the progressive agenda, what makes it distinct from numerous other denominations? How would you tell the difference? I have no idea why most of the columnists for NCR (John Allen excepted) continue to claim or want to be Roman Catholic: isn't there somewhere else where everything they want is already accepted and done? If everything they want is adopted by the Roman Catholic Church, what, then, becomes its defining characteristic? The Pope? A Pope in such changed circumstances is as authoritative as the Archbishop of Canterbury, and we see how well that works.
I understand and embrace the desire for Church reform. But at what point does reform destroy distinctive identity? If you want women priests, LGBT affirmations, divorce, contraception, and abortion: heck, I don't have enough fingers and toes to count the number of alternative and welcoming church homes available.
Being angry all the time isn't worth it. I've been there. It's beyond imagining how refreshing it is to be part of a community of faith that believes as you do. Life's too short to hate so much. Find a home.
It is not Benedict who is
It is not Benedict who is declaring the Anglican Orders invalid.
It was Pope Leo XIII's Papal Bull "Apostolicae Curae" which declared on September 18, 1896 that
the Anglican Orders as 'absolutely null and utterly void' because of the deficiency of intention
and of form of the Anglican ordination rites. In the case of deficiency of intention, the pope declared
that the rites expressed an intention to create a priesthood different from the sacrificing priesthood
of the Roman Catholic Church and reduce ordination to a mere ecclesiastical institution,
an appointment or blessing, instead of a sacramental conferral of actual grace by the action itself.
Only Orthodox and Catholic Holy Orders are valid. So all converting Anglican priests and bishops
have to be ordained in the Catholic Church before they can serve as Catholic priests.
Really to scare you....most
Really to scare you....most people think that the incorporation of old Catholic Order into the Anglican tradition during the 20th century has eradicated any defect that there might have been before, which of course the Archbishops of Canterbury and York were eloquent in denying in their masterful reply to 'Apostolicae curae', 'Saepius officio'(1897) - a must read for serious scholars of this subject. There's real Latin for you.....
As a catholic of Spanish
As a catholic of Spanish tradition, old "hard core", I am very pleased by the initiative of several Anglican groups, and HH Benedict 16's response in Anglicanorum coetibus. I do not share the misgivings expressed by some in the United States and England.
As a lawyer I can see the hand of canon lawyers in this process, sometimes we lawyers can do some good!
Recognizing the HH Benedict 16 is a very intellingent man, one must recongnize too that he has taken two decisions: first, the admission en masse of anglicans, including married clergy, in a corporate fashion, through the new ordinariates; second, that the effect of the influx and expansion of married clergy in the Latin or Western Church, will lead, sooner or later, to the decision of making celibacy optional in the Latin Church. This is why, his is a transcendental decision. A precedent can be found in the Vatican 2 Constituion on the Liturgy Sacrosantum Concilium, which gave the OPTION of the Mass in the vernacular for the Latin Church, and it became the rule!
Re 'Backlash from Anglicans",
Re 'Backlash from Anglicans", it is not Benedict who is declaring the Anglican Orders are invalid.
It was Pope Leo XIII's Papal Bull "Apostolicae Curae" which declared on September 18, 1896 that
the Anglican Orders as 'absolutely null and utterly void' because of the deficiency of intention
and of form of the Anglican ordination rites. In the case of deficiency of intention, the pope declared
that the rites expressed an intention to create a priesthood different from the sacrificing priesthood
of the Roman Catholic Church and reduce ordination to a mere ecclesiastical institution,
an appointment or blessing, instead of a sacramental conferral of actual grace by the action itself.
Only Orthodox and Catholic Holy Orders are valid. So all converting Anglican priests and bishops
have to be ordained in the Catholic Church before they can serve as Catholic priests.
Re. "I have a question on Mr.
Re. "I have a question on Mr. Allen's third bullet about the Mass. Isn't it true that the Anglicans believe in Consubstantiation vs. the Catholic belief in Transubstantiation?"
Catholic Anglicans (Anglo-Catholic or High Church) have never defined the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist in terms of Consubstantiation. That is a Lutheran term. Neither, however, have Anglicans endorsed the exclusive categories of substance and accidents which shape the Roman definition of Transubstantiation. Like Eastern Orthodox Christians (whose sacramental validity is recognized by the Holy See) Catholic Anglicans generally take the view that there may be other ways of describing the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. For example, in Eastern Christian theology the Thomistic categories do not exist but fully developed theologies of the Real Presence have grown out of Greek and other philosophical schools of thought in light of Revelation.
Though many Anglicans would have no difficulty with the doctrine of Transubstantiation properly understood within the context of Western philosophy, most would not want to limit the mystery of Christ's presence to one culturally defined conception. With our Eastern brothers and sisters we value the "Holy Mysteries" however defined, Anglicans speak of the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist from many points of view and are open to those of others. Rome tacitly recognizes these views by endorsing the validity of Eastern Catholic and Orthodox sacraments both for those churches in full communion with Rome and many churches which are not. Remember the Latin Church is only the Western part of the Catholic Church.
As to the rites in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and other Anglican rites, these are easily interpreted and have been so interpreted by Catholic Anglicans from the time of the Reformation to support a belief in the Real Presence. The Anglican Eucharistic rites in the US Anglican Use Book of Common Worship (based upon the US Book of Common Prayer) had been endorsed by Rome for decades (since 1980). These rites continue to be used by Anglicans in communion with Rome in the USA and will be adapted for use worldwide soon - these rites affirm the Real Presence of Christ but make no reference to Transubstantiation.
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