Text/Commentary: Anglican Constitution establishing personal ordinariates

Hot off the Vatican (internet) press:

• APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS PROVIDING FOR PERSONAL ORDINARIATES FOR ANGLICANS ENTERING INTO FULL COMMUNION WITH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (includes these subsections-->)
  
• PRESS RELEASE
• APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS
  
• COMPLEMENTARY NORMS FOR THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS
  
• THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION ANGLICANORUM COETIBUS (FR. GIANFRANCO GHIRLANDA, S.J., RECTOR OF THE PONTIFICAL GREGORIAN UNIVERSITY)
  

Commentary:

• Damian Thompson: Pope's historic offer creates an Anglican tradition within the Catholic Church
• Fr. Z's first notes
• CNS: Papal document on former Anglicans maintains some Anglican traditions
• John Allen: Vatican releases rules for ex-Anglicans, insists 'no change' on celibacy
• Damian Thompson: Apostolic Constitution: married ex-Anglican bishops may keep insignia of episcopal office

Will Anglican priests entering the Church be required to embrace celibacy?

That was the question addressed by today's note from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith:

There has been widespread speculation, based on supposedly knowledgeable remarks by an Italian correspondent Andrea Tornielli, that the delay in publication of the Apostolic Constitution regarding Personal Ordinariates for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church, announced on 20 October 2009 by Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, is due to more than 'technical' reasons. According to this speculation, there is a serious substantial issue at the basis of the delay, namely, disagreement about whether celibacy will be the norm for the future clergy of the provision.

Cardinal Levada offered the following comments on this speculation: "Had I been asked I would happily have clarified any doubt about my remarks at the press conference. There is no substance to such speculation. No one at the Vatican has mentioned any such issue to me. The delay is purely technical in the sense of ensuring consistency in canonical language and references. The translation issues are secondary; the decision to delay publication in order to wait for the 'official' Latin text to be published in 'Acta Apostolicae Sedis' was made some time ago.

Cardinal Levada goes on to quote from Canon Law, and my father has helpfully blogged about this and explained what's happening in layman's terms. Basically - there's no change to the Church's current norms on celibacy.

Previous AmP posts on the topic of Anglican Reunification are archived here.

Did St. Theresa have an intercessory role in Anglican reunification?

Jack Smith at the Catholic Key blog:

Yesterday we conveyed the suspicion of former Episcopal and now Kansas City Catholic priest, Father Ernie Davis, that the intercession of St. Therese of Lisieux was behind the Vatican’s move to provide a structure to welcome Anglicans into full communion. Now, the Anglican Catholic Bishop of Canada strongly confirms that thought.

Father Davis, who leads St. Therese Little Flower parish in Kansas City which hosts an Anglican Use community, wrote of the news from the Vatican:

Anglicans and Catholics flocked to visit the relics of Saint Therese of Lisieux as they made a very recent pilgrimage to England. Her relics rested on her 2009 feast day at York Minster, the Cathedral of the Anglican Archbishop of York. When I read about that, I told the people here at St. Therese Little Flower that she was working on something big. In other words, preparations for this Apostolic Constitution have been in process for 170 years, and some of the preparations have been made at levels that are higher than popes.

The Traditional Anglican Communion Bishop of Canada saw the claim and sent an email today to Father Davis with remarkable details of St. Therese’ intercession. Here’s the email.

Video: Explaining Anglican-Catholic Reunicification

Aggie Catholics found this useful Rome Reports video:



The visuals themselves are fun to see.

Background: Abp. Di Noia asked dominicans for Anglican reunification prayers

This little note from Augustine Di Noia, OP (that's him in white - he was one of the most important prelates involved in the recent Anglican reunification news behind Cardinal Levada and the Pope himself) to his brother dominican friars back in the United States reveals the beautiful mutual-uplifting of prayers that permeated the Vatican's proceedings:

"Today there was announced -- at press conferences in Rome and London -- the forthcoming publication of an apostolic constitution in which the Holy Father allows for the creation of personal ordinariates for groups of Anglicans in different parts of the world who are seeking full communion with the Catholic Church. The canonical structure of the personal ordinariate will permit this corporate reunion while at the same time providing for retention of elements of Anglican liturgy and spirituality.

When I asked the Friars (and other OPs - Ed.) to pray the Dominican litany from 22 February to 25 March earlier this year, the intention was that this proposal would receive the approval of the cardinal members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which was necessary if the proposal of some structure allowing for corporate reunion was to go forward. Our prayers at that time were answered, and now that the proposal has become a reality we can tell everyone what we were praying for then.

Context provided at the Dominican Friars' St. Joseph (East Coast) Province Blog.

I was honored to attend Di Noia's Mass of episcopal ordination back in July.

Open Thread: Anglican-Catholic Reunification

I will be busy today attending to APP-related activities, but I want to allow the discussion about yesterday's news to continue. Here are the posts AmP published yesterday about the Vatican announcing special pastoral provisions for traditional Anglicans to be received back into the Catholic Church:

• Important: Vatican welcomes Anglicans into Catholic Church with Apostolic Constitution
• Commentary: Anglo-Vatican announcement has important American/African dimension
• Video: Vatican press conference on Anglican provision
• Raw video: Abp. Nichols of Westminster explains new Anglo-Catholic structures

Please be aware of these resources which provide ongoing quality coverage and commentary:

• Fr. Dwight Longenecker, a Catholic priest and convert himself from the Anglican Church
• Damian Thompson, a reporter for the UK Telegraph and an expert on UK Catholic issues
• Ed Peters (my father) - a canonical expert who is looking at how this will all work out
• The Anchoress, an amazing blogger who has been doing mega-coverage of this story

For those very interested in the internal politics of this news, do read the entirety of Robert Moynihan's most recent report from Rome. He was in the room when the Vatican press conference took place, and provides a unique and thorough perspective on the many dynamics that were and are at play.

... and that should provide ample fodder for you eager Papists .... and those eager to be Papists!

And, as in all open threads, AmP readers are welcome to drop appropriate links into the comment box.

Raw video: Abp. Nichols of Westminster explains new Anglo-Catholic structures

Raw video from the press conference held this morning in London. This video features Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the President of the Catholic Bishop's Conference of England and Wales, explaining more about what the new Anglo-Catholic structures will look like:

Video: Vatican press conference on Anglican provision

From the Vatican's YouTube channel, interesting because it gives us a visual of what happened in Rome this morning:

Anglo-Vatican announcement has important American/African dimension

The Anglican Communion includes over 80 million persons worldwide.

I'll leave it to others to look at the possibilities for reconciliation and communion with the Catholic Church in Africa, where the Anglican Communion is on average far more conservative than their British counterparts.

But let us not forget the large numbers of Anglicans (Episcopalians) in the United States - well over two million. Episcopalians in the United States are not all of one mold, but among their number there are many traditional "high Church" individuals, who would be most disposed to reunification with Rome. There are already numerous "Anglican-rite" parishes in the United States, which allow for the inclusion of some elements of traditional Anglican prayer in the Catholic Mass.

Cardinal George - President of the US Bishops - has released a statement to reflect on the US dimension of the decisions announced in Rome and London today which I include in full:

Today the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has received word of the new Provision in the form of an apostolic constitution issued by the Holy See for the reception into full communion with the Catholic Church of groups from the Anglican tradition. The USCCB stands ready to collaborate in the implementation of that Provision in our country.

This step by the Holy See is in response to a number of requests received in Rome from groups of Anglicans seeking corporate reunion. The application of the new Provision recognizes the desire of some Anglicans (Episcopalians) to live the Catholic faith in full, visible communion with the See of Peter, while at the same time retaining some elements of their traditions of liturgy, spirituality and ecclesial life which are consistent with the Catholic faith.

This Provision, at the service of the unity of the Church, calls us as well to join our voices to the Priestly Prayer of Jesus that ‘all may be one’ (Jn 17:21) as we seek a greater communion with all our brothers and sisters with whom we share Baptism. For forty-five years, our Episcopal Conference has engaged in ecumenical dialogue with The Episcopal Church, which is the historic Province of the Anglican communion in North America. The Catholic Bishops of the United States remain committed to seeking deeper unity with the members of The Episcopal Church by means of theological dialogue and collaboration in activities that advance the mission of Christ and the welfare of society."

I certainly intend to do my part - there is an English pub down the street and this evening I'm going down there to have a few pints in celebration of the 1st annual "Anglo-Catholic Reunification Day."

Breaking: Vatican welcomes Anglicans into Catholic Church with Apostolic Constitution

Some stories are so big it's hard to know where to begin.

So let's begin with what the Vatican is saying:

"Today’s announcement of the Apostolic Constitution is a response by Pope Benedict XVI to a number of requests over the past few years to the Holy See from groups of Anglicans who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Roman Catholic Church, and are willing to declare that they share a common Catholic faith and accept the Petrine ministry as willed by Christ for his Church.

Pope Benedict XVI has approved, within the Apostolic Constitution, a canonical structure that provides for Personal Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of distinctive Anglican spiritual patrimony.

The announcement of this 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." (VIS)

UK Telegraph reporter Damian Thompson (and "British Papist") is the man to read at this hour:

This is astonishing news. Pope Benedict XVI has created an entirely new Church structure for disaffected Anglicans that will allow them to worship together – using elements of Anglican liturgy – under the pastoral supervision of their own specially appointed bishop or senior priest.

The Pope is now offering Anglicans worldwide “corporate reunion” on terms that will delight Anglo-Catholics. In theory, they can have their own married priests, parishes and bishops – and they will be free of liturgical interference by liberal Catholic bishops who are unsympathetic to their conservative stance.

There is even the possibility that married Anglican laymen could be accepted for ordination on a case-by-case basis – a remarkable concession.

.... This is a decision of supreme boldness and generosity by Pope Benedict XVI, comparable to his liberation of the Traditional Latin Mass. The implications of this announcement will take a long time to sink in, but I suspect that this will be a day of rejoicing for conservative Anglo-Catholics and their Roman Catholic friends all over the world.

Also to read at this early stage: Deacon Keith Fournier (for more implications of this decision) and BBC News (to get an early sense for how the British press views this move). I will be updating this post as time permits today.

*At this time the text of the Apostolic Constitution is not available online.*

More....

• Damian Thompson: Archbishop of Canterbury criticises Rome for springing this announcement on him
• Fr. Z. Commentary on Note of the CDF about personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church
• John Allen: Vatican reveals plan to welcome disaffected Anglicans
• Associated Press: Pope Approves Plan to Bring Anglicans Into the Fold
• Catholic News Service: Pope establishes structure for Anglicans uniting with Rome
• The Anchoress is following the story closely, and I'm pleased to see she is mindful of the huge implications of this move for more traditional Anglicans in Africa
• New York Times: Pope Approves Plan to Allow Anglicans Into the Fold
• [You have to laugh at National Catholic Reporter's take: "Pope okays new structures to absorb disgruntled Anglican conservatives"]

More #2....

• Canon Lawyer Ed Peters: First thoughts on an Anglican ordinariate
• AmP follow-up: Anglo-Vatican announcement has important American/African dimension

Tomorrow: Major announcement on Catholic-Anglican relations?

Papist chatter across the herring pond in England is heating up, with confirmed reports of major simultaneous press conferences taking place tomorrow morning at the Vatican and London.

Damian Thompson gets us the goods - this press release came from the Vatican:

We inform accredited journalists that tomorrow, Tuesday 20 October 2009, at 11am, in the John Paul II Hall of the Press Office of the Holy See, a briefing will be held on a theme pertaining to the relationship with the Anglicans, at which His Eminence Cardinal William Joseph Levada, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and His Excellency Mgr Joseph Augustine Di Noia OP, Secretary of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments will take part. (Hat-tip, Fr Finigan.)

Meanwhile, this press release came from the Archbishop of Canterbury's office:

You are invited to a press conference with Archbishop Vincent Nichols (Archbishop of Westminster) and Archbishop Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury) on Tuesday 20 October at 1000. The press conference will take place at 39 Eccleston Square, London SW1V 1BX.

For both Cardinal Levada (doctrinal issues) and Abp. Di Noia (liturgy and sacraments) to be involved, you know it has to be significant.

The conference will be taking place in the very early morning hours my time, so when I wake up tomorrow I'll take a look at the news wire and report back.

Rumor: 400k Anglicans to be received back into the Church?

This is technically "blog fodder", but believable hear-say, and if true, incredibly significant:

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is reportedly recommending that the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) be offered the status of personal prelature. The Traditional Anglican Communion is a group of approximately 400,000 Anglican’s that have broken away from the Anglican Communion seeking to preserve their Anglo-Catholic traditions. They formerly requested entry into the Catholic Church in 2007. These reports are emanating from an Australian Catholic weekly called The Record. {American Catholic}

Catholic Online posts a qualification to its initial report:

Catholic Online promised to up date our readers on this extraordinary story. So, we now pass this on: The National Catholic Register cites a "Vatican Source" as saying that "nothing's been decided" by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Reports abound that the Congregation has recommended the creation of a personal prelature as the vehicle through which to receive the members of the Traditional Anglican Communion into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. The Register contends that an official at the Congregation spoke with their correspondent Edward Pentin today saying,“It’s something that has appeared on the blogosphere and then been reiterated, but the truth is nothing’s been decided.” We set forth our original story below believing that the sources reporting this exciting news and the history of the dialogue support its accuracy.

This move strikes me as entirely likely, and seems to fit within the general framework of what Pope Benedict has been doing to reach out to other communities who are "all-but-Catholic" (that "all-but" remaining an important destinction, of course). A revealing paragraph from the Register piece:

An announcement could be made soon after Easter this year. It is understood that Pope Benedict XVI, who has taken a personal interest in the matter, has linked the issue to the year of St Paul, the greatest missionary in the history of the Church. The Basilica of St Paul outside the Walls could feature prominently in such an announcement for its traditional and historical links to Anglicanism.

Excellent observations from American Catholic contributor Tito Edwards:

If this information is accurate, this is an incredible turn of events coming from the Vatican. First the motu proprio freeing the Tridentine Mass, the overtures to S.S.P.X., and now granting the Traditional Anglican Communion the status of a personal prelature, which only Opus Dei occupies thus far. With the Catholic Church change occurs over centuries, but with the Venerable Pope Benedict XVI he has dramatically altered the landscape of the Catholic Church within three short years.

What does this mean for traditionalists (High Anglicans) in the Canterbury based Anglican Communion? Possibly protection from heterodoxical bishops by entering the Catholic Church as a personal prelature or simply entering the Traditional Anglican Communion. This is going to create shockwaves all the way to Canterbury and the rest of the Anglican Communion throughout the world. It will definitely make the prelates of England and Wales cringe in fear to the thought of hundred’s of thousands of Anglicans entering their realm and bolstering the numbers of faithful and dedicated Catholics. It will also certainly create havoc for Katherine Jefferts Schori and her bishops in keeping The Episcopal Communion together here in the United States.

Regular AmP readers know that I tend to not quote at length unless I find everything being said valuable.

Breaking: Conservative Episcopalians to form rival US province

The fracture of the Anglican communion continues. This time, dramatically:

Conservatives estranged from the Episcopal Church in the United States and its Canadian counterpart are expected to formally announce Wednesday the formation of a rival “province” in the two countries.

Leaders of the new Anglican Church in North America are expected to unveil a draft constitution for the province — or ecclesiastical territorial division — at an evening service at the 1,200-seat Wheaton Evangelical Free Church in Wheaton, Illinois, the group said in a written statement.

“The public release of our draft constitution is an important concrete step toward the goal of a biblical, missionary and united Anglican Church in North America,” Bishop Robert Duncan of the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, diocese, said in the written statement.

The move comes after years of debate over several issues, ranging from the interpretation of the Bible to homosexuality. Tensions reached a boiling point in 2003, when the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay man, Rev. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire. (CNN)

Stand Firm is the traditional Anglican blog in America. They have been posting live updates:

BREAKING: Constitution Approved for New Province // From an anonymous (but impeccable) source. That's all we have now. More details as news develops. // The vote to approve the constitution was unanimous, with no abstentions. // 4 of 9 canons have been voted on. The assembly has now broken for lunch. // No more news until the press conference later in the day.

They also have a live video stream from Wheaton where the meeting is taking place.

More links: New York Times, AssociatedPress, UK Telegraph, Dallas Morning News.

I wonder if any conservative pastors, congregations or individuals are considering the Catholic Church as an alternative to this new rival province and the old communion?

update: also checkout Texanglican.

[photo credit: Sally Ryan for the New York Times.]

Anglican leader Rowan Williams accepts authenticity of Lourdes

My apologies for not covering this story more closely, it is highly news-worthy, even unprecedented:

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was today branded a ‘papal puppet’ after he became the first leader of the Church of England to accept visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes as historical fact.

He asserted that 18 visions of Our Lady allegedly experienced by Bernadette Soubirous in 1858 were true.

His words shocked millions of Protestants worldwide because they not only signified a break with Protestant teaching on the Virgin Mary but also Dr Williams’s personal acceptance of the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, which is explicitly linked to the apparitions.

The archbishop made his remarks during a three-day visit to the shrine in the French Pyrenees - the first ever by a leader of the Church of England. In a homily he preached at an international Mass there, Dr Williams spoke about the apparitions without any qualifications.

... He also praised the lives of the saints, another devotion seen as distinctively Roman Catholic.

... The archbishop’s pilgrimage comes just a week after Pope Benedict XVI made his own pilgrimage to the shrine.

He was invited to the shrine by Jacques Perrier, the Catholic Bishop of Tarbes and Lourdes.

Dr Williams was joined there by the German Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, who celebrated the international Mass.

He was also joined by an unprecedented pilgrimage of 10 Church of England bishops, some 60 Anglican priests and about 400 Anglican lay worshippers, a number of whom are considering becoming Catholics in protest at the decision of the General Synod in July to pave the way for the creation of women bishops. (UK Mail Online)

The rest of the story recounts how Dr. William's actions and words have a whole set of people really, really steamed. What courage Dr. Williams has shown for following-through on the pilgrimage he set out on.

What does this mean in the broader context, in terms of the Anglican communion and Anglican-Catholic relations? Time will tell, but I'd appreciate any good commentary people have come across. Drop a link in the comment box!

Are ex-Anglicans getting stonewalled by liberal Catholics?

Allright, time to dip into some deeper waters now. I hope you've had your afternoon coffee.

Rod Dreher poses the question:

Do ex-Anglicans make the wrong kind of Catholics? You know, the kind who really believe the Catechism? I ask for two reasons. One, the Dallas Morning News reports today that priests of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth have been inquiring of the city's Roman Catholic bishop about their diocese coming over to Rome en masse, so to speak. No report on how the RC bishop, Kevin Vann, responded to the Episcopal priests' petition, though the Catholic diocese did confirm that the meeting took place.

... Well, if you were a Catholic bishop, you ought to find that inspiring. One hopes Bishop Vann does. But the example of a former Episcopal bishop of Fort Worth who wanted to convert to Rome but was sabotaged by Catholic clergy offers a cautionary tale, which is basically this: some Catholic clergy don't want those traddie Episcopalians, presumably because they would be a force for Catholic orthodoxy. A possible secondary reason: because keeping the church bureaucracy functioning, including maintaining good relations with bureaucrats in other churches, is more important than conversions.

And his eventual conclusion:

It also makes me think that if Rome is too powerless to bring over an Anglican bishop who the Pope has said he is "in communion" with because of the Baton Rouge priests council, or unwilling to help bring over 200+ whole Anglican parishes, how much power will they have or energy will they spend to help us? We may have to come to the same sad lesson that most of the Anglo-Catholic dissidents still in the Church of England came to: the bishops and priests don't want us, and Rome is unwilling or unable to help us. Therefore, we have to help ourselves.

I think Rod is being too pessimistic:

While the individual cases he cites are indeed troubling, it's a stretch to claim that they represent the usual way such requests are being handled. Indeed, if anything, his treatment of the topic might serve to raise awareness, and with heightened awareness, influence positive action being taken on behalf of these searching Anglicans.

Obviously, in these situations Bishops hold the ultimate responsibility (under the authority of the Pope) to oversee the conversion of traditional Anglicans into full communion with the Church. This is an entirely possible goal, and should be eagerly sought for by "liberals" and "conservatives" alike.

After all, if "liberals" are disconcerted by the prospect of conservative converts, what does that say about their own view of the Church?

Here I thought they were the inclusive ones.

CNA has also covered the original subject matter of this story.

Cardinal Levada opens up lines of communication with traditional Anglicans

This is how stuff gets done:

A traditionalist Anglican group has received strong Vatican encouragement for its hopes of "corporate unity" with the Catholic Church.

Archbishop John Hepworth, the head of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) has received a message from Cardinal William Levada, the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), promising "serious attention" to the proposals that the TAC submitted to the Vatican last year. In a visit to the CDF last October, Archbishop Hepworth explored the possibility that the TAC might be received into communion with the Holy See.

... The Anglican prelate said that he had written promptly to thank Cardinal Levada for his encouragement, "reaffirming our determination to achieve the unity for which Jesus prayed with such intensity at the Last Supper, no matter what the personal cost this might mean in our discipleship." (CWNews)

Picture: How reformed are you?

Dawn discovers that the Episcopalian Rev. Tommy Allen, is a "closet papist!"

(So does this mean he is very reformed or unreformed, I wonder?)

Video: Colbert on the Anglican Schism ... "Skism"?

update: sorry about the broken video, it should work now:



I've actually interviewed with Laurie Goodstein.

She didn't use it. :-)

Noted: "Gay Bishop Must Resign or Confess, Says Sudan Church Head"

Sanity prevails, at least in the Sudan:

The head of the Anglican church in Sudan said on Tuesday that unity could be restored to the troubled Anglican Communion only when the openly gay Bishop Gene Robinson resigns or confesses he has "made a mistake" in embracing homosexuality.

The Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul told reporters at the Lambeth Conference, the once-a-decade gathering of Anglican bishops, that Robinson “should resign for the sake of the Church.”

“We consider him as a human being. We are not throwing him away. But he is supposed to resign to allow the Church to be united,” he said. “The norms of the Anglican Communion have been violated.”

He added that those involved with Robinson's consecration also had to confess.
"We as Christians always forgive one another and confess whenever we make mistakes. If they could do that that would help the Anglican world."

Just under a quarter of Communion's bishops have boycotted the Conference in protest of the attendance of pro-gay clergy. The absent bishops, largely conservative church leaders from the Global South, held an alternative summit in Jerusalem last month, the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON).

“I think there is already a breakdown of the Anglican Communion,” the Sudanese archbishop said. “Three hundred bishops have stayed away from this conference because of Gene Robinson. Shouldn’t Gene Robinson resign to allow the 300 bishops to come back to the house?”

In an official statement issued earlier on Tuesday, the Episcopal Church of Sudan said that it could not accept church leaders who practice contrary to the biblical teaching on sexuality. (Christian Today)

On integrating refugee conservative anglicans stateside

As a blogger, one of the most rewarding experiences one can have is watching several disparate stories suddenly fall into place nicely. Now of course, the danger is to let oneself impose an order that isn't actually there, but in this case I think there's some encouraging signs that the pieces are actually lining up....

First up, Damian Thompson (who is rapidly becoming my trusted source for UK Anglican/Catholic information, think of him as the British Rocco), has published that "The Catholic Church will expand its provision of "Anglican Use" parishes in the United States in order to allow whole communities of traditionalist Anglicans into the Roman fold".

The source for this development is Abp. John Myers of Newark, a canonist of the first order, speaking at this summer's Anglican Use Conference in San Antonio. The radioactive quote:

“We are working on expanding the mandate of the Pastoral Provision to include those clergy and faithful of 'continuing Anglican communities’,” Archbishop Richard J Myers said in San Antonio, Texas at a conference for “Anglican Use” parishes of the Roman Catholic Church.

Anglo-Catholic bishops attending the Lambeth Conference confirmed to ReligiousIntelligence.com that discussions were underway with the Vatican over their reception into the Roman Catholic Church, and were hopeful a way could be found for them to go over to Rome with their dioceses. [Religious Intelligence UK]

[More from his address to the conference:]

Through the Anglican Use liturgy, individuals from the Episcopal Church who reconcile with Rome have the option to worship in a manner that is familiar to them, which many practiced from childhood, and which has nourished their faith in Jesus Christ.

... (In some cases the sense of the sacred conveyed in the Anglican Use liturgy has been a vehicle of return for Catholics who had fallen away from the practice of their faith because of liturgical abuses during the implementation of the Novus Ordo.)

... Catholic faithful who worship according to the Anglican Use must never see themselves as different from other Catholics or somehow privileged among other Christian Communions. We are Catholics together, obedient to the Holy Father, to those bishops in communion with him and ever faithful to Magisterial teaching.

... The struggle is real. The choice is not always easy. However, the Holy See’s allowance of the Anglican Use liturgy for now might help to make the burden a little easier for some to bear. The mark toward which we press as Catholics and as Christians is Jesus Christ. He is our goal and we can only find Him through the Church he founded on Peter.

[Read his entire keynote address here.]

For more information on the Anglican Use rite (I've blogged about related topics previously):

• The Anglican Use Society - and do note: one of the speeches given at this year's conference was by a former episcopal bishop! Read more about that here. I believe I blogged about him when the news broke, but can't find it in the archives immediatly.
• Anglican Use on Wikipedia - also lists the Anglican Use parishes in the U.S (11 or 12)
• CIN provides the rubrics of the Anglican Use liturgy in a single page

Now here's the final, fun part: the part where I tie a couple separate strands together:

The exhumation of Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman has been requested by the Vatican to make veneration easier for his devotees. The prominent nineteenth-century convert from the Church of England is being considered for beatification, the last step before he is declared a saint.

Cardinal Newman’s body was buried in a small cemetery at Rednal in 1890. According to the Telegraph, the Vatican wants his remains to be moved to a marble sarcophagus in the Birmingham Oratory.

Father Paul Chavasse, Provost of the Birmingham Oratory, explained the reason for the request: "One of the centuries-old procedures surrounding the creating of new saints by the Catholic Church concerns their earthly remains. (CNA)

CWNews speculates that his beatification could take place "before the end of this year."

And how appropriate, that simultaneous upon the prospect of numerous Anglicans returning to the barque of peter, the Anglican-convert par excellence would be elevated to the dignity of a blessed!

And lest we forget the spiritual... "Is Cardinal Newman Praying for His Anglican Brethren?".

It's such a harmonious picture, the plan seems a bit more than human.

Cartoon: Preparing for Lambeth

Eerily accurate:
Ph/t: Nathaniel Peters @ First Things.

Open thread: The Anglican Situation

Even though we are still pre-Lambeth, the Anglican communion melting pot is quickly reaching the boiling point and, most importantly, the conservative run-off might make a run for Rome.

(Okay, I think I stretched that metaphor a bit too far. Anyway....)

The UK Telegraph has done a story on the most notable high-level candidate for conversion:

A bishop in the Church of England has become the first to announce he is ready to convert to Roman Catholicism following the decision to ordain women bishops without compromise measures for traditionalists.

The Bishop of Ebbsfleet, the Rt Rev Andrew Burnham, has called on the Pope as well as Catholic leaders in England and Wales to help him and his parishioners defect to Rome.

He hopes entire parishes under his control will convert but be allowed to remain worshipping in their existing churches, while guided by Catholic bishops.

Bishop Burnham, one of the three "flying bishops" in England who look after parishes which do not want women priests, has already been to the Vatican to discuss a possible move.

CWNews picks up on the story and fills in the details. I'll be watching the headlines closely in the coming weeks.

Now let's turn this into an open thread. Here are some starters:

• What do you think the Vatican reaction to such requests will be? What sort of accommodations might they make to make the transition easier?
• What do you think is the likelihood of high-level defections besides this one?
• In terms of raw numbers, how many Anglicans will follow their bishops' lead?
• How will the remaining Anglican communion respond to these developments?

Speak up!

Further signs of disintegration in the Anglican Communion

More tremors felt .... Diogenes on the future of the Anglican Communion and ending with a whimper.

update:

"The Church of England's ruling General Synod has voted to consecrate women as bishops and approved a code of practice aimed at reassuring opponents." (BBC News)

update 2:

"There can be no future for Christianity in Europe without Rome," an Anglican bishop told the Sunday Telegraph this weekend, after it was revealed that a group of "senior" bishops from the Church of England has been in secret negotiations with the highest levels of the Vatican to discuss the current crisis in Anglicanism over the acceptance of homosexuality and female bishops. Bishops from both the Church of England's "evangelical" or protestant and "high" or "Catholic" wings are said to have been involved in the talks that some believe may presage a mass return of Anglicans to the Catholic fold. (LifeSiteNews)

Report: "Anglican bishops in secret Vatican summit"

The latest in the saga:

They met senior advisers of the Pope in an attempt to build closer ties with the Roman Catholic Church, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt.

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was not told of the talks and the disclosure will be a fresh blow to his efforts to prevent a major split in the Church of England.

In highly confidential discussions, a group of conservative bishops expressed their dismay at the liberal direction of the Church of England and their fear for its future.

They met members of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the most powerful of the Vatican's departments, the successor to the medieval Inquisition, which enforces doctrine and was headed by Pope Benedict XVI before his election.

The names of the bishops are known to The Sunday Telegraph, but they have asked for anonymity because the talks are of such a sensitive and potentially explosive nature. (UK Telegraph)

And I thought all the summer fireworks would be confined to the July 4th weekend.

Breaking: "Conservative Anglicans to announce schism"

I've been watching this story for some time. The latest:

Conservative Anglican prelates, meeting in Israel next week in an alternative to the Lambeth Conference, will announce that they can no longer remain in communion with the Church of England, the London Daily Telegraph reports.

The Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON), convened by African Anglican bishops, will essentially announce a schism in the Anglican communion, according to the Telegraph story. The conservative bishops will say that there is no realistic prospect for retaining unity among the world's Anglican leaders because of grave disagreements on doctrine and practice. [More]

Related:

• Five hundred priests threaten to leave Anglican church over female bishops - CNA
• Lambeth Conference: Time of reckoning for ecumenical dialogue - CNS
• My previous posts on this and related stories about the anglican communion

3,000 Iraqis become Roman Catholics - showing Anglicans the way?

Damian Thompson (a UK journalist I'm starting to read closely), reports:

Three thousand Iraqi Christians living in America have become Roman Catholics together, in a deal with the Vatican that will spark the interest of traditionalist Anglicans who want to convert en masse without losing their cultural identity.

.... The lessons for English-speaking Christianity are almost too obvious to need pointing out. If the Catholic Church is prepared to demonstrate generosity in negotiable areas such as liturgical language and married priests, centuries of disunity can be overcome.

But, when it comes to Anglo-Catholics, that’s a big “if”. The Catholic ecumenical establishment – in Rome and, especially, in Westminster – is not keen on Anglican traditionalists, and recoils from the prospect of them worshipping together as Roman Catholics with their own communal identity.

The Iraqis in question are becoming Chaldean-rite Catholics. I studied with several Chaldean Catholic seminarians and have spoken to them about the persecution the Chaldean Catholic Church is undergoing in Iraq.

Rome to Anglicans: Decide if you are Protestants or Catholics

A controversial story from UK blogger Damien Thompson:

The Vatican said last night that the time has come for the Anglican Church to choose between Protestantism and the ancient sacramental Churches of Rome and Orthodoxy.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, told the Catholic Herald that the Anglican Communion must “clarify its identity” and stop hovering between the Catholic and Protestant traditions.

... The cardinal [Kasper] is clearly hoping for some sort of breakthrough – or break-up? – at this summer’s Lambeth Conference, which already promises to be a spectacular disaster. But I don’t think we should jump to the conclusion that his views represent those of Pope Benedict.

An Anglican-Catholic reunion looked far more likely before Anglicans decided to start ordaining women, etc.

update: The story is picking up steam, Phil Lawler talks about it here.

Pope Meets with Head of Anglican Communion, Lambeth on the minutes

Today Pope Benedict held a private meeting with Dr. Rowan Williams (see a picture here), and Vatican Radio snagged a quick pre-interview:

Dr Williams is in Rome this week for the 7th 'Building Bridges' seminar of Christian and Muslim scholars to be held this year at the English college retreat house 'Palazzola' overlooking Lake Albano in the Roman Hills.

On his way to the Vatican he told Philippa Hitchen what he hoped to discuss the Pope:

"Well it’ll be a fairly informal and low key meeting: I hope to bring him up to date on our plans about the Lambeth conference, perhaps to discuss with him a little what’s going to be happening at the conference this week at Palazzola and just touch base with him about China, the initiatives we’re involved in with regard to the churches in China.

... The full length interview with Dr. Williams is available on our English Feature Programme.

Lambeth, eh?

Gay Episcopal bishop Robinson pouts about Lambeth snub

Associated Press:

The first openly gay Episcopal bishop announced he will have no official role in a meeting this summer of world Anglican leaders, saying restrictions that organizers wanted to place on his involvement had caused him "considerable pain."

Irony:

"I am dismayed and sickhearted that we can't sit around a table, as brothers and sisters in Christ, and study Scripture together," he said. "It makes me wonder, if we can't sit around a table and study the Bible together, what kind of Communion do we have and what are we trying to save?"

What kind of Communion do they have and are trying to save? Oh, maybe the communion called for in Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, 1 Cor 6:9-10 and Rom 1:26-28, for a start start. It's hypocritical of him to accuse Lambeth of being uncharitable towards him when it is he who is condoning acts explicitly forbidded by God in scripture.

One thing I can agree with that Robinson said: "Pray for me. I will need that. A lot."

The UK Guardian, meanwhile, notes that Robinson will be at Lambeth although not participating in it, and 'planned to be available to anyone interested in "pursuing conversations that would include him'".

I blogged at-length here about the challenges facing the Anglican communion this year at Lambeth.

The Latest on the Lambeth Conference Crisis

The Lambeth Conferences are the largest gatherings of anglican bishops, and are held only once every 10 years. The last conference held in 1998 hotly debated the issue of homosexuality in scripture. The fourteenth conference is schedule to take place this summer (July 16 - August 4).

But numerous conservative anglican bishops plan to boycott it.

CWNews reports:

The Anglican bishops of Uganda have announced that they will not take part in the Lambeth Conference, the worldwide meeting of the Anglican hierarchy that will take place at Canterbury in July.

Archbishop Henry Orombi said that the Ugandan bishops were joining their colleagues from Nigeria and Rwanda in a boycostt of this year's Lambeth Conference because of profound and unresolved disagreements with other Anglican leaders over the ordination of an openly homosexual American bishop. The installation of Bishop Gene Robinson in New Hampshire was an act of "flagrant disregard" for existing norms within the Anglican communion, he charged.

While this not may seem like a big deal to someone living in the West, the fact remains that Nigeria constitutions over 10% of the worldwide members in the Anglican communion (and growing). You can read the full text of the letter the Nigerian archbishop submitted to Lambeth here (scroll down). Note Paragraph 6:

"The Church of Uganda, by this decision, wishes to reaffirm our commitment to the resolutions of the 2006 Provincial Assembly and Resolution 1.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference, which, in substance, denounced homosexual practice and called upon the Church to remain faithful to the Holy Scriptures."

Guess which side I'm taking on this one.

The UK Times reports than Kenya and Rwanda are also expected to follow suit, as is Sydney, Australia. It seems to this (admittedly-uninformed) observer that the Anglican communion is crumbling in Africa, and at least one anglican bishop in the U.S. would energetically agree with that assesment. I'm sure there are others.

Those bishops who are not attending Lambeth this year are holding a "rival" conference in Israel this June (so, a month in advance of Lambeth), which is being called the "Global Anglican Future" Conference. This whole situation reminds me of the councils and anti-councils of the Christian middle-ages, and as I recall, those normally didn't help matters much in the short term.

The archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has been doing his best to hold Lambeth together. He has, for example, not invited Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire who was ordained in 2004. Well, this does not appear to have been enough, at least to the conservative African bishops.

Record Tiber Swim: 400,000 Anglicans to become Papists?

Lest we forget:

• CNA: Three parishes seek to become Catholic, move could bring in 400,000 Anglicans
• CNS: Traditional Anglicans ask for full communion with Catholics

The potential contributions to the Catholic Blogosphere alone are staggering! :-)

"Traditional Anglican Communion - Now Officially Seeking Reunion With Rome"

Matthew of the Whappsters has the details and analysis. Dare we hope?