Pope Approves Plan to Oversee Anglican Conversions
VATICAN CITY — In a move expected to cause confusion within Anglican and Catholic parishes alike, the Vatican on Tuesday announced it would make it easier for Anglicans uncomfortable with the Church of England’s acceptance of women priests and openly gay bishops to join the Catholic Church.
A new canonical entity will allow Anglicans “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” Cardinal William Levada, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a news conference here on Tuesday.
The move creates a formal structure to oversee conversions that had previously been evaluated on a case-by-case basis, including those of married Anglican priests, who are permitted to remain married after they convert to Catholicism. Called Personal Ordinariates, the structure will consist of local Catholic faithful overseen by Anglican prelates who will provide guidance to Anglicans seeking to convert.
Under the new regime, former Anglicans who become Catholic can preserve some liturgical elements of the Anglican Mass.
Yet the new structure raises many questions, including its impact on the future of ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic and Anglican churches, and the practical consequences for local Anglican parishes where congregants are divided over liturgy.
Cardinal Levada said the Vatican created the structure in response to many requests from Anglicans over the years since the Church of England first ordained women in the 1970s and more recently when it faced what he called “a very difficult question” — the ordination of openly gay clergy and the blessing of homosexual unions.
The American branch of the Anglican Communion, known as the Episcopal Church, has come close to schism over these issues. Disaffected conservatives in the United States announced in 2008 that they were organizing their own rival province of the church in North America.
The new structure for Anglicans joining the Catholic church was announced on Tuesday at simultaneous news conferences at the Vatican and in London.
In a joint statement, the Vatican’s archbishop of Westminster and Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church, said that the new structure “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.”
The Vatican’s decision, they said in a statement of unity between the two churches, was “further recognition of the substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality between the Catholic Church and the Anglican tradition.”
Asked at the Vatican news conference what would happen if an Anglican congregation led by a woman priest wanted to join the Catholic Church, Cardinal Levada smiled and said, “I would be surprised” if that happened.
The Anglican Communion is the third-largest group of churches in the world, behind Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians
VATICAN CITY — In a move expected to cause confusion within Anglican and Catholic parishes alike, the Vatican on Tuesday announced it would make it easier for Anglicans uncomfortable with the Church of England’s acceptance of women priests and openly gay bishops to join the Catholic Church.
A new canonical entity will allow Anglicans “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” Cardinal William Levada, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a news conference here on Tuesday.
The move creates a formal structure to oversee conversions that had previously been evaluated on a case-by-case basis, including those of married Anglican priests, who are permitted to remain married after they convert to Catholicism. Called Personal Ordinariates, the structure will consist of local Catholic faithful overseen by Anglican prelates who will provide guidance to Anglicans seeking to convert.
Under the new regime, former Anglicans who become Catholic can preserve some liturgical elements of the Anglican Mass.
Yet the new structure raises many questions, including its impact on the future of ecumenical dialogue between the Catholic and Anglican churches, and the practical consequences for local Anglican parishes where congregants are divided over liturgy.
Cardinal Levada said the Vatican created the structure in response to many requests from Anglicans over the years since the Church of England first ordained women in the 1970s and more recently when it faced what he called “a very difficult question” — the ordination of openly gay clergy and the blessing of homosexual unions.
The American branch of the Anglican Communion, known as the Episcopal Church, has come close to schism over these issues. Disaffected conservatives in the United States announced in 2008 that they were organizing their own rival province of the church in North America.
The new structure for Anglicans joining the Catholic church was announced on Tuesday at simultaneous news conferences at the Vatican and in London.
In a joint statement, the Vatican’s archbishop of Westminster and Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church, said that the new structure “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.”
The Vatican’s decision, they said in a statement of unity between the two churches, was “further recognition of the substantial overlap in faith, doctrine and spirituality between the Catholic Church and the Anglican tradition.”
Asked at the Vatican news conference what would happen if an Anglican congregation led by a woman priest wanted to join the Catholic Church, Cardinal Levada smiled and said, “I would be surprised” if that happened.
The Anglican Communion is the third-largest group of churches in the world, behind Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians
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