There are a dozen dioceses, along with The Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter (a de facto diocese comprised of several parishes of converts from Anglicanism), who are considered by a report from Vocation Ministry to be the “healthiest” in terms of vocations to the priesthood. The report is based on data from the Official Catholic Directory over a period of six years (2015 to 2021).
Monsignor Burnham, one of five bishops who in 2010 resigned to join The Ordinariate, reflects on what he now believes was a miracle of creative ecumenism, an act of healing at the hands, and from the heart, of a deeply generous pope.
Bishop Steven J. Lopes of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter and Chairman of the USCCB's Committee on Divine Worship, offers reflections on the work of God in the sacred liturgy, the relationship of artistic beauty to the truths of the Catholic faith and a life of charity, as well as a bit about the formation of the Ordinariate's liturgical books.
Speaking on his own behalf rather than that of ACNA, Bishop Menees – who attended the ordination of the ordinariate’s Bishop Steven J. Lopes – said he "was grateful to Pope Benedict XVI for having opened the door" to enhanced Anglican-Catholic relations by establishing the ordinariate. At the same time, Bishop Menees noted the ordinariate is "problematic for Anglicans" since it is a 'one-generation event.'"
The weeklong Christian ecumenical observance, taking place Jan. 18-25 this year, “is important for all Christians” but has “even greater significance” for Catholics coming from the Anglican tradition, James Griffin told OSV News. St. Timothy’s Ordinariate Catholic Church in Sykesville, Maryland, will co-sponsor a solemn choral evensong Jan. 25 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Baltimore, using the Ordinariate form of the Liturgy of the Hours’ evening prayer that reflects their Anglican tradition in full Catholic communion. Father Armando Alejandro, St. Timothy’s parochial administrator, will officiate and Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori will preach the sermon.
"[T]here were some who said, 'Well, you shouldn’t go; this is an act of war.' But I said, 'That’s completely ridiculous, I need to go. I need to keep the friendship, and we need to keep the routine discussion between our churches on an even keel.' And that’s exactly what happened. Together, we set in motion the next round of official talks between our two communions and the creation of the ordinariate didn’t disturb [that]. And I think for some people it’s been contexts where they’ve flourished, and what can we do but give thanks to God? But there is a much bigger task to do for the reconciliation of the two communions as a whole."
Pope Benedict was a committed but principled ecumenist who didn’t believe in a shallow ecumenism but one that was firmly grounded in the Scriptures, the Fathers and the ancient Councils of the Church.
"The ordinariate is a partial fulfilment of the “united but not absorbed” proposal of the Malines Conversations of the early 20th century and, of course, the work of ARCIC, of which I was a member for many years. Pope Emeritus Benedict would have, I am sure, wanted the ordinariate to develop according to the logic of its own genius in the full unity and diversity of the Catholic Church: Eastern and Western."
A leading former Anglican bishop who converted to Catholicism has described Benedict XVI’s famous initiative enabling Anglicans to convert to Catholicism as “prophetic.”
"As I’ve already said, I held no animosity toward the Catholic Church before this moment. It simply seemed irrelevant. In Pope Benedict, though, I saw not only a church leader who offered all that our meandering Anglican hearts sought, but who did so not in the isolation that had become our norm, but as Supreme Pastor of the Universal Church. In short: I saw in him, and for the first time, the papacy of the first millennium that I had seen in the Fathers, and thus instinctively trusted him when he showed how this institution was still to be found in the papacy today."
The Anglicanorum Coetibus Society joins the countless millions of people around the world mourning the death earlier today of Pope Benedict XVI, the founder of the ordinariates for Catholics of the Anglican tradition.
The latest issue of our ACS journal, Shared Treasure (Volume V, No. 2) is now sent to ACS members, with print and Kindle copies available for purchase at Amazon. We have also published five volumes of Shared Treasure / Anglican Embers issues available for purchase at Amazon.
Msgr. Michael Nazir-Ali, former Anglican bishop of Rochester and now a Catholic priest of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, reflects on the past year since his reception into the Catholic Church.
The Ordinariate form of Mass has an evangelizing force, even among those who are non-native English speakers, and they discover in it the gift of faith and the universality of the Catholic Church.
Msgr. Michael Nazir-Ali discusses with Anglican Ink his fight against extremism in Pakistan, his thoughts on synodality, and his ecumenical work that includes a course on Anglicanism in Rome.
EXCERPT: "I realized my vow could not be broken as a priest because I swore to uphold 'The Doctrine of this church,' where no doctrine existed on purgatory and like matters. A few weeks later I walked into a Catholic Church. A few weeks later I called up the Ordinariate. I laid down my Anglican 'Orders' and joined Catechesis to learn what The Faith, as passed down from Jesus, had to say about Purgatory and other matters. All Souls is still one of my favorite Holy Days."
by Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter / YouTube
Bishop Steven J. Lopes of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter delivers a powerful invitation for people to join the Catholic Church's effort to ensure the protection of life in all conditions and stages, from conception to natural death.
EXCERPT: "Most importantly of all, I find Divine Worship Daily Office (Commonwealth Edition) to be an exceptionally prayerful book – and this is, ultimately, the whole point of the book. It is a book of prayer. It is intended that we use it several times every day – even if only for the greater Hours of Morning and Evening Prayer – and the sheer prayerfulness of the book makes it far more likely that we will continue in using it for prayer. It expresses that prayer beautifully, in my opinion."
Ordinariate members are getting ready to walk the last section of the famed El Camino pilgrimage in Spain over the course of seven days from May 25 to June 1.