Our History

Originally founded in 2003 as the Anglican Use Society to promote the Anglican tradition in the Catholic Church and to bring Catholics of that tradition together, the Society sponsored eight conferences and launched the academic journal Anglican Embers. In 2016, the Society changed its operating name to the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society, in tribute to Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus. This Constitution created personal ordinariates “to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared.”

On February 23, 2003, a group of people met at St. Luke’s Church in Whitestone, New York, under the leadership of Father Joseph Wilson, a Catholic priest who is a longtime devotee of the Anglican Use. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the formation of an Anglican Use Congregation in New York City. Out of those discussions came a sense that there might be many people in various other parts of the country wishing to do something similar, and that they needed a vehicle by which to do it.

Father Wilson celebrated Mass and the participants signed a document forming the Anglican Use Confraternity. Joseph Blake was elected President pro tempore. By January 4, 2004, the original plan for the Confraternity had been vetted by canon lawyers, and it was decided to call the organization the Anglican Use Society. Mr Blake, as President  pro tempore, was authorized to incorporate the Society as a non-profit corporation in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The provisional Board of Directors included Mr Blake, Fr Wilson, David Burt, Joseph Oliveri, and Jacob Dell. They signed the incorporating documents. On Trinity Sunday 2004, a board of directors was elected for a three year term. It included Joseph Blake, President, C. David Burt, Vice President, Fr. Joseph Wilson, Chaplain, Mark J. Kelly, and Fr. Alan Hawkins. Other active people at that time were Dr. Terry Maltsberger, Stephen Cavanaugh, Gerald McGreevy (who later became our treasurer), Margaret Pichon, Rita Strow, William Tighe, Clint Brand, Fr Eric Bergman, Ann Gardner, Fr George Greenway, Bruce Hall, James Hillborn, Fr James Moore, Deacon James Barnett, and many others.

The Anglican Use Society's first conference took place at St. Clare Church in Scranton, hosted by St. Thomas More parish which at the time had been one of the most recent Anglican congregations to seek union with the Holy See together with their rector, The Rev. Eric Bergman. Two principal speakers made presentations at Scranton. Father Aidan Nichols, O.P. spoke on the possibility of an Anglican Use Rite in the Catholic Church, and Dr. Alexander J. Burke spoke on John Henry Cardinal Newman. Both papers were published in subsequent issues of our journal, and some of the non-Catholic attendees were encouraged towards their receptions into the Catholic Church by the conference.

These Anglican Use Conferences were an important occasion in the life of the Church. They were a key occasion for fellowship for Catholics of the Anglican tradition (belonging first to the Pastoral Provision parishes and later the ordinariate), as well as Anglicans who were interested in the Catholic faith or in learning more about the Catholic aspect of their own tradition. Of course, they always featured patrimonial worship. Praising our liturgy at the 2009 conference, Cardinal DiNardo said “The Anglican Use Mass is an intense liturgy of beauty, with the beauty of the Eternal Liturgy.” He added, “Anglican Use is not just the icing on the cake, it is part of the batter. It is of substance.” Finally, the conferences also helped build up the Catholic Church. Fr Eric Bergman has said “Through these conferences we won many vocations for the Church and even helped some communities like ours to be formed.” A full rundown of the eight Anglican Use Conferences held between 2005 and 2012 can be found in Anglican Embers Vol. IV No. 2.

In 2013, however, because of various factors, the Anglican Use Society decided to indefinitely postpone plans for forthcoming conferences, and since November 2012, members of the Society have met principally on occasions brought about by external events. In 2016, the Anglican Use Society changed its operating name to the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society. 

After a hiatus of a few years, as we approached the 10th anniversary of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution that created the Personal Ordinariates for Catholics of the Anglican patrimony, it became time to gather once again, both to carry on the tradition of worshipping together and to mark in a particular way this occasion for thanksgiving. The Ordinariates have been an answer to generations of prayer, and it would have been remiss to let this anniversary pass us by without a proper celebration.

Our ninth conference, focussing on the Anglican Tradition in the Catholic Church was held in Toronto, Ontario on November 15th and 16th, 2019. It featured choral liturgies in the best tradition of the Anglican patrimony, including Mass, Mattins, and Choral Evensong and Benediction, and an array of speakers who spoke of the past, present, and future of the Anglican tradition in the Catholic Church.