From Canterbury to Rome - Anglicanorum Coetibus

Anglicanorum Coetibus (Groups of Anglicans), the Apostolic Constitution that lays the canonical framework for those Anglicans seeking full visible unity with the Holy Catholic Church, was signed by Pope Benedict on November 4, 2009. I have already given some preliminary reflections here, though at the time I admitted that it was all a bit presumptuous given the absence of an actual document. Three weeks later, we have the Constitution.

As Magisterial documents go, Constitutions of a canonical nature are not the most entertaining. As you can imagine, Canon Law reads like ... well, like law. Nonetheless, it is wort stepping through the text, giving the highlights, and offering some humble commentary, most of which will be admittedly plagiarized from The Significance of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, by Father Giafranco Ghirlanda, S.J., Rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University (the text of which accompanies the Vatican press release from November 4).

The Constitution opens with, “In recent times the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately. The Apostolic See has responded favorably to such petitions.” It is clear from the outset that the canonical structures set forth in the text as a response to a request. It seems that the Vatican is going to great lengths to emphasize this point, and who can blame them after the flurry of secular new sources accusing the Holy See of “sheep stealing” from the Church of England? The truth is, over the past several years, there have been an increasing number of examples of both individuals and entire communities that have found themselves at odds with the Anglican departure from Biblical principles and have sought refuge within the fold of the Catholic Church. The Pope, for his part, is now welcoming them with open arms. Indeed, he could not do otherwise as, “the successor of Peter, mandated by the Lord Jesus to guarantee the unity of the episcopate and to preside over and safeguard the universal communion of all the Churches, could not fail to make available the means necessary to bring this holy desire to realization” (Introduction).

As evidence of the Vatican’s continued emphasis on the response to requests, the press release states that the document is a “provision responding to the many requests that have been submitted to the Holy See from groups of Anglican clergy and faithful in different parts of the world who wish to enter into full visible communion with the Catholic Church.... It represents not an initiative on the part of the Holy See, but a generous response from the Holy Father to the legitimate aspirations of these Anglican groups.” In his comments, Fr. Ghirlanda states, “the Holy Father Benedict XVI ... has shown his fatherly care for those Anglican faithful ... who have repeatedly petitioned the Holy See to be received into full Catholic Communion.”

The second paragraph from the Press Release lays out the basic purpose of the document. In it, I find four important points:

1. The Church has been receiving Anglican priests and laity (and in some cases bishops) for some time now, but has been dealing with these instances on a case by case basis. This document normalizes the process by which the members of the Anglican communion can be received into the Church.

2. The document lays out the process by which, not only individuals, but also entire communities together with their pastors can be received, i.e., corporate reunion.

3. The canonical structure to be used in this process is that of Personal Ordinariates (which I will explain below).

4. By means of these Ordinariates, the Anglican converts, while professing the entirety of the Catholic faith, can maintain those aspects of their tradition and liturgy which are not contradictory to the Catholic Faith.

This last point is something I highlighted in my first post. It is worth reading the paragraph immediately following in the press release:

“This Apostolic Constitution opens a new avenue for the promotion of Christian unity while, at the same time, granting legitimate diversity in the expression of our common faith.” This sentence is very important for understanding the liturgical vision of Pope Benedict. For the vast majority of the Church’s history, there has been a multiplicity of forms of the Latin Rite Liturgy. It is only with the advent of the Novus Ordo that we have come to think of the rite as having only one form of expression for the entire Latin Church. (And even then, there have always been regional exceptions to the Novus Ordo.) The Holy Father has been widening the use of forms of the rite other than the ordinary form throughout his tenure as Pope. It began with Summorum Pontificum, in which he liberalized the use of the extraordinary form, the Missal of 1962. This Constitution represents the second major initiative in providing legitimate diversity within the Latin rite.

The underlying point is that unity within liturgy is not identical with “sameness.” There seems to be a parallel here with John Paul II’s teaching on the role of gender, where he repeatedly stated that equality is not identical with sameness. Male and female, while equal in dignity, are not identical; instead their relationship is one of complementarity. The same complementarity applies to the various liturgical traditions under the one Roman Rite.

The Introduction to the Constitution is the richest theologically speaking. Once the document enters the section on norms governing the Personal Ordinariates, it takes on the form of a legal document (which is, of course, precisely its nature). After reiterating that the constitution is a response to a multitude of requests, there is a brief lesson on ecclesiology.

“The Church, a people gathered into the unity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ, as ‘a sacrament - a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all people.’ Every division among the baptized in Jesus Christ wounds that which the Church is and that for which the Church exists; in fact, ‘such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the most holy cause, the preaching the Gospel to every creature.’”

It is essential that we begin to see Pope Benedict XVI as the Pope of Christian Unity, though doing so requires us to understand of what this unity consists. Jesus prayed to the Father for nothing less than full visible unity among Christians, and this Pope sees it as his mission to bring about that unity. It has become a misconception in recent decades that the end of ecumenism is dialogue and “tolerance,” when in fact the end of ecumenism should be full visible unity. While dialogue is necessary, it is only valuable insofar as it leads to unity in truth. The press release for the constitution says,

“This Apostolic Constitution opens a new avenue for the promotion of Christian unity while, at the same time, granting legitimate diversity in the expression of our common faith.... The provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority.”

Precisely because it will lead to greater visible unity, this Constitution is an example of authentic ecumenism.

I have written previously on why the willingness on the part of the Holy Father to find unique and flexible ways to incorporate various communities into full communion, all the while maintaining the fullness of Catholic doctrine, is such an important step forward in ecumenism. Indeed, many see juridical structures as the primary roadblock to the healing of the great schism between the East and the West. While Rome can never yield on matters of faith and morals (for to do so would be the opposite of ecumenism, which is always at the service of the truth), she can negotiate matters of canonical structures. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, perhaps this move regarding the Anglican communities will simultaneously serve as a sign of good faith with those Orthodox Churches with whom we so desperately would like to see the unity that Christ desires.

The next paragraph contains a nice parallel between the reality of the Church and the Incarnation. “The Church, however, analogous to the mystery of the Incarnate Word, is not only an invisible spiritual communion, but is also visible.” In other words, much like the Word of God, an invisible reality (in the person of the Son), has been made visible in the Incarnation, so too the Church, while certainly an invisible reality held together by the power of the Holy Spirit, is also a visible reality subsisting in the Holy Catholic Church. The paragraph emphasizes that the invisible communion, which includes not only the Church militant, but also the Church suffering and the Church triumphant, and the visible Church form “one complex reality formed from a two-fold element, human and divine.

This Church, echoing the words of Vatican II, while not ignoring the “many elements of sanctification and of truth [that] are found outside her visible confines,” subsists in the Catholic Church. In fact, the truth found outside the “visible confines” necessarily (as truth) serves as a force “impelling towards Catholic unity.” The case in question of the Anglican communities coming home to the Catholic Church is an example of truth impelling towards unity.

After this brief reflection on ecclesiology and ecumenism, the document begins the nuts and bolts of this canonical structure.

Instead of boring you with the details, all of which can be read in the actual documents, allow me to highlight and explain the main points.

Section I states the obvious, a point that we have mentioned in several places, that those communities of Anglicans who wish to be received into the Catholic Church will be organized into Personal Oridinariates. Even thought this was talked about during the initial press conference three weeks ago, we cannot overlook the novelty of the canonical move by the Holy Father. In my previous post, I described the organization of the Military into Ordinariates and likened such a structure to a Diocese. In this sense, the construction of an Ordinariate is not a new canonical structure but rather a new application of a structure that was designed for Military use. Nonetheless, the concept of Ordinariates is a relatively new thing, this being only the second time in history that such canonical structures have been set up. According to Fr. Ghirlanda,

“[The] Apolstolic Constitution does not create a new structure within canonical norms, but rather, uses the structure of Personal Ordinariates, originally created for the pastoral care of members of the armed forces, in the Apostolic Constitution of John Paul II Spirituali militum cura of April 21, 1986. Notwithstanding the similarities between these two types of Personal Ordinariates, it is clear that given their different purposes, one for the Military and the other for those coming from Anglicanism, there are also significant differences between them. What we are dealing with are structures created by the Church in order to deal with specific situations which arise from the needs of the faithful, and which are, by definition, exceptional. The Pastoral concern of the Church and the flexibility of her canonical norms permit the creation of juridical structures which are specifically adapted to the spiritual good of the faithful, while not contradicting the foundational principles of Catholic ecclesiology.”

For most people, thinking about an Ordinariate as a Diocese provides a decent understanding. As we will see, these Ordinariates set up for Anglican converts will display many of the properties of a Diocese. They will be defined by a particular territory, though this territory will overlap the same geographic region of already existing Dioceses. This does not impact the Catholic who was baptized into the Roman rite in a particular Diocese. He or she will de facto belong to that Diocese in which they reside. Those belonging to the Ordinariate are those who come into the Church through the Ordinariate and live within the boundaries set up for the Ordinariate.

After mentioning that these Ordinariates are composed of lay faithful, clerics and members of Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, originally belonging to the Anglican Communion together with those who receive the Sacraments of Initiation within the jurisdiction of the Ordinariate (I.4), the Constitution emphasizes, “The Catechism of the Catholic Church is the authoritative expression of the Catholic faith professed by members of the Ordinariate” (I.5). This is particularly important as it clarifies that Rome has not, and cannot, concede any of the truth with which she has been entrusted. To do so is a violation of the Magisterial authority bestowed on her by our Lord Jesus Christ as well as a sin against authentic ecumenism, which is always at the service of truth.

Along with that, section II makes it clear that the Ordinariate is subject to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (and other Roman Dicasteries according to their area of competence). Fr. Ghirlanda clarifies why the CDF has such an important role to play in the formation and maintenance of the Ordinariates.

“The reason for this is that during the long process which has finally borne fruit in this Apostolic Constitution many doctrinal questions have had to be addressed, and such questions will continue to arise as the time comes for the erection of particular Ordinariates and for the incorporation of groups of Anglican faithful into full Catholic communion through the Ordinariates.”

Section III indicates that the priests of the Ordinariates have the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours, and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See. We see here a contrast between legitimate liturgical diversity and the liturgical abuses the plague the Novus Ordo often committed at the service of so-called “creativity,” abuses that change with the fickle winds of societal preferences. While there is room for liturgical diversity, and in fact a long history of such, all forms of the rite must be approved by Rome, and ad hoc changes to the rite are explicitly prohibited and a violation of the spirit of the liturgy, which must always be received and not constructed. Within this paragraph, there is also the mentioned that the Ordinariates are not restricted to the Anglican use but also have the faculties for celebrating according to the Roman Rite, presumedly this would also include both the ordinary and extraordinary forms.

At this point, is it helpful, with the assistance of Fr. Ghirlanda, to distinguish between the structure of an Ordinariate and other canonical structures. First, these Personal Ordinariates cannot be considered Particular Ritual Churches (such as Byzantine Catholics) because “the Anglican liturgical, spiritual and pastoral tradition is a particular reality within the Latin Church.” In other words, the Byzantine rite is a rite within itself, one that is different from the Latin Rite, even those the Byzantine Catholics enjoy full visible communion with the Roman Church. The Anglican use is more appropriately compared with the extraordinary form. These are different forms of the one Roman Rite (along with other forms such as the Dominican Form).

Nor can the Ordinariate be compared with Personal Prelatures (such as Opus Dei) since “Personal Prelatures are composed of secular priests and deacons and ... lay people may simply dedicate themselves to the apostolic works of Personal Prelatures.” In other words, the Personal Prelatures do not enjoy the same juridical authority as a Diocese or, in this case, an Ordinariate.

Section VI deals with the acceptance of Anglican priests into the Church. This is nothing new, and the norms for this process follow the Encyclical of Pope Paul VI Sacerdotalis Coelibatus. The long and the short of it is, an Anglican priest can be ordained as a Roman Catholic priest, but ordination is necessary. The Church does not recognize Anglican orders as valid. If the priest is not married, then he must submit to the norm of celibacy. It the priest is married, he may still be admitted as a candidate for Holy Orders but would submit to the same vow of celibacy required of married permanent Deacons, i.e., if the spouse were to pass away, remarriage is not possible. If the Ordinary (the head of the Ordinariate) ordains new priests for his Ordinariate, he will admit only celibate men (as is the norm for the Catholic Church), though a petition can always be made for a married man (again as is the case for the Catholic Church), which will be judged on a case by case basis (VI.2).

Candidates for Holy Orders should receive doctrinal training alongside Diocesan candidates. As the Pope of Christian Unity, this is a move by Benedict XVI that aims to ensure that rifts do not occur in the Church, that juridical reunion is externally manifested as unity. The Diocese and the Ordinariate should work in tandem for the salvation of souls. However, because of the varying liturgical traditions, those priest in the Ordinariate may receive liturgical training apart from their Diocesan brothers.

Much of what follows is important, but reads like a laundry list of norms. In summary, the Ordinary can erect seminaries, Institutes of Consecrated Life, parishes, and Societies of Apostolic Life.

There are further parallels with Diocesan structure. The Ordinariate must contain a Governing Council composed of priests (similar to the Presbyteral Council for a Diocese) and a Finance Council (also required of a Diocese) both of which serve to advise the Ordinary. It is also recommended that the Ordinariate contain a Pastoral Council (like a Diocese version of the familiar Parish Council). All three of these councils already operates in the Dioceses of the world.

Finally, the Ordinary, like a Diocesan Bishop, must make the ad limina visit to the Vatican every five years.

Accompanying the Constitution is a set of Complementary Norms signed by Cardinal Levada, Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and approved by Pope Benedict. This appendix of norms contains twelve articles; I will only give highlights.

First, the Ordinary is automatically a member of the national Episcopal Conference. For instance, if an Ordinariate were to be set up in the United States, the Ordinary would be a member of the USCCB. This is at the service of maintaining unity within the Church and proper cooperation between the Bishops and the Ordinaries.

Second, at this is particularly interesting, the Ordinary may be a bishop or a priest appointed by the Roman Pontiff. Without it being explicitly said, I presume the reason for allowing a non-bishop as an Ordinary is in part due to the presence of married bishops in the Anglican Communion. The Tradition of the Church prohibits married bishops. Thus, if a married Anglican bishop brings a community with him into the Catholic Church, this provision allows for that man to be ordained a Catholic priest and serve as the Ordinary. Interestingly enough, the norms specify two more items regarding former Anglican bishops. First, a former Anglican bishop (Ordinary or not) may be invited to participate in the meeting of the Bishops’ Conference (Article 11, section 3), thereby enjoying the same privilege as a retired Catholic Bishop. Second, the former Anglican bishop who has not been ordained a Catholic Bishop may “request permission from the Holy See to use the insignia of the episcopal office” (Article 11, Section 4). In other words, the former Anglican bishop may request permission to wear a miter, carry a crosier, etc., in order to preserve the liturgical treasures of Anglicanism. I think this demonstrates just how far Rome is willing to go in order to accept individuals and communities into full visible communion while allowing them to maintain elements of their patrimony.

Finally, the election of an Ordinary will proceed in a similar manner as the election of a Diocesan Bishop. In the case of a Diocese, the Apostolic Nuncio (a representative of the Holy Father in a particular country) submits a terna (a set of three names) to the Holy Father, who selects the new Bishop from this set of names. In the case of an Ordinariate, the Governing Council will submit the terna.

In closing, it is worth revisiting the passage from the Introduction, a passage that Fr. Ghirlanda calls the ratio legis (reason for the law) of the Constitution. Fr. Ghirlands paraphrases,

“The Church, which in its unity and diversity is modelled on the Most Holy Trinity, was instituted as ‘a sacrament - a sign and instrument, that is, of communion with God and of unity among all people.’ For this reason every division among the baptized wounds that which the Church is and that for which the Church exists, and constitutes, therefore, a scandal in that it contradicts the prayer of Jesus before his passion and death (cf. John 17:20-21).”