The Catholic League and the proposed Ordinariate for Great Britain

At an Extraordinary General Meeting on Saturday 30th October 2010, the historic objectives of the League, namely the union of all Christians with the Apostolic See of Rome - holistic, rather than partial Christian unity - and fellowship among those who profess the Catholic faith, were discussed in the conditions created by likely changes affecting the ability of Anglican members to pursue the practice of the Church's belief and mission within Anglicanism, and the forthcoming foundation of an Ordinariate in Britain to enable Christians of the Anglican tradition to be in full communion with the Catholic Church.

Members of the League are united in affirming these objectives in the service of Christian unity, spiritual renewal and evangelisation, welcoming the provisions Pope Benedict has made and work to support their realisation, at the same time as remaining committed to efforts that support the ongoing and irreversible ecumenical journey of the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church together towards visible unity in the same faith.

For a deeper exploration of these issues, here is the Statement of the Executive of the League, issued in response to Anglicanorum Coetibus in early 2010.

As the process of the Ordinariate's establishment and consolidation will occur during an extended period, there will be those members who seek admission immediately and those who will wait upon concrete developments over time, both in the life of the Catholic Church in Britain and in the shape of belonging within the Anglican Church.

The following resolutions were made unanimously:

1. We continue to see the Catholic League as a group for orthodox Anglicans and Roman Catholics focussed on the same faith as set out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church
2. We will provide support, fellowship and guidance in the current period of discernment for Anglican Christians considering their position
3. We agree that the League will assist the establishment and development of an Ordinariate in England.

Note: The Catholic League was founded in 1913 as part of a renewed movement within Anglicanism towards corporate reunion of the Church of England with the See of Peter, promoting the new Church Unity Octave (now the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity) and bearing witness following the 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference among Protestant, Reformed and Anglican church leaders that no true programme of unity in mission could exclude reconciliation of all Christians, and that necessarily includes the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. Its early figures were involved in the Malines Conversations of the 1920s and its enduring insistence on the principe of corporate reunion laid the foundations for the visits of Archbishops Fisher and Ramsey to Rome and the ensuing Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission. Within the Anglican world it was influential in the widespread adoption of the reforms and teaching of the Second Vatican Council, especially in liturgical and pastoral renewal, contributing more widely to the Anglican liturgical movement. For decades it has been an ecumenical society promoting Catholic principles of promoting Christian unity, not least in its dialogue with the Anglican Communion through ARCIC and other efforts towards reconciliation and understanding, not least the Anglican Centre in Rome.