David Carter reviews "Anglicans and Catholics in Communion"

David Carter is a distinguished British Methodist ecumenical scholar, a leading figure in Churches Together in England's Theology and Unity Group and also the British Catholic-Methodist dialogue committee. In the past he was Secretary of the Society for Ecumenical Studies and is currently a member of the editorial board of the UK Benedictine Catholic ecumenical journal, One in Christ.

As editor of the Newsletter of the Ecumenical Society of the Blessed Virgin Mary he is a notable reviewer of books with an ecumenical significance. He recently wrote the following assessment of the Catholic League's Messenger 292 (April-August 2010), Anglican & Catholics in Communion: Patrimony, Unity and Mission.

The League is grateful for this perspective from a disinterested and widely respected commentator on ecumenical developments and thinking. Some voices still question the Ordinariate's potential contribution to Christian Unity (even suggesting it could be harmful to it); others dismiss the idea that in England there can be such a thing as Anglican patrimony. Yet over the last year and a half it has been interesting to see how the imperatives we have promoted - Christian Unity and Re-evangelisation in Europe - and the cultural, spiritual, liturgical identity and responsiveness to society we have commended, features that an Anglican patrimony embodies, belong in the communion of the whole Church, not just within Anglicanism, have become the narrative others are now articulating.

If you would like to receive Anglicans & Catholics in Communion, a complimentary copy is available from the General Secretary, David Chapman, c/o St Paul's Bookshop, Morpeth Terrace, London SW1P 1EP, telephone 020 7828 5582. A donation to the Newman Fund (see the panel to the left) would be appreciated in return.

Anglicans and Catholics in Communion-Patrimony, Unity, Mission, edited by Mark Woodruff (The Messenger of the Catholic League, No 292, April-August 2010).

Mark Woodruff and the Catholic League are to be congratulated on this publication which is a valuable vade mecum for anyone wishing to understand the origins and basis of the Ordinariate as well as the hopes that may reasonably be entertained for it. Its canonical basis is clearly and succinctly outlined by Fr Gianfranco Ghirlanda and its rationale explained in other essays with particular attention to the understanding of catholicity as explained in the Decree on Ecumenism of Vatican II. Cardinal Levada explains that "when I say enrichment, I am not referring to any addition of essential elements of sanctification to the Catholic Church - Christ has endowed her with all the essential elements. I am referring to the addition of modes of expression of these essential elements, modes which enhance everyone’s appreciation of the inexhaustible treasures bestowed on the Church by her divine Founder". One might here slightly quibble with the cardinal. Surely, if the Church’s catholicity is wounded by virtue of the separation of any of the baptised from her, then, to a degree, so is her ability to offer the fullness of worship to Him, this being only complete when the entire family that the Son has gained for the Father is present "in one mind and heart together" (Acts 4:32)?

Fr Mark himself offers two excellent chapters, one on the question of the way in which Anglican orders can be "recognised or received" and one on hymnody as part of the Anglican patrimony to be shared with the rest of the Roman Catholic Church by members of the Ordinariate. One might just add here that, in a sense this is part of a wider heritage than purely Anglican since so many who have contributed to it have come from the free church traditions, Isaac Watts being the most prominent. One might add that though Charles Wesley would certainly wish to be remembered as an Anglican, it is Methodism that has preserved so much of his heritage.

Philip North contributes a particularly interesting chapter in which he asks how far Anglicans making the journey into Roman Catholic communion may be able, or not, to maintain the sort of ministry to the whole population of a parish that they currently exercise and value. This is an important missiological question and should not be overlooked by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference as they prepare the ground for the Ordinariate in England. John Hunwicke contributes a delightfully written essay entitled  Patrimony - What Patrimony? He argues that "we should be allowed to paddle around with our Anglican patrimony in the middle of the catholic mainstream" (my italics). He feels that much that traditionalist Anglo-Catholics value may be a timely gift to the Roman Catholic Church, stressing particularly that their concern for due awe and reverence in worship may fit precisely with the aims of Liturgiam Authenticam. I have some sympathy with this view, as I feel that in all the western Churches there is a need, particularly on the part of those ministers or lay preachers entrusted with the leadership of worship, to conduct it with dignity, to remember that it is not entertainment (a word I address particularly to the Free Churches) and to communicate a sense of awe and wonder particularly in preaching, praying and presidency at the eucharist. Fr John also stresses that the patrimony is essentially that of a tradition embodied in the people, the people in whom the anointing of the Spirit resides (1 John 2:20) and who have the sensus fidelium.

There are many other riches in this book which I heartily commend. Whatever the rest of us may feel about Anglicanorum Coetibus, I think we can all derive pleasure from two things. The first is that due provision has been made for a group of people who feel they must join the Roman Catholic Church but also take with them all that is compatible with that Church from their previous Anglican tradition. The other is to record the gracious words of Archbishop Rowan to the effect that he welcomes anything that allows the Anglican heritage to be more widely shared with the rest of Christendom.

David Carter.

Nazareth near Sandringham: Christopher Howse commends Fr Michael Rear's "Walsingham, Pilgrims and Pilgrimages"



His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal William Levada (Prefect of the
Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), Mgr Keith Newton
and Bishop Alan Hopes (Auxiliary for the Diocese of Westminster and
Episcopal Delegate of the Bishops' Conference of England & Wales
for the Ordinariate), presenting a copy of Fr Michael Rear's
Walsingham, Pilgrims and Pilgrimages
Photo (c) Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Writing in his regular Saturday column, Sacred Mysteries, in today's Daily Telegraph, Christopher Howse takes the journey from one national shrine at Westminster Abbey to another - England's Nazareth. He takes as his guide our President's new book, Walsingham, Pilgrims and Pilgrimages.
If you have not obtained your copy yet, it is available from St Paul's Bookshop by Westminster Cathedral (and other shops in the chain), or to order online, price £19-99. It is a mine of information, with many fascinating details on Walsingham's origins and history, many unfamiliar before Fr Michael's exhaustive researches. It is un-put-downable; a masterpiece.

We warmly congratulate our President on his magnificent and beautiful achievement, a copy of which was presented to Pope Benedict by Bishop Alan Hopes, Episcopal Delegate for the Ordinariate, on the recent visit of Mgr Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Sacred mysteries: Christopher Howse finds that the king who rebuilt Westminster Abbey had another favourite shrine, in Walsingham





Detail of a 14th-century pewter pilgrim badge depicting the Annunciation

Photo: MUSEUM OF LONDON / BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY


The man who rebuilt Westminster Abbey as we saw it on television yesterday, Henry III, had devotion to three places of pilgrimage: the shrine of St Edward the Confessor, whose coffin he helped carry in 1269 to its new resting place behind the high altar at Westminster; the tomb of St Thomas Becket at Canterbury; and the Holy House at Walsingham.

 

 

King Henry made a pilgrimage to Walsingham, in north Norfolk, not so far from Sandringham, at least 11 times during his long reign of 56 years. Walsingham, which is celebrating its 950th anniversary, is today the most ruinous of his three favoured destinations, yet it attracts large numbers of visitors. Each year, about 300,000 pilgrims visit the Anglican shrine, re-established in 1931, while 100,000 go to the Catholic shrine. This includes some 6,000 Tamils in July alone, half of whom are Hindu.

 

 

There is an uncomfortable feeling among the Christians at there being two separate shrines, yet the fact remains that the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church are not the same thing. It is notable that the personal ordinariate (the official association for Anglicans who wish to retain corporately some of their religious patrimony after becoming Roman Catholics) is dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham.

 

 

It is fair to say that the flavour of Walsingham's Anglican Shrine is very High Church. At the national pilgrimage at the end of May, Mass will be conducted outdoors, followed by a procession with an image of the Virgin Mary, and Benediction.

 

 

What is the notion behind the shrine at Walsingham? It is not focused on the Virgin Mary so much as on the Incarnation of Christ. This is seen through an unusual optic: the Holy House built as a replica of the house at Nazareth, where the angel announced to Mary that she was to be the mother of Jesus.

 

The house at Nazareth that was reputed to have been this very spot survived into the late 13th century. A pious legend has it that the house was then transported by angels to Loreto, on Italy's Adriatic coast. But Father Michael Rear in his new book Walsingham, Pilgrims and Pilgrimage (St Pauls Publishing, £19.99) favours the explanation that it was not angels but the Angeli family, related to Byzantine emperors, who transported the stones of the old house to be reassembled at Loreto.

 

 

The Holy House at Walsingham, by contrast, never claimed to be built from the stones of Nazareth. Indeed the reputed founder, Lady Richeldis, a noble widow, was instructed in a dream in 1061 to build a house of wood according to specified dimensions. The year 1061 puts the foundation in the reign of Henry III's hero Edward the Confessor. Some would date it to the 1130s. In any case, it was intended to be a setting for devotion to God Incarnate.

 

 

Walsingham became one of England's most popular pilgrim destinations. Pilgrims would wear badges – depicting the Annunciation, for example – to show that they had accomplished their end. Then, in 1538, the priory at Walsingham was suppressed, the shrine broken up and the precious offerings (such as the gold crown given by Henry III) carted away. By an irony, the appearance of the statue of the Virgin Mary and Child at the shrine is known only from the seal of the priory attached to the deed of surrender to Henry VIII.

 

 

The image is of the "Seat of Wisdom" type. The Virgin Mary is depicted on a throne with the Child on her knee. Jesus embodies Wisdom as described in the biblical book of Proverbs: "I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning before ever the world was."

 

 

The curtains depicted on the priory seal are taken to refer to the veil of the Temple, hiding the Ark of the Covenant, originally holding the tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments. These words of God have as their counterpart the Word of God in St John's Gospel: the Word made flesh.

First Priests of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

As Archbishop Vincent Nichols remarked at the Mass of Ordination, this is what history looks like as it is being made. Fathers John Broadhurst, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton, once bishops of the Church of England, were ordained to the order of presbyter and thus to the priesthood of the Catholic Church in Westminster Cathedral, to create a new configuration of the Church in England & Wales in its mission to serve the truth about Jesus Christ and the unity of his people.

At 10 am, the Cathedral was already half full. In the long corridor linking the Sacristy to the Clergy House and Archbishop's House, nearly 100 other priests and seminarians had begun to gather, some old friends and colleagues of the candidates, and just as many who were priests of Westminster, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Brentwood and other dioceses, as well as from religious orders, including Abbot Aidan Bellenger OSB of Downside, Fr Aidan Nichols OP and Fr Christopher Jamison OSB, appropriately the director of the National Office for Vocation. There were also over 20 seminarians from Allen Hall. Two days earlier they had saluted the newly ordained deacons with the song Ad Multos Annos, traditionally sung in recollection of those leaving the College at Douai, Allen Hall's ancestor, on their way back to England in penal times, to face danger and even martyrdom. To those who witnessed this moment on the preceding Thursday, it was a most moving sign of incorporation not only into the priestly ministry of the Catholic Church worldwide, but into everything that being a Roman Catholic priest has meant in the history and spiritual development of England's national and religious life. As the students sang Vivat!, deacons John, Andrew and Keith entered into, and were embraced by, a rich inheritance that is truly costly.

The great Liturgy (follow the link to see the Diocese of Westminster's photo record of the day) began at 1030 am with the Processional Hymn, Thy hand, O God has guided thy flock from age to age, by Edward Hayes Plumptre, the 19th century Anglican classical and scriptural scholar, Dean of Wells and biographer of the fellow hymnographer and Non-Juror, Bishop Thomas Ken. Phrase after phrase was apt: "Through many a scene of strife" ... "the faithful few fought bravely, to guard the nation's life" ... "And we, shall we be faithless ... not so, in God's deep counsels some better thing is stored". And so it proved to be. After the Introit Sacerdotes Dei and the Greeting, the Archbishop asked us to sit, remarking that even though there were so many people to greet there was a message even more welcome: thus he introduced the Message from Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, announcing the Decree erecting the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, under the protection of the Mother of God and the patronage of Blessed John Henry Newman. (Here is the report from the Vatican Information Service.)

An interesting remark in the letter mentioned that Archbishop Nichols was representing Cardinal Levada, and thus not only acting as President of the Bishops' Conference and in the customary primatial role of the Archbishop of Westminster. Had the Cardinal been able to be present, it is he who would have presided at the ordinations in the name of the Apostolic See. For clearly the Ordinariate is not a department of the diocese of Westminster, nor a suffragan see, nor an initiative subject to the Bishops' Conference: it is directly subject to the Apostolic See of Rome. Of course, the new Ordinary is by virtue of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus a full member of the Bishops' Conference; and there to support and participate in the ordination of the first priests of the Ordinariate were Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, Bishop Thomas McMahon of Brentwood and Bishop Alan Hopes, Episcopal Delegate of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales for the Ordinariate. Present too were Mgr Vincent Brady from the Apostolic Nunciature and Mgr Marcus Stock, general secretary of the Bishops' Conference. From the outset the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is thus part of the the endeavour of the universal Church in the eyes of the Apostolic See and integral to the life and work of the Church in the local dioceses of England & Wales.

When the name of the Ordinariate was announced there was a gasp of delight and satisfaction. The news had started to emerge after the diaconal ordinations on the preceding Thursday. The three candidates had needed to swear two sets of oaths, the first to the Archbishop of Westminster, in whose diocese Bishop Alan Hopes was ordaining them as Episcopal Delegate and in the name of the Holy Father, and the second to the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. including, as John Broadhurst observed at the reception, the new Ordinary. Thus, when the Reverend Keith Newton's name was at last  publicly confirmed as the Ordinary on Saturday, there was further palpable pleasure and satisfaction.

After the Confession, the magnificent Choir of Westminster Cathedral sang the Kyrie and Gloria in Excelsis from Victoria's Missa O Magnum Mysterium. The Epistle was Ephesians 4.1-7, 11-13. There was no Gradual; and the Alleluia Tu es sacerdos preceded the Gospel from John 20.19-23.

When the Rite of Ordination began, the three men were called forward from the nave and came to stand before the Archbishop seated before the High Altar. The Ordinariate having no Vicar General or other official, it fell to the Episopal Delegate of the Bishops' Conference, Bishop Alan Hopes, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster and Titular Bishop of Cuncacestre (Chester-le-Street), to present the candidates for priesthood to the Archbishop. There was an insertion into the wording of Bishop Alan's presentation (in bold italics):

After inquiry among the people of Christ and upon recommendation of those concerned with their training and with the permission of the Holy See, I testify that they have been found worthy.

The text of the Archbishop's homily can be downloaded here. Or listen to it here.

After the promise of obedience to "your Ordinary" (also made by Keith Newton), there was no insertion in the rite of that introduction and prayer sanctioned by the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship and used by Cardinal Hume to ordain former Anglican clergy in the 1990s. There had been some dismay expressed about this at the diaconal ordinations, but in fact Archbishop Nichols in his homily had warmly spoken of the contribution and and generous spirit of the Church of England in recognising the integrity of the three in their decision and onward journey, at the same time as recognising their distinguished ministry and episcopal service in the life of the Anglican Church. At the same time, he reaffirmed the Catholic Church's whole-hearted commitment to the visible unity of Christ's people in the hope that, according to the words of the Holy Father, the Ordinariate would serve this end in a "prophetic" way. Some of the priests afterwards discussed the omission of the prayer used previously to lead into the Litany of the Saints, but we felt that everything it had said was expressed far more fully by what Archbishop Nichols had said in his homily. We also felt, even those over whom that prayer had been said years before, that it was important at the ordination of the first priests of this almost radically new structure in the Church in this country that the three be ordained - and be seen to be ordained - according to the same rites of the Church as any other Roman Catholic priests - no more no less.

The three candidates for Catholic priesthood prostrated themselves and the Litany of the Saints was prayed. Someone said the congregation was mainly male. Perhaps it is that we have become a little used to not hearing so many men singing in Church, but the voices of women were no less strong and insistent at this solemn moment of prayer for three much loved pastors.

The solemn silence as first the Archbishop laid hands, almost visibly bringing down the Holy Spirit in his power upon Keith, then Andrew, then John, followed by Bishop Alan, Archbishop Longley, Bishop McMahon, and then the 100 priests was very long and moving. Nothing stirred; no one spoke; no mobile phones went off. If they did, no one noticed. One of the beautiful things about divine Liturgy is that it is full of moments, but in the fulness of time you lose track of time. After the Archbishop spoke the Prayer of Ordination, someone in the north of the nave loudly promoted a round of applause; but as we were in the middle of the Rite of Ordination few of the clergy joined in; and we proceeded with the investiture of the priestly stole and chasuble, conveyed up to the sanctuary by the three new priests's wives, Gill Newton, Judi Broadhurst and Cathy Burnham.

The hymn Veni Creator was interrupted for the Archbishop to anoint the newly invested priests and, when it was completed, it was the three nuns received alongside the three former bishops on New Year's Day who presented the gifts of the paten holding the bread and the chalice containing the wine mixed with water for the Archbishop to entrust to the three new priests in turn, as they all prepared to concelebrate the eucharistic sacrifice.

At this point, the Archbishop descended from before the High Altar and greeted each new priest with the Kiss of Peace. The other bishops followed suit and then the priests. Again there was silence and expectation as this proceeded, but now the atmosphere was more relaxed and the sense of prayer was of gladness and gratitude to God, something we priests as we exchanged the peace in turn with the new Fathers Keith, John and Andrew, our brothers in the service of the Body of Christ, were deeply aware of coming from the People.

For the Offertory chant, Charles Villiers Stanford's Beati quorum via integra est was sung, another admirable piece of the Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony now shared by the Catholic Church. Someone remarked that this motet was a tribute to the Oxford Movement and its appreciation of Latin Christianity, but Stanford was a convinced Church of Ireland Protestant and he had written the piece not for an Anglo-Catholic celebration but mindful of the Latin services of the Prayer Book in use in the university not of Oxford, but of Cambridge. It was published in 1905, 12 years after he had stepped down as Organist and Master of the Choristers at Trinity College, Cambridge, where for 19 years he revolutionised and just about re-invented choral singing in the liturgy of the Church of England.

The three new priests concelebrated with the Archbishop using the Roman Canon; the fourth concelebrant was Bishop Alan Hopes, Episcopal Delegate to the Ordinariate from the Bishops' Conference. The Sanctus was from Mass VIII, Missa de Angelis. Agnus Dei  was taken from the Missa O Magnum Mysterium by Tomas Luis da Victoria. The Communion Motet was Edward Elgar's Ave Verum Corpus, followed by the chant Ego vos elegi and the hymn - this time an English hymn from the Catholic spiritual patrimony - Henri F. Hémy's O Bread of Heaven.

Many of the priests asked to distibute the Holy Communion remarked afterwards that never in their experience had there been such a volume of people present, only a fraction of whom received the Sacrament. Fr Peter Geldard estimated afterwards that 90% of those who came to him asked for a blessing. Evidently a very large proportion of the 1500 present were Anglicans discerning their own personal journeys ahead.

Following the prayer after Communion, the Archbishop asked us to congratulate the new priests, having completed their ordination with the celebration of the Eucharist, and there was sustained and loud applause. After his pontifical blessing, the Archbishop went up to kiss the Altar and then immediately descended, removed his mitre and knelt before the three new priests to receive their first blessings as Catholic priests. This time the order was not alphabetical; Fr Keith as the new Ordinary went first.

Then the procession of the seminarians, the Metropolitan of the British Orthodox Church of the Coptic Patriarchate of Alexandria, Abba Seraphim as an ecumenical representative (and himself a former Anglican), followed by the deacons, priests and bishops left to Blessed John Henry Newman's Praise to the Holiest in the Height. Surely, the tune for this great hymn in the Anglican patrimony in full communion with the Catholic Church is now no longer Richmond, J.B. Dykes' Gerontius or Somervell's Chorus Angelorum, but definitively Billing by Richard Runciman Terry, Organist of Westminster Cathedral 1901-1924.

After the hymn, as the Procession was still making its way through the Cathedral to the Final Movement of Louis Vierne's First Organ Symphony, a deep cry of acclamation and cheering went up, the like of which I have never heard in Church before. Some thought it unseemly, but others saw it was the unbridled joy and hope of the people present. Afterwards, the Archbishop, who went to join the people in the Piazza outside, remarked upon how "jubilant" they were.

In the sacristy, the 100 priests awaited the return of their new brethren and there were several minutes of sustained applause. Bishop Alan, said "We bow to the Cross", then "Prosit", and it was done. Many of the servers, seminarians and clergy took turns to kneel before the new priests to receive their blessings, led by Bishop Alan and Archbishop Bernard.

In the reception in Archbishop's House, Archbishop Vincent once again warmly congratulated the three new Catholic priests and remarked on the historic and momentous excitement of the occasion. It was not only about three new priests God had given to his Church to do a new thing, but about the aspiration and joy of the people who were still gathered outside. In responding, Father Keith thanked Archbishop Nichols, Bishop Hopes and Cardinal Levada, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Someone asked, "Who was the Ordinary you swore obedience to?" "The Pope," said Fr Keith. And thus in paying tribute to the trust of the Holy Father in Frs Keith, John and Andrew, we all raised a glass in honour of Pope Benedict.

Ad Multos Annos - Vivat Pater Keith, Vivat Pater Ioannes, Vivat Pater Andreas.

After the Reception, Fr Geldard took me to the Library in Archbishop's House, to show me the chair in which he had sat opposite Cardinal Hume, two decades before, and with leaders of the League at the time opened up the question of a structure for Anglicans desiring to be Catholics to belong to the Catholic Church in a corporate structure for full communion. We felt deeply aware of how all the work and thinking then, the 500 or so priests who have been ordained in the Catholic Church from an Anglican background in the 1990s and since, the prayer and imagination of Cardinal Hume, the then Bishop Nichols and others at the time and others after - and the vigilance of the then Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict - and its issue in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, had led to this great day.

Fr Mark Woodruff


Here is the Statement from Father Keith Newton, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

Here is the Statement of the Bishops' Conference of England & Wales

Statement of the Archbishop of Westminster: Ordination to the Catholic Priesthood of three former Anglican Bishops and the Establishment of a 'Personal Ordinariate'

The President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, Archbishop Vincent Nichols, has today released a statement on the ordination of three former Anglican Bishops and the establishment of a ‘Personal Ordinariate’ in England and Wales for groups of Anglican faithful and their clergy who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

On Saturday 15 January, it will be my privilege to ordain John Broadhurst, Andrew Burnham and Keith Newton to priesthood in the Catholic Church. This ceremony will take place in Westminster Cathedral.

On or before this date, I expect the Holy See to announce the establishment of the first Ordinariate for groups of former Anglicans and their clergy who seek full communion in the Catholic Church. The three men ordained on Saturday will be the first priests of this Ordinariate.

This is a unique moment and the Catholic community in England and Wales is privileged to be playing its part in this historic development in the life of the Universal Church.

We offer a warm welcome to these three former bishops of the Church of England. We welcome those who wish to join them in full communion with the Pope in the visible unity of the Catholic Church. We recognise the journey they are making with its painful departures and its uncertainties. We salute their depth of searching prayer and the desire which leads them to seek to live within the community of the Catholic Church under the ministry of the Bishop of Rome. This is the faith we share.

We are deeply grateful for the depth of the relationship which exists here between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. This firm, positive and on-going relationship is the context for Saturday’s important initiative. We are grateful, too, for the sensitive leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He graciously acknowledges the integrity of those seeking to join the Ordinariate and has assured them of his prayers. This is the noble spirit of true ecumenism between the followers of Christ.

Pope Benedict has made clear his own intentions: that the Ordinariate can serve the wider cause of visible unity between our two churches by demonstrating in practice the extent to which we have so much to give to each other in our common service of the Lord. With this in mind he describes this step as ‘a prophetic gesture.’

With great trust in the Lord, we look forward to Saturday, to the new phase of Church life it brings and we ask God’s blessing on its future development.
The Most Reverend Vincent Nichols
President, Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales

Background Information
On or before 15 January 2011, it is expected that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will publish a Decree which will formally establish a ‘Personal Ordinariate’ in England and Wales (from here on referred to as ‘the Ordinariate’) for groups of Anglican faithful and their clergy who wish to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

The Messenger 292 - Anglicanorum Coetibus: Patrimony, Unity and Mission

We normally do a print run of 600 for our members and key ecumenical contacts and Church leaders, but this time printed and distributed 1200. Stocks have been exhausted. It is being widely read and considered as the imminent Ordinariate's foundation takes shape in people's minds.

A Second Edition will be printed, including corrections to the text arising from a technical error at first impression. If you would like a corrected version, or you do not already have a copy they are available free to bone fide enquirers in return for a donation to postage costs. See the notice at the head of the blog.

The Next edition of The Messenger is in preparation and will contain an Interview with Cardinal Levada, further essays on Anglican Patrimony in the Catholic Church, and on ongoing prospects for unity and the shape of ecumenism between Anglicans and Catholics in a new situation for unity and mission.