Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei 939

ACTA CONGREGATIONUM

CONGREGATIO PRO DOCTRINA FIDEI

Adnotatio circa Ordinariatum Personalem pro Anglicanis Catholicam Ecclesiam

ingredientibus.

With the preparation of an Apostolic Constitution, the Catholic Church is

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.

In this Apostolic Constitution the Holy Father has introduced a canonical

structure that provides for such corporate reunion by establishing Personal

Ordinariates, which will allow former Anglicans to enter full communion with

the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican

spiritual and liturgical patrimony. Under the terms of the Apostolic Consti-

tution, pastoral oversight and guidance will be provided for groups of former

Anglicans through a Personal Ordinariate, whose Ordinary will usually be

appointed from among former Anglican clergy.

The forthcoming Apostolic Constitution provides a reasonable and even

necessary response to a world-wide phenomenon, by offering a single cano-

nical model for the universal Church which is adaptable to various local

situations and equitable to former Anglicans in its universal application. It

provides for the ordination as Catholic priests of married former Anglican

clergy. Historical and ecumenical reasons preclude the ordination of married

men as bishops in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Constitu-

tion therefore stipulates that the Ordinary can be either a priest or an un-

married bishop. The seminarians in the Ordinariate are to be prepared along-

side other Catholic seminarians, though the Ordinariate may establish a

house of formation to address the particular needs of formation in the Angli-

can patrimony. In this way, the Apostolic Constitution seeks to balance on

the one hand the concern to preserve the worthy Anglican liturgical and

spiritual patrimony and, on the other hand, the concern that these groups

and their clergy will be integrated into the Catholic Church.