The Vatican has reaffirmed its support for the Anglican ordinariates, confirming that these communities have a permanent and valued place within the Catholic Church.
On March 24, the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a document titled “Characteristics of the Anglican Heritage as Lived in the Ordinariates Established Under the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.”
The document is the fruit of a meeting held March 1–3 in Rome, during which Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, prefect of the dicastery, invited the ordinariate bishops—including Bishop Steven J. Lopes of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter; Bishop David Waller of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England; and Bishop Anthony Randazzo of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross—to reflect on how they have lived and integrated their Anglican spiritual and liturgical heritage within the Catholic Church.
The document highlights key characteristics of the Anglican patrimony as lived in the ordinariates, including a distinctive “ecclesial ethos” in which both the laity and the clergy participate actively in church governance, and a focus on evangelization through beauty in worship, music, and art.
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston serves as the mother church and cathedral of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, which spans the U.S. and Canada. Established by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, the ordinariate was given its own cathedral when Bishop Lopes was ordained and installed on February 2, 2016.
The Anglican ordinariates trace their origins to 1980, when St. John Paul II approved the Pastoral Provision, which allowed married former Episcopal clergy to be ordained as Catholic priests and permitted the formation of Anglican-use communities within existing Roman Catholic dioceses.
This was the first major step in preserving elements of Anglican liturgical and spiritual heritage for those entering full communion with Rome.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI took this further by issuing the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, which created the personal ordinariates as permanent structures within the Catholic Church.
Each of the three Anglican ordinariates is a personal (non-territorial) jurisdiction, similar to a diocese but defined by people (those with an Anglican background who have entered full communion with the Catholic Church) rather than by strict geographical boundaries.
“Any Catholic may attend ordinariate liturgies and functions, just as members of the ordinariate can attend liturgies and functions at any Catholic parish,” according to the website for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross encompasses Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Guam, the Philippines, and surrounding areas.
The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is located in London and encompasses England, Scotland, and Wales.
