Posted by father john george
on October 27, 2009, 6:08 pm, in reply to "AT LAST A COMPARISON OF 190 PROVISION AND AC"
--Previous Message--
: ZENIT
: The World Seen From Rome
:
: ZE09102613 - 2009-10-26
:
: Making Anglicans Feel at Home in the
: Catholic Church
: Interview With Msgr. Stetson of the Pastoral
: Provision
:
: By Karna Swanson
:
: HOUSTON, Texas, OCT. 26, 2009 (Zenit.org).-
: News broke last week that Benedict XVI will
: allow groups of Anglicans wishing to enter
: full communion with the Catholic Church to
: do so through personal ordinariates, while
: preserving elements of the Anglican
: spiritual and liturgical tradition.
:
: The provision for the ordinariates is the
: Vatican's response to Anglicans who have
: expressed wishes to become Catholic. It is
: estimated that between 20 and 30 Anglican
: bishops have made such a request.
:
: To understand how the personal ordinariates
: work and the significance of this move,
: ZENIT interview Monsignor William Stetson, a
: priest of Opus Dei and secretary to the
: Ecclesiastical Delegate of the Congregation
: for the Doctrine of the Fa ith for the
: Pastoral Provision for former Episcopal
: priests.
:
: He maintains a Pastoral Provision Office at
: Our Lady of Walsingham parish, an Anglican
: Use congregation in the Archdiocese of
: Galveston-Houston.
:
: ZENIT: What is a personal ordinariate? Do
: these exist elsewhere in the Church?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: An ordinariate is a
: jurisdictional structure comprised of a
: prelate with ordinary jurisdiction, his own
: incardinated clergy who assist him in his
: pastoral work and lay faithful whom he
: shepherds.
:
: The ordinariate for the military organized
: in many countries has the responsibility for
: the pastoral care of those in the military
: services and their families. In the United
: States it is called the Archdiocese for the
: Military Services. To the best of my
: knowledge there are no other ordinariates.
:
: ZENIT: What is the main difference between
: the 1980 Pastoral Provision and the new
: apostolic constitution?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: The Pastoral Provision had no
: canonical content and did not provide for
: the exercise of the power of governance. The
: new apostolic constitution will establish
: canonical norms at the highest level
: providing for the creation of new canonical
: structures called "ordinariates"
: in individual nations. In conformity with
: the general norms, each ordinariate will
: have the power of governance (jurisdiction)
: over a determined series of persons and
: matters.
:
: ZENIT: What will happen to the Anglican Use
: parishes that have been in operation for
: years?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: At the moment the so-called
: Anglican Use parishes in the United States
: are personal parishes of the diocese where
: they are located, which retain elements of
: the Anglican tradition, especially the
: liturgy.
:
: There is no canonical relationship between
: them or with the Ecclesiastical Delegate of
: the Pastoral Provision.
:
: Presumably, if an ordinariate is established
: in the United States, the paris hes will
: pass to the jurisdiction of the new
: ordinariate and come under the jurisdiction
: of the prelate of the ordinariate.
:
: Future parishes and worship communities
: could be set up by the ordinary of the
: ordinariate at the request of groups of
: Anglican lay people with a priest after
: consultation with the diocesan bishop of the
: place they are located.
:
: ZENIT: What is the aim of establishing the
: personal ordinariates? Why was the pastoral
: provision not sufficient?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: The pastoral provision is
: merely an administrative process for
: preparing married, former Episcopal priests
: to be ordained as Catholic priests at the
: request of diocesan bishops. The new
: ordinariate will provide a canonical
: structure similar to a diocese for the
: pastoral care of lay faithful who convert
: from the Episcopal church.
:
: ZENIT: This canonical structure seems to
: respond directly to a petition made two
: years ago by the Traditional Anglican
: Communion, which ha s about 400,000 members
: worldwide. Do you see many or most of these
: members entering into communion with the
: Catholic Church through the personal
: ordinariate?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: The Traditional Anglican
: Communion is in reality a confederation of
: so-called dioceses located in many different
: countries; it is made up of priests and lay
: people and bishops. The Traditional Anglican
: Communion as such has never been part of the
: Anglican Communion under the Archbishop of
: Canterbury.
:
: What will happen to the dioceses in
: particular countries will depend on the
: decisions reached by the Catholic hierarchy
: in the respective countries together with
: the Congregation for the Doctrine of the
: Faith. Their numbers are greater in Africa
: and Asia.
:
: ZENIT: What will the process look like for
: Anglicans, especially priests and bishops,
: entering the Church through the ordinariate?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: The Apostolic Constitution
: allowing for the creation of ordinariates in
: eac h country has not yet been issued. For
: this reason we do not know the nature of the
: process. I would anticipate that it will be
: similar to that used for the last 27 years
: by the Pastoral Provision here in the United
: States, and its counterpart in England (that
: did not, however, provide for parishes and
: liturgy, as in the United States.)
:
: ZENIT: The Vatican announcement provided for
: the possibility of an Anglican ordinariate
: having seminarians, who are to be prepared
: alongside Catholic seminarians, "though
: the ordinariate may establish a house of
: formation to address the particular needs of
: formation in the Anglican patrimony."
: Would this include the possibility of
: marriage for these Anglican seminarians?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: The specifics have not yet
: been made known on this question. At the
: very least I would assume that the
: seminarians would have to be both married
: and studying in an Anglican seminary at the
: time they sought to enter into full communi
: on, and then continue studying for the
: priesthood in a Catholic seminary. They
: would have to be dispensed from the norm of
: celibacy on a case-by-case basis by the Holy
: See. Future seminarians would have to be
: celibate.
:
: ZENIT: What other traditions will the
: Anglicans retain when they enter the
: Catholic Church by way of the personal
: ordinariate?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: Small parishes that allow for
: greater cohesion together. A rich tradition
: of liturgical expression (language, music,
: vestments, space, etc.) in English, dating
: back to the 16th century. This would also
: include a great tradition of the use of
: sacred Scripture in preaching, love for the
: Fathers of the Church and theological
: expression beyond that of Roman Catholic
: scholasticism.
:
: ZENIT: Why is the Vatican able to offer this
: concession only to Anglicans, and not
: Lutherans, Presbyterians, etc., who would
: like to enter the Church?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: Anglicans have always enjoyed
: a special place in Roman Catholic attitudes
: toward the rupture of Christian unity in the
: West after the 16th century. The Church of
: England sought to retain many elements of
: the Catholic Church while at the same time
: being Protestant. The Church of England
: maintained a greater unity within itself and
: thus could be dealt with as a single entity
: in conversations with Rome.
:
: ZENIT: There has been talk that this move
: will negatively affect Anglican-Catholic
: dialogue, namely the Anglican-Roman Catholic
: International Consultation (ARCIC)? Is this
: true?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: Apparently not, according to
: the statements of Roman Catholic and
: Anglican authorities in England and other
: countries that have been engaged in
: ecumenical dialogue. Only time will tell.
:
: ZENIT: Why is this good news for Anglicans
: seeking full communion with the Catholic
: Church?
:
: Msgr. Stetson: The Anglicans who enter full
: communion will find a familiar family
: spiritual home in the Catholic Church
: through those personal parishes that the
: prelate of the ordinariate will be able to
: establish and staff with specially trained
: priests who also have come from the Anglican
: tradition.
:
:
:
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