THE
P RTAL
April 2016
Page 12
Why the Ordinariates
are not Uniate Churches
Fr Mark Woodruff continues his examination
of the various parts of the Catholic Church
L
ast month we considered whether the three Ordinariates are some kind of “uniate Church”, a body
for proselytising Christians into another Church with their own rites, law and governance. “Uniate” is
nowadays highly offensive, because it no longer bears a neutral meaning of two Churches being united again.
Used as a pejorative term, it implies a body using the Byzantine rite formerly part of the Orthodox East, now
under Rome’s control and “contaminated” with alien rites, custom and theology from Roman Catholicism.
In fact, most Churches, including Orthodox, have sought to poach across the Christian divides; some still do.
But since the 1993 Catholic-Orthodox “Balamand Declaration” uniatism is recognised as a “method of union
of the past”, since proselytising individuals and Church groups not only undermines ecumenical partners
as we try to repair the breaches in Christ’s one Church, it is futile and counter-productive. The declaration
followed two other principles: people possess freedom of conscience as to which Church they follow Christ
in, and thus the Eastern Catholic Churches have throughout had a right to exist.
The declaration had bearing on other dialogues,
where mutual poaching and competition have
been part of separated Churches’ history. Sadly,
Balamand came just as the Church of England was
definitively adjusting its faith and order, not long after
Anglican Papalists’ efforts in the 1980s to arrange for a
substantial body to enter communion with Rome with
its own rite and identity, and just as a second attempt
was actively examined by Anglo-Catholic leaders and
Roman officials.
Both foundered on Catholic misconceptions that they
could harm Anglican ecumenical partners, look like
proselytisation, and obstruct future Anglican-Catholic
reunion. But this disregarded liberty of conscience to
belong to the Catholic Church, and the legitimacy of
distinct bodies forming part of the diversity proper
to the Universal Church’s fullness of communion.
Besides, no Catholics proselytised Anglicans in the late
twentieth and early twenty-first centuries to organise
a “uniate” Church. These Anglicans sought Catholic
communion together, and the See of Peter provided
a response, just as it responded to diverse Eastern
Churches over centuries. The Ordinariates, being part
of the Latin Catholic Church, are not like the Eastern
Catholic Churches, which are distinct Churches with
their own canon law, governance and rite. But there
a