THE P RTAL
January 2017 Page 7
The Personal Ordinariate and ‘ realised ecumenism ’
Our Ordinary , Mgr Keith Newton , looks at where are we , how far have we travelled , and where we are going ?
In June this year , I was invited to Westminster Abbey for the celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the founding of the Anglican Centre in Rome . The Anglican Centre , housed in the Palazzo Doria Pamphili near the Piazza Venezia , was set up following the meeting between Pope Paul VI and Archbishop Michael Ramsey in 1966 to further Anglican / Catholic dialogue . During Evensong attended by many Roman Catholic guests , I could not help musing that I was present as an Ordinary of the Catholic Church as a result of that historic meeting in Rome in 50 years ago .
the ultimate goal
A few years ago , Cardinal Müller , the present Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , said in an interview , ‘ Anglicanorum Coetibus is both a fruit of the ecumenical dialogue and an expression of the ultimate goal of the ecumenical movement ’.
That it is a fruit , though an unexpected one , of the work of Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission which has met since 1966 , cannot be doubted . The then Archbishop of Canterbury , Dr Rowan Williams , said as much at the press conference with the Archbishop of Westminster following the publication of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus in November 2009 .
a prophetic gesture
Much more important however is his belief that the Ordinariates here in the UK , in North America and Australia are what Pope Benedict XVI described in 2010 as a ‘ prophetic gesture ’ which points us forward and ‘ helps us to set our sights on the ultimate goal of all ecumenical activity : the restoration of full ecclesial communion in the context of which the mutual exchange of gifts from our respective spiritual patrimonies serves as an enrichment to us all .’ - Pope Benedict XVI , St Mary ’ s College Oscott , September 2010 .
Pope Benedict ’ s vision was that those elements of the ancient catholic faith in England which had been preserved in Anglican worship and pastoral practice should be brought into the Catholic Church as a treasure to be shared . If this is true , the significance of the Ordinariate is far more important than its size .
This is often illustrated for me by the interest in the Ordinariate I experience in meeting bishops , priests and lay people from different parts of the world who you might think would be unaware of this new structure in the Catholic Church . On the contrary , there is a fascination not least in its ecumenical significance .
six years on
It is now six years on 15th January 2017 since my ordination to the Catholic priesthood at Westminster Cathedral and the erection of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham . Much has happened since then . I know we made some mistakes in the early years but , at the time , our first priority was to secure adequate housing and stipends for our priests .
Over these years , we have been faced with many