Monday, December 20, 2010

New (Australian) Anglican Ordinariate to include liturgy celebrations

Priests in Australia's new Anglican Ordinariate will celebrate mass facing east, away from their congregations, using 500-year-old liturgies, reports The Australian.

Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, said the traditional sacred liturgies - more in the language of Shakespeare than modern vernacular - would be held in parishes in all capital cities, the Gold and Sunshine coasts, Rockhampton and Torres Strait.

The process took a major step forward yesterday when Archbishop Hepworth and Catholic Bishop Peter Elliott announced the establishment of an Australian Ordinariate implementation committee comprising senior Catholic, Anglican and TAC clergy.

The committee will finalise details of the Ordinariate at a two-day meeting at St Stephen's College, Coomera, on the Gold Coast, in early February.

The Ordinariate will be established by Easter or Pentecost, in accordance with the invitation Anglicanorum Coetibus (on groups of Anglicans) issued by Pope Benedict.

Bishop Elliott said the initiative was "groundbreaking and historic . . . I am heartened by the spirit of goodwill and co-operation and the convergence of heart and mind."
 
SIC: CTH/AUS