AN Ordinariate for Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church is set to be
established in Australia by Pentecost this year, and will include Japan.
The Ordinariate – which is effectively a diocese without geographical
boundaries - is in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s November 2009
Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus (“On the gathering of the
Anglicans”).
The Constitution gave Anglicans a way to celebrate their heritage of worship and life as communities within the full communion of the Catholic Church.
While the emphasis of Anglicanorum coetibus is for Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church in groups, 28 Anglican priests in Australia have so far expressed their firm intention to take up Pope Benedict’s offer.
The Traditional Anglican Communion, a group of disaffected Anglicans who have been seeking full communion with Rome for years, will host a festival in Perth on 26 February at Holy Family Catholic Church in Como for the Anglican Ordinariate for Australia.
TAC Bishop Harry Entwistle - one of four TAC Bishops in Australia and
the Torres Strait Islands who will be ordained as Catholic priests,
likely just before the Ordinariate is officially established, told The
Record the festival is a public statement that “this is no longer just a
theory, it’s really happening”.
“It’s an opportunity to gather those
who are more than just casually interested,” he said of the festival,
which is for Catholics and Anglicans who, like the TAC, have long been
disillusioned with the Anglican Church’s liberalisation with female
clergy, among other things.
Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Peter Elliott, Delegate for the Holy See for
the Australian Ordinariate, will address the festival, as will
Adelaide-based Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the TAC which claims
a global membership of 400,000.
Peter Gannon will also address the festival on what benefit the
Ordinariate has for ‘cradle Catholics’, while Robert Andrew, a member of
the Friends of Anglican Catholics support group who also converted from
the Anglican Church, will also talk on what attraction it holds for
people like him.
Bishop Entwistle, of TAC’s Western District encompassing WA, is part of
an implementation team that includes officials from the Holy See and
Bishop Elliott, who is himself a convert from Anglicanism.
Bishop Entwistle’s vision for the Western District of the ordinariate
will include weekly Masses at his Maylands base of Saints Ninian and
Chad Church and monthly Masses in areas outside Perth including Albany
and Bunbury.
Anglican Catholics in these areas will attend ‘regular’
Catholic Masses between these monthly Masses until more priests are
ordained to service these areas.
Japan’s Anglican Catholics constitute a small group led by a retired
Anglican Bishop. Bishop Entwistle said the Japanese are happy to adopt a
Western Ordinariate like Australia as they are among a persecuted
minority.
However, he said that the “one size fits all” concept does not
apply to Ordinariates around the world.
SIC: TR/AUS