Cindy Wooden reports for Crux:
Ten years after Pope Benedict XVI established personal ordinariates for Catholics coming from the Anglican tradition, the Vatican has issued a slightly updated set of norms governing them.
The updated “complementary norms” include a provision Pope Francis approved in 2013 explicitly stating that the personal ordinariates are not only for former Anglicans and their families, but also may include persons evangelized and brought into the Catholic Church through the ordinariate’s ministry.
The norms, approved by Francis and released April 9, were drafted and published by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which oversees the ordinariates.
… The updated norms also reflect the fact that since Benedict opened the way for the establishment of ordinariates in 2009, the Holy See has approved liturgical texts for use in the ordinariate parishes.
“‘Divine Worship,’ the liturgical form approved by the Holy See for use in the ordinariate, gives expression to and preserves for Catholic worship the worthy Anglican liturgical patrimony, understood as that which has nourished the Catholic faith throughout the history of the Anglican tradition and prompted aspirations toward ecclesial unity,” said the updated norms.
While the liturgy and rites have been approved by the Vatican, they are approved for public celebrations only in parishes of the ordinariates, unless explicit permission is given by the pastor of another parish, it said.
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
