If you haven’t heard, when have you been? Well perhaps in New Zealand – if you take a liking to the NZ herald’s journalism. No no, you won’t hear about it there, but you will hear about sexual abuse in the church and the canonization of 5 saints and, ofcourse Galileo supposedly having the last laugh at the Vatican (what an absolute historical farce!) I found it rather interesting that the Herald failed to cover the story. I thought it would have been a biggie. Yes, I’m sure by now you know what I’m talking about – its ‘em Anglicans (of the slightly more orthodox type). I’ve been getting emails from my regular informant and have scanned through a couple of them briefly; it looks like these are going to be interesting times for the Catholic Church as well as the Anglican Church.

Father Z published some comments on his blog by Father George Rutler and adds his own commentary:

Fr. George Rutler (convert from Anglicanism) on new Anglican provision

Fr. Rutler discusses Vatican’s Anglican provision
By Fr. George Rutler *

Editor’s Note: Fr. George Rutler, a convert from Anglicanism, was asked by CNA what his reaction is to the Vatican’s new Anglican provision. Fr. Rutler’s reply follows.

It is a dramatic slap-down of liberal Anglicanism and a total repudiation of the ordination of women, homosexual marriage and [this is important] the general neglect of doctrine in Anglicanism. Indeed, it is a final rejection of Anglicanism. It basically interprets Anglicanism as a spiritual patrimony based on ethnic tradition rather than substantial doctrine and makes clear that it is not a historic “church” but rather an “ecclesial community” that strayed and now is invited to return to communion with the Pope as Successor of Peter.

The Vatican was careful to schedule simultaneously with the Vatican announcement, a press conference of the Catholic Archbishop of Westminster and the deeply humiliated Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury to enable the Anglicans to save some face by saying that this recognizes the spiritual patrimony of Anglicanism and that ecumenical dialogue goes ahead. [Hopefully, with a difference.] That is like George Washington at Yorktown saying that he recognizes the cultural contributions of Britain and hopes diplomatic relations flourish. The Apostolic Constitution is not a retraction of ecumenical desires, but rather is the fulfillment of ecumenical aspirations, albeit not the way most Anglican leaders had envisioned it. [Right. They are not recognized as equal on the playing field. I wish this same approach would be taken with a certain non Christian group!]

The press, uninformed and always tabloid in matters of religion, will zoom in on the permission for married priests. They will miss the most important point: that this reiterates the Catholic Church’s insistence that Anglican Holy Orders are invalid, and perforce so is their Eucharist. [Right. All their clerics coming into the Church as clerics must be at least provisionally ordained.] These married Anglican priests have to be fully and validly ordained by a Catholic bishop. Following Orthodox custom, they are allowed to marry only before ordination and not after. And no married man may become a bishop. (Thus, any Anglican bishop joining one of these “ordinariates” would no longer be recognized as a bishop. Under special provision, Anglican bishops would have some right to pastoral authority, but would not be bishops.) [This is why the distinction was made about "ordinaries". Not all "ordinaries" are bishops.]

It remains to be seen how many Anglicans (Episcopalians in the USA) will be received into the Catholic Church under these provisions, but it is a final nail in the coffin of the rapidly disintegrating Anglicanism at least in the West [I hope we can get all their churches…. or at least swap some of ours for theirs.] and will radically challenge Anglicans in other parts of the world. Perhaps most importantly, it sets a precedent for reunion with Orthodox churches whose Holy Orders the Catholic Church already recognizes as valid. [And the SSPX.] I should not be surprised if the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury eventually is received into the Catholic Church, at least when he retires and gets a patent of nobility and a pension.

* Fr. George Rutler is pastor of The Church of Our Saviour in New York City and is a convert to Catholicism from the Anglican Communion.