The Strange World Of The Traditional Anglican Communion

Fr Michael Brown writes:

I hope we get some details soon about the Apostolic Constitution. Presumably as we have had the press conference it is written and ready to publish. I still think it is a brilliant gesture towards Anglicans who are seeking to find full communion with the Holy See. However recent conversations have thrown up a couple of points. I hear Anglican converts , both clergy and lay, asking what are the distinctive features of Anglicanism which Rome is seeking to preserve? I suppose we have to look to the Anglican Use parishes in the USA to get an idea. Also there seems uncertainty whether Rome will allow the ordination of married men to continue in the new ordinariate. Archbishop Hepworth says he believes this is the case, others seem to think not. Time will tell.

However I found out that I know a couple of TAC clergy already. What is interesting is that like archbishop Hepworth himself they were previously Catholic clerics. The two I know were ordained for Ecclesia Dei institutes, one being a founding member of the FSSP and the other a deacon with the Institute of Christ the King: both were converts to Catholicism from Anglicanism before reverting. Maybe there are more. I have heard it said that the clergy will need to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Since it seems some have been ordained Catholic priests and others by episcopi vagantes and others by Anglican bishops that will certainly be true.