More on Anglicanorum Coetibus

It's been a little more than a year (a year and 15 days) since Anglicanorum Coetibus was issued by Pope Benedict XVI. Currently, five Anglican bishops have given their resignation to 'Archbishop' Rowan Williams, and they are are prepared to join the Catholic Church and a new personal ordinariate set up by the Bishops of England and Wales. Pope Benedict XVI will formally establish the ordinariate and name a bishop to lead it in January 2011. A timetable has been laid out, and the three former Anglican bishops who are not retired will be ordained to serve as priests in the new ordinariate. The other two bishops, who are retired, will be ordained by Lent 2011. The bishops of England and Wales have stated that “this will enable them, together with the ordinary and the other former Anglican Bishops, to assist with the preparation and reception of former Anglican clergy and their faithful into full communion with the Catholic Church during Holy Week.”

This comes around the same time as 'Archbishop' Williams visits the Holy Father. Of course, Archbishop Williams is confidant that the number of Anglican converts will be small, even while most Catholic estimates are high. For example, Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham thinks that thousands, not hundreds, of Anglicans will convert. Already scheduled to be in Rome and to take part in 50th anniversary celebrations of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, the Pope and 'Archbishop' held a private meeting, presumably to talk more about Anglicanorum Coetibus and other practical concerns.

In an interview with Vatican Radio, Williams stated that he was "deeply skeptical" about large estimates of converting Anglicans. His tone changing greatly from the angry one taken a year ago, Williams stated that "I don’t see [Anglicanorum Coetibus] as an aggressive act, meant to destabilize the relations of the churches, and it remains to be seen just how large a movement we’re talking about."

Interestingly, 'Archbishop' Williams has stated that the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church may jointly use churches. Presumably, some of these would actually have been Catholic previous to their seizure by the English Crown. How this would work on a practical level has yet to be discussed (at least openly), and questions remain in my mind (such as who owns the property, how costs are split, etc.). This would be a nice temporary solution, while the new groups better organize and raise funds to build their own churches.

I look fondly towards January 2011 and Easter 2011, how about yourself?