All Things Ordinariate:

Answers to Common Questions

This is a question I get a lot as an ordinariate Catholic: What the heck is an “ordinariate?”

An ordinariate is just a diocese. For any of my Protestant readers unsure of what a diocese is, a diocese is a district under the pastoral care of an “ordinary” in the Catholic Church. An ordinary is typically a bishop, but not always. A non-bishop ordinary may be married, while a bishop ordinary must be celibate. A non-bishop ordinary may not ordain priests, while a bishop can ordain priests. Here’s a good definition of “ordinary” from the USCCB website:

ordinary (hierarch) – a diocesan bishop, or others who are placed over a particular church or community that is equivalent to a diocese, as well as those persons who possess ordinary executive power.

One place you run across the term “ordinariate” is in the military. For example, if a Catholic in the Diocese of Austin (under Bishop Joe Vasquez) enlists in one of the branches of the Armed Forces, the moment he or she enlists, the Catholic Church pulls that individual out of the Diocese of Austin and places them in the military ordinariate, or the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. Is this starting to make sense now? The military ordinariate is a diocese for our Armed Forces. The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the “Anglican ordinariate,” is a diocese started by Pope Benedict XVI for all of the Anglican worldwide seeking to become Catholic. Here’s how the USCCB explains our history:

In November 2009, in response to repeated and persistent inquiries from Anglican groups worldwide who were seeking to become Catholic, Pope Benedict XVI issued an apostolic constitution called Anglicanorum coetibus (pronounced Anglican-orum chay-tee-boose). This document authorized the creation of “ordinariates.” The communities are Catholic yet retain elements of Anglican heritage and liturgical practice. Ordinariates also have been established by the Vatican in the United Kingdom (2011) and Australia (2012).

This begs another question: Why is the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter not its own rite within the Catholic Church? Why is it a form of the Latin Rite?

It sure feels quite different than the typical Novus Ordo (Ordinary Form) Mass. The reason is fairly simple. Before Henry VIII’s split from the Catholic Church in 1534, the English liturgy was a form of the Latin Rite (the Latin Rite being the Western liturgical expression of Catholicism). During the Reformation, it split from the Catholic Church and took on the name, “Anglicanism.” During the papacy of Benedict XVI, many Anglican groups were desirous of coming back into communion with Rome, so what did he do? He grafted us back into the Latin Rite where we belong. He restored us to our proper place as one of the beautiful expressions of Western Catholicism. The three forms of the Latin Rite are the Extraordinary Form (the Latin Mass), the Ordinary Form (the Novus Ordo), and the Anglican Use (Divine Worship).

Post a comment if you have other questions for me.