The Ecumenical Landscape
From Monsignor Robert Mercer CR
The erudite and gracious John Twisleton wrote (ND October 2020), an Anglican Ordinariate ‘represents some encouraging evidence of Roman Catholic acceptance of Anglicanism’. He is right. The Apostolic Constitution of Pope Benedict XVI which established the three Ordinariates speaks of maintaining ‘the liturgical, spiritual, and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared.’
At the back of Westminster Cathedral is a tablet on the wall describing Cranmer as a heretic. Yet, I was present in choir when an archbishop from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said Cranmer’s Prayer of Humble Access at the high altar of the cathedral. My eyes were not dry; this represented the rapprochement that I had longed for as long as I can remember!
In his book The Realm, Aidan Nichols OP, wrote; ‘beyond a doubt as a doctrine, worship and devotion Anglo Catholics are a displaced portion of Catholic Christendom’. It is not only Prayer Book and Authorized Version devotees like me who have found a home in the Ordinariate, so have Anglicans of Evangelical provenance and ambience. Together we unite in saying ‘Come on in, the water’s lovely’
Father Robert Mercer CR
Address Supplied.