Even in the Ozarks, Anglican tradition finds space inside Catholicism

In the unlikely setting of the Ozarks, a new structure within the Catholic Church intended to provide space for former Anglicans to preserve their patrimony puts down roots and finds an improbable appeal even to Baptists and Pentecostals.



he St. George Ordinariate Community at worship at their first home in Immaculate Conception parish, Springfield, MO.

July 7, 2016
Fr. Dwight Longenecker
CRUX CONTRIBUTOR

In 2009, I was headed for a retreat with other men who had come into full communion with the Catholic Church from the Anglican tradition. As we traveled, we caught the news that Pope Benedict XVI had established a kind of “church within the Church” for Anglicans called “a personal Ordinariate.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury at the time, Dr. Rowan Williams, was taken by surprise, and it was clear that he was not pleased. Observers on both the Anglican and Catholic side of the ecumenical table were critical.

This was not a move forward ecumenically, they accused, but a simple attempt at “sheep stealing” on the part of the Catholics.

Supporters replied that Rome was simply responding to repeated calls from a small number of Anglicans for a mechanism whereby they could come into full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining the good things from their Anglican tradition.

https://cruxnow.com/interviews/2016/07/07/even-ozarks-anglican-tradition-finds-space-inside-catholicism/