Those Anglo Catholic Bishops Have Flown

All of the Anglican “Flying Bishops are flying the Church of England’s coop and joining the Catholic Anglican Ordinariate that Pope Benedict XVI established last year.

The “Flying Bishops” were a solution 17 years ago that established bishops without geographic diocese to minister to Anglican parishes that baulked at having priestesses and women bishops.  But the actions this year by the Church of England’s General Synod made it clear that it was only a matter of time before orthodoxy will be made moot.  It was serendipitous that Pope Benedict XVI’s Anglicanorum Coetibus allowed for Anglicans to bring the best of their traditions into the Catholic fold while reaffirming their traditionalist religiosity.

The converts will have to immediately give up their pastoral ministries, although they will remain titularly in office until the end of the year.   It is expected that 500 people will be part of the first wave to join the Ordinariate with more to follow when the Ordinariate becomes established. Whole parishes are considering swimming the Tiber.

This move by traditional Anglo-Catholics into Catholic Communion will not be without chaffing. When the Pope visited the United Kingdom in September, he reminded the Catholic bishops to generously implement the Ordinariate. Moreover, the Anglo-Catholics might have a more formal way of worshiping than the post-Vatican II parishes.