The first principle of the Ordinariate is then about Christian unity. St. Basil the Great, the Church’s greatest ecumenist, literally expended his life on the work of building bridges between orthodox brethren who shared a common faith, but who had become separated from one another in a Church badly fragmented by heresy and controversy. He taught that the work of Christian unity requires deliberate and ceaseless effort...St. Basil often talked with yearning about the archaia agape, the ancient love of the apostolic community, so rarely seen in the Church of his day. This love, he taught, is a visible sign that the Holy Spirit is indeed present and active, and it is absolutely essential for the health of the Church.

- Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, Homily on the Occasion of his Formal Institution as Ordinary

Saturday, January 15, 2011

Pope Benedict establishes world’s first ordinariate

January 15, 2011
By Anna Arco

Benedict XVI formally established the world’s first personal ordinariate for groups of Anglicans today.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has issued a Decree of Erection which officially founds an ordinariate in England and Wales. It will be known as the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, under the protection of Blessed John Henry Newman. The Ordinary, or head, of the ordinariate will be Fr Keith Newton.

On Thursday three former Anglican bishops – Keith Newton, Andrew Burnham and John Broadhurst – were incardinated into the English and Welsh ordinariate when they were ordained deacons at Allen Hall seminary in London. They were ordained priests this morning at Westminster Cathedral...

Read the full story in The Catholic Herald.

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Rocco Palma also covers the story, with the full text of the decree from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in his story "Walsingham: The Ordinariate Begins" at Whispers in the Loggia.
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