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I reprint the following from the Our Lady of Walsingham Ordinariate website. It is regrettable that the article from The Tablet about this matter misses the important point that the Ordinariate returned the funds of its own volition. Perhaps in missing such a point (and writing in such a way as to make it appear that the Ordinariate had been ordered by Authority to return the funds) those writing for the Tablet justify its being called The Pill.There is so much I could write about what all of this represents, but I would be pointing to things already decided that could not be undone. The tragedy is that those who objected to the gift could not see the Ordinariate in relationship to the stated purpose of the Confraternity i.e., "advancement of the Catholic faith in the Anglican Tradition". What should wake us up is that the Charity Commissioners could not look at the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and see "the Anglican Tradition".
The question of course is whether or not the Ordinariate is Anglican enough to be seen as carrying forward the Catholic faith in the Anglican Tradition. By way of example, it calls into question an editorial decision in the otherwise excellent forthcoming Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham ... the use of the Roman Breviary 2 year Office Lectionary instead of the Office Lectionary in The Book of Divine Worship which is of Anglican Communion provenance. In relation to a separate decision taken, the ill-advised statement that there is no well-beloved Anglican baptismal rite needs to be withdrawn forthwith: it is manifestly untrue. What a huge loss of beautiful Anglican prayers would take place if our leaders decided to make the futile Ultramontane gesture to simply use the Ordinary Form of the Baptismal Rite.
So I take this ruling to be a wake up call to be intentionally Anglican in every area in a manner that is not in conflict with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the ordinary magisterium. The various Vatican Congregations will be more than happy to make it clear if we have gone too far. But we must go as far as we can for the sake of this catholic Anglican Tradition that we love. Our leaders and those deputised for the liturgical Working Group must be advocates for the Anglican experience in its world-wide catholic expressions and avoid unhelpful and unnecessary Latinising that so plagued the Eastern Catholics before Blessed Pope John Paul II. There are many of us who understand the vital importance of these matters and have nothing to lose by being bold for our heritage, tradition, and Patrimony.
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I expect that the lesson taken from the Charity Commissioners ruling will be focused on the particulars of the ruling regarding the inquorate vote and the impropriety of the donors giving to something from which they will benefit (?!?). Others will come away saddened by the mean-spiritedness of some who have chosen to stay in the C of E. I hope the larger issue of Anglican-ness does not get lost. If one were to mount an appeal (I admit I do not know if it is now possible to appeal the ruling of the Commissioners), would one not want to fit the very definition of the CSB's stated purpose: for the advancement of the Catholic faith in the Anglican Tradition...
+Christ, have mercy upon us.
