The Ordinariates established by the late Pope Benedict XVI after 2009 for those coming from the broader Anglican tradition who wanted to reconcile with the Catholic Church came with a lofty and historically precarious mission: to effect a reconciliation that was not in the old tonality of the despising and complete abandonment of one’s previous tradition, but the careful integration of everything good in post-Reformation English Christianity into the Catholic Church.

Note: not merely pre-existing, pre-Reformation Catholic elements, but those that (we can now safely admit) Anglican Protestantism developed and fostered in its own context, and that constitute “treasures to be shared” with all of the Church, as Pope Benedict put it: from theologically rich and lyrically gorgeous prayers written by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer tradition’s daily offices and robust Scriptural emphasis.

Given centuries of apologetical and spiritual-psychological habits that, in worse times, were backed by the power of the rack, the sword and the pyre on both sides, this is truly no mean feat. How does one thread the needle without falling into either a complete compromise of truth and principles on the one hand, or merely falling back into the old model that is more interested in discarding, disdain, and continuing to foster mutual resentment, than in reintegration, mutual enrichment, and true reconciliation?

Here is the distillation of my thoughts on this formed by almost ten years of involvement and membership in several Ordinariate parishes and communities: Ordinariate parishes and individuals should positively cultivate what is unique to them, but always with an attitude of open sharing, without being proud, parochial, insular, or in any way resentful about it. They have the opportunity to be agents of reconciliation and the breaking of tired, old, destructive dichotomies both within and outside the Church.

The Ordinariates have a charism, mission, and as-yet unrealized opportunity, to enrich the broader Catholic Church with their distinctives, and to attract non-Catholics by showing, rather than telling, that it is not only possible but desirable to live in a modality of Catholicism that is faithful, principled, and also congenial to the habits of mind, spirituality and devotion one brings to the table as an Anglican or Protestant Christian.

I have unfortunately seen the insularity and self-referential complexes play out in both directions: from “Thank God we’re not like those heretical Anglicans anymore” homilies, to a “We’re not regular Catholics, we’re cool Catholics with special and unique prayers that you’ve never even heard of” attitude.

I have witnessed both a rush to abandon certain Anglican distinctives (an emphasis on the Daily Office in both parochial and personal spirituality; a focus on post-worship fellowship and community-building; the importance of communion under both species) in order to tout one’s new “Roman”-ness, and a rather pathetic aping of other “factions” in the Catholic Church (especially those tied to the pre-Vatican II liturgical traditions).

I have heard married Ordinariate priests essentially deprecate their own marriages in order to be seen as upholding the “Party line” of an all-celibate Latin clergy — when they could be positive role models to both show, and tell, that “while this is difficult, it is in fact possible” (as we very well know from Orthodox, Eastern Catholic, and indeed Anglican contexts, that it is).

Here some some of my thoughts, non-exhaustive and in no particular order, on what the Ordinariates could, and should, focus on doing:

1. Lead the charge in revitalizing a culture of public parochial offices (Morning and Evening Prayer) that has been the historical strength of Anglicanism. They don’t need to be elaborate or on par with a Choral Evensong from York Minster. It’s much more important to have something consistently and regularly that can form the basis of common worship as a community, and encouraging families and individuals to integrate the Daily Office in their domestic prayer lives.
2. Be the effective solution to false dichotomies and old habits of mind with their historical and political baggage — both inside and outside the Catholic Church. Show that “ad orientem” worship, great hymnody, plain-chanted Scriptural propers, communion under both species, or even communion received in the palm reverently while kneeling and with the chalice administered separately (the Anglican practice revived from ancient patristic sources), can be what they are, and appreciated as such, without necessarily signaling a position in the stale old “Liturgy Wars.”
3. Be the embodied working-out of Vatican II’s approach to applied ecumenical reconciliation: avoiding both self-hatred and the resentment of the prodigal son’s older brother. I understand that it’s very tempting to default to the position of disdain and conflict. It’s tempting to see oneself as now parading on top of Fortress Rome, sniping at “those poor unfortunates” who are still outside, or haranguing them with pop apologetics. You don’t need an Ordinariate to do that. I am convinced this is now how the late Pope Benedict, in his Erasmian spirit of dialogue and reconciliation, envisioned it at all. Why spend homilies harping on “the Protestants?” Do what Anglican (and indeed, Catholic and patristic ) homiletics does best: plumb the depths of the Holy Scriptures to the practical edification of the faithful.
4. Bring forward with joy and confidence, rather than half-heartedly and apologetically, the distinctive (in the Latin context) of a married parish clergy. Yes, of course it has its difficulties and its own pitfalls. But you can show that it can work and be worth the sacrifice, and that in no way are married priests somehow “less” as priests, which is a prevailing (and radically false) sense of things pervading contemporary Roman Catholicism.
5. Foster fellowship! Show how, with some intentionality, dedication and commitment from parish leadership and laypeople, “coffee hour” can even become an understatement, as a parish community learns to gel together over great and nourishing fare for even more than an hour on any given Sunday.
   

In sum: Don’t give up any distinctives! If you don’t treasure and foster them, who will? But don’t forget what they are for: the edification and upbuilding of all, “a treasure to be shared” in the peace and communion of the Holy Spirit.