Anglican Use

Anglican Use
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Name	Anglican Use
Type	Use within the Roman Rite
Main institution	Catholic Church
Origin	Church of England
Founded	1970s
Notable persons	Richard William Enraght, Philip Turner, John Henry Newman
Regions	United Kingdom, United States, Australia

Anglican Use is a form of liturgical practice within the Catholic Church drawing on rites, prayers, and customs of the Church of England, Anglican Church of Canada, Anglican Church of Australia, and other Anglican Communion provinces. It developed amid theological dialogues involving figures associated with the Oxford Movement, the Anglican Communion's relations with the See of Rome, and later pastoral responses to groups entering full communion with the Catholic Church. The Use manifests in specific liturgical books, pastoral structures, and ecumenical arrangements linking parishes, clergy, and ordinariates.

History and Origins

Roots trace to the nineteenth-century Oxford Movement and figures such as John Henry Newman and Edward Bouverie Pusey, who influenced Anglican sacramental theology and Anglican worship patterns. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century controversies involving Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 and clergy like Richard William Enraght shaped liturgical continuity. Twentieth-century ecumenical milestones including the Second Vatican Council, dialogues between the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission and bilateral talks with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity created pathways for reunion. In the 1970s and 1980s, initiatives by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and national bishops' conferences explored pastoral solutions for former Anglican clergy and communities. Key documents and decisions from the Holy See culminated in arrangements formalized under papal authority in the early twenty-first century.

Liturgy and Practices

Worship expressions draw heavily on editions of the Book of Common Prayer, the Anglican Missal, and adaptations influenced by the Tridentine Mass and later editions of the Roman Missal. The Use incorporates eucharistic prayers, propers, canticles, and collects shaped by Anglican patrimony as transmitted through translators and liturgists like Thomas Cranmer and later editors of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer (American) and the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Musical traditions reference hymnody tied to composers and poets such as John Stainer, Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, and liturgical chant practices associated with the Gregorian Chant revival promoted by scholars like Dom Anselm Hughes. Ceremonial elements reflect vesture patterns historically debated in cases like Vestments controversy and pastoral norms recognized by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments. Liturgical books used by communities often include material from the Anglican Breviary, the Daily Office, and adaptations of the Common Worship series where permitted.

Pastoral Provision and Personal Ordinariates

Pastoral mechanisms were developed by bodies including the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the Holy See, and national bishops' conferences to receive former Anglican clergy and laity. Early implementations in the United States were known as the Pastoral Provision established under papal authorization involving Cardinal James Gibbons-era precedents and later overseen by figures from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. In 2009, an apostolic constitution promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI provided for the erection of personal ordinariates analogous to structures seen in the Military Ordinariate and in arrangements for Eastern Catholic Churches. These ordinariates, established in jurisdictions including United Kingdom, United States, and Australia, operate with leaders styled as ordinaries, sometimes drawn from former Anglican bishops or priests, and coordinate formation, incardination, and liturgical adaptation in concert with local diocesan bishops and the Roman Curia.

Membership and Demographics

Membership comprises clergy and laity who were formerly affiliated with provinces such as the Church of England, the Episcopal Church (United States), the Anglican Church of Canada, and the Anglican Church of Australia. Demographic patterns show concentrations in metropolitan areas like London, New York City, Sydney, and Toronto, with diasporic communities in continents including Europe, North America, Oceania, and parts of Africa. Statistical reporting has been undertaken by entities such as national bishops' conferences, the Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae, and academic centers at universities including Cambridge University, Oxford University, Yale University, and University of Toronto. Membership profiles often include former chaplains, parish priests, and communities tracing heritage to parishes impacted by decisions from synods such as the General Synod of the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.

Canonical and Ecumenical Issues

Canonical arrangements engage norms from the Code of Canon Law (1983), decisions by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and juridical instruments issued by the Holy See. Questions of clerical incardination, clerical celibacy exceptions, and reception of orders involve consultation with bodies like the Prefecture for the Economic Affairs of the Holy See and tribunals in metropolitan sees such as Westminster, New York (Archdiocese of New York), and Sydney (Archdiocese of Sydney). Ecumenical implications have been debated in forums including the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission, the World Council of Churches, and national ecumenical councils like the Churches Together in England and the Canadian Council of Churches. High-profile responses and critiques have come from leaders including Rowan Williams, Justin Welby, Katharine Jefferts Schori, and cardinals such as Walter Kasper, influencing reception among Anglican provinces and prompting ongoing theological dialogue on ministry, eucharist, and corporate reunion.

Category:Catholic liturgy Category:Anglicanism Category:Ecumenical organizations