Cardinal William Levada: Ordinariate ‘is Pope’s project’
September 29, 2011 3 Comments
One of the Vatican’s most senior cardinals last night urged Catholics to support the ordinariate, saying it was a personal project of Pope Benedict XVI.
Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), was speaking at a fundraising event sponsored by the Friends of the Ordinariate and The Catholic Herald.
During a short speech he said the ordinariate was viewed by the Vatican in a similar way to the Ambrosian Rite, a form of liturgy that is at least 1,200 years old, used by about five million Catholics mainly in Italy.
He said the ordinariate “is really his [the Pope’s] project”, and described it as a “important new structure in the Church”.
The cardinal said: “We all want to give the support of our prayers to the ordinariate. In these delicate times there is a need for financial support.”
Mgr Keith Newton, the leader of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, said the ordinariate was a “small and fragile plant”.
He said that £50,000 had been raised already through advertisements in The Catholic Herald. “In the long term we want to be self-financing,” he said. “We rely on people’s generosity.” Mgr Newton said in July that the annual running costs of the ordinariate would be £1 million.
The Personal Ordinariate of England and Wales was formally established by the CDF in January for Anglicans who wished to enter into full communion with Rome while retaining some of their Anglican patrimony.
In a letter at the time Cardinal Levada said it was a “unique and historic moment” in the life of the English Church…
The event was hosted by Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster in the Throne Room at Archbishop’s House, Westminster…
About Fr Stephen Smuts
I have heard before that the whole Ordinariate was a project by Benedict/Ratzinger. And it is a “unique and historic” moment in the life of the English Church (Anglican). I just wonder if it will be squandered by the majority? I mean it could be a witness to the whole world! The English Church Anglican, and those who want to be connected again to Rome. Even those like myself, who want to remain Reformational and Reformed, should desire an Anglican Catholic patrimony, within the Roman Church itself! Then perhaps those like myself, can move closer to Rome again? And then who knows where it will take us? This could be a real and lasting ecumenicism!
It appears from statements made by Fr. Hurd, that he and others are trying to smother the US Ordinariate. They are following the wishes of Pope Benedict, nor following the Apostolic Constitution.
Someone needs to make sure that the Holy Father is informed and updated on some of the comments being made by the VG in response to which Anglicans or former Anglicans can enter the Ordinariate.
Sorry I meant “not following the wishes of Pope Benedict”.