SOME COMMON MISCONCEPTIONS
The arrangements whereby Anglicans will be received into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church is described as an Ordinariate.
Not quite correct – the Ordinariate is merely the vehicle whereby those who personally convert to Catholicism are received into the Roman Catholic Church.
Each Ordinariate in the differing parts of the world will be led by a bishop who will have authority in his own right.
In the Roman Catholic Church, only celibate men may be bishops. I don't know of many priests/bishops in the TAC who are celibate and, consequently, the norm will be that the Ordinary will be an Anglican priest who has been "re-ordained". As for having authority in his own right – there is no such thing because the only authority he has is that granted to him by Rome.
The bishop Ordinary will be responsible for the life, ministry and good order of a non-geographical diocese.
If that is the case, why does the Ordinary have to seek the opinion of the local Roman Catholic bishop, and the consent of the Holy See, before he can even establish a parish?
His authority will NOT be delegated to him by the local Roman Catholic bishop.
Of course it won't be, because, like the local Roman Catholic bishop, any authority he has is delegated to him by Rome.
An Ordinariate is an independent diocese, responsible for its own affairs but in communion with the Bishop of Rome and every bishop of the West and East who is in communion with him.
If an Ordinariate is "independent" and responsible for its own affairs, why do the documents issued by Rome provide that "each Ordinariate is subject to the Congregation of the Faith" and also subject to the other Dicasteries (departments) of the Roman See?
Why do they provide that the Ordinary is to follow the directives of the local Roman Catholic Episcopal Conference (provided that they are not in conflict with the documents establishing the Ordinariate)? As the Ordinary is a Roman Catholic priest/bishop and all the members of the Ordinariate are Roman Catholics, it must follow that they are in communion with the Pope – how could it be otherwise?
