On June 15 Pope Benedict officially erected the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross for Anglican groups and individuals who want to enter full communion with the Catholic Church. Archbishop Dennis J. Hart of Melbourne, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference, assured former Anglicans of "a warm welcome in the Catholic Church throughout Australia," and offered his "respect and admiration" for the "gifts" that Anglicans bring."For them and for us, this is a very special moment on which we pray the blessings of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of Our Lady of the Southern Cross," he said.
The ordinariate is a special church jurisdiction similar to a diocese. Pope Benedict XVI announced the ordinariates for former Anglicans in his November 2009 apostolic constitution "Anglicanorum Coetibus." They allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while retaining aspects of their liturgy and customs.
Fr. Entwistle said that membership is open to former Anglicans who accept what the Catholic Church believes and teaches, as well as to former Anglicans who have previously joined the Catholic Church. Those who have close family members in the ordinariate may also join.
The Pope has also created ordinariates in England and Wales and the U.S. Their leaders welcomed the Australian ordinariate.
Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, the head of the U.S. Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, also welcomed the news. He offered support for Fr. Entwistle's "important work" in making a home for Anglicans in Australia who have been "called by God to full communion with the Catholic Church and the rock from which we were hewn."
Fr. Entwistle said Pope Benedict has made it "very clear" that Christian unity is not achieved by agreeing on "the lowest common denominator." Those who join an ordinariate "accept the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the authoritative expression of the Catholic faith," he said.
