Life Long Catholic Attends First Anglo Catholic Ordinariate Mass In Alabama ( Plus Canon Law Question)

Meg Hunter-Kilmer at  Held By His Pierced Hands -The only life worth living is a life worth dying for. has a very good post on the first Anglican use Mass  celebrated  by the Ordinariate she attended in Mobile Alabama.

The Ordinariate is sort of new thing to say the list and I think as to it's structure and how it functions is going to be an ongoing matter as it is tweaked.

She does a good job of explaining of well it's not a different rite / Church like Eastern Catholics but it's not quite like a Diocese ( but very close) . She also goes into her experience of the liturgy and her experience and viewpoint is very much like mine.

She mentions this :
Now, a lifelong Catholic can’t be a member of the Ordinariate–the purpose is to serve converts. I can, however, attend Anglican use Masses whenever I want to, and believe me, I will. The Latin of the Extraordinary Form is off-putting to me, but I’m beginning to understand when people lament the vernacular of the Novus Ordo. Maybe what we need, though, is a less vernacular vernacular–language that’s comprehensible but clearly sacred. That’s what the Anglican use Mass offers us, and that’s what I’ll be back for.

This is an area that might be and I suspect will have to "tweaked" formally in Canon Law at some point. In fact maybe there is some informal discretion with Bishops right now.

If the Anglo Catholic Ordinariate is going to survive and thrive it's going to have to be Mission based . Being Mission based should be something we all do but it's a huge part of the Anglican Patrimony. We right now have the following  scenarios:

- Life Long Catholics that have spent considerable amount of time in Anglican Use Parishes and wish and need to transfer into the Ordinariate . If they serve in leadership in the Parish it seems that's a problem coming if the Anglican Use Parish transfers into the Ordinariate.

- What happens when a "Baptized " lapsed Catholic rediscovers this Faith through the Anglican Patrimony of the Ordinariate.Its seem appropriate for all parties he be allowed to come under the Ordinariate jurisdiction.

-What happens when a "life long"  Catholic marries someone in the Ordinariate. Its seems appropriate they should be able to come under the Ordinariate jurisdiction if he or she wishes after some process.

-What if a "life long" Catholic  develops a devotion to this Anglican Patrimony over a period of time wishes to switch.

It is not exactly a quick process for a Latin Rite Catholic to become a Eastern Rite Catholic . That is of course for the spiritual protection of the person and to prevent abuses. Still there is a process.

I think in the future  for sake of souls and the future of the Ordinariate we are going to have to deal with this in a more formal way. We don't have to deal with that now perhaps , but I think it is coming.