Anglicanorum Coetibus was the Apostolic Constitution establishing the Anglican Ordinariate on the 4th November, 2009, so that members of the Church of England and other Anglican communities around the world could enter into full Communion with members of the Catholic Church while retaining their own liturgical Rites and other cultural elements of what is called the “Anglican Patrimony”. The argument was that various elements of the patrimony were too precious to be lost by members of the Anglican community entering the Catholic Church on an individual basis. There was also an understanding that for a significant number of Anglicans the barrier to full communion with the Catholic Church was primarily cultural rather than primarily doctrinal. It was these ‘cultural elements’ which were thought to be worthy of preservation. This work will be of interest to students of ecumenism and ecclesiology as well as to non-specialists who are simply members of the Catholic Church or Anglican Communion. Even common ‘garden-variety’ Anglophiles with an interest in all things English are likely to find the presentation of Anglican liturgical and pastoral life of interest.
