The full text of the Apostolic Constitution which establishes an Anglican Rite Ordinariate in the Roman Catholic Church was published today. People are pouring over the details and trying to work through the implications.
If there’s a surprise so far, it’s just how far this document is going with respect to married Anglicans functioning as “bishops”. Take Article 11 from the Complimentary Norms for example:
“Article 11 §1. A married former Anglican Bishop is eligible to be appointed Ordinary. In such a case he is to be ordained a priest in the Catholic Church and then exercises pastoral and sacramental ministry within the Ordinariate with full jurisdictional authority.
§2. A former Anglican Bishop who belongs to the Ordinariate may be called upon to assist the Ordinary in the administration of the Ordinariate.
§3. A former Anglican Bishop who belongs to the Ordinariate may be invited to participate in the meetings of the Bishops’ Conference of the respective territory, with the equivalent status of a retired bishop.
§4. A former Anglican Bishop who belongs to the Ordinariate and who has not been ordained as a bishop in the Catholic Church, may request permission from the Holy See to use the insignia of the episcopal office.”
This essentially empowers married priests to function within the Ordinariate as bishops, and for all intents and purposes, hold that status outside the regular communal life of the Ordinariate. Ruth Gledhill makes that point exactly in her coverage here.
Gledhill highlights the portion of the document that effectively reinvigorates the role of the Worker Priest, which will allow married Roman Catholic clergy to find church approved secular employment that would allow the priest to be able to support his family.
Br. Stephen (a convert from the Anglicanism who is now a Cistercian monk) posts his initial thoughts here.
UPDATED with more coverage:
Thinking Anglicans has a roundup of coverage going here.
David Simmons posted his thoughts.