A theology of the ordinariates

Great post by Fr. Anthony Chadwick over at The English Catholic, the TAC blog, on the theology of the ordinariates. Go read the whole thing as there are some great longish quotations as well:

In the Catholic Church, there is unity of faith, as there is only one truth, but communion in the one Church does not mean military uniformity. The Holy Father and Cardinal Levada have used an analogy of musical harmony and orchestration to describe the communion and unity of the Church. The first violin doesn’t do the same thing as the bassoon, but both instruments play the same symphony under the direction of the Conductor and Leader of the Orchestra.

This theme of unity and diversity runs through all the teaching and thought of Benedict XVI – unity around the Catechism of the Catholic Church as the standard of doctrine, and not merely assent to difficult points like the Filioque for the Orthodox, the teaching on religious liberty in Vatican II for the SSPX or Papal Infallibility for Anglicans. The Catechism is a much more mature summary of the Faith than some of the rather more minimalist and dry formularies of the past few centuries.

Some expected a return to the old days of anathemas and defined dogmas on the breakfast table. It didn’t happen, and I would say – rightly so. Dissidents will always be with us, whether they are extreme traditionalists or people campaigning for women’s ordination. Condemning them would have no credibility in today’s world. Let the Church’s Tradition prove itself through its beauty and intrinsic truth!

This is the very antithesis of the old liberals who were (and are) intolerant of the enemies of their conception of freedom. We have the demanding unity of the Faith giving freedom to different expressions in the Eastern and Western Churches in matters like culture, liturgical traditions, spirituality, scholarship and much more. True, authority is of vital importance in the Church, but even more so is the role of beauty and intrinsic truth.

May this new freedom in truth be an inspiration for the future of the Church, and that New Spring so hoped and desired for so long. Will the dream come true, or must we wait again for a time long beyond our lifetimes? If the dream is true in practice and reality, as Fr Blake said: I think the Ordinariate is going to be the most exciting thing in the life of the Catholic Church in this country since the restoration of the Hierarchy.