In the most recent edition of the Ordinariate Observer, the publication of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the vocations director Rev. Rick Kramer writes:

“One of the most frequently asked questions I get is: ‘Are you still receiving inquiries from Anglican clergy who are interested in converting?'” “The Vocations Office receives three to four new inquiries each week,” Kramer writes. “Most of the men who contact the Ordinariate are somewhere on their journey into the fullness of the Catholic faith.” “Foremost, they desire to know, as a disciple of Jesus Christ, how to become Catholic.”

This is encouraging news!

Meanwhile, I would encourage Anglicans who are still discerning whether to become Catholic to consider joining us at the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society. Our mission is to promote the Anglican tradition and common identity in the Catholic Church for the purposes of evangelization, education, deeper conversion and the glory of God.

For me, the traditional Anglican worship of my parish was key in my coming to the Catholic faith–and we find that spiritual ethos now expressed in our Catholic Divine Worship Missal, our offices, our hymnody, our spiritually meaty sermons, and community life. As Pope Benedict XVI wrote in Anglicanorum coetibus:

Without excluding liturgical celebrations according to the Roman Rite, the Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments, the Liturgy of the Hours and other liturgical celebrations according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See, so as to maintain the liturgical, spiritual and pastoral traditions of the Anglican Communion within the Catholic Church, as a precious gift nourishing the faith of the members of the Ordinariate and as a treasure to be shared.

If one is a clergyman or a lay person eligible for membership in the Ordinariate, the Society hopes you will consider forming a patrimonial group. It is as simple as holding a monthly Evensong at a fixed time and location and letting us know so we can put you on the map at our website.

Some other encouraging news in the Ordinariate Observer. Rev. Kramer reports the Ordinariate is “in the early stages of planning an Ordinariate house of formation, which will complement seminary formation, for the express purpose of transmitting the Anglican patrimony to seminarians.”

The Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus gives the Ordinaries permission to create these houses of formation in Anglican patrimony:

§ 5. Candidates for Holy Orders in an Ordinariate should be prepared alongside other seminarians, especially in the areas of doctrinal and pastoral formation. In order to address the particular needs of seminarians of the Ordinariate and formation in Anglican patrimony, the Ordinary may also establish seminary programs or houses of formation which would relate to existing Catholic faculties of theology.