While the new Apostolic Constitution maintains that "the provision of this new structure is consistent with the commitment to ecumenical dialogue, which continues to be a priority for the Catholic Church," the new constitution recalls the 1928 encyclical which argued that the only road to Christian unity is for all to admit their errors and return to Rome. This is the revival of a long-standing understanding of Christian unity articulated by the Holy See at the time of the Gregorian reform of the 11th century, articulated again by pre-Renaissance and post-Renaissance popes, and formulated once more in the apostolic letter Apostolicae curae of 1896 which declares Anglican orders "absolutely null and utterly void."

1. What is to be established? Personal Ordinariates, similar to a small diocese made up of parishes and religious communities, are being established for "Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church." The Ordinariates are composed of laity, deacons, priests, bishops, members of religious orders, "or those who receive the Sacraments of Initiation within the jurisdiction of the Ordinariate." The Ordinary, or leader of the Ordinariate, may be a bishop or a presbyter appointed by the Roman pontiff, from a list presented to the Holy See by the Governing Council of the Ordinariate.

2. What is new about the "Ordinariates"? This provision is considerably different from the "pastoral provision" set up in the United States in 1980 for former Episcopalians who wanted to enter the Roman Catholic Church. The constitution says, "The Pastoral Provision was not suitable for the new situation to which the Holy See was called upon to respond."

The "pastoral provision" was about parishes. The "Ordinariate" will form something like separate dioceses within Roman Catholic dioceses.

The constitution provides means to establish full communion corporately for former Anglicans.

It envisions bishops, priests, deacons, laity, and members of religious orders entering into the full communion of the Roman Catholic Church.

It envisions new Christians joining the Ordinariates, "individuals who come to the Catholic faith through the pastoral or missionary work of the Ordinariate and who receive the sacraments of initiation within the Ordinariate."

Individuals baptized in the Roman Catholic Church may not be members of Ordinariates.

3. What about the ordination of former Anglican clergy? "The ordination of ministers coming from Anglicanism will be absolute, on the basis of the bull Apostolicae curae of Leo XIII of September 13, 1896," the constitution says. "Given the entire Catholic Latin tradition and the tradition of the Oriental Catholic churches, including the Orthodox tradition, the admission of married men to the episcopate is absolutely excluded."

4. What is the role of former Anglican bishops? 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.

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 statutes of a retired bishop.

A former Anglican bishop who belongs to the Ordinariate and who has not been ordained in the Catholic Church, may request permission from the Holy See to use the insignia of the episcopal office.

5. What is the role of former Anglican priests? Former Anglican priests who are married may be re-ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church. "Those who have been previously ordained in the Catholic Church and subsequently have become Anglicans, may not exercise sacred ministry in the Ordinariate," the constitution says. "Anglican clergy who are in irregular marriage situations may not be accepted for Holy Orders in the Ordinariate."

6. What aspects of the Anglican tradition will be preserved within the new structure? * Worship: "[T]he Ordinariate has the faculty to celebrate the Holy Eucharist and the other Sacraments ... according to the liturgical books proper to the Anglican tradition, which have been approved by the Holy See." * Synods: "The Ordinary is aided in his governance by a Governing Council ... presided over by the Ordinary, composed of at least six priests ... In order to provide for the consultation of the faithful, a Pastoral Council is to be constituted in the Ordinariate."

7. What about celibacy? There is the possibility that married men, not previously ordained, may be admitted to an ordination process "by the possibility that, following a process of discernment based on objective criteria and the needs of the Ordinariate, the Ordinary may also petition the Roman Pontiff, on a case-by-case basis, to admit married men to the priesthood."

8. What is the relationship to the Bishop of Rome? Every five years the Ordinary is required to come to Rome for an ad limina Apostolorum visit and present to the Pope, through the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and the Congregation for Bishops, a report on the status of the Ordinariate.

A paragraph issued today by Bishop Christopher Hill of the Church of England captures succinctly the response of Anglicans in Rome to this text, and I suspect it will encapsulate the thinking, in their own contexts, of most throughout the Anglican Communion.

Bishop Christopher said: "We note the publication of the text of the Apostolic Constitution and its complementary norms today. It will now be for those who have requested and at this point feel impelled to see full communion with the Roman Catholic Church to study the Apostolic Constitution carefully in the near future and to consider their options."

I agree substantially with Bishop Christopher. These are only our initial responses to a major text that will require much further detailed analysis. But from the perspective of an American Episcopalian living and working in Rome, the Vatican text does not deflect us as Anglicans and Episcopalians in Europe from our continuing mission, or our longstanding commitment to seeking the unity of all the churches, including the Roman Catholic Church.

---- The Rev. Dr. R. William Franklin is academic fellow of the Anglican Centre in Rome and the associate director of the American Academy in Rome.