No Valid Priests in Anglicanism

Pope Leo XIII - 1896 on Anglican Orders

NOTE: THIS EPISODE WAS PUBLISHED BEFORE OUR REBOOT. willwrightcatholic.com is now gooddistinctions.com

Anglicanism..

The ordinations of deacons, priests, or bishops in the Church of England are invalid. In other words, they do not make a man a priest. Pope Leo XIII declared that: “Ordinations conferred according to the Edwardine rite should be considered null and void.” Null means that that they never were valid, and they were void of any sacramental grace. The Edwardine rite means the rites which came about under King Edward VI. This means that Anglican ordinations were presumed valid until that point, even in schism under Henry VIII.

If we remember our History, King Henry VIII of England was excommunicated by the pope in 1534 for making himself the supreme head on earth of the Church in England (which he did by severing all ecclesiastical ties with Rome with the Supremacy Act in 1534). This “Anglican Church” then developed as a Protestant sect alongside the likes of Lutheranism, Calvinism, Zwinglianism, and the rest.

If you are interested in reading the entire document of Pope Leo XIII on why the Anglican orders are not valid, please click here.

The reasoning is remarkably simple.

King Henry VIII was Catholic in his theology. In fact, before the blow up with Rome, he defended the Faith against Martin Luther’s errors and was given the title “Defender of the Faith.” In fact, you will see on British coinage that the image of royal is ensconced with the letters: “D. G. REG. F. D.” In English, this means: “King (or Queen), by the grace of God, Defender of the Faith.” However, folks like Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer were anything but Catholic. In fact, Cranmer was a devout Lutheran in his thought.

Under King Henry VIII, there were few Protestantizing reforms. But under King Edward VI, who was a boy when his father Henry died and he became king, Thomas Cranmer was able to push through several reforms. The break with Rome and with the sacramental grace of the Church happened here.

Under Cranmer and the Edwardian rites, the sacrificial nature of the Mass was devalued and tossed out. So, the Mass was a mere “service” not a Holy Sacrifice. And the ordinations were said to be an ecclesiastical functions rather than a source of a transferal of sacramental grace and change.

Pope Leo XIII calls Anglican ordinations “utterly null and absolutely void” for these two reasons. In changing the nature of the Mass and the priesthood, there was no more priesthood. The liturgies of the Anglican communion do not make the Holy Eucharist present and the priests are not priests at all.

I love the Anglican communion because it was through this communion that I entered the Mystical Body of Christ. I was baptized as an Anglican. My godfather was an Anglican priest. Now, as a Catholic, I have an inexplicable draw to Anglican hymnody and prayers. Thanks be to God, under Pope Benedict XVI, the “High Church Anglicans” were given the gift of the ordinariates to have a path to full communion with Rome. There is still work to do, but the Anglican communion continues to lose their way.

The Anglicans were the first Christian community to dispense with the prohibition against artificial contraception. They now have ordained women priests and bishops. They have blessed same-sex unions. And many in the Anglican communion have opened the door to the possibility of same-sex “marriages.” They have worked to remove references to Satan, evil, and sin from the Book of Common Prayer at various points in recent history.

We continue to pray for unity. But we must recognize that Anglican priests are dressing like priests but they are not priests. Their services look like the Mass, but they are not the Mass. Many Anglicans believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist in their own churches, but they are sadly in error.

Recently, it was discovered that a large group of Anglican “bishops” and “priests” offered their liturgy at one of the most important Catholic Church locales in the world: the Pope’s own Church - St. John Lateran. This is a deep scandal and sacrilege. The Lateran say that it was a “breakdown in communication” but I prefer to call it utter incompetence. Let us pray for the Church as we pick up the pieces from the fallout of this bombshell.

Above all, let us pray for true union with all Christians in the future in the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ.