The Pillars of an Ordinariate Education

Sacred Worship  |  Sacred Wisdom  |  Sacred Music  |  Sacred Art




The Mission of Catholic Education in the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter
Most Rev. Steven J. Lopes

The mission of the Ordinariate is not just to provide a home for Anglicans who have discerned that God is calling them into the Catholic Church. We are specifically tasked with preserving and promoting the best of the Anglican and English patrimony and bringing it to new flower in the Catholic Church. So “patrimony” is a word we use regularly in the Ordinariate, and with a good general sense of its meaning. In the broad language of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, patrimony refers to the spiritual, liturgical, and pastoral traditions, which nourished our communities in Anglicanism and now find new life and expression in the Catholic Church. It includes our distinctive form of liturgical prayer, our emphasis on the encounter with the transcendent God whom we worship in the beauty of holiness. It is a way of structuring parish life, of reverencing the domestic Church, of applying old lessons to the new challenges of religious education, and of sharing the responsibilities of governance. 

Patrimony admits a variety of meanings, but its true and authentic expression arises out of a discernment and judgment of the Church itself. The patrimony of English Christianity at the heart of the Ordinariate experience is seen through this lens. Whether it be expressed in liturgical rites, parochial celebrations, canonical structures, or simply the cultural idiom of our communities, our patrimony is actuated and defined by the Church for the Church. In an act of Petrine authority, the Church has looked into the rich experience of English Christianity and its Anglican expressions, and there recognizes the faith that is already hers expressed in a new way or felicitous manner. The elements of sanctification and truth that are present in the patrimony are recognized as properly belonging to the Church of Christ and thus as instruments of grace that ultimately impel the communities where they are employed towards the visible unity of the Church of Christ subsisting in the Catholic Church.

When applied to the educational mission of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, the patrimony that gives this educational mission its shape, breadth, and orientation must likewise be carefully discerned. How does Catholic education at an Ordinariate Parish express the spiritual, liturgical, and pastoral traditions in which our community has been formed? How is truth given voice in the particular language of faith that informs our worship? How does the experience of coming into the fullness of Catholic communion—an experience that is the genesis of so much of our energy and life—shape our approach to education that is both clearly and thoroughly Catholic and yet distinctively Ordinariate?

The Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus already gives some indication, as it articulates patrimony not only in terms of the Ordinariate’s fundamental identity, but also its mission: “a treasure to be shared.” To be authentic, Catholic education in the Ordinariate must orient itself firmly within this tradition and mission.

A Sacramental World-View

The Church’s mission of Catholic education is refined in the Ordinariate according to its vocation to preserve and promote the patrimony of English Christianity for new generations to the enrichment of Christ’s Church. This demands an understanding of the patrimony that is deeper than a collection of things, words, or even actions. The rich patrimony of English Christianity is the sacred history of the Church’s own faith and its interaction with a particular people and a particular culture. Over the course of centuries, English culture made its own the faith once delivered to the Saints, interiorized it and expressed it in imagery, language, and a logic all its own. All the while, the Gospel penetrated that culture, transformed it from within, and used it as a privileged canvas on which to portray love’s redeeming work. At its best, English Christianity expressed a sacramental world-view: a view of God, man, and the right ordering of things so that the world itself and all its wonders is understood as the burning bush of God’s revelation.

Catholic education for the Ordinariate aims to recapture this sacramental world-view, equipping and empowering young people to see beyond the ephemeral to the deeper truth of God in Christ. It is less education and more formation in the beauty of truth, in the rhythm of prayer, in the cultivation of virtue, and in the vibrancy of a creative imagination. The particular contribution of the Ordinariate in this is to ensure that this type of Christian formation as it developed in the English context never becomes a museum piece, but rather is lived by well-formed, intentional Catholics, and so contributes to the conversation
of faith for generations to come.

The Four Pillars of Education in the Ordinariate

The questions remain: How does one set out to form young people in a sacramental worldview that will sustain their faith and serve them throughout life? How does one bring the wisdom of the spiritual, liturgical, and pastoral traditions of English Christianity to bear on education today? Approaching the matter more concretely, how does one structure an education initiative in the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter so that the program and its curriculum fit the pastoral needs and experience of our community?

Drawing on the strength of our patrimony, education in the Ordinariate is structured around four pillars:

Sacred Worship: Primacy is given to the daily celebration of the liturgical life of the Church, since the first education of the soul is conducted not by programs but by the Word of God and sacramental grace. This is accomplished through the daily celebration of Holy Mass, the source and summit of the life of the Church, and in the daily prayer of the Divine Office (Morning and Evening Prayer).

Sacred Wisdom: Academic rigor in the liberal arts is essential to the formation of rational, free, and virtuous persons. Ordinariate education privileges a classical education, ensuring a firm grounding in literature, grammar, mathematics, science, and other core subjects. We seek to develop an integrated and holistic curriculum that attends to the formation of the whole person.

Sacred Music: Music is an integral part of the patrimony of English Christianity, and singing has been an essential expression of faith and worship for centuries. Music education, vocal and instrumental, is therefore central to the curriculum in the Ordinariate and provides a point of integration for the other core subjects.

Sacred Art: Also a strength of the patrimony, sacred art is taught in the Ordinariate not just from the standpoint of appreciation, but in the creation of it. Students will explore the fine, applied, and preforming arts as an integral part of learning and not just as an “extra-curricular” activity.

In the end, education in the Ordinariate does what all good Catholic educational initiatives seek to accomplish: assist parents in the handing-on of the faith to their children while equipping them for the adventure of life.

May 2018
Revised, October 2022