Question
Does the Catholic church recognize the ordination of Anglican priests? I hear this is why we cannot accept them and those confirmed in this church.
--Concerned in Concord
Answer
In 1896 in an encyclical letter entitled "Apostolicae Curae" (Apostolic Care) Pope Leo XIII declared Anglican Orders (ordinations) "utterly null and entirely void". This is the official position "on the books" regarding Anglican Orders today. The Anglican Communion in a response document rejected Rome's declaration and the grounds given for it by the Pope and the special commission established to interpret the matter.
There are excellent treatises on the subject written today which indicate how much the situation has changed from the turn of the century. John Jay Hughes has written a historical and theological tract showing how the Anglican Communion tried to get around Leo XIII's declaration through ordination of bishops by Old Catholic bishops and others considered to be "in apostolic succession". George Tavard, AA has written about "the new context" discussed by Cardinal Jan Willebrands which exists as a result of the acceptance of the ARCIC Final Report (1982) of the agreed statement on Eucharist and Ordination.
William Franklin (Anglican lay historian) has studied the Vatican Archives showing the division in the theological commission at the time of Leo XIII and reexamining some of the premises of "Apostolicae Curae" concerning what was done at the time of the Reformation regarding Anglican ordinations.
It is difficult to say more in a few words. But this situation could end if Rome were to reopen the question of Anglican Orders in the light of recent developments. There are a considerable number of Catholics and Anglicans requesting such a study.
--Ernest Falardeau, SSS
Ecumenical Office, Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA