Between 2012-2015, there was a lot of buzz around the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter in Anglican circles. No one knew what was going to happen. Would we see mass conversions of Anglican parishes eager to join the Roman Catholic Church in order to escape the miasma of the Anglican Communion? Would they have a major impact on the life and ministry of the broader Roman Catholic Church here in North America? Or would they, like many Anglo-Catholic groups, struggle and fade over time? What I found here in 2026 looking for the answers to those questions is that there’s no straightforward story; on one hand, I’d say that Ordinariate has seen some great success, but on the other, it appears they face real headwinds.
Some brief history: the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter (henceforth referred to as “the Ordinariate”) was founded in 2012 alongside an ordinariate in the United Kingdom and an ordinariate in Australia, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and the Ordinariate of the Southern Cross, respectively. These were established at the behest of Pope Benedict XVI, who in 2009 had issued Anglicanorum coetibus, mandating the establishment of these ordinariates as homes for those Anglicans who desire to be in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
At first, this generated considerable excitement. Married Anglican clergy would be permitted ordination as Roman Catholic priests. Entire congregations would be able to enter the Church, and Anglican laity would have special membership within the Ordinariate. A form of the Book of Common Prayer would be preserved as well; this would eventually become manifest as “Divine Worship: The Missal.” Organizations like the Traditional Anglican Church had stated for years that they desired to be in full communion with Rome, and it was widely assumed that hundreds of clergy and congregations would join the ordinariates.
However, by 2015, it became clear that there was not going to be a gold rush of Anglicans joining, even of the most Rome-friendly, Anglo-Catholic varietal. In 2015, there were only 38 communities of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, and, of those, less than half were truly established parishes. You will also notice that I use the word “community” rather than “parish.” In the beginning, it is clear that the Ordinariate was struggling to get organized. One can find “fellowships,” “communities,” “parishes,” “sodalities,” and “societies,” all listed as part of the Ordinariate at the time. For those familiar with the highly structured bureaucracy of the Roman Catholic Church, this definitely comes off as a bit strange, but for those familiar with Anglo-Catholicism, particularly Anglo-Catholicism outside of the Episcopal Church, one might be less surprised.
So what has happened since then? Firstly, both growth and decline, as well as some housekeeping. In 2026, there are 36 communities and parishes of the Ordinariate here in North America, with much stricter definitions of what it means to be either a community or a parish. Almost half of those have begun since 2015. Comparing between 2026 and 2015, it appears that 17 of those communities initially listed have either shut down or merged into other parishes. In my opinion, while the number of worshiping communities has contracted, those existing in 2026 appear to be in a much healthier place than they were a decade ago. In 2015, it was clear that many of those communities were small, either started by an aging Anglo-Catholic priest or by a small group of parishioners with no viable path to success. In 2026, the groups that were going to make it have done so and there has been a concerted church planting effort as well.
There has also been considerable growth on the membership front of the Ordinariate, with 12,000 members listed. This is more than all of the continuing Anglo-Catholic bodies in North America, who altogether have at least 5 times the number of parishes as the Ordinariate. After having surveyed all 36 communities and parishes, I did indeed find that many of them, but not all, had hundreds of communicants on any given Sunday.
The primary struggle for the Ordinariate, it seems then, is finding new clergy. When it was founded, I would estimate the median age of a priest was around 55+ years old, and they tended to come from continuing Anglican bodies. Since then, the clergy who have joined appear to have overwhelmingly come from the Episcopal Church, and while some of them have indeed been younger, they have primarily been used to fill roles created by retiring older clergy. It is also clear that there are some long-term strategic considerations here. For example, in 2024, the community of St. Albans in Massachusetts was shut down despite wanting to continue because there was not a priest who could minister and grow it into a parish.
Clergy supply was always viewed as a weak point of the Ordinariate. If they were to be dependent on Anglican priests converting in order to grow, there would need to be a serious pipeline of younger clergy leaving the ACNA/TEC, and this is not the case. The Episcopal Church has become increasingly progressive, meaning that less and less younger clergy are going to align with the conservative culture of the Ordinariate, and in the ACNA, the momentum is not towards Anglo-Catholicism.
What then of Roman Catholic seminarians becoming ordained to the priesthood in the Ordinariate? Anglicanorum coetibus does indeed make provision for celibate, non-Anglican clergy to serve, and so this seems like the most viable path forward. However, despite what appears to be increased investment in the postulancy program of the Ordinariate, the investments struggle to see returns. Working through all of the postulants since 2017, when they first began to be listed, I have only been able to find three who have been ordained and then gone on to serve in the Ordinariate. At the same time, the number of postulants has definitely increased from 4 in 2017 to 11 in 2026. Postulancy will be the deciding factor, ultimately, of the success of the Ordinariate, and for those interested in its future, this will be the metric to watch.
Culturally, we can divide the Ordinariate into two camps, with the dividing line largely falling on parishes created before 2015 and those afterwards. The older parishes have clearly become more Romanized over time, and they tend to have very few references to Anglican patrimony, while their online presence is what one might associate with traditional Roman Catholic piety. This shift makes sense; they are now tiny fish in a giant Roman Catholic pond, and they are, at least officially, cut off from the last 500 years of Anglican thought, culture, and theology. Those initial parishes that came in were also heavily invested in the idea of Rome being the superior communion to participate in, hence a willingness to more readily adopt Roman Catholic spirituality.
At the same time, I’ve seen an interesting willingness in younger clergy and newer parishes to more actively engage in Anglican patrimony, a great example being St. Aelred’s in Madison, GA with its Shrove Tuesday pancakes and the like. These parishes also appear to be growing the most quickly, which I think highlights one of the strengths that the Ordinariate has of being able to tap into the advantages Protestantism can tend to have over mainstream American Roman Catholicism. In a sense, the Ordinariate can have its cake and eat it too: it can, on one hand, have a very traditional liturgy compared to boomer Catholicism, but at the same time, have thriving communities and ministries modeled on the latest missiological practices. One doesn’t find many other “trad” parishes doing things like this, and the balancing act is able to attract traditional Roman Catholics looking for more, as well as Protestants who are Rome-curious.
Another interesting note has been the clear embrace of classical schooling. While not entirely uncommon within American Roman Catholicism, diocesan parochial schools tend to not be of the classical variety. The Ordinariate, however, seems to have gone all in from the top down. In fact, probably one of the most impressive accomplishments of Bishop Lopes has been the construction of the Cathedral School at Our Lady of Walsingham. Despite being only a few years old, they have built a gorgeous campus and have an impressive faculty. Likewise, a number of other Ordinariate parishes, particularly newer ones, have classical academies associated with them. From this, I think we get a window into the future of conservative Catholic education in the United States.
Speaking of Protestants, there has been a definite shift here in regard to the Ordinariate’s attitudes towards Protestants more broadly. Originally, the Ordinariate was created as a home for Anglicans looking to be in communion with Rome, full stop, but in recent years, this messaging has changed. Official diocesan texts mention both Anglicans and Methodists, while a number of parish websites, particularly newer ones, explicitly state that they’re looking to attract Protestants generally. A married United Methodist minister was allowed to become an Ordinariate priest when this was originally just reserved for Anglican clergy. And the diocese explicitly states now that its purpose is evangelization, language absent from Anglicanorum coetibus. While this may come as surprising, it’s not entirely a shock. The Roman Catholic Church in the United States has clearly decided that evangelization to Protestants is a top priority, and seeing as the Ordinariate is likely deemed more palatable to Protestants, energy has been placed here.
My conclusion on the Ordinariate is that it remains a fascinating ecclesial body. It is clearly not a failure in the sense that despite its initially small size, it has strengthened and grown. At the same time, it is difficult to discern the future. Its era of attracting Anglican clergy and laity is likely over, for the most part, and because of this, it will struggle to define itself against broader American Roman Catholicism as it becomes increasingly dependent on sourcing priests via “traditional” methods. Yes, its liturgy remains distinct, but because it has cut off the last 500 years of Anglican theology and culture, it will be difficult to identify itself with a non-Protestant English Catholicism that doesn’t resemble a Renaissance Fair. Likewise, the further it strays from the bounds of Anglicanorum coetibus, the more its purpose will come into question by the RCC establishment. Only time will tell, and in another 10 years I think there will be a very clear picture of viability.