In the interview with Father Scott Hurd about the Anglican Ordinariates, this question was asked:
Will the Ordinariate be part of the Roman Church or will it be treated like the Eastern Rites?
He then answered:
It is part of the Roman Church. A new church is not being established. Ordinariates will follow the 1983 Code of Canon Law. In fact, the ordinary, who will be appointed to lead the Ordinariate, will be a part of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.
This hits it on the head precisely. Anglicans, historically being a particular Use of the Roman Rite, cannot, all of a sudden, be formed into a new sui juris Church (like, say, the Ukrainian Catholic Church) apart from the Roman Rite (Roman Catholic Church). Thus, the Ordinariate structures. It will function similarly to a sui juris Church, but not exactly, as Father Hurd explained. It is not just a new ball game, it is a new sport.
So when Archbishop Wuerl, or others, talk about Anglicans who are becoming Roman Catholic, this is the sense in which he means it. Another sense which is equally valid, is that Anglicans will become in communion with the Holy See: Rome. So in that sense, even the Ukrainian Catholic Church is Roman Catholic. They are no longer in communion with Constantinople or Moscow. The same would be for Anglicans, who would no longer be in communion with Canterbury (or, as in my case, in partial?/broken? communion with Canterbury).
This leads to my next clarification: the term "former Anglicans" used in Anglicanorum Coetibus. To some, this term is offensive due to the fear of "being absorbed" into the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite (with the stereotypical bad vestments, music, lay eucharisitic ministers, homilies, etc.). Nothing could be further from the truth. Why would entirely new jurisdictions, centering around the notion of Anglican patrimony, be built if we are to simply, later on, be "absorbed"? Ockham's Razor suggests that this fear is unfounded. Furthermore, Anglicanorum Coetibus is a canonical document. Juridically speaking, we will indeed be former Anglicans if we come into communion with the Catholic Church.
I like to think of us as transitioning from being Catholic Anglicans and becoming Anglican Catholics.
