In the organisation of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and of the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is a Christian Full communion, communion consisting of the Church of England and other autocephalous national and regional churches in full communion. The archbishop of Canterbury in England acts as a focus of unity, ...

an ordinariate is a pre- or pseudo-diocesan ecclesiastical structure, of geographical or personal nature, headed by an ordinary who is not necessarily a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. An ordinariate can be: * an ordinariate for the faithful of Eastern rites in one or more countries (for Catholics of Armenian or Byzantine rite, usually) * a military ordinariate, for the troops of a nation * a

personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church establis ...

, also known as an Anglican ordinariate... we are learning to call them the 'Anglican ordinariates'" - Aidan Nichols in Andrew Burnham, ''Heaven and Earth in Little Space'' (Canterbury Press Norwich 2010 ), p. xv"Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." (a Catholic jurisdiction for those of the Anglican patrimony) * a missionary jurisdiction, the

Eastern Catholic The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous ('' sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

equivalent of an apostolic prefecture, e.g. the former Ordinariate of Asmara * the diocesan curia (in German use 'Ordinariat'' cf. English

chancery Chancery may refer to: Offices and administration * Court of Chancery, the chief court of equity in England and Wales until 1873 ** Equity (law), also called chancery, the body of jurisprudence originating in the Court of Chancery ** Courts of e ...

) * an ordinariate for an academic community, notably the former (unique?) Ordinariate for foreign students in Belgium

References

{{Reflist Catholic canonical structures

See also

References