The Ordinariates are bigger than they look. The number of priests already entered, or in the process of entering, is enormous in proportion to the number of laity, the only figures mentioned so far.
It will likely expand in the US. As the TEC moves farther toward %#@>{& each year, a new group of people will say “that does it, now they’ve gone TOO far”. Some will seek the Ordinariate.
ACNA on paper has extensive geographic coverage. But it’s a coalition, of very distinct parts, united for now under one powerful and spiritual Archbishop. Unfortunately there’s only one Duncan, and some major differences hard, maybe insurmountable, to accommodate.
The Continuum Churches have maintained doctrinal and practical orthodoxy, and I don’t minimize that achievement. They can (inside their churches) reflect prolife and traditional values on Holy Orders and Matrimony, just as Ordinariate parishes can. But the Ordinariate can when needed unite with a larger body to lift up the prolife and evangelistic message, both to individuals and into the public square, locally and nationally, in an increasingly hostile environment. I’m not sure how, or to what extent, the Continuum churches can do that.
To stretch Lewis’ Mere Christianity, the Continuum can indeed provide warm rooms off the main hall, where truth can be lived out by those who already have it. But the Ordinariate can share expenses and manpower with the Church in their city to provide the means to lift up the Cross and the standard of Life where it can be seen, and thus facilitate some coming into the large hall in the first place.
