Officially how old is the Diocese of Canterbury (Church of England) in the UK?

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Krisdun said:
It is possible yes although it would be a difficult decision to make for both clergy and lay people to join a different church be it Roman Catholic or Orthodox for example.
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It would, which is why the Ordinariate was established to receive dissenting Anglican parishes intact. There has been, I think, no great flow to the Ordinariate.
 
PickyPicky said:
There has been, I think, no great flow to the Ordinariate.
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My impression, seen from afar (I am not now living in the UK), is that the Ordinariate has been successful in attracting ordained clergy, largely because it provides the machinery for a married Anglican priest to become a married Catholic priest. But for the Anglican layperson in the pews who decides to swim the Tiber, there is no obvious incentive for them to choose the Ordinariate rather than their local Catholic parish church.
 
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BartholomewB said:
But for the Anglican layperson in the pews who decides to swim the Tiber, there is no obvious incentive for them to choose the Ordinariate rather than their local Catholic parish church.
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Yes, it seems that the thought that it was only the language of Cranmer that kept them in the CorE was perhaps mistaken.
 
That clergy would lead the way is not surprising. But I would be interested in total numbers, lay/clergy, that make up the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, currently. Last I read, as of maybe 5 years ago, clergy were around 85+, laity around 3500+, parishes, I dunno.
 
I’ve found that to be true of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, too.

And I see that I am on the verge of being sent to the sidelines for talking overly, so
I’ll do something else for a while.
 
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Krisdun said:
Many CoE parishes object to having women bishops for example, or disagree on the issue of homosexuality. With such contrasting views it may be difficult to keep the CoE together as one ‘broad’ church…
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I agree with PickyPicky on this. A split is unlikely because the bulk of those who are hard-nosed on women’s ordination and LGBT issues have already left to join other groups, and any that will most likely follow in their footsteps. Or they’ll stay and deal with it. Or they will just die off. Like in the RCC, there are huge institutional barriers to dioceses splitting off.
 
That is fine but what sort of CoE will be left in say 30 years time? It could become totally unrecognizable. Some members may embrace it others won’t. Saying that every church has its own issues to deal with.
 
Some might argue it is only 486 years old after being officially designated a CoE diocese in 1534? Also, would it be termed a Catholic diocese that has existed for 1423 years if it were to revert to being a Catholic diocese again tomorrow?
 
Situation is similar in the US, re: The Episcopal Church. Though it took more drastic steps to get to that point.
 
It’s already unrecognizable, as compared to, say, 50 years ago.
 
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Point taken, but I’d say the Anglican world is in worse shape. Personal opinion.
 
It certainly has some major issues to sort out that is for sure. Keeping a broad church together is no easy task.
 
Or a Church that is low, high, and broad, depending on where you are looking. And what the morphing definitions of those points on the historic Anglican spectrum might become.
 
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