JAMES BRADLEY* What is a Personal Ordinariate? Ecclesiological and Juridical Considerations Introduction The apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI on November 4, 2009, provides the “general normative structure for regulating the institution and life of personal ordinariates for those Anglican faithful who desire to enter the full communion of the Catholic Church in a corporate manner.” 1 Between 2009 and 2012, three personal ordinariates were erected by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 2 the dicastery of the Roman Curia competent for this task The Jurist 78 (2022) 501–527 * Assistant Professor, School of Canon Law, The Catholic University of America, Wash- ington, DC; Vice-Chancellor of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. This paper was commissioned by the Canon Law Society of America and was frst given at the 83rd annual convention of the Canon Law Society of America in San Diego, CA, held October 11–14, 2021. Printed with permission. All rights reserved. 1. Benedict XVI, apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, November 4, 2009: AAS 101 (2009) 985–990 (hereafter AC), in the preamble: “Huiusmodi ecclesiologiae principiorum sub lumine, per hanc Constitutionem Apostolicam generalibus normis consulitur, quae temperet institutionem vitamque Ordinariatuum Personalium pro fidelibus Anglicanis qui glomeratim plenam communionem cum Ecclesia Catholica ineundam percupiunt. Quae regulae Normis Complementaribus complentur, ab Apostolica latis Sede.” Unless otherwise indicated, all English translations of this text are taken f rom Benedict XVI, Anglicanorum Coetibus. Apostolic Constitution and Complementary Norms (London: Catholic Truth Society, 2009). 2. In conformity with the revision of the special law governing the Roman Curia, since June 5, 2022, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is known as the Dicastery for the