The ordinariate is proceeding at a deliberate pace which shows more and more that this is no distant pipe dream, but a present reality. It will have endless problems, of course. One of them is buildings. The first priority is to find what is being called a “principal church” which will serve a similar function to a diocesan cathedral. According to Fr Marcus Stock: “They will need a place to meet, to have meetings and gather as a group. Not a cathedral as such, but a principal church, it’s called in the constitution, where the members of the ordinariate can gather for the celebration of liturgies and where the ordinary will be based.” This will have accommodation for the ordinary and, presumably, office space for his, well, Curia, I suppose you could call it, why not?
 
Another immediate problem will be faced by the parishes or parish groups which will lose the right to continue using their Church buildings. Last November I quoted William Fittall, the secretary general of the General Synod of the Church of England, who said it would be “entirely possible” for them to be allowed to share their former churches with Anglicans who remain in the Church of England. The Archbishop of Canterbury also indicated, in an interview he gave in Rome, that he thought this would be possible. I commented that I thought it highly likely, given how successful the experiment of the two parishes where this had happened in the early 90s (notably at St Stephen’s, Gloucester Road) had been. “The fact is,” I pointed out,  “that maintaining its historic buildings is one of the Church of England’s biggest problems. Nothing is more logical than that the members of congregations who (in the Telegraph’s elegant usage) "defect" should share the building they are used to with those who elect to stay in the C of E, and should continue to contribute to its upkeep.”