| Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham Ordinariatus Personalis Nostrae Dominae Walsinghamensis |
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Coat of Arms of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham |
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| Location | |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Territory | England and Wales |
| Statistics | |
| Churches | 0 |
| Congregations | 42 [1] |
| Schools | 0 |
| Members | 900 [2] |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Roman Catholic |
| Rite | Latin Rite (Anglican Use) |
| Established | 15 January 2011 |
| Patron | Blessed John Henry Newman |
| Secular priests | 60 [3] [2] |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Benedict XVI |
| Ordinary | The Revd Msgr Keith Newton, PA |
| Website | |
| www.ordinariate.org.uk | |
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is a personal ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church within the territory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, but immediately subject to the Holy See in Rome and encompassing Scotland.[4] It was established on 15 January 2011 for groups of former Anglicans in England and Wales in accordance with the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus of Pope Benedict XVI.
The personal ordinariate is set up in such a way that "corporate reunion" of former Anglicans with the Catholic Church is possible while also preserving elements of a "distinctive Anglican patrimony".[5] The ordinariate was placed under the title of Our Lady of Walsingham and under the patronage of the Blessed John Henry Newman, a former Anglican himself.[6]
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Father Keith Newton, the former Anglican Bishop of Richborough, was ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood and appointed the first ordinary on 15 January 2011.[5] As he is married, he is not permitted to receive episcopal ordination in the Roman Catholic Church. On 17 March 2011, he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI to the rank of protonotary apostolic (the highest rank of monsignor).
In consideration of No. 130 of the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy[7] reserving use of "pontifical insigna" to "those ecclesiastical persons who have episcopal rank or some particular jurisdiction" the ordinary is allowed to wear an ecclesiastical ring, mitre and pectoral cross and also to carry a crozier, all the traditional insignia of a bishop or abbot, by virtue of his office.[8][9]
Andrew Burnham, the former Anglican Bishop of Ebbsfleet, and John Broadhurst, the former Anglican Bishop of Fulham, were also ordained as Catholic priests for the ordinariate on 15 January 2011.[5]
Two retired former Anglican bishops have also received ordination in the Roman Catholic Church. Edwin Barnes, another former Anglican Bishop of Richborough, was ordained to the diaconate on 11 February 2011 and the priesthood on 5 March 2011.[10] David Silk, a former Anglican Bishop of Ballarat in Australia and then, at the time of his resignation, an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Exeter, was ordained to the diaconate on 15 February 2011 and the priesthood on 18 February 2011.[11]
The ordinariate does not currently have its own churches and there has been speculation that it will seek to rent some churches from the Church of England, or borrow some Roman Catholic churches.[12] However, senior Church of England authorities have generally maintained that members of the ordinariate should worship in Roman Catholic churches.[13]
It has been suggested that the disused Church of St Anne in Laxton Place should be donated to the ordinariate as its principal church. St Anne’s is currently owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Westminster.[14] St Anne's, described as a "cross between a public lavatory and a Christian Science Reading Room" by Damian Thompson, the religious affairs commentator of the Daily Telegraph, is considered by him to be one of the ugliest churches in London.[15] He has suggested that St Etheldreda's Church in Ely Place, the only medieval Roman Catholic church in London, should be donated by its owners, the Rosminian order, to the ordinariate as its headquarters.[16]
The apostolic constitution that allows for the institution of personal ordinariates for Anglicans who join the Catholic Church was released on 9 November 2009, after being announced on 20 October 2009 by Cardinal William Levada at a press conference in Rome and by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, and the Archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols at a simultaneous press conference in London.[17] The provision exists for any number of such national Anglican ordinariates, though at present there are no other examples.
In October 2010, the Parochial Church Council of St Peter's Church in Folkestone became the first Church of England parochial group to formally begin the process of joining the Roman Catholic Church.[18] A group of the parish's members, including their priest, have since been received into the ordinariate.[19] Other members of the parish have remained in the Church of England, electing a new PCC, and are currently awaiting a new parish priest under the leadership of the Area Dean of Elham.[20]
On 8 November 2010, three serving and two retired bishops of the Church of England announced their intention to join the Roman Catholic Church. The serving bishops were Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough, and Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham. The retired bishops were Bishop Edwin Barnes, formerly of Richborough, and Bishop David Silk, formerly of Ballarat in Australia. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, announced that he had with regret accepted the resignations of Bishops Burnham and Newton. In the following week, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales considered the proposed ordinariate and gave assurances of a warm welcome for those who wish to be part of it.[21] In a pastoral letter concerning his resignation as Bishop of Richborough, Bishop Newton stressed that he had done so not for "negative reasons about problems in the Church of England but for positive reasons in response to our Lord's prayer the night before he died, [that] 'they may all be one'."[22]
The "ordinariate groups", numbering approximately 900 members, entered the ordinariate at Easter 2011, thereby becoming Roman Catholics.[2] Initially 61 Anglican priests were expected to be received[2] although some subsequently withdrew (returning to the Church of England) and one, John Hunwicke, despite joining the ordinariate, has had his reordination "deferred" owing to unspecified comments allegedly made by him on his internet blog site.[23][24] This has left a total of 55 former Anglican deacons and priests (in addition to the five former bishops) listed on the ordinariate's official website as candidates for reordination within the ordinariate.[3]
Some senior Church of England leaders have been reported as considering the establishment of the ordinariate to be damaging to relations between the Anglican and Roman Catholic churches.
The Bishop of Lincoln, John Saxbee, said that "I can't judge the motives behind it [the offer], but the way it was done doesn't sit easily with all of the talk about working towards better relations" and that "Fence mending will need to be done to set conversations back on track."[25]
Roman Catholic clergy who were present at an ecumenical service at Westminster Cathedral for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were reported as being "dismayed" by the sermon by Canon Giles Fraser, Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, which included comments that the ordinariate had a "slightly predatory feel" and that "In corporate terms, [it is] a little like a takeover bid in some broader power play of church politics."[25]
Bishop Christopher Hill, the chairman of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity, later described the erection of the ordinariate as an "insensitive act".[25]
The ordinariate has experienced what has been described as "a tough first year". Writing in the Roman Catholic magazine The Tablet, Keith Newton admitted that the group was struggling financially and later expressed his disappointment "that so many who said that they were heading in the same direction did not follow" and have failed to join the ordinariate as expected.[26]
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