Monday 8 November 2010

OFFICIAL: 5 Anglican bishops to join Ordinariate

As official as it's going to get, I think.

[...] Bishop Alan Hopes, Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop in the Westminster Diocese, said: "We welcome the decision of bishops Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes and David Silk to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church through the ordinariate for England and Wales, which will be established under the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.

"At our plenary meeting next week, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales will be exploring the establishment of the ordinariate and the warm welcome we will be extending to those who seek to be part of it.

"Further information will be made known after the meeting." Read here

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3 comments:

  1. John,
    It should be remembered that once these men join Rome, they will not only cease t be bishops, they will cease to be ordained, period. Who will serve these people until any of the former Anglican clergy are ordained in the Roman Catholic Church? They may try to spin it that they are being re-ordained. But the Vatican will see them as laymen until they are ordained in the RC Church. How long will it take for those who meet the Vatican's requirements to be ordained as deacons, then how long until they are ordained as priests? This may take quite some time. In the meantime what do the former Anglicans do in terms of sacraments. Presumably RC clergy will look after them, but where will these spare clergy come from, how will they serve and what ritual will they use? Look at the cases of the two former TEC bishops who went to Rome in the last two or three years and were not ordained, although one of them may have been ordained as a deacon, they returned to TEC. These five soon-to-be former Anglican bishops will never become Roman bishops, unless they're widowers. They are presumably financially well-off enough to weather the storm, what provisions are there for the lower clergy to support themselves and their dependents, once the become Roman Catholic laymen? I won't be surprised if Rome drags their feet in doing anything with many of these guys. Rome is what Rome is and has been fairly honest about what they are willing to do, the question is, do some of these former Anglicans have unrealistic expectations?

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  2. I think you should not guess but wait and see. You might be surprised at the speed of reception and ordination

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  3. Are these bishops heartless? Or is it that they simply don't care about the pastoral issues they are creating?

    There are many lifelong members of the Roman Catholic Church who believe God has called them to be ordained. Unfortunately for them, they also believe God called them to be husbands and fathers.

    Who will be supporting these people, as they start to deal with their emotions?

    There are people within the Church of England who have been confirmed and ordained by the Bishops that are now moving to the Roman Catholic Church. As part of the move, I understand they will be required to acknowledge that their former ordination was meaningless.

    Who will be supporting these people, as they start to deal with their emotions?

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