Australian Anglican organization votes to seek union with Rome

February 17, 2010

Three months after Pope Benedict issued the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus, which makes provision for Anglicans seeking corporate union with the Catholic Church, the members of an organization of Australian Anglo-Catholic group have voted to seek full communion with the Holy See.

Forward in Faith Australia “receives with great gratitude the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus of Pope Benedict XVI and directs the National Council to foster by every means the establishing of an Ordinariate in Australia,” said national chairman Bishop David Robarts. “We warmly welcome the appointment of Bishop Peter Elliott as delegate of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference in the project to establish a Personal Ordinariate in this country [and] note the formation of a working group with Bishop Elliott comprising Members of Forward in Faith Australia, the Traditional Anglican Communion, and the Anglican Church of Australia, to set in train the processes necessary for establishing an Australian Ordinariate.”

Three Australian Anglican parishes are affiliated with the Anglo-Catholic organization, which was founded in 1999. Forward in Faith’s web site lists another 13 parishes that are sympathetic to its purposes.

 

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Further information:

• Australia's traditional Anglicans vote to convert to Catholicism (Daily Telegraph)
• Forward in Faith Australia Inc. and the Apostolic Constitution (FIF Australia)
• Phil Lawler: The apostolic constitution: a closer look (Catholic Culture, 11/9/09)