Anglican ordinariate in Australia by Easter, bishop predicts

November 29, 2010

An ordinariate for Anglicans entering the Catholic Church will be in place in Australia by Easter of 2011, according to Bishop Peter Elliott.

Bishop Elliott—a Melbourne auxiliary who is handling relations with Anglicans who seek to enter the Catholic Church—reports that the Australian ordinariate will emerge “maybe a few months later” than the first such structure, which is expected in England in January.

In England, meanwhile, Anglican Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet delivered an emotional farewell homily and laid down his crozier. He has already announced his plans to enter the ordinariate as a Catholic priest. He remarked: "The Anglo-Catholic movement has fought a losing battle for 150 years, trying to convince the Church of England that she would be Catholic only if she conformed herself to the Catholic faith and fully embraced Catholic faith and order."

“We would hope by then to have specific churches designated for the ordinariate and, also the most important thing, to have some clergy who have been privately reconciled and ordained to the priesthood ready to welcome their fellow former Anglicans,” he says.

 

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Further information:

• Gateway for Anglicans ‘in place by Easter’ – bishop (Catholic Weekly)
• Anglican bishop lays his mitre and crozier at the feet of Our Lady as he leaves for Rome (Daily Telegraph)