A RETIRED Australian Anglican bishop has joined an exodus of British bishops to the Catholic Church.
David Silk, a former Bishop of Ballarat, has joined four other
bishops who yesterday expressed their "dismay" and "distress" at the
church's liberal direction and announced they would join the Roman
Catholic Church.
In a statement yesterday, the British bishops
said they believed that modern reforms,
including women bishops, were
"incompatible" with historic Anglicanism.
The Bishop of Fulham,
John Broadhurst -- whose wife, Judy, and three of his four adult
children will convert with him -- predicted lay Anglicans would flock to
the Catholic Church in their thousands.
"There are lots of people interested. Some are actively looking at it," Bishop Broadhurst said.
"A lot of people are saying they will wait and see how it develops.
I can understand that. If you are a clergyman in a parish with a wife
and children, it is rather worrying. I suspect thousands, not hundreds,
of laity will go, however."
Bishop David Robarts, chairman of
Anglican traditionalist group Forward in Faith Australia, said
disaffected Australian clergy were preparing to form a new Catholic
ordinate as soon as Easter.
"It's unlikely there will be a huge
number (of lay converts) to begin with, but once the process begins, it
is open to continuing indefinitely," he said.
"We just don't know at the moment because people are yet to indicate whether they will come or not.
"It's probably going to be a slower process here."
As
well as Bishop Silk and Bishop Broadhurst, the statement was signed by
the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, Andrew Burnham, the Bishop of Richborough,
Keith Newton, and the retired
Bishop of Richborough, Edwin Barnes.
Australian Anglican Primate Phillip Aspinall could not be contacted for comment.
SIC: TA/AUS