Archbishop Vincent Nichols, president of
the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, has said that Anglicans
joining the Catholic Church this Easter will be ‘warmly welcomed’ and
will feel entirely at home
Speaking before a Lenten lecture at Brentwood
Cathedral, the archbishop said that the Catholic Church will
‘keep open and positive our relationships with the Church of England.’
Around 900 Anglicans, including 60 clergy, are expected to join the
Catholic Church at Easter and Archbishop Nichols believes that Pope
Benedict XVI’s ordinariate ‘shows us not to be afraid of diversity
within the Catholic Church,’ as well as adding that we can recognise
that ‘the Catholic community has got many different faces in this
country now.’
The Westminster Archbishop said that the possibility of more married
Anglican clergy becoming Catholic priests is not a threat to existing
Catholic priests who are celibate.
“We have been receiving priests from the Church of England and
ordaining them into our presbyterate, now, for 15 years,” Archbishop
Nichols said. “And some of those have been married and have their own
families and I think it has led, on the whole, to a greater maturity
about reflection on celibacy as part of the priesthood in the Catholic
Church as the norm in the Latin Rite as we call it—in the Latin Church.”
Last week three former Anglican bishops, the first members of the
ordinariate, and who were ordained as Catholic priests in January, have
been honoured with the title of monsignor by Pope Benedict XVI.
Fr Keith Newton, the leader of the ordinariate who has most of the
functions of a bishop, has been granted the Papal award of Apostolic
Protonotary, the highest ecclesial title for non-bishops. Fr Andrew
Burnham, the former Bishop of Ebbsfleet, and Fr John Broadhurst, the
former Bishop of Fulham, have been granted the Papal award of Prelate of
Honour, and are therefore also monsignori.
Fr Newton spoke of his enthusiasm for the impending conversions and the journeys involved.
“I am really delighted by the numbers of Anglican laity who have
begun the journey into the full Communion with the Catholic Church in
Holy Week,” he said.
“It has not been an easy journey for many but I
know they will be greatly blessed. The Rites of Election (or Enrolment
for ordinariate members) around the dioceses marked a very moving and
important part of the journey so far.”