Several new groups of former Anglicans will join the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham this Easter, the head of the ordinariate has said.
In a pastoral letter marking the ordinariate’s first anniversary, Mgr Keith Newton said that he expected several new groups to be received into the Catholic Church through the ordinariate at Easter and that a number of men would be ordained to the priesthood around Pentecost.
But he said that the newcomers would increase the financial strain on the ordinariate, which has struggled with funding since it was created on January 15 2011.
Mgr Newton said: “There is a constant stream of men and women being received into the full communion of the Catholic Church through the ordinariate. We expect several new groups to be received at Easter and we are preparing for a number of ordinations to the priesthood around Pentecost. In addition, several young men are exploring the possibility of ordination within the ordinariate."
“This is all extremely encouraging but could be a strain on our limited financial resources. I ask you to be generous in your financial stewardship; not simply making your financial contributions in response to needs but in response to God’s overwhelming generosity to us in Christ “who though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9). If we all do this we will be able to prepare for the future with confidence.”
Members of the ordinariate marked the first anniversary with Evensong and Benediction at St James, Spanish Place, in central London.