Father Keith Newton, former Anglican bishop, now Catholic priest, and the founding ordinary, spoke with BBC on Sunday about some of the questions the first members are ironing out.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is the first response to Benedict XVI's 2009 apostolic constitution, "Anglicanorum Coetibus" (Groups of Anglicans). It provides for Anglicans to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while maintaining elements of their distinctive Anglican patrimony. And as the first such ordinariate, it will serve as a model for those to come in other countries.
An exodus?
The question on the minds of many is: How many people are going to leave the Church of England and cross over to the ordinariate?
For Father Newton, predictions are unwarranted.
"[E]very person has to make an individual profession of faith," he told the BBC. And because of that, it's impossible to know numbers.
He suggested that about two dozen groups would make the change, and the size of each group could range from 10 to 70.
"But we won't be sure about the numbers until people actually make that commitment," Father Newton said.
To read more, click here.
Related article: Pope's offer was an 'insensitive takeover bid', say senior Anglicans
No comments:
Post a Comment