Ordinariate Watch: First 53 Anglican clergy defects to Roman Catholic church

Overall more than 50 former Anglican clergy will complete their defection over the next two weeks in a series of Pentecost ordinations.

The first of these will see seven former Church of England clergy be ordained in London by the Most Rev. Peter Smith, Archbishop of Southwark. The event will further establish the new Ordinariate formed by Pope Benedict XVI for Anglicans that wished to defect from the Anglican Church of England in protest against its moves to accept women bishops.

In excess of 900 laity have already moved to the Catholic Church and have been waiting for their clergy to complete training for Catholic priesthood at a seminary in West London.

As the former Anglican clergy become ordained as Catholic priests, they will lead groups of former Anglican laity to branch off from the core Catholic congregations to worship as a separate Ordinariate group. The Vatican will soon publish a separate liturgy for these Ordinariate groups to follow.

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