FIIVE ANGLICAN BISHOPS QUIT THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND TO ROME!

Biship John Broadhurst

Five Anglican bishops quit Church of England for Rome

Five bishops have resigned to join the Roman Catholic Church as an exodus of Anglicans begins.

By Tim Ross, Religious Affairs Editor

Published: 11:16AM GMT 08 Nov 2010

The five will convert to Roman Catholicism in the first wave of protests over plans to ordain women bishops in the Church of England for the first time.

The Roman Catholic Church backed their move, which was first reported in The Daily Telegraph, and promised a "warm welcome" to all Anglicans who decide to switch allegiance to Rome.

Senior Catholics are finalising plans for the English Ordinariate, a new body created by the Pope to accommodate Anglican converts who cannot accept women bishops.

The Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, Alan Hopes, the Roman Catholic representative leading the development of the Ordinariate, confirmed the identities of the five converts today.

Bishop Hopes said: “We welcome the decision of Bishops Andrew Burnham, Keith Newton, John Broadhurst, Edwin Barnes and David Silk to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate for England and Wales.”

He said Catholic bishops would be finalising plans for the establishment of the Ordinarate next week, and promised a “warm welcome” to “those who seek to be part of it”.

The defections have been triggered by a vote at the General Synod of the Church of England in July to support divisive plans for women to be ordained as bishops in England for the first time.

A compromise plan, backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, was rejected, leaving many opponents of women’s ordination with no option but to consider leaving the Church.

Pope Benedict XVI announced last year that he would create the English Ordinariate for Church of England traditionalists who wish to switch allegiance to Rome while retaining some of their Anglican traditions.

The five bishops are said to be “dismayed” at the liberal reforms to the Church in recent decades and will join the Ordinariate in pursuit of “unity” with Rome when the new body is established next year.

They will cease pastoral work, which includes the oversight of Anglican parishes that are opposed to women priests, immediately, although they will remain officially in post until the end of December.

Sources on both sides expect about 25 groups, each typically containing approximately 20 converts, to follow the path to Rome.

The estimates suggest up to 500 individuals will join the Ordinariate in the first wave, with more expected to follow once it has become established.

Church wardens are arranging meetings to discuss the move in parishes across England. St Peter’s in Folkestone, in the Archbishop of Canterbury’s own diocese, became the first parish to declare publicly that it intended to join the Ordinariate last month.

Holy Trinity church in Reading is expected to make a decision on whether to follow in the next few weeks. Meetings are also planned at St John the Baptist church in Sevenoaks, Kent, and Holy Trinity, Winchmore Hill, in north London.

Fr David Elliott, parish priest at Holy Trinity in Reading, said many traditional Anglo-Catholics felt “squeezed” by reforms which would pave the way for the ordination of women as bishops in the Church of England for the first time.

“For congregations like this it is a big moment in their history,” he said. “These decisions aren’t made lightly. I haven’t resigned but I don’t see that there can be a future for Catholics within the Church of England.

“My own future I think does lie in the Roman Catholic Church but I can’t say when that will be. Obviously I have got to weigh up my responsibilities to the congregation.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8116921/Five-Anglican-bishops-quit-Church-of-England-for-Rome.html