Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

The apostolic constitution which allows for the institution of personal ordinariates for Anglicans who join the Roman Catholic Church was released on 9 November 2009, after being announced on 20 October 2009 by Cardinal William Levada at a press conference in Rome.[5]

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The Bishop of Lincoln, John Saxbee, said that "I can't judge the motives behind it [the offer], but the way it was done doesn't sit easily with all of the talk about working towards better relations" and that "Fence mending will need to be done to set conversations back on track."[6]

Roman Catholic clergy who were present at an ecumenical service at Westminster Cathedral for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity were reported as being "dismayed" by the sermon by Canon Giles Fraser, then chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, which included comments that the ordinariate had a "slightly predatory feel" and that "In corporate terms, [it is] a little like a takeover bid in some broader power play of church politics."[6]

In 2011, Bishop Christopher Hill, the chairman of the Church of England's Council for Christian Unity, described the erection of the ordinariate as an "insensitive act".[6]

In 2019, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, responded to Anglican priests defecting to Rome in this way by saying "Who cares?" and that he did not mind people leaving to join other denominations as long as they are "faithful disciples of Christ".[7]

In October 2010, the parochial church council of St Peter's Church in Folkestone became the first Church of England parochial group to formally begin the process of joining the Roman Catholic Church.[8]

On 8 November 2010, three serving and two retired bishops of the Church of England announced their intention to join the Roman Catholic Church. The serving bishops were provincial episcopal visitors Bishop Andrew Burnham of Ebbsfleet, Bishop Keith Newton of Richborough and Bishop John Broadhurst of Fulham. The retired bishops were Edwin Barnes, formerly Bishop of Richborough, and David Silk, formerly Bishop of Ballarat in Australia and an honorary assistant bishop in the diocese of Exeter. The then Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, announced that he had with regret accepted the resignations of Bishops Burnham and Newton. In the following week, the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales considered the proposed ordinariate and gave assurances of a warm welcome for those who wish to be part of it.[9]

On 1 January 2011, Broadhurst, Burnham and Newton (together with their wives, apart from Burnham whose wife is Jewish), three former Anglican nuns of a convent at Walsingham and former members of 20 different Anglican parishes, were received into the Roman Catholic Church.[10]

The first personal ordinariate, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, within the territory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, was established on 15 January 2011[11][12] with Keith Newton appointed as the first ordinary.[13]

About half of St Peter's Parish, Folkestone (mentioned above), including their priest, were received into the ordinariate on 9 March 2011, along with 600 other Anglicans largely from south-east England, with six groups from the Southwark diocese.[14][15]

The "ordinariate groups", numbering approximately 900 members, entered the ordinariate at Easter 2011, thereby becoming Roman Catholics.[16] Initially, 61 Anglican priests were expected to be received,[16] but some subsequently withdrew, remaining in the Church of England. John Hunwicke, who joined the ordinariate, had his ordination "deferred" owing to unspecified comments allegedly made by him on his Internet blog site, but was subsequently ordained to the Catholic presbyterate.[17][18] In 2012, Robert Mercer, a former bishop in both the Anglican Communion and the Traditional Anglican Communion, was received into the ordinariate and ordained on 27 March 2012 by Bishop Alan Hopes at the Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth.[19][20]

In 2013, the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham became the first ordinariate to have a married layman on his way to priesthood.[21]

In 2014, Monsignor Keith Newton, the ordinary, admitted that the ordinariate had not grown as much as was hoped. It had not yet aroused broad interest among Anglican clergy, who had not welcomed it. To revive interest among Anglican upholders of traditional Christian doctrine, the ordinariate's members, he suggested, should "communicate our message more fully and with more vigour and enthusiasm".[22]

In 2017, Simon Beveridge and another former Anglican military chaplain (Royal Navy/Commando Royal Marines and the Army) were ordained into the priesthood in Scotland under the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.[23] In 2018, eight men were ordained to the priesthood under the Walsingham ordinariate.[24]

In 2021 and 2022 four former bishops of the Church of England (Jonathan Goodall, Michael Nazir-Ali, John Goddard and Peter Foster) were received into the Ordinariate and ordained as priests. Gavin Ashenden, former chaplain of Queen Elizabeth II and former missionary bishop of the Christian Episcopal Church, was received into the Ordinariate as well.[25][26]

In 2023 it was announced that Richard Paine, former bishop of the Church in Wales, would also be received into the Ordinariate.[27]

In 2010, three nuns from the Society of Saint Margaret joined the personal ordinariate.[28] The two former SSM sisters formed the Marian Servants of the Incarnation (MSI) and hold private vows.[29] On 12 December 2012, it was announced that 11 religious sisters from the Community of St Mary the Virgin (CSMV) intended to join the ordinariate.[30]

On 1 January 2013, eleven sisters of the CSMV were received into the Roman Catholic Church at the Oxford Oratory of St Aloysius Gonzaga and, with a former SSM sister from Walsingham who had been one of the first members of the ordinariate, were erected as the Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary (SBVM), a new religious institute within the ordinariate following the Rule of St Benedict.[31]

The ordinariate experienced what was described as "a tough first year". Writing in the Roman Catholic magazine The Tablet, Keith Newton said that the group was struggling financially. He expressed disappointment "that so many who said that they were heading in the same direction did not follow" and failed to join the ordinariate as expected.[32] In April 2012, Pope Benedict XVI donated $250,000 to the ordinariate to help support its clergy and work.[33]