By a unanimous vote, the Anglo-Catholic group Forward in Faith Australia has established a working party guided by a Catholic bishop to explore how its followers can convert to Roman Catholicism.
The group, which also has members in Britain and the United States, is believed to be the first within the Anglican Church to accept Pope Benedict XVI’s offer to create an Anglican Ordinariate, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The Ordinariate, a form of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, will enable Anglicans to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining parts of their spiritual heritage.
Bishop David Robarts, chairman of Forward in Faith Australia (FIFA), said members felt excluded by the Anglican Church in Australia, which had not provided them with a bishop to represent their views on homosexuality and women bishops.
Glad to get a few more details. A unanimous vote to create the group to work out a plan doesn’t mean a unanimous vote to actually leave, but it does suggest a strong consensus is pointing that way.
It’s no surprise. The FiF movement has been treated shamefully. If most or all the 200 or so FiF clergy in Australia do join the Ordinariat, it will be a great loss to Anglicanism down under. And although it might seem to be adding only a drop to the big RC bucket, it might still prove to be better for that Church and have more effects than any of us can now imagine.
David Handy+
Rev. Handy: each cradle catholic knows that he/she is only an infinitesimal drop in the vast catholic ocean. But then I think there is something in the Gospel about sparrows…!
CPKS,
Nice response. Very true. In fact, I seem to recall the Master saying something similar about the hairs of our heads all being counted…
David Handy+