In November 2009, Pope Benedict XVI issued the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus. It stated:
‘In recent times the Holy Spirit has moved groups of Anglicans to petition repeatedly and insistently to be received into full Catholic communion individually as well as corporately.
The Apostolic See has responded favourably to such petitions.
Indeed, the successor of Peter, mandated by the Lord Jesus to guarantee the unity of the episcopate and to preside over and safeguard the universal communion of all the Churches, could not fail to make available the means necessary to bring this holy desire to realisation’.
Pope Benedict’s offer of a Personal Ordinariate for Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church was a generous and pastoral response to the desire of Anglicans for unity with the See of Peter.
It represents the fruit of earlier discussions (the Malines Conversations and ARCIC, for example) and provides the natural home within the Catholic Church for those members of the Anglican tradition who have hoped and prayed, since the foundation of the Oxford Movement and before, for the reunion of Anglicanism with the Catholic Church.
As a direct result of this offer, three serving bishops of the Church of England, Bishop John Broadhurst, Bishop Andrew Burnham and Bishop Keith Newton, made public their intention to join the Personal Ordinariate when it was established.
On 1 January 2011 these three men, together with two of their wives and three former sisters of the Society of St Margaret in Walsingham, were received into the full communion of the Catholic Church by the Right Reverend Alan Hopes, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster, in Westminster Cathedral.
On 13 January 2011, the three former Anglican bishops were ordained to the diaconate in the chapel of Allen Hall Seminary, Chelsea, by Bishop Hopes, and to the sacred priesthood by Archbishop Vincent Nichols on Saturday 15 January 2011.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was erected by decree of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the same day, and the then Fr Keith Newton was appointed by the Holy Father as its first Ordinary.
On Ash Wednesday 2011, about 900 laity and clergy of the Church of England ceased public ministry in the Anglican Communion and began a forty-day period of preparation to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church.
In March 2011, the Holy Father elevated Fr John Broadhurst and Fr Andrew Burnham to the rank of Prelate of Honour, and Fr Keith Newton to the rank of Protonotary Apostolic.
During Holy Week 2011, almost 1000 men, women and young people were received into the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
After Easter, the former Anglican clergy were ordained to the diaconate and then, around Pentecost 2011, they were ordained to the sacred priesthood.
More than 80 former Anglican clergymen have joined the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham since it was erected, with most being ordained as Catholic deacons and priests.
So far, members of some 40 Anglican parishes have also corporally joined the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, forming stable ordinariate ‘groups’ within the Roman Catholic Church.
For the first time in its history, Anglican services, such as Evensong, are now being celebrated in the Catholic Church by canonically recognised groups of former Anglicans.
In 2012, many liturgical resources became available for use within the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. These include the The Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham, which contains the Litany and a number of readings from Anglican and English Catholic sources.
Other books that have been approved for use include The Order for the Celebration of Holy Matrimony and The Order for Funerals.
In October 2012 a new approved text for the Mass, devised for use by Ordinariates throughout the English-speaking world, was officially unveiled in London. The liturgy, known as the Ordinariate Use, is the work of a special commission established by Rome. It includes material from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (1662) as well as the Roman Rite.
In May 2013, Pope Francis amended the norms of Anglicanorum coetibus, to allow anyone:
‘who has been baptised in the Catholic Church but who has not completed the Sacraments of Initiation, and subsequently returns to the faith and practice of the Church as a result of the evangelising mission of the Ordinariate [to be] admitted to membership in the Ordinariate and receive the Sacrament of Confirmation or the Sacrament of the Eucharist or both’.
This confirms the vital role of personal ordinariates in the work of the New Evangelisation.
In 2024, His Holiness, Pope Francis, appointed the Reverend David Waller as the next Ordinary and the first Bishop Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
On hearing the news, Bishop-elect David Waller said:
“It is both humbling and a great honour to have been chosen by Pope Francis to succeed Monsignor Keith Newton as the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
I have been a member of the Ordinariate since its inception in 2011 … The past 13 years have been a time of grace and blessing as small and vulnerable communities have grown in confidence, rejoicing to be a full yet distinct part of the Catholic Church.
I already know well the priests and lay faithful of the Ordinariate and I now look forward to serving them in this new role … I humbly entrust myself to your prayers as we together embark upon the next chapter of the life of the Ordinariate.”
On Saturday 22nd June, the Episcopal Ordination of Bishop-Elect David Waller took place at Westminster Cathedral, on the Feast of St John Fisher and St Thomas More The principal consecrator was His Eminence Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.
On Sunday 23rd June s at Our Lady of the Assumption Warwick Street, Bishop David, took possession of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
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If you are considering making the journey from Anglicanism to Catholicism, we would be honoured to accompany you.
