We exist to enable the return of Anglicans to the Catholic faith and the evangelisation of England, Wales and Scotland.
We are the pathway into the Catholic Faith for Anglicans, a missionary outfit for evangelisation and a network for pastoral accompaniment of the faithful.
We are fully Catholic and retain our Anglican tradition.
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is a diocese-like structure within the Episcopal Conference of England and Wales.
This new structure within the Catholic Church is a generous and pioneering attempt to heal the division between Anglicans and Catholics.
It enables Anglicans to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church whilst preserving elements of our liturgical, spiritual and pastoral heritage.
The Ordinariate was established on 15 January 2011 as a direct result of the Apostolic Constitution, ‘Anglicanorum coetibus’ issued by Pope Benedict XVI. As members of the Ordinariate, we rejoice in the full peace of knowing that we are in full communion with the Catholic Church. Members of the Ordinariate are no longer part of any other communion, such as the Anglican Communion.
The members of the Ordinariate bring gifts to the Catholic Church for mutual enrichment, between those baptised and nurtured in the Anglican tradition and the Catholic Church.
Anglican patrimony can be understood to be those elements of the Anglican tradition which have sustained and nurtured the faith of those in the Ordinariate. This includes spiritual writings, prayers and music, as well as those pastoral practices distinctive to the Anglican tradition.
So, 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.
Whereas membership to a diocese is based on where you live, membership of the Ordinariate is on a ‘personal’ basis.
In other words, no matter where a member of the Ordinariate lives, within England & Wales, they will in the first instance be under the ordinary ecclesial jurisdiction of the Ordinariate, and not the diocese.
Following reception into the full communion of the Catholic Church, laity and religious become members of the Ordinariate by enrolment in a register. In the case of the ordination of priests and deacons, they are directly incardinated into (placed under the jurisdiction of) the Ordinariate.
Walsingham, often referred to as ‘England’s Nazareth’ has been a site of major pilgrimage for nearly a thousand years.
All of our ministry is under the mantle of Mary. Our Lady of Walsingham.
Our long road to full communion in the Catholic Church. This is how the Ordinariate came to be.
The Friends of the Ordinariate assist the work of Ordinariate through both practical and financial support and by raising awareness of it within the wider Catholic community.
The Ladies Ordinariate Group, meets regularly in London, usually at the Church of the Most Precious Blood in The Borough. Members' work ranges from Sunday School teaching to pilgrimages, cultural events and lobbying in support of Christian values in community life.
If you are considering making the journey from Anglicanism to Catholicism, we would be honoured to accompany you.
