Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Benedict XVI has today established an ordinariate in Australia for Anglicans entering into the Catholic Church.

The new ecclesiastical jurisdiction will be formally known as the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross and will be led by former Anglican bishop, Fr Harry Entwistle, who was today ordained a Catholic priest at St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth.

The Australian Bishops’ Conference released a statement speaking about the establishment of the ordinariate in their country.

“Ordinariates have thus far been erected in England and the United States and are the response of Pope Benedict to Anglicans who have been petitioning the Holy See to enter into full corporate unity with the Catholic Church while retaining essential elements of their heritage,” the statement said.

Fr Entwistle  (above) added that the Holy Father ‘has made it very clear that unity between Christians is not achieved by agreeing on the lowest common denominator, and those entering an ordinariate accept the Cathechism of the Catholic Church as the authoritative expression of the Catholic Faith.’

“Membership is open to former Anglicans who accept what the Catholic Church believes and teaches; former Anglicans who have previously been reconciled to the Catholic Church but who now wish to reconnect with their Anglican spiritual heritage; and those Baptised in the Catholic Church who have close family members who belong to the ordinariate,” he said.

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