Monday 28 March 2011

Where the ordinariate isn't!

Last week's edition of The Tablet contains some interesting figures for Receptions into the RC Church in England and Wales - and includes as separate figures those joining the new Anglican Ordinariate.  Much to my surprise, the biggest groups are NOT from London diocese.  Brentwood (Anglican Chelmsford), Southwark and Birmingham are.  But it's the "zeros" which are really interesting.Cardiff, East Anglia (Walsingham territory), Hexham and Newcastle, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Menevia, Middlesborough, Northampton, Shrewsbury and Wrexham all have no converts to the new beastie.  In other words, Anglicans in the North and West are showing no particular interest at this time in joining the RC Church's Anglican annexe.  They may be waiting to see what the Ordinariate looks like in practice OR they may be more firmly wedded to the Anglican identity than the Southern diocese's catholic wing.  Given that the biggest groups heading to the Anglican Shrine at Walsingham were always from parishes in the North, it at least suggests that there will still be a Catholic wing of the C of E for the foreseeable future.  Good news for us - and perhaps a bit of a downer for those who thought every good Catholic Anglican would head over the Tiber due to the offer.

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