The first Anglicans officially joined the Catholic Church at Westminster Cathedral on January 1. Three former Anglican bishops, two of their wives and three former Anglican nuns took communion in a Catholic service.
The group was received into the Catholic Church and then confirmed as Catholics. The former bishops are expected to be ordained as Catholic priests on January 15.
The Ordinariate—the special jurisdiction for defecting Anglicans—is expected to come into existence in a matter of days.
This is the small beginning of an organization that will soon impact the whole world.
One thousand Australians will join the Ordinariate by June 12, according to the Traditional Anglican Communion’s (tac’s) John Hepworth. The rest of the 400,000-strong group could follow suit.
A congregation in Calgary voted overwhelmingly toward the end of last year to leave for Rome. A journalist writing in the Calgary Herald said the event “could be termed a reverse Protestant reformation.”
A congregation in Orlando, Florida, the Cathedral of the Incarnation, also a member of the tac, has voted to return to Rome.
These are early days for the new Ordinariate, but before it has even been established, congregations around the world are lining up to join. Bible prophecy clearly shows that the Vatican will gather all its Protestant daughters back under its authority. At the moment it is asking nicely. Soon it will be by force.
