Catholic Herald: The ordinariate cannot wait

This editorial appears in today’s Catholic Herald

The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham setup by Pope Benedict has entered crucial and rather worrying phase in its development. Small communities of former Anglican priests and people are attending their own Masses, but in circumstances that are far from ideal. The challenge of finding them places of worship, and accommodation for priests and their families, is proving daunting. Given that this is a personal initiative of the Pope, it is rather shocking that the wider Church has not been able to expedite matters more quickly.

An ordinariate is about to be set up in the United States; there, the problem of church buildings is much as acute, for various historical reasons, and it may well be that the success of the American project encourages a second wave of converts to the Ordinariate in this country. But we feel as a newspaper that the time has come when – to put this as diplomatically as possible – our own ordinariate must stop waiting for the Bishops of England and Wales to make arrangements for them, and do the job themselves, with the help of the faithful...

Read the rest at The Ordinariate Portal