Saturday, January 15th not only saw the ordination of three former Anglican bishops as Roman Catholic Priests, but also one of them, Father Keith Newton, was appointed by the Holy See as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
I am humbled to
have been appointed by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, as the first
Ordinary for the Personal Ordinariate to be erected in Great Britain under the
provisions set out in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus. This is
not an honour I have sought or expected but I pray that God will give me the
wisdom and grace to live up to the trust the Holy Father has placed in me.
My
wife and family have been a great support to me throughout my ministry and I
know they will continue to do so. I am delighted that Gill was received with me
into the full communion of the Catholic Church at Westminster Cathedral on 1
January 2011.