An ordinariate for Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church is set to be established in Australia by Pentecost this year, and will include Japan, reports The Record.
The Traditional Anglican Communion, a group of disaffected Anglicans who have been seeking full communion with Rome for years, will host a festival in Perth on February 26 at Holy Family Catholic Church in Como for the Anglican Ordinariate for Australia.Some 28 Anglican priests in Australia have so far expressed their firm intention to take up Pope Benedict's offer of the ordinariate that gives Anglicans a way to celebrate their heritage of worship and life as communities within the full communion of the Catholic Church.
TAC Bishop Harry Entwistle - one of four TAC Bishops in Australia and the Torres Strait Islands who will be ordained as Catholic priests, likely just before the Ordinariate is officially established, told the Record the festival is a public statement that "this is no longer just a theory, it's really happening".
"It's an opportunity to gather those who are more than just casually interested," he said of the festival, which is for Catholics and Anglicans who, like the TAC, have been disillusioned with the Anglican Church's liberalisation with female clergy, among other things.
Japan's Anglican Catholics constitute a small group led by a retired Anglican Bishop. Bishop Entwistle said the Japanese are happy to adopt a Western Ordinariate like Australia as they are among a persecuted minority.
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