List of Anglican bishops who converted to Roman Catholicism

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This is a list of notable Anglican bishops who converted to the Catholic Church.

A broad definition of 'Anglican' is employed here, including churches within the Anglican Communion, but also those of the Continuing Anglican movement which formed following controversy over various actual or proposed theological and doctrinal reforms, such as the ordination of women. These reforms have reportedly spurred on individual bishops to leave their own churches to join the Catholic Church [1] [2] [3]

NameDate of conversionPrevious church(es)Notes
John Clement Gordon 1702 (circa) Church of Scotland Bishop of Galloway, 1688–1689
Levi Silliman Ives 1852 Episcopal Church Bishop of North Carolina, 1831–1852
Frederick Joseph Kinsman 1919 Episcopal Church Bishop of Delaware, 1908–1919
Peter Francis Watterson 1984 Continuing Anglican movement
Graham Douglas Leonard 1994 Church of England Bishop of Willesden, 1964–1973

Bishop of Truro, 1973–1981
Bishop of London, 1981–1991

Conrad John Eustace Meyer 1994 Church of England Bishop of Dorchester, 1979–1988
Cecil Richard Rutt 1994 Church of England Bishop of Daejeon, 1968–1974

Bishop of St Germans, 1974–1979
Bishop of Leicester, 1979–1990

Clarence Cullam Pope 1995 Episcopal Church Bishop of Fort Worth, 1986–1995
Charles John Klyberg 1996 Church of England Bishop of Fulham, 1985–1996
Daniel William Herzog 2007 Episcopal Church Bishop of Albany, 1998–2007

Returned to the Episocopal Church 2010
Joined Anglican Church of North America 2021

John Bailey Lipscomb 2007 Episcopal Church Bishop of Southwest Florida, 1997–2007
Jeffrey Neil Steenson 2007 Episcopal Church Bishop of Rio Grande, 2004–2007
Paul Richardson 2009 Church of England

Anglican Church of Papua New Guinea
Anglican Church of Australia

Bishop of Aipo Rongo, 1987–1995

Bishop of Wangaratta, 1995–1997
Assistant Bishop of Newcastle, 1998–2009

Ross Owen Davies 2010 Anglican Church of Australia Bishop of The Murray, 2002–2010
Andrew Burnham 2011 Church of England Bishop of Ebbsfleet, 2000–2010
Edwin Barnes 2011 Church of England Bishop of Richborough, 1995–2002
John Charles Broadhurst 2011 Church of England Bishop of Fulham,1996–2010
Keith Newton 2011 Church of England Bishop of Richborough, 2002–2010
Robert David Silk 2011 Church of England

Anglican Church of Australia

Bishop of Ballarat, 1994–2003
Robert William Stanley Mercer 2012 Church of the Province of Central Africa

Anglican Catholic Church of Canada

Bishop of Matabeleland (1977–1987)

Metropolitan Bishop of Canada (1988–2005)

Carl Leonard Reid 2012 Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Catholic Church of Canada

Peter Donald Wilkinson 2012 Anglican Church of Canada

Anglican Catholic Church of Canada

Harry Entwistle 2012 Anglican Catholic Church in Australia
David Lloyd Moyer 2014 Episcopal Church

Anglican Church in America

Gavin Roy Pelham Ashenden 2019 Church of England

Christian Episcopal Church

Missionary bishop to the United Kingdom and Europe, 2017–2019
Jonathan Michael Goodall 2021 [4] Church of England Bishop of Ebbsfleet, 2013–2021
Michael James Nazir-Ali 2021 [5] Church of England

Church of Pakistan

Bishop of Rochester, 1994–2009

Bishop of Raiwind, 1984–1986

John William Goddard 2021 Church of England Bishop of Burnley, 2000–2014
Peter Robert Forster 2021 [6] Church of England Bishop of Chester, 2001–2019
John Hepworth 2021 [7] Anglican Catholic Church in Australia
Richard Pain 2023 [8] Church in Wales Bishop of Monmouth, 2013–2019

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglo-Catholicism</span> Anglicanism that emphasises its Catholic heritage

Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches.

The Continuing Anglican movement, also known as the Anglican Continuum, encompasses a number of Christian churches, principally based in North America, that have an Anglican identity and tradition but are not part of the Anglican Communion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Use</span> Roman Rite liturgical use of former Anglicans in the Catholic Church

The Anglican Use, also known as Divine Worship, is a use of the Roman Rite celebrated by the personal ordinariates, originally created for former Anglicans who converted to Catholicism while wishing to maintain "aspects of the Anglican patrimony that are of particular value" and includes former Methodist converts to Catholicism who wish to retain aspects of Anglican and Methodist heritage, liturgy, and tradition. Its most common occurrence is within parishes of the personal ordinariates which were erected in 2009. Upon the promulgation of Divine Worship: The Missal, the term "Anglican Use" was replaced by "Divine Worship" in the liturgical books and complementary norms, though "Anglican Use" is still used to describe these liturgies as they existed from the papacy of John Paul II to present.

Forward in Faith (FiF) is an organisation operating in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. It also takes a traditionalist line on other matters of doctrine. Credo Cymru is its counterpart in Wales. Forward in Faith North America (FIFNA) operates in the U.S.

The Pastoral Provision is a set of practices and norms in the Catholic Church in the United States, by which bishops are authorized to provide spiritual care for Catholics converting from the Anglican tradition, by establishing parishes for them and ordaining priests from among them. The provision provides a way for individuals to become priests in territorial dioceses, even after Pope Benedict XVI's Anglicanorum Coetibus proclamation established the Personal Ordinariates, a non-diocesan mechanism for former Anglicans to join the Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Catholic Church of Canada</span>

The Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC) is a Continuing Anglican church that was founded in 1979 by traditional Anglicans who had separated from the Anglican Church of Canada. The ACCC has fifteen parishes and missions; with two bishops and 22 clergy.

The Traditional Anglican Church (TAC), formerly the Traditional Anglican Communion, is an international church consisting of national provinces in the continuing Anglican movement, independent of the Anglican Communion and the Archbishop of Canterbury. The TAC upholds the theological doctrines of the Affirmation of St. Louis. Each of the respective jurisdictions utilizes a traditional Book of Common Prayer deemed to be free of theological deviation. Most parishioners of these churches would be described as being traditional Prayer Book Anglicans in their theology and liturgical practice. Some Anglo-Catholic parishes use the Anglican Missal in their liturgies. The TAC is governed by a college of bishops from across the church and headed by an elected primate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Diocese of Perth</span> Diocese of the Anglican Church of Australia

The Anglican Diocese of Perth is one of the 23 dioceses of the Anglican Church of Australia. The constitution of the Diocese of Perth was passed and adopted in 1872 at the first synod held in Western Australia. In 1914, the Province of Western Australia was created and the diocesan bishop of Perth became ex officio metropolitan bishop of the new province and therefore also an archbishop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Nazir-Ali</span> British-Pakistani cleric (born 1949)

Michael James Nazir-Ali is a Pakistani-born British Roman Catholic priest and former Anglican bishop. He served as the 106th Bishop of Rochester from 1994 to 2009 and, before that, as Bishop of Raiwind in Pakistan. He is currently the director of the Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy and Dialogue. In 2021, he was received into the Catholic Church and was ordained as a priest for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham on 30 October 2021, one of several Anglican bishops who converted to Catholicism that year. In 2022, he was made a monsignor. He is a dual citizen of Pakistan and Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church in England and Wales</span> Overview of the role of the Catholic Church in England and Wales

The Catholic Church in England and Wales is part of the worldwide Catholic Church in full communion with the Holy See. Its origins date from the 6th century, when Pope Gregory I through the Roman monk and Benedictine missionary, Augustine, later Augustine of Canterbury, intensified the evangelization of the Kingdom of Kent linking it to the Holy See in 597 AD.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Church in America</span> Continuing Anglican church body

The Anglican Church in America (ACA) is a Continuing Anglican church body and the United States branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC). The ACA, which is separate from the Episcopal Church, is not a member of the Anglican Communion. It comprises five dioceses and around 5,200 members.

The Anglican realignment is a movement among some Anglicans to align themselves under new or alternative oversight within or outside the Anglican Communion. This movement is primarily active in parts of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the Anglican Church of Canada. Two of the major events that contributed to the movement were the 2002 decision of the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada to authorise a rite of blessing for same-sex unions, and the nomination of two openly gay priests in 2003 to become bishops. Jeffrey John, an openly gay priest with a long-time partner, was appointed to be the next Bishop of Reading in the Church of England and the General Convention of the Episcopal Church ratified the election of Gene Robinson, an openly gay non-celibate man, as Bishop of New Hampshire. Jeffrey John ultimately declined the appointment due to pressure.

<i>Church Times</i> Weekly independent Anglican newspaper

The Church Times is an independent Anglican weekly newspaper based in London and published in the United Kingdom on Fridays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anglican Catholic Church in Australia</span>

The Anglican Catholic Church in Australia (ACCA) is the regional jurisdiction of the Traditional Anglican Church for Australia. The ACCA is not affiliated with the Missionary Diocese of Australia & New Zealand of the Anglican Catholic Church.

Jeffrey Neil Steenson PA is an American retired priest and prelate of the Catholic Church and a former bishop of the Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion. Steenson was the first ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter which was established for former Anglicans who have become Catholics. He was previously the bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande from 2005 to 2007, when he resigned and was received into full communion with the Catholic Church.

A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate, is an ordinariate, a canonical structure within the Catholic Church established in order to enable "groups of Anglicans" and Methodists to join the Catholic Church while preserving elements of their liturgical and spiritual patrimony.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham</span> Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction for former Anglicans

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, of which its ordinary is a member, and also encompasses Scotland. It was established on 15 January 2011 for groups of former Anglicans in England and Wales in accordance with the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus of Pope Benedict XVI and the Complimentary Norms of Pope Francis of 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter</span> Diocese-like institution of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States

The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or personal ordinariate of the Catholic Church for Anglican converts in the United States and Canada. It allows these parishioners to maintain elements of Anglican liturgy and tradition in their services. The ordinariate was established by the Vatican in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross</span> Catholic jurisdiction structure

The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross is a personal ordinariate of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church primarily within the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference for groups of Anglicans who desire full communion with the Catholic Church in Australia and Asia. Personal ordinariates, like military ordinariates and dioceses, are immediately subject to the Holy See in Rome. The motto of the ordinariate is Mea Gloria Fides. The current apostolic administrator is Anthony Randazzo, who succeeded the second ordinary, Carl Reid, in 2023.

References

  1. Stobart, Janet (9 November 2010). "5 Anglican bishops will convert to Catholicism". Los Angeles Times .
  2. "Anglicans' regret over bishop's conversion to Rome". BBC News . 17 October 2010.
  3. Girardot, Doug (15 September 2021). "Explainer: What happens when an Anglican bishop becomes Catholic?". America .
  4. "Bishop of Ebbsfleet quits to go over to Rome". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  5. "Dr Michael Nazir-Ali received into the Ordinariate". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  6. "Former Bishop of Chester received into Roman Catholic Church". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2022-02-11. Retrieved 2022-02-10.
  7. "Fr. John Hepworth, 1944-2021: Former TAC Primate, Ordinariate Visionary, Reunited to Catholic Church", Anglicanorum Coetibus Society website.
  8. "Anglican bishop from Wales will convert to Catholicism to serve as priest". Catholic News Agency. Archived from the original on 2023-06-16. Retrieved 2023-06-16.