Fr Robert Mercer's Accommodation Making the News

At the risk of sounding  tabloidish over here, it seems as if Fr Robert Mercer’s accommodation is coming under scrutiny in the British media now that he has become a Ordinariate Priest. It all seems rather petty to me, but here’s the issue:

An Anglican monastery struggling for funds bought a flat for a member who  later converted to Catholicism.

The Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield yesterday defended its support  for Father Robert Mercer – who left the Church of England because he opposed the  ordination of women priests.

The monastery bought a £160,000 flat in Worthing near Brighton to allow him  to be close to his sick sister.

But the community is also trying to raise £2m for a major revamp of its home  on Stocksbank Road.

The Examiner was contacted by a source who is unhappy with the  arrangement.

The complainant said: “This fully ordained Roman Catholic priest who, as a  Roman Catholic cannot recognise the legitimacy of the Anglican Eucharist,  remains a brother of an Anglican religious community.

“He continues to live in the apartment, which is now effectively being used  for Roman Catholic purposes.

“The Community of the Resurrection has been endeavouring to raise some £2m  for the refurbishment of its church.

“The refurbishment has gone ahead, but only because the community used funds  which were set aside for the building of a new monastery on the site.

“It continues to try and recoup these funds through its appeal, which so far  has raised some £650,000 – the vast majority provided by its companions and  friends.

“They are being asked to make financial sacrifices from their own pockets and  are raiding their own assets to give things to the community’s auctions.”

Fr Mercer joined the monastery in 1962 but left Mirfield in the late 1960s to  work at one of the group’s priories in Rhodesia – now Zimbabwe.

Father George Guiver, superior of the 22-strong community, explained that the  monks had decided not to expel him when he left the Church of England more than  20 years ago.

Fr Guiver said: “He used to  belong to the Anglican Communion but in 1988 he joined a breakaway church called  the Traditional Anglican Communion.

“He made the move because he was opposed to the ordination of women.

“The community doesn’t have a view on it, there are those who support  ordination of women and those who are against.

“At that time we made the difficult decision about his membership of the  community because he had moved to a separate church.

“It was a difficult decision to make but the community felt that we should  keep doors open rather than closed when it comes to church unity.”

Fr Mercer retired in 2006 and the community bought him a flat on the south  coast so he could be close to his sick sister.

Fr Guiver said: “When he retired, he hadn’t lived in the community for nearly  40 years.

“Returning after so long would not be easy.

“He had a very ill sister in Worthing who had to flee from Zimbabwe with next  to nothing.

“She needs constant care, he wanted to be near her so we invested in a flat  for him in 2006 round the corner from her.

“He maintains the flat – the boiler broke recently and he paid for the  replacement.”

Fr Mercer was ordained as a Catholic priest last month.

Fr Guiver said monks had once again decided to allow him to remain a  member.

“We again considered all of this very carefully and we felt there were no  really new issues in addition to those we considered in 1988,” he said.

“He’s 77 and has no other income except for his pension. We can’t turn an old  man out on the street.

“He’s a very keen member of our community, he comes to stay with us for  several days, several times a year.

“He’s been a member of the community for 50 years, he’s very much one of our  brothers and a religious community is like a family.”

If push comes to shove, I suppose that the Catholic Church would have some alternate accommodation for Fr Mercer. But for now, the Mirfield Fathers at least seem to be sticking to their guns.

Come to think of it, a Commentator on this blog said (last month):

This man continues to be a Brother in the ANGLICAN Community of the Resurrection and continues to live rent free in accommodation owned by and provided exclusively for him by that Anglican Religious Community.

To which I said at the time:

I’m sure the Catholic Church has plenty of accommodation – ‘rent free’ – should he need it.

 

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