Three Priests of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham Elevated to Monsignor
June 21, 2012 2 Comments
Fantastic news out from the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham today:
Pope Benedict XVI has elevated three priests of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham to the rank of Chaplain of His Holiness (Monsignor).
Monsignor Edwin Barnes, Monsignor Robert Mercer, and Monsignor David Silk, have all received the honour from the Holy Father, recognising their former ministry as Anglican bishops.
Mgr Barnes and Mgr Silk were received and ordained via the Personal Ordinariate in 2011, whilst Mgr Mercer was received and ordained in 2012.
The Ordinary, Mgr Keith Newton, said “By establishing Personal Ordinariates, Pope Benedict is seeking to be generous in making provision for those Anglicans who wish to come into the full communion of the Catholic Church. In every possible way he has sought to recognise the fruitful Anglican ministry which we undertook before entering the Catholic Church; this honour for these three distinguished men is a further sign of our Holy Father’s love and warmth toward this project”.
The announcement was made on Thursday morning as the clergy and the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham met for their summer plenary at Allen Hall, the diocesan seminary of the Archdiocese of Westminster.
I happen to know Msgr Robert Mercer, and this is an honour that I think he thoroughly deserves.
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This is wonderful news! To put it in context, it is useful to know that an appoinment as a Chaplain of the Holy Father, normally requires a minimum of 10 years’ priesthood in the Catholic Church and is rarely given until a priest has served for more than 20 years.
So, as the Ordinary has pointed out these appointments recognise the long labours in the vineyard of three very holy men, all born in the 1930s, who were priested as Anglicans in the 1960′s, who were distinguished Anglican bishops until their retirements and and who came home to Rome as septuagenearians.
Ad Multos Annos to our new Monsignori!
Mgr Barnes has just written about this on his Ancient Richobough blog:-
“The oddest thing about arriving late was to discover Mgr Keith speaking about me – he was waving a document (reproduced above) with the news that the three of us who had been Anglican Bishops but were now retired were to be made Monsignori. It will be good to catch up (as I hope) with Mgr David Silk at Buckfast next week : and Mgr Robert Mercer’s elevation will be a great encouragement to many especially those in the TAC or who have been in his care in time past. As for me, members of our Group and other friends have been inundating me with congratulations, and I was also warmly greeted when I said Mass this morning (of SS John Fisher and Thomas More) in Lymington. Mgr Mercer was typically self-deprecatory: ‘it doesn’t mean a lot’, he said. Certainly the accompanying letter mostly told us what we could no longer wear… the purple cassock, the ankle-length sleeveless purple mantle, the sash with tassels, the buckled shoes – all were abolished in 1969. Rather a mercy – I always found purple a very unflattering colour! And since I rarely wear a cassock the one remaining piece of finery will not often be on view (black cassock with purple trimmings, and a purple cincture). But it was very kind of our Ordinary to commend us to the Holy Father for this honour, and I have to admit to being rather happy about it.”