At least 15 Anglican bishops have converted to Catholicism through the Anglican ordinariate since its inception, which included four bishops in 2021.
A former Anglican bishop from Wales will be received into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church next month and serve as a priest with the Anglican Ordinariate, which was set up by former Pope Benedict XVI in 2011.
The Right Rev. Richard Pain, who served as the Anglican bishop of Monmouth, will join the Catholic Church on Sunday, July 2, at St. Basil and St. Gwladys in Rogerstone, Wales. He is the first Welsh Anglican bishop to convert to Catholicism through the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
“We are delighted that after much prayer Richard has asked to be received into the full communion of the Catholic Church,” Monsignor Keith Newton, who serves as the ordinary of the ordinariate, said in a statement.
“He will be the first bishop from the Anglican Church in Wales to be received into the ordinariate since its creation in 2011,” Newton said. “Richard has a long and distinguished ministry in the Church in Wales. He has many gifts which he will continue to use to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the people of Wales.”
The ordinariate is structured similarly to a diocese and allows former Anglican priests and bishops to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while maintaining certain Anglican traditions. It has its own eucharistic liturgy, which is distinct from the standard Roman Rite liturgy, and incorporates elements of the Book of Common Prayer that do not conflict with Catholic doctrine.
In the U.S. and Canada, the ordinariate is known as The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter and welcomes Anglican and Methodist converts.
At least 15 Anglican bishops have converted to Catholicism through the Anglican ordinariate since its inception, which included four bishops in 2021.
