FAREWELL AND THANKS

It was with a degree of sadness that I read an e-mail from Forward-in-Faith announcing that Bishop John Broadhurst had resigned as Chairman. Bishop John steered F-in-F from the beginning and he has been an inspiration to me, and, I am, sure to all those who have struggled to keep alive the Catholic faith in the Church of England since the decision was made to ordain women to the priesthood. When he announced that he was taking up Pope Benedict’s offer of the Ordinariate and resigning as Bishop of Fulham from the end of the year, I suppose that it was inevitable that he would resign from Forward-in-Faith. Sister Anne Williams CA will be acting Chairman until elections for a new chairman have taken place. I wonder if the Church of England will ever realise, or acknowledge, the calibre of those Bishops who are paving the way to the Ordinariate: Bishop Keith Newton, Bishop Andrew Burnham, Bishop David Silk, Bishop Edwin Barnes and Bishop John Broadhurst. A regular item in Forward Plus has been “There were Giants in the Land” These Bishops were certainly giants for the Catholic Faith of the CofE; they will now, I am sure, be giants for the setting up of the Ordinariate – the CofE’s loss is the gain of the Ordinariate. May they be blessed in the task they are undertaking.