Anglican Bishop resigns to join Catholic Church
‘The switch was about belonging to a church where there is clear teaching for the faithful ’
AN ANGLICAN Bishop who has previously criticised the direction of the Church of England has converted to Catholicism.
Bishop Dr Michael Nazir-ali, 72, who was Bishop of Rochester from 1994 until 2009, told The Daily Telegraph that he felt “sad” about leaving Anglicanism behind, and that he had been considering the move “for some years”.
He is now set to become a Catholic priest, saying the new role will “best maintain” his religious desires. He added that the switch was “about belonging to a church where there is clear teaching for the faithful”.
He said that there was a “lack of teaching authority in Anglicanism, a lack of a sense of belonging to a worldwide church where everyone has to do things in step, rather than everyone doing whatever they want to do”.
This is not the first time that the bishop has spoken out about the Church of England. He has previously accused it of “jumping on faddish bandwagons” amid ongoing debate around cancel culture and “wokeism”.
He criticised the plans to remove statues linked to slave owners from churches, saying “where do we start and where do we stop?”
He has also accused the archbishops of failure to care for parish churches after a document leaked earlier this year suggested that the Church of England would cut clergy numbers. Dr
Nazir-ali’s conversion to Catholicism comes just weeks after Bishop Jonathan Goodall, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet, who opposed women priests, defected to the Roman Catholic church.
It is rare for a bishop to leave the Church of England. In 2010, five bishops quit the Church because of their dissatisfaction over the introduction of women bishops.
Dr Gavin Ashenden, a former royal chaplain to the Queen and traditionalist Anglican bishop, said that Dr Nazir-ali’s conversion was “shocking”, adding: “He’s been part of a worldwide attempt to defend conservative Anglicanism and he’s clearly discovered that’s not possible”.
The Catholic Bishops Conference in England and Wales confirmed that Dr Nazir-ali was received into the full communion of the Catholic Church by Monsignor Keith Newton on the Feast of St Michael and All Angels.
With the permission of the Holy See, he will be ordained to the Catholic priesthood for the Ordinariate in due course.
Dr Nazir-ali added: “I am looking forward to receiving from the riches of other parts of the Church, while perhaps making a modest contribution to the maintenance and enhancement of Anglican patrimony within the wider fellowship.”
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said he was “grateful” for Dr Nazir-ali’s “decades of devoted service to the Church of England and the Anglican Communion”.