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Church of England bishop converts to Rome
London Telegraph Blogs (U.K.) ^ | February 17, 2010 | Damian Thompson

Posted on 02/17/2010 10:22:47 AM PST by Schnucki

The former assistant Bishop of Newcastle, Paul Richardson, has been received into full communion with the Holy See, I am pleased to reveal. Richardson – also a former Anglican bishop in Papua New Guinea and diocesan bishop of Wangaratta in Australia – was received into the Church at the chaplaincy at Durham University last month.

He tells me that his conversion is not the product of recent controversies. “I would have become a Catholic even if the Church of England wasn’t ordaining women bishops,” he says. “In a sense I feel it’s what I’ve always been, so this is like coming home.”

Richardson, 63, is not planning to join the Ordinariate, but hasn’t ruled out ordination as a Catholic priest – “You can’t just jump in and say ‘I want to be ordained’. I think I have to let the Church guide me over that,” he says.

Here is Paul Richardson’s page on the website of the Anglican diocese of Newcastle, where the bishop chaired the diocesan board of education. He now lives in London, where he attends Mass daily at St George’s Cathedral, Southwark. “I’m very happy just being an ordinary Catholic,” he tells me.

And I hope I speak on behalf of my Catholic readers when I say that we are very happy to welcome him.

(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.telegraph.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Religion
KEYWORDS: catholic; catholicism; churchofengland
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1 posted on 02/17/2010 10:22:47 AM PST by Schnucki
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To: Schnucki
Another one swims the Tiber.


C'mon in, the water's fine!
2 posted on 02/17/2010 10:29:45 AM PST by Apparatchik (If you find yourself in a confusing situation, simply laugh knowingly and walk away - Jim Ignatowski)
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To: Schnucki
Welcome Home!

I'm surprised that a Church established to grant a king a divorce and steal Church lands has lasted this long.

3 posted on 02/17/2010 10:31:21 AM PST by FatherofFive (For the first time in my adult life, I am proud that Massachusettes is part of the United States!)
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To: Schnucki

As noted, he still has a page on the website of the Anglican diocese of Newcastle:

http://www.newcastle.anglican.org/people-and-places/Bishop-Paul.aspx


4 posted on 02/17/2010 10:36:09 AM PST by iowamark
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To: FatherofFive

Real kind comment.

Richardson is the salt of the earth. Perhaps he will help some of the Catholic bishops he will meet to be converted.


5 posted on 02/17/2010 10:39:17 AM PST by campaignPete R-CT ("pray without ceasing" - Paul of Tarsus)
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To: netmilsmom; thefrankbaum; markomalley; Tax-chick; GregB; saradippity; Berlin_Freeper; Litany; ...
Welcome home!

Catholic Ping
Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list


6 posted on 02/17/2010 11:06:54 AM PST by NYer ("Where Peter is, there is the Church." - St. Ambrose of Milan)
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To: sionnsar; Huber; trad_anglican

Ping!


7 posted on 02/17/2010 11:07:56 AM PST by NYer ("Where Peter is, there is the Church." - St. Ambrose of Milan)
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To: Schnucki
"I have to let the Church guide me over that,” he says."

Truly touched by God's grace.

8 posted on 02/17/2010 11:42:07 AM PST by GonzoII (www.fultonsheen.com)
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To: FatherofFive

You should have stopped after Welcome Home. What’s accomplished by adding the swipe?


9 posted on 02/17/2010 11:42:16 AM PST by trad_anglican
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To: FatherofFive

Whatever unfortunate circumstances may have surrounded the formation of the Church of England, it currently contains many people trying in good faith to be faithful Christians. I see no need to insult them.


10 posted on 02/17/2010 11:44:51 AM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: campaignPete R-CT; FatherofFive
Real kind comment.

You see that kind of arrogant ignorance so much among RCs I wouldn't be surprised if the church itself was teaching this.

Tells me all I will ever need to know about Rome, for all that there are some very good people over there.

11 posted on 02/17/2010 2:46:47 PM PST by Clint Williams (America -- a great idea, didn't last.)
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To: campaignPete R-CT; Clint Williams; ArrogantBustard; trad_anglican
I’m sorry I offended some, but the protestant “reformation” is simply not Biblical:

“I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I follow Christ." Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. 1Cor 1:10-17

You could easily read the above as “One of you says, "I follow Luther"; another, "I follow Calvin"; another, "I follow Wesley"; still another, "I follow Christ."

Christians cannot be “perfectly united in mind and thought” when they have different beliefs on, say, the necessity of water baptism, while others believe “This is my Body” means “This is a cookie”

God bless in your journey to the truth.

12 posted on 02/17/2010 2:58:58 PM PST by FatherofFive (For the first time in my adult life, I am proud that Massachusettes is part of the United States!)
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To: Clint Williams

no, not the church teaching it.

just uncharitable speech. idle words.


13 posted on 02/17/2010 3:53:30 PM PST by campaignPete R-CT ("pray without ceasing" - Paul of Tarsus)
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To: FatherofFive

I tried to find JPII’s comments about appreciating that which is noble in all cultures ... we also have a tradition in America of keeping what is of value and disregarding the rest ... and every time, for example, someone speaks of John Winthrop’s “City upon a Hill”, we don’t need to be reminded that the Puritan’s ... were a fanatical group engaged in terrorism.


14 posted on 02/17/2010 4:38:49 PM PST by campaignPete R-CT ("pray without ceasing" - Paul of Tarsus)
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To: trad_anglican; ArrogantBustard; Clint Williams

#14


15 posted on 02/17/2010 4:41:42 PM PST by campaignPete R-CT ("pray without ceasing" - Paul of Tarsus)
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To: campaignPete R-CT
we also have a tradition in America of keeping what is of value and disregarding the rest ... and every time, for example, someone speaks of John Winthrop’s “City upon a Hill”, we don’t need to be reminded that the Puritan’s ... were a fanatical group engaged in terrorism.

... and this nation owes it's earliest colonial beginnings to Protestants fleeing terror at the hands of ... whom?

Catholics.

There was one of those colonies, however, that was founded by and for Catholics, and that would be Maryland. There were wars between Maryland and Rhode Island, the so-called Puritan Wars.

Then, that lovely state institution that superceded the previous, Catholic state institution, known as the Church of England, established itself in a few of the colonies, and began the cycle anew, forcing any number of humble Christian sects to flee again, to the near-frontier of NC, GA or the wild back country west of the Appalachians.

The myopia on these threads is maddening at times. Just be glad that the end result of it all is a nation that does not allow a state religion, and permits you to harangue others about the motes in their eyes, while ignoring the log in your own.

16 posted on 02/17/2010 5:02:53 PM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: FatherofFive
I’m sorry I offended some, but the protestant “reformation” is simply not Biblical:

If you want to get "Biblical" about things, I suggest you re-read Luke 15:11-32 and stop fighting 500 year old battles.

There are going to be a lot of Anglicans coming home in the next few years. If we welcome them by shaking their hands with one hand and slapping their faces with the other we make the good son look like the hero of the story.

17 posted on 02/17/2010 5:54:03 PM PST by trad_anglican
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To: RegulatorCountry
... and this nation owes it's earliest colonial beginnings to Protestants fleeing terror at the hands of ... whom? Catholics.

Little bit of re-writing of history there. The Puritans fled England, England was hardly Catholic. Henry became king in 1509 and the reformation began in the 1530's. The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth in 1620 or so after first being in the Netherlands, Holland etc...

They weren't fleeing Catholics from there, they had been kicked out of England by the Anglican Church.

Also while technically Maryland was a "Catholic" colony, the majority of the people that the Calvert brothers were able to bring over were Anglican and some Lutherans.

18 posted on 02/18/2010 3:26:26 AM PST by verga (I am not an apologist, I just play one on Television)
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To: verga
The religious history of England is not the religious history of every colonial who had fled religious persecution in Europe, verga. I've rewritten no history, you've forgotten yours. Huguenot, anyone? Who terrorized them? Catholics under Louis XIV. Moravians were forced underground for a century.

Maryland was established as a Palatinate, with a measure of independence from the Crown enjoyed by no other colony under England in America. That the Catholic Calvert(s) were permitted to do so by their decidedly un-Catholic King undermines a few assumptions.

19 posted on 02/18/2010 3:48:44 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: Schnucki

“I would have become a Catholic even if the Church of England wasn’t ordaining women bishops,” he says. “In a sense I feel it’s what I’ve always been, so this is like coming home.”

How wonderful!


20 posted on 02/18/2010 5:07:44 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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