Fr. Dale Matson
Bishop Michael Nazir Ali joined the Roman Catholic Church through the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. I wrote an article ten years ago while Rowan Williams was still ABC, advocating for Rowan Williams to step down and for former Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir Ali to succeed him. https://sanjoaquinsoundings.blogspot.com/2011/01/way-forward-for-canterbury-anglicanism.html
As it turned out, Williams did step down in 2012 but unfortunately, Justin Welby was elected in 2013.
MNA’s departure from the COE came as a surprise to Anglican Evangelicals in particular but as someone who is Anglo-Catholic, I am less surprised. He is not the first notable Anglican to swim the Tiber. St. John Henry Newman converted to Roman Catholicism in 1845 and was canonized by Pope Francis in 2019. Also, in 2019 retired COE Priest Gavin Ashenden joined the ordinariate. He had this to say as recorded on VirtueOnline. https://virtueonline.org/impact-and-significance-michael-nazir-alis-conversion-catholicism
MNA has been criticized for leaving as a leader of GAFCON and for leaving the COE. I have mixed feelings about it but I believe he saw the handwriting on the wall. The COE and ABC Justin Welby are, and increasingly leftward leaning. The COE is only slightly behind the Episcopal Church, which is now recommending the Black National Anthem replace our National Anthem. https://www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2021/08/02/how-lift-every-voice-and-sing-went-from-a-little-known-poem-to-an-episcopal-hymn-and-a-cultural-anthem/
As for GAFCON and the ACNA…time will tell. There were cracks evident from the beginning (women’s ordination) and more cracks emerging (SSA) https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2021/03/gay-anglicans-in-the-acna
Will MNA find shelter and certainty under the magisterium? What is the old saying? “Never join the perfect church. You will ruin it.” Speaking as someone who is also in his 70’s, I wish Michael Nazir Ali and his family all the best in Christ.
2 comments:
I saw a comment, which I think came from an article in the UK Spectator, to the effect that "upper levels" in the Vatican tried to dissuade Nazir-Ali from making this change, or at least gave negative opinions on it. That would make sense, given that the Vatican is trying to suppress traditional Catholic expression in the Latin Mass. The Ordinariate is far more like traditional Catholicism than is the average modern Catholic parish service.
I am also concerned about the Vatican's less-than-robust treatment of Islam, which is anti-Christian in its foundational documents. Islam has been a large concern of Nazir-Ali's.
Or maybe, being like me, in his 70s, he's too tired to fight the big fights any more. May God go with him.
Hi Katherine,
Yes, I'm on the far side of 75 myself.I think Anglo-Catholics understand his move more than Evangelicals. He is a good Christian Man who has kept the faith. I believe he switched to something he believed was still an orthodox belief system from one that has become almost entirely political. I think I finally got all the links to work.
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