New personal ordinariate for former Anglicans of Australia

June 15, 2012: Pope Benedict XVI on Friday appointed a head to a new Personal Ordinariate created in Australia for groups of former Anglicans entering into full communion with the Catholic Church. The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on Friday created the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady the Southern Cross within the territory of the Australian Catholic Bishops’ Conference, and Pope Benedict appointed Fr. Harry Entwistle as its first ordinary. The 72-year old former bishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion has been received in full communion with the Catholic Church, and has been ordained a deacon. He was ordained a Catholic priest in St Mary's Cathedral of Perth by Catholic Archbishop Tim Costelloe of Perth.
Fr. Entwistle will have the Holy Cross Church in Melbourne as the base of the ordinariate he now heads. A personal ordinariate is similar to a diocese but unlike a geographical jurisdiction it is made of persons. Our Lady the Southern Cross is the third such personal ordinariate in keeping with Pope Benedict’s Apostolic Constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus”, which provides for accommodating former Anglicans into the Catholic fold while retaining some of the Anglican characteristics. The first such personal ordinariate - that of Our Lady of Walsingham for Anglicans of England and Wales - was established in January, 2011.
The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter was created on Jan. 1 this year for former Anglicans of the United States. The 77-million-member worldwide Anglican Communion has its roots in the Church of England, which split from the Holy See in 1534 when English King Henry VIII was refused a marriage annulment