Dr Michael Nazir-Ali today defends his decision to join the Ordinariate in the Catholic Church and describes his disappointment with the Church of England for failing to support ‘core values’.
The former Bishop of Rochester, 72, who revealed the move last Friday, said the Anglican Church had become permeated by activists who pursue ‘a single-issue, often faddish agenda’.
Writing exclusively in the Daily Mail, the married father-of-two said divisions in the Church of England had left him feeling he was ‘at odds with the Church as an institution’. Dr Nazir-Ali, who will be ordained as a Catholic priest this month, is the third English bishop to make the move this year.
When I was ordained an Anglican priest back in 1976, it was a moment of joy, and hope: I looked forward to a lifetime in the service of God in the Anglican Church which had Christ and the Bible at its centre.
The Church’s values were everything I believed in: helping others to come to faith and be formed by it, tolerance and freedom, the sanctity of the person, of marriage and the importance of the family.
Michael Nazir-Ali (pictured), who was the Bishop of Rochester from 1994 until 2009, could be ordained as a priest as early as next month after spending 'some years' considering the change
Back then the Church celebrated and defended those values. It wasn’t reticent, apologetic or ashamed of them.
I could never have imagined that 45 years later I would feel compelled to leave the Anglican Church I have loved, or that I would be received, as I was a fortnight ago, into the Ordinariate – provided for Anglicans who wish to be part of the Catholic Church while keeping their Anglican inheritance.
It was a bittersweet moment.
Dr Nazir-Ali was a respected academic and researcher within the Church of England
Bitter, because I am deeply saddened that the Church of England is not the church I joined. There are many individual parishes, priests and believers who remain committed to biblical faith and values. But as an institution it seems to be losing its way.
Sweet, because I am excited about the opportunities that joining the Ordinariate will bring: to uphold human rights and help millions of suffering Christians and others round the world. The Catholic Church is a truly united global organisation, which gives it strength.
The Anglican Church has become splintered, a loose collection of churches, many of whom have conflicting interpretations of Christianity. Even when the Church manages to agree on things, these decisions don’t seem to carry much weight – people go off and do it their own way.
I have wrestled with this for several years, but reluctantly realised that I have no choice.
Too often I have felt alone, at odds with the Church. Sometimes it is better to have the wind at your back rather than constantly battle against it.
It is a deeply personal decision. I am moving from one Church to another, in a fulfilment of my spiritual needs. It is not a ‘conversion’ from one religion to another.
Dr Nazir-Ali with the Queen at Wolferton Church on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk in 1998
The married father-of-two revealed The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, did not try to convince him to stay. He added: 'I think he respected the decision that I had made and I was grateful for that.' Pictured, Dr Nazir-Ali with Prince Philip in 2002
Now, as a member of the Ordinariate, I have entered into full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining what I love about Anglicanism: the beauty of worship, love of the Bible and a pastoral commitment to the wider community. And the Ordinariate accepts married clergy – I’ve been happily married to Valerie for nearly 50 years.
The Catholic Church has had its share of problems, but the faith and values are those that I also hold and which I feel are being eroded in the Church of England. It might have been easier at the age of 72 to have remained where I was: to work from the inside to change the things that I feel so strongly about.
Believe me, I have tried – but failed. The Church councils and synods are permeated by activists who each have a single-issue, often faddish agenda, whether it is about cultural correctness, ‘climate change’, identity politics, multi-culturalism (which actually encourages communities to live separately) or critical theory on race, religion and gender – a neo-Marxist theory developed to create conflict by dividing people into victims and villains.
