From 1992 to the present day, around 700 Anglican clergy and religious have moved into full communion with the Catholic Church in Great Britain. It is a little-known phenomenon, rarely reported, yet one that has had a profound impact on the ecclesial life of the country. These figures come from a study commissioned by the St Barnabas Society, an organisation founded in 1896 under the name of “The Converts Aid Society”, precisely to provide pastoral, legal and financial support to clergy and religious from other Christian denominations or faiths seeking to enter the Catholic Church.
The research was carried out by Stephen Bullivant, together with Fernanda Mee and Janet Mellor, from the Benedict XVI Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society at St Mary’s Twickenham University in London. The 22-page report, which can be downloaded online, reconstructs for the first time in a systematic manner the numbers, pathways and motivations involved, combining statistical analysis with personal testimonies. What emerges is the portrait of a complex form of “religious migration”, often marked by suffering, which is far from being marginal.
Data difficult to reconstruct. There is no official register of conversions of Anglican clergy to Catholicism. Departures from the Church of England and admissions into the Catholic Church take place in a decentralised and discreet manner, also for ecumenical reasons. The starting point for the study was a database compiled by Monsignor John Broadhurst, himself a former Anglican bishop who became a Catholic priest in 2011, which was subsequently expanded through research in individual dioceses. What has emerged represents the most comprehensive picture available to date. From 1992 to 2024, around 700 former Anglican clerics were received into the Catholic Church, including 16 Anglican bishops. Of these, 486 became Catholic priests and 5 permanent deacons. 69% were ordained for the dioceses of England and Wales, while the others were ordained for dioceses elsewhere in the world or within religious orders. A small number of returns to the Anglican Church have been recorded over the years, but these are rare and largely concentrated in the 1990s.
Exceptional moments and steady flows. Two events gave rise to genuine waves of conversions. The decision of the Church of England, taken in 1992 and implemented in 1994, to introduce the ordination of women to the priesthood led more than 150 Anglican pastors to enter the Catholic Church during those years.
A second significant moment was the apostolic constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus issued by Benedict XVI in 2009,
which led to the establishment of the first Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in 2011. This canonical structure, instituted by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, made it possible for those who had been Anglican to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church while retaining some elements of the Anglican liturgical, spiritual and pastoral tradition. Above all, it defined a clearer and more predictable pathway for the transition, with shorter periods of formation. The creation of the Ordinariate generated a marked increase in conversions, with around 80 admissions into the Catholic Church. Beyond these exceptional moments, however, the study records a steady flow of up to around ten new admissions and ordinations each year.
A structural contribution to the Catholic Church. One striking finding of the study is that 29% of diocesan priestly ordinations from 1992 to 2024 in England and Wales were former Anglican clergy. If ordinations within the Ordinariate are included, the proportion rises to 35%. In the period 2015–2024, former Anglicans accounted for almost one fifth of all new ordinations. Of the 53 members of Anglican clergy ordained in the Catholic Church during those years, 28 chose the Personal Ordinariate, while 25 were incardinated in dioceses. According to the study, in a Church marked by a crisis of vocations, their contribution is structural.
Complex pathways. The study by the St Barnabas Society also offers an analysis of the often-difficult journey from conversion to ordination. For an Anglican cleric, choosing to become Catholic does not automatically entail choosing ordination. Many converted clergy have continued to live a form of “lay apostolate”, seeking employment; some had reached retirement age, while others opted for ordination. In every case, the interviews conducted during the study recount journeys lasting many years, sometimes decades, marked by doubts, waiting and what is described as “ecclesial unease”.
Very concrete factors weigh heavily in the decision to leave the Anglican Church:
the loss of salary, of the parish house, of children’s schooling, and uncertainty about employment. For many, conversion represents a leap into the unknown that involves the entire family. Those who choose the path towards the Catholic priesthood embark on a journey that is often ill-defined, varying from diocese to diocese, marked by lengthy periods of formation, waiting for approval from Rome — especially for married priests — and phases of economic uncertainty. Many interviewees speak of years of intense stress, lived without knowing whether ordination would ever come. Here, the role of the St Barnabas Society emerges as decisive in providing pastoral and financial support. The situation has been different since the introduction of the Ordinariate, which has made the pathway more clearly defined, without drawing vocations away from the dioceses.
