LONDON -- Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester for the Church of England, will be ordained by Cardinal Vincent Nichols to the sacred priesthood for the Catholic Church this Saturday at Our Lady of the Assumption on Warwick Street, according to a news release from the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
Dr. Nazir-Ali was ordained a deacon on Thursday, Oct. 28, by Archbishop Kevin McDonald, Archbishop Emeritus of Southwark, at St Mary’s College, Oscott. [Photo above (left to right): Deacon Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali, Archbishop Kevin McDonald, and Msgr. Keith Newton, ordinary of Our Lady of Walshingham Ordinariate].
The Ordination Mass is at 12 p.m. BST (GMT+1) and will be livestreamed. Virtual attendees will be able to join the livestream starting at 11:45am BST.
The Ordination Mass service booklet can be found here.
Among the hymns selected for the Ordinariate are “Praise to the Holiest in the Height,” “Jerusalem the Golden,” and “Christ is the King! O friends rejoice!”
The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, one of three Roman Catholic dioceses with Anglican traditions established by the Pope under the 2009 apostolic constitution Anglicanorum coetibus, stated Dr. Nazir-Ali was received into the full communion of the Catholic Church by Msgr. Keith Newton, the ordinary of the U.K. ordinariate, on the feast of St Michael and All Angels.
“This is an important occasion for the Ordinariate and we are delighted that Michael made the decision to enter full communion of the Catholic Church through the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham,” the Ordinariate press release stated.
In an interview with the PortalMag Podcast, Dr. Nazir-Ali stated he wished to be ordained at Our Lady of Assumption on Warwick Street in order to emphasize the connection with the Ordinariate.
Commenting on his decision to join the Catholic Church via the Ordinariate, Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali said, "I believe that the Anglican desire to adhere to apostolic, patristic and conciliar teaching can now best be maintained in the Ordinariate. Provisions there to safeguard legitimate Anglican patrimony are very encouraging and, I believe, that such patrimony in its Liturgy, approaches to biblical study, pastoral commitment to the community, methods of moral theology and much else besides has a great deal to offer the wider Church."
The Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham provided a biography of Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali and his many accomplishments:
Michael Nazir-Ali was born in Pakistan in1949 and has both British and Pakistani citizenship. He holds many academic awards including from the Universities of Karachi, Oxford and Cambridge, as well as a Lambeth Doctor of Divinity.He has taught and researched at a number of institutions and continues to teach and supervise research. He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1976 and served in England and Pakistan before being consecrated Bishop of Raiwind in 1984. He was the General Secretary of the Church Missionary Society (1989-94) before his appointment as Bishop of Rochester in 1994. As such, he entered the House of Lords in 1999 and was active in the areas of international relations, dialogue among people of different faiths, freedom of expression and speech and defence of human dignity at every stage of life. He resigned as Bishop of Rochester in 2009. Since then he has been Director of OXTRAD: Oxford Centre for Training, Research, Advocacy & Dialogue. OXTRAD’s mission is to prepare Christians for ministry in situations where the Church is under pressure and in danger of persecution.
He is the author of many books and his hobbies include cricket, hockey, table tennis, reading and writing poetry and reading detective fiction.
Michael has been married to Valerie since 1972 and they have two adult sons.
Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali's decision to join the Catholic Church will likely have a strengthening impact on the Ordinariates and the Anglican patrimony in the fullness of Catholic communion. Msgr. Keith Newton said, "[Dr. Nazir-Ali] brings a great experience of the Anglican Communion and is in a unique place to articulate that Anglican patrimony, described by Pope Benedict XVI as a treasure to be shared, which now has an honoured place in the Universal Church."
Watch Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali's ordination to the sacred priesthood of the Catholic Church below.
Peter Jesserer Smith is the vice president of the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society.