Anglican clergy didn’t leave over women priests
SIR – In commending the “treasured possession” of priestly celibacy, WJ Farren (Letter, January 8) makes the common assumption that those Anglican clergy who found a home in the Catholic Church converted owing to their opposition to the ordination of women in the Church of England. I can only speak for myself, but my conversion to the Catholic Church was prompted by the realisation that only the Catholic Church possesses the fullness of truth, and that communion with the Successor of Peter is the necessary guarantee of authentic teaching and practice. I converted not because the Church of England changed in 1992, but because I realised that it had lost something essential in 1534. I remain grateful that, by the generous dispensation of the Holy Father, I was able to be ordained as a married man. I am also profoundly grateful to my brothers in the priesthood, who through their commitment to celibacy provide a living sign of Christ’s espousal of the Church. Yours faithfully, Fr Matthew Bernard-Qureshi St Teresa’s, Newbury Park, Ilford, Essex
