Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the Right Revd Mgr Keith Newton from his pastoral responsibility for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
As of 11 a.m. on 29 April, in addition to Mgr Keith Newton stepping down as the Ordinary of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsinghan, the Pope appointed Father David Waller – until now the Vicar General of the Ordinariate – to be the second Ordinary of the Ordinariate here in Great Britain.
As Fr Waller is a celibate, he will be ordained to the episcopate in due course and so will be the first Bishop Ordinary for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
“This is a momentous day in the life of the Ordinariate,” Mgr Newton, now Ordinary Emeritus of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, says. “You will understand that I have mixed feelings about giving up being Ordinary after over 13 years but I think it is the right time for me to hand over to someone new.
“More importantly this is the first time that a new Ordinary of the three Ordinariates has been selected from one of its serving priests. Deo Gratias.”
Mgr Newton notes that the “whole process” has taken nearly two years and that he is extremely grateful to the members of the Ordinariate’s Governing Council, whose role it was to send a terna of names to the Holy See, for their assistance and cooperation during such a long period.
“I want to say how delighted I am with the appointment of Father David as the next Ordinary, Mgr Newton says. “He has been unwaveringly loyal to the Ordinariate since his ordination and has been a great support to me especially since his appointment as Vicar General.”
The Right Reverend Monsignor Keith Newton was born in Liverpool, United Kingdom, in April 1952. He married Gill Donnison in August 1973 and they have three children.
He and his wife were received into the full Communion of the Catholic Church at Westminster Cathedral by Bishop Alan Hopes on 1 January 2011.
He was ordained to the sacred priesthood at Westminster Cathedral on 15 January 2011 by Archbishop Vincent Nichols. On the same day he was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as the first Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
On 17 March 2011 he was honoured by His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, by being elevated to the rank of Protonotary Apostolic.
Among his many ecclesiastical tasks and responsibilities, Mgr Newton acted as the spiritual guide and mentor for the Catholic Herald’s pilgrimage to Assisi in October 2023.
After an often unexpectedly taxing route starting from Terni, about 60 kilometres north of Rome, and the home of Saint Valentine, toward Assisi, across approximately 110 kilometres of Umbrian landscape, including some sharp hill climbs, Mgr Newton said Mass for the group in a private chapel of the Basilica of Saint Francis. During his sermon, Mgr Newton remarked that life is a struggle and that as pilgrims we need to embrace the suffering and also think of others as an intention for our pilgrimage journey.
Later, outside the Basilica he heard the confessions of pilgrims from the group while walking around the adjacent grassy lawn from where you could look out towards the now majestic plains below where Saint Francis and his friars once lived and administered to the poor and destitute when the land was more of a malarial swamp. On the lawn was a bronze statue of St Francis as a young man on his horse when a soldier, having returned from defeat at the hands of the enemy, his hopes of glory utterly dashed.
“Yes, this walk been tough at times,” Mgr Newton reflected looking back on the pilgrimage. “But you have to go through purgatory, or suffering, to get into heaven.”
The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham was established in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI to allow Anglicans to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church whilst retaining much of their heritage and traditions. It now has the full support and blessing of Pope Francis.
Bishop-elect David Waller said: “It is both humbling and a great honour to have been chosen by Pope Francis to succeed Monsignor Keith Newton as the Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
“I have been a member of the Ordinariate since its inception in 2011, when groups of clergy and laity, up and down the country, were received into the full communion of the Catholic Church under the provisions of the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus.
“The past 13 years have been a time of grace and blessing as small and vulnerable communities have grown in confidence, rejoicing to be a full yet distinct part of the Catholic Church.”
Bishop-elect David Waller was born in London on 10 June 1961 and educated at the School of St David and St Katharine in Hornsey and the College of Ripon and York St John, University of Leeds.
From 1983 to 1989 he worked as a community worker in Bradford, which was one of the most impoverished areas of the United Kingdom, notes the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales.
In 1989 he left Bradford to train for Anglican orders at Chichester Theological College and was Ordained Deacon in 1991 and Priest the following year.
In 2000 he moved to East London to become Vicar of the Parish of St Saviour, Walthamstow; he remained in this post until his reception into the Catholic Church.
From 2005 until 2010 he served as a member of the General Synod of the Church of England.
In Holy Week 2011, he was received into the full communion of the Catholic Church. After he was ordained to the diaconate and the priesthood, following the provisions of Anglicanorum coetibus, he was named Pastor of the Walthamstow Ordinariate Mission and has also held two diocesan parochial appointments: Parochial Administrator of St John the Baptist Ilford (2011-2015) and Parish Priest of Christ the King Chingford (since 2015).
Bishop-elect Waller has been Chairman of the Governing Council of the Ordinariate since its establishment; and for the past four years has served as Vicar General.
The Ordinariate says the hope is that the episcopal ordination will take place towards the end of June. Details of the ordination will be sent out as soon as they are known.
Mgr Newton notes that he should no longer be named in the Eucharistic prayer nor should Bishop-elect Waller until he has taken possession of the Ordinariate after his ordination.
“However, both of us would value your prayers during this transitional period,” Mgr Newton says.
Photo: Mgr Keith Newton (centre) in the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory at Warwick Street in Soho, London. (Photo: Lorna Moffat.)
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.