The Episcopal Ordination of the Revd David Arthur Waller as the second Ordinary – and first Bishop Ordinary – of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham will take place in Westminster Cathedral at 11am on Saturday 22 June 2024, the feast day of St John Fisher and St Thomas More. The principal consecrator will be His Eminence Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Holy See’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

This is a significant day for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham as the next Ordinary will be in episcopal orders. This means he will be able to ordain men for service in the Ordinariate unlike his predecessor Monsignor Keith Newton, who, as a married man was not in episcopal orders, and as such had to invite bishops to ordain men on his behalf.

The previous evening, Friday 21 June 2024 at 6pm, to prepare for the following day’s Episcopal Ordination, Solemn Evensong will be sung followed by the blessing of episcopal insignia and Benediction at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, London.

The day after the Episcopal Ordination, Sunday 23 June 2024, Bishop David will take possession of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and celebrate Solemn Pontifical Mass in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Miguel Maury Buendía, at 10.30am at Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory.

Father Waller, 63, was educated in Hornsey, North London and the University of Leeds. After completing formation for Anglican Orders at Chichester Theological College, his Anglican ministry began, in 1991 in Aldwick and later in Crawley in the Diocese of Chichester, before he took on the post of Vicar of St Saviour’s, Walthamstow in East London in 2000. He also served on the General Synod of the Church of England from 2005-2010. Father Waller was received into the Catholic Church in 2011 as part of the first group of Anglican clergy and their people in response to the generous offer of a home under the provisions of Pope Benedict XVI’s Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus.  

Monsignor Keith Newton said:

“The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham is a relatively new ecclesial structure created by Pope Benedict XVI to incorporate aspects of the Anglican tradition into the life of the Universal Church. Bishop-Elect Waller’s ordination shows the confidence of the Holy See in this important ecumenical project. Not only has it helped well over 100 former Anglican clergy to be ordained to the Catholic priesthood but has enabled some aspects of beautiful Anglican worship to be part of official Catholic rites. His ordination shows the Ordinariate, though small, is a permanent part of the life of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.”

Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster and President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales said:

“I welcome David Waller’s Episcopal Ordination for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham and I welcome him as a full member of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. This is an important moment in the life of the Ordinariate, the initiative of Pope Benedict XVI.   I pray that it will contribute to the growth of the Catholic Church here in England and Wales, adding to the ways in which our faith finds expression and service in the full visible communion of the Catholic Church.

“I thank Mgr Keith Newton for all that he has achieved as the first Ordinary and assure Gill and him of my prayers for their future.”

Of his Episcopal Ordination, Bishop-elect David Waller said:

“It is great honour to have been chosen to be the second Ordinary and first Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. I know that the whole Ordinariate will join me in giving thanks for this clear indication of the Holy See’s commitment to the Ordinariate as an example of realised ecumenism, with a particular charism of bringing gifts from the Anglican Patrimony into the life of the Catholic Church.”

Fr Vivian Redlich (Martyr of Chichester Theological College), inspire us.

St John Fisher, pray for us.

St Thomas More, pray for us.

St John Henry Newman, pray for us.

Our Lady of Walsingham, pray for us.