From Anglican bishop to Catholic layman

A controversial Anglican from Australia is now a happy Catholic:

A former bishop who resigned from the Anglican church under a cloud has become a Catholic.

Ross Davies resigned as bishop of the Murray last September, just before a church tribunal found he had failed to deal appropriately with sexual misconduct allegations against an archdeacon.

The tribunal also found he displayed a lack of commitment to the Anglican church and used threatening and aggressive language towards parishioners.

He had faced nine charges brought by Adelaide Archbishop Jeffrey Driver and Bishop of Willochra Garry Weatherill relating to behaviour dating back to 2003. One of the matters raised at the tribunal was that he had expressed a desire to become a Catholic.

Mr Davies, 56, who had denied the allegations against him, was confirmed into the Catholic church three days after he resigned last September by Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson, president of the Australian Episcopal Conference, at St Patrick’s church.

Mr Davies’s four children and son-in-law had converted to Catholicism before him.

“I think I am the only Anglican bishop in Australia to join the Catholic church so far,” Mr Davies said yesterday.

“I had increasingly come to the conclusion that a classic Catholic understanding of Christianity was becoming impossible in the Anglican church in Australia.”

He said sitting in the pews was “very relaxing” after working as a priest for 30 years and the unity and teaching authority of the Catholic church had appealed to him. “It’s like finding my home,” he said.

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