Canadian Roman Catholic priest (1940-)
Peter Donald Wilkinson (born 1940) is a Canadian Roman Catholic priest. He was formerly a
.
Early life and education
Born in
Anglo-Catholic liturgy and provided services to the
Christ Church Cathedral (Vancouver), then entered the university, and became more interested in religious life and decided to seek ordination to the priesthood. After graduating, Wilkinson received a permit from the Anglican bishop of British Columbia to enter an Anglo-Catholic seminary in England run by the
Community of the Resurrection religious order. In 1965, he was ordained and became a member of the order.
[1]Departure from the Anglican Communion
As a priest in England, in 1968 Wilkinson had what he calls a zeitgeist. Unhappy with the evolution of the liturgy and English society, he left England and returned to Canada, convinced that the Anglican Diocese of British Columbia would welcome him. However, he was rejected because of his Catholic views. In addition, he realized that the changes that took place in England were also happening in Canada: women ordained as priests, the church recognized divorced and remarried people and "gender neutral" language was becoming common in liturgies.[2]
In 1977, Wilkinson left the
Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), a church influenced by the
Oxford Movement, including the writings of
John Henry Newman, and the thinking of Cardinal
Joseph Ratzinger. On 21 October 1999, Wilkinson was consecrated as a bishop and wrote to Cardinal Ratzinger to explain that "the basis of his teaching is the
catechism of the Catholic Church" and "his desire to return to full communion with the
Holy See".
[citation needed] The future Pope Benedict XVI replied and sent him an autographed copy of his book
The Spirit of the Liturgy. On 10 January 2005, upon the retirement of then Bishop Robert W. S. Mercer, CR, Wilkinson became metropolitan bishop of the
Anglican Catholic Church of Canada.
Reception into the Roman Catholic Church
In 2007, he participated in the synod of the Traditional Anglican Communion which unanimously voted for full communion with Rome. In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI published the apostolic constitution Jeffrey Steenson. A month later, the Pope appointed Wilkinson a Prelate of Honor, thus granting him the title of "
monsignor". He served in the Church of Saint Columba of Iona in Victoria — a small wooden parish church for a century and leased to Anglicans — until 2014, when he officially retired himself.
[4]
References
