Forward in Faith

[1] Forward in Faith North America (FIFNA) operates in the U.S.[2] FiF was formed in 1992 in response to approval by the General Synod of the Church of England of the ordination of women to the priesthood, initially an umbrella body for a number of Catholically oriented societies and campaigning groups.

[4] Credo Cymru, the traditionalist body in the Church in Wales, established formal links with Forward in Faith in 2003;[5] the two remain separate organisations.

[6] For its first two decades, Forward in Faith's main role was to campaign for provision by the Church of England for those of its members who would be unwilling to receive the ministry of women priests and the bishops who ordained them.

[8] Following the ordination of women to the episcopate, Forward in Faith's main role is as the democratically structured membership organisation and registered charity which supports, finances and administers The Society under the patronage of S. Wilfrid and S. Hilda.

[citation needed] In 2009, there were reports that Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vienna, had met with the Forward in Faith chairman, John Broadhurst, Anglican Bishop of Fulham, at the suggestion of the Pope.

[9] On 20 October 2009, in a document called Anglicanorum Coetibus, the Holy See announced that its intention to create personal ordinariates for groups of former Anglicans within the Roman Catholic Church similar to the existing military ordinariates in that their jurisdiction is exercised on a personal basis rather than a territorial basis, as is the case with normal dioceses.