THE
P RTAL
May 2013
Page 17
Letter from Australia
Historic Ordination in
Broken Bay Cathedral
by Debra Vermeer
When Fr Warren Wade became the first person in the Diocese of Broken Bay to be ordained
a priest for the Anglican Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross, he saw the move not as a rupture
with his past, but as an affirmation of what he is – a priest of the Universal Church.
Fr Warren, who has been an Anglican priest for 51
years, was ordained by Bishop David Walker during a
beautiful Ordination Mass at Our Lady of the Rosary
Cathedral, Waitara on December 12, an occasion he
describes as “truly blessed”.
Fr Warren is among a small group of clergy from
Australia’s Traditional Anglican Communion to so far
make the move to being ordained for the Ordinariate
of Our Lady of the Southern Cross. Fr Warren says that
after half a century of ministry, he is looking forward
to this new chapter in his life.
In recent years, Fr Warren has ministered to a
small congregation of Traditional Anglicans at North
Turramurra, who, he says have increasingly felt, like
him, that they are not at home in the Anglican Church
as it exists in Australia today. “So I think it’s not just an
ordination for me, it’s an ordination for them, because
it gives them an opportunity for commitment to what
they already are,” he said.
Fr Warren with Bishop David Walker
A period followed where Warren worshipped at
St James, King Street, before he was accepted for
ordination by the Bishop of Bathurst. “After ordination
in 1961, I joined a congregation called the Brotherhood
of the Good Shepherd. We were known as the Bush
Brothers. We used to minister to far-out places, beyond
Born to parents who were nominal Anglicans, Fr Bourke and out into the Northern Territory.”
Warren was exposed to a range of religious experiences
as a child. His mother’s uncle was an Anglican priest
“Our ministry was bringing the Lord to people in
and Rector of St John’s Darlinghurst for 32 years. farflung places, staying on properties and celebrating
But the rest of his mother’s family belonged to the Mass the next morning. People would come from 100
Plymouth Brethren.
mles away. It was fun. Great fun.”
As a young man, Warren searched for a parish home,
spending some years worshipping in the Anglican
parishes at Coogee and Randwick. “But I started to
feel unsettled, so I began looking around at other
places and I ended up at Christchurch St Laurence and
‘boom boom’, I was back.” After leaving the Brotherhood of the Good Shepherd,
Fr Warren became part of the diocesan clergy, with
appointments at All Saints Cathedral Bathurst, St
Stephen’s Church, Peak Hill and Cudal. It was during
this period, in the 1960s that he married his wife June.
They had two daughters, Anna-Maria and Christina.
“One of the things that attracted me there was the
High Mass which was absolutely beautifully celebrated
and very ethereal and there was this great sense of
mystery and it really intrigued me. Evensong and
Benediction on Sunday night was really something.” After a period of some frustration in ministry, Fr
Warren took a job as a Probation Officer with the
Department of Corrective Services, a job he stayed in
until he retired a little over 10 years ago. Over the years
he has undertaken periods as honorary priest and