While the emphasis of Anglicanorum coetibus is for Anglicans to enter the Catholic Church in groups, 28 Anglican priests in Australia have so far expressed their firm intention to take up Pope Benedict's offer.

The Traditional Anglican Communion, a group of disaffected Anglicans who have been seeking full communion with Rome for years, will host a festival in Perth on 26 February at Holy Family Catholic Church in Como for the Anglican Ordinariate for Australia.

TAC Bishop Harry Entwistle - one of four TAC Bishops in Australia and the Torres Strait Islands who will be ordained as Catholic priests, likely just before the Ordinariate is officially established, told The Record the festival is a public statement that "this is no longer just a theory, it's really happening". "It's an opportunity to gather those who are more than just casually interested," he said of the festival, which is for Catholics and Anglicans who, like the TAC, have long been disillusioned with the Anglican Church's liberalisation with female clergy, among other things.

Melbourne Auxiliary Bishop Peter Elliott, Delegate for the Holy See for the Australian Ordinariate, will address the festival, as will Adelaide-based Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the TAC which claims a global membership of 400,000.

Peter Gannon will also address the festival on what benefit the Ordinariate has for 'cradle Catholics', while Robert Andrew, a member of the Friends of Anglican Catholics support group who also converted from the Anglican Church, will also talk on what attraction it holds for people like him.

Bishop Entwistle, of TAC's Western District encompassing WA, is part of an implementation team that includes officials from the Holy See and Bishop Elliott, who is himself a convert from Anglicanism.

Bishop Entwistle's vision for the Western District of the ordinariate will include weekly Masses at his Maylands base of Saints Ninian and Chad Church and monthly Masses in areas outside Perth including Albany and Bunbury. Anglican Catholics in these areas will attend 'regular' Catholic Masses between these monthly Masses until more priests are ordained to service these areas.

Japan's Anglican Catholics constitute a small group led by a retired Anglican Bishop. Bishop Entwistle said the Japanese are happy to adopt a Western Ordinariate like Australia as they are among a persecuted minority. However, he said that the "one size fits all" concept does not apply to Ordinariates around the world.

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