Edwin Ronald Barnes (6 February 19356 February 2019) was a British

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest and a former

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

bishop. He was the

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

Bishop of Richborough The Bishop of Richborough is a suffragan bishop and provincial episcopal visitor for the whole of the Province of Canterbury in the Church of England. Since 2025, Luke Irvine-Capel has served as Bishop of Richborough. History The see was erec ...

from 1995 to 2001 and was also formerly the president of the

Church Union Church union is the name given to a merger of two or more Christian denominations. Such unions may take on many forms, including a united church and a federation. United churches A united church is the result of a merger of churches of vari ...

Anglican ministry

Barnes was educated at

Plymouth College Plymouth College is a co-educational private school in Plymouth, Devon. History The school was established in 1877. In 1896 Plymouth College bought Mannamead School (founded in 1854), and was temporarily known as Plymouth and Mannamead Colleg ...

and

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located on Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England and VI of Scotland, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale ...

. He was made a deacon on

Trinity Sunday Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christianity, Western Christian liturgical year, liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the ...

1960 (12 June) and ordained a priest the next Trinity Sunday (28 May 1961), both times by John Phillips, Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth, at

Portsmouth Cathedral The Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury, commonly known as Portsmouth Cathedral, is an Anglican cathedral church in the centre of Old Portsmouth in Portsmouth, England. Since 1935 the historic church has been the cathedral of the Dioc ...

. He began his ministry with a curacy at St Mark's

North End, Portsmouth North End is a district in the city of Portsmouth, located on Portsea Island in Hampshire. The area developed rapidly as a part of the city after a horse-drawn tram route was opened between Portsmouth and Cosham. The area is mainly residential, ...

. After this he held incumbencies at

Farncombe Farncombe, historically Fernecome, is a village and peripheral settlement of Godalming in Waverley, Surrey, England and is approximately 0.8 miles (1.3 km) north-east of the Godalming centre, separated by common land known as the Lammas L ...

and

Hessle Hessle () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, west of Kingston upon Hull. Geographically it is part of a larger urban area consisting of the city of Kingston upon Hull, the town of H ...

. In 1987 he became Principal of

St Stephen's House, Oxford St Stephen's House is an external theological college with observer status at the University of Oxford, affiliated with the Church of England. From 2003 to 2023 it was a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford. The college typicall ...

, an

theological college. In 1995, he was chosen to be the first

, a

provincial episcopal visitor A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction "are unable to receive the ministry of w ...

in the

Province of Canterbury The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses). Overview The Province consi ...

for traditionalists who reject the ordination of women as priests. He consecrated a bishop at

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

on 20 July 1995. He retired in 2001.

Reception into the Catholic Church

In October 2010, Barnes was interviewed by ''

The Tablet ''The Tablet'' is a Catholic Church, Catholic international weekly review published in London. Brendan Walsh, previously literary editor and then acting editor, was appointed editor in July 2017. History ''The Tablet'' was launched in 1840 by ...

'' magazine on the possibility of joining the proposed

personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church establis ...

in the Roman Catholic Church for former Anglicans (which was established as the

Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic ...

in January 2011). He said that he wanted to join "because the Anglican Church is no longer the one holy and apostolic Church it says it is." On 6 January 2011, Barnes announced that he intended being received into the Catholic Church. On 21 January 2011 he and his wife, Jane, were received into the Catholic Church at the Church of Our Lady & St Joseph, Lymington by Monsignor Peter Ryan, himself a former Anglican. He was ordained to the diaconate on 11 February 2011 in the domestic chapel at Bishop's House, Portsmouth by

Crispian Hollis Roger Francis Crispian Hollis (born 17 November 1936, in Bristol) is the Bishop Emeritus of Portsmouth for the Roman Catholic Church. Early life Crispian Hollis' parents were Christopher Hollis (1902–1977), the author and parliamentarian, a ...

, Roman Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth. He was ordained to the priesthood on 5 March 2011 by the same bishop in the

Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth The Cathedral Church of St John the Evangelist (also known as St John's Cathedral) is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic cathedral in Portsmouth, England. It is the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth, Portsmouth diocese and ...

, for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. In June 2012 he was elevated to the rank of

monsignor Monsignor (; ) is a form of address or title for certain members of the clergy in the Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" can be abbreviated as Mons.... or Msgr. In some ...

as a

Chaplain of His Holiness Chaplain of His Holiness is a title of distinction given by the Pope in recognition of a priest's service to the Church. They are addressed with the honorific of "Monsignor" and have certain privileges with respect to ecclesiastical dress and ve ...

Illness and death

Barnes died on 6 February 2019 on his 84th birthday, following a short illness.February edition of the Ordinariate newsletter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barnes, Edwin Ronald 1935 births 2019 deaths People educated at Plymouth College Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Bishops of Richborough 20th-century Church of England bishops Anglo-Catholic bishops Anglican bishop converts to Roman Catholicism 21st-century British Roman Catholic priests Principals of St Stephen's House, Oxford English Anglo-Catholics People of the personal ordinariates