Around 600 Anglicans began the process of converting to Catholicism on Ash Wednesday (March 9).

“Between Ash Wednesday and Easter they will stop receiving holy communion in the Anglican Church and they are not able to receive holy communion in the Catholic Church,” a spokesman for the Catholic bishops’ conference explained. “When they become Catholic at Easter, then they can receive holy communion in the Catholic Church. There is a gap of few weeks where they prepare.”

These new converts, which include around 20 priests, will join the Ordinariate set up for them by the pope. This group will allow them to retain much of their Anglican heritage and tradition.

This group seems set to swell beyond 600, with many planning on joining in a second wave of converts later, and others waiting to see exactly how the Ordinariate will function.

One of the Ordinariate’s leader, Keith Newton, wants to actively expand the branch—seeking to convert new members. The Catholic Herald reports that Newton hopes the Ordinariate “will pave the way for a new form of evangelization.”

“What you don’t want it to be is inward-looking to the congregation,” he said. “You want it to be outward-looking and be missionary.”

This is the small beginning of a movement that will eventually see the Church of England engulfed entirely by Rome. For more information on where this is heading, see our article “The Church That Swallowed a Church.”