Up to one in twelve Catholic priests in England and Wales are former Church of England clergy, recent research shows.
A study reported by The Tablet shows there are 389 Catholic priests who were once Anglican priests, with 87 being in the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham.
It is estimated that there are 3000 active diocesan priests in England and Wales, 800 retired priests and 1000 religious priests.
Most of the former Anglicans are believed to be working in parishes or chaplaincies.
Sociologist Professor Linda Woodhead told The Tablet that the Church of England clergy represented in these figures began to leave their original church from 1994, when the first women were ordained priests.
She estimates that about 250 clergy “went across” between 1994 and 2000, with a further 52 from 2001, and then the Ordinariate clergy on top of that.