An Episcopal parish in Maryland announced Monday that it will become the first in the United States to join the Roman Catholic Church under a Vatican process designed to bring disgruntled Anglicans and Episcopalians into its fold.
St. Luke's Episcopal parish in Bladensburg will become part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington within the next few months. It will sever ties from its liberal bishop, who has spoken out in favor of same-sex marriage and other controversial issues.
The bishop, John Bryson Chane, said in a statement Monday that he approved the separation. Chane said the decision was made with "mutual respect," adding that "Christians move from one church to another with far greater frequency than in the past, sometimes as individuals, sometimes as groups."
The parish will lease its land from the Episcopal diocese with the option to purchase.
Godspeed to the folks at St Luke's. The transition seems to have taken place in a civilized manner, and the people and clergy had no notion that the property was theirs to take without compensation.
Nowhere do I find mention of the size of the congregation at St Luke's nor whether the entire congregation joined the ordinariate.
UPDATE: I learned something else new tonight. Anglicanorum coetibus is pronounced Anglican-orum chay-tee-boose). I did not know that.
UPDATE 2: For further information on St Luke's Church and their process of moving to the Roman Catholic ordinariate see Ann Fontaine's post at The Lead.
or kay-tee-boos
ReplyDeletethat "ch" thing was a medieval mispronunciation.
Money quote:
ReplyDeleteThe parish will lease its land from the Episcopal diocese with the option to purchase.
So different from the schismatics who think they can TAKE Episcopal property.
Well, I can say "Godspeed" from a strictly cultic standpoint.
But to the extent St. Luke's behaves like current Popoids in the public square, we'll fight 'em (nonviolently!) every step of the way. For the sake of the Gospel.
That "medieval mispronunciation" is now known as "Italian". Ecclesiastical Latin is essentially Latin pronounced under Italian (regionally Roman) pronunciation rules. The Classical Latin pronunciation system was promulgated by German philologists in the 19th Century. Other pronunciation systems are outlined here.
ReplyDeleteI tried to look up St. Luke's parish statistics on The Episcopal Church website but there is no congregation in the Diocese of Maryland listed in Bladensburg under that name or any other. They may not have been filing parochial reports, not uncommon for drifting-away parishes.
The church is in the Diocese of Washington (DC) and has about 100 members. See Episcopal Café story for more.
ReplyDeleteI remember now chanting The Lord's Prayer in Latin in the RCC, and we said chay as in, "Pater noster, qui es in coelis...."
ReplyDeleteAnn, thanks for the link to The Lead with further information. I'll add the link to my post in an update.
As Winfield Scott (or maybe Horace Greeley, opinion varies) mistakenly said in 1860 "Let the wayward sisters depart in peace".
ReplyDeleteLet's hope that St Luke's departure is the model for future en masse movements.
ReplyDeleteI don't know why I am wryly amused that one of their first acts as a congregation of the ordinariate is to purchase a larger statue of Mary, but I suppose it is a matter of priorities.
ReplyDeleteannski, the news of the purchase of a larger statue of the Virgin Mary brought a smile to my face, too, but I was not surprised.
ReplyDelete"My virgin's bigger than your virgin"?
ReplyDeleteMy thought exactly Lapin! What does the size of the statue have to do with it, anyway? The bigger, the more Roman Catholic?
ReplyDeleteThe bigger, the more Roman Catholic?
ReplyDeletePerhaps to them. It makes no sense to me.
This old poop is tired of the drama. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
ReplyDeleteThis is the church at which a cleansing ritual ("Restoration of Things Profaned" from the Book of Occasional Services) was performed after the Rt. Rev. Jane Holmes Dixon made an episcopal visitation in 1999. And parishioners were openly and vigorously anti-GLBT. I'm glad the split is relatively amicable and they're not stealing the silver, but for them to say it's just about liturgy or papal authority is beyond disingenuous.
ReplyDeleteBruce, admit it; this departure was a lot less dramatic than some.
ReplyDeleteJulie, thanks for the added information on the congregation. Once the group is under the pope's authority, there is no appeal if they don't like the rules.
Is it possible that Bishop Chane waved bye-bye with a tiny sigh of relief?
I enjoyed Bp. Chane's little dig at Rome, so subtle that I almost missed it:
ReplyDelete"Christians move from one church to another . . ."
I can hear Benny now:
"Nein! Nein! Nein! Ve is not a church, ve is de Church! You is not even a church!"
Mark, that was neatly done, wasn't it?
ReplyDelete