Monday, January 23, 2012

One spiritual family living in two houses


From Maryland-

Each January, many followers of Jesus observe the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It was begun more than 100 years ago by the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement. Originally, the friars were an order of Episcopal priests who joined the Roman Catholic Church. Christian unity has been a part of their mission since the order's founding, as it should be for every Christian.

You may have heard that the Episcopal All Saints' Sisters of the Poor in Catonsville were officially received into the Roman Catholic Church. And today, members of Baltimore's Mount Calvary Church, an Anglo-Catholic parish founded in 1842, are being received into the Roman Catholic Church's Anglican Ordinariate.

In 2010, 24 of 28 Mount Calvary members present (out of a congregation of 45) voted to join the Ordinariate, following a long-standing tradition of the Episcopal Church: democracy.

Negotiations over real and church property ensued, and an amicable agreement was reached last month. It states that the Anglican Use Congregation (the term for a Roman Catholic
congregation that is able to retain its Anglican worship rites) will be deeded the church building, adjacent offices and rectory; will keep all furnishings and personal property; and will retain the right to use the parking lot shared with Joseph Richey House, a hospice that started as a joint ministry by Mount Calvary and the All Saints' Sisters of the Poor. The Episcopal Diocese of Maryland will receive a monetary sum as part of the settlement, and will retain first right of refusal if the congregation vacates the property. Mount Calvary Church officially ends its 170-year history as an Episcopal parish in the Diocese of Maryland when it joins the Roman Catholic Church.

More here-

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bs-ed-episcopalian-20120122,0,2874454.story

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