Fourth Maryland Episcopal Church to Become Catholic, Joining Ordinariate

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Seeker1961 said:
So…become Catholic then. It just seems weird to hold on to your own traditions and liturgy and still say “oh, but we’re Catholic now”.
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Seeker, it’s the difference between tradition and Tradition. They are accepting the doctrine and dogma that binds us all, and adapting their tradition within the Tradition. As has previously been stated…there are many Churches within the Catholic Church…not all are Latin rite…in fact, here in the US there are several different Rites within the Church…Latin, Byzantine, Marianite, Armenian…Why try to impose our tradition on these courageous faithful? One element they keep is a married priesthood. Many (but not all) Episcopal priests are married. This is one of the traditions they transfer to the Catholic Church. And it is an exciting ministry these married priests have…and important witness. Most Catholics would not recognize much difference between a worship service in one of these parishes that have become Catholic and in a traditional Latin Rite church.
 
Seeker1961 said:
So liturgy and traditions are not part of doctrine? Interesting…
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TRADITION is part of our doctrine…tradition isn’t. It is a tradition in the Latin Rite for priests to be celebate…it is not TRADITION…nor is it Doctrine. Yes, our doctrines live and breath in our liturgies…but not in the tradiitons of those liturgies. If the key elements of the mass are met then the Ordinariate’s slightly different liturgy is valid…why change that? The Latin Rite is NOT the only game in town.
 
Seeker1961 said:
I’m not against it or anything, I’m just curious. If this is the decision that they feel God has led them to, who am I to say they shouldn’t do it?
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Well to be fair, you do seem to have some concerns.
 
jwinch2 said:
Well to be fair, you do seem to have some concerns.
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I really am just interested. It’s sad that I have to defend myself for simply asking a question or two.

After all, if an individual member of an Episcopalian congregation decides to become Catholic, do they not have to go through RCIA and be Catholic in totality? That was my understanding, so I wondered how a whole church could become Catholic and not do so in totality.
 
Seeker1961 said:
It’s sad that I have to defend myself for simply asking a question or two.
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That does not seem like all it is to me. Comments like these certainly do not come across as asking simple questions. In fact, they come across as highly accusatory, both in nature and in tone.
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Seeker1961:
But that’s exactly what it is! They like the Catholic position on gay people, but they don’t want our liturgy or other traditions. How much more “pick and choose” can you get?
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Seeker1961:
I guess so, it just seems like something that is less “Catholic” and more “Protest”. “I don’t like what my denomination is doing, so I’m going to align myself with another one-but I’m only going to take the parts I like from the new one and keep all the parts of my old denomination that I like.”
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Seeker1961 said:
I really am just interested. It’s sad that I have to defend myself for simply asking a question or two.

After all, if an individual member of an Episcopalian congregation decides to become Catholic, do they not have to go through RCIA and be Catholic in totality? That was my understanding, so I wondered how a whole church could become Catholic and not do so in totality.
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Don’t feel like you need to defend yourself…it’s all good. I can completely understand why you were asking the questions as this situation is quite different than any other that I am aware of.

Wrt to your last question, I believe that Pope Benedict specifically made it possible for this whole group of Anglicans to convert to Catholicism along with their (small t) anglican traditions, litugy, etc. This church would be considered Catholic once all converted to the Catholic Faith.

Yes, if an individual Anglican from some other Anglican church (not the fourth Maryland Episcopal Church and others like it) wished to convert he/she would become Catholic and attend a Catholic church with the Latin (well not “the” Latin, but you know what I mean) traditions, liturgy, etc.

That is my understanding. If someone else understands differently, please correct me.
 
Seeker1961 said:
I guess so, it just seems like something that is less “Catholic” and more “Protest”. "I don’t like what my denomination is doing, so I’m going to align myself with another one-but I’m only going to take the parts I like from the new one and keep all the parts of my old denomination that I

I dont think it is that easy. I have not met many former anglicans who just came over on a whim. They made the decision after study and for a lot of them they sacrficed alot. Including family, friends and the chruch families they had known to become catholic. I suggest you read pope Benedict’s writing on the establishment of the ordinate. He explains in great detail the blessing of the traditions that the Anglicans have kept and what they can bring to our church as a whole. His depiction along with JPII were not made on the fly but after much prayer and consideration. I trust our popes.

i am a cradle catholic who was blessed to have an Anglican use mass in my diocese before the Oridnate was established. The litgury is beautiful and is very very much catholic. There are some difference traditions such as the use of the thee and thou and having announcments in between the litgury of the word and the litgury of the eucharist but the litgury is 100% catholic. (I believe we use rite 1 of the roman missal) In Houston we are blessed to have masses spoke in multiple languages and lots of ethic churches. These churches are catholic but retain some of the uniqueness of their original founding cultures whether its african, solviak, Vietnamese, Chinese etc. The Anglicans are no different.

I am blessed that my parish of Our Lady of Walsingham is the principal church of the ordinate. The church has been around for 25 years as it was one of the original Anglican use parishes. Check out our website and learn more. I for one and very appreciative of the Church opening her arms and bring back her lost childern into the fold.
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To Seeker61 and others with understandable questions

a) The Anglicans and Episcopalians that are coming into the church through the new Ordinariates are in the Anglo-Catholic end of the church. The Anglican and Episcopalian churches are much broader in terms of what people can believe and still remain part of their denomination than the Catholic church. Many will be much closer to Protestants in their doctrinal beliefs, or be very liberal in their moral theology (accepting abortion, cohabitation, gay clergy and bishops etc). The Anglo-Catholics that are converting already hold almost identical beliefs to what they would call “Roman” or “Latin” Catholics. They have to go through a period of formation and formally state and sign a document attesting that they agree and believe what the Cathecism teaches when converting. These are the Anglicans and Episcopalians that are criticized are being “more Catholic than the Pope” within their own denominations.

b) The Ordinariates were created as a response to the frequent and persistent approach by many of these Anglo-Catholic groups and parishes to Rome for a way to become Catholic under the See of Rome. They asked for it. They knocked constantly and finally the Holy Spirit opened a door for them.

c) All former Anglican and Episcopalian clergy asking for ordination must still fulfill certain criteria. Their marriages must be in proper order, any Catholic priests that left the church to get married to avoid their vow of celibacy cannot renew thieir ministry etc. Everything still has to be in right order and without scandal. First the Ordinary will vet their application and may reject them for ordination for these reasons. Otherwise a file is created and sent to Rome so each man’s case is looked at individually and the final decision made by Rome.
 
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