As noted yesterday, last week St Luke's Episcopal Church in Bladenburg, Maryland announced that it would seek entry into the Catholic Church as part of the Ordinariate in the United States. The Episcopal Bishop of Washington, John Bryson Chane, has supported St Luke's in its pilgrimage and has generously allowed the parish to retain use of the parish church.
St Luke's Rector, Fr Mark Lewis, has emphasised that the move is not merely a reaction to recent innovations in the Episcopal Church. It is, rather, a positive journey towards unity:
Prayer and study, not any controversies, led the congregation toward unity with the Catholic Church, Rev. Lewis said, when asked whether Episcopal doctrine on the priesthood or sexual issues had precipitated the move.
Over the past several years, the Episcopal Church, the U.S. member of the Anglican Communion, has approved ordaining women priests and bishops, ordaining homosexuals and blessing same-sex unions."Those issues on the priesthood and sexuality have been around. The real issue that drove us was our study of the Catholic faith," he said. "The more we looked at it and compared it to Anglicanism, we were drawn to the Church of Rome. It was a natural progression."
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