October 27, 2010

A majority of the members of Mount Calvary Episcopal Church, Baltimore, voted Oct. 24 to separate from the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and become an Anglican-use parish within the Roman Catholic Church.

Mount Calvary parishioners voted on two resolutions, according to a diocesan press release, one to leave the Episcopal Church and the second to seek entry into the Roman Catholic Church as an Anglican-use parish.

Of 45 eligible voters, 28 were present at the meeting and cast written ballots for both resolutions, the diocese said. The first resolution passed 24-2 with two abstentions. The second measure passed 24-3 with one abstention.

The Rev. Canon Scott Slater, canon to the diocesan ordinary, observed and validated the tallying of both votes, the diocese said. The president of the Maryland Standing Committee was also present.

"I am saddened that members of this small congregation have found a need to leave the Episcopal Church, of which Mount Calvary has been a part since 1842," Bishop Eugene Sutton said after the decision. "For those who are leaving I wish God's blessing upon them."

The diocese said that Sutton made a formal visit to Mt. Calvary on Oct. 10 after the vestry decided to put the departure to a vote. Sutton celebrated the Eucharist and hosted a meeting with members that he called "an honest, open discussion."

Mt. Calvary's rector, the Rev. Jason A. Catania, and the Rev. David Reamsnyder, also affiliated with the congregation, have written to Sutton saying they intend to seek ordination in the Roman Catholic Church, Catania said in the November issue of the congregation's newsletter, Crux Fidelis.

"I will regret no longer being part of the same ecclesial community with a great many people who are dear to me, clergy as well as laity," Catania wrote, adding that the "small number of members of the Mount Calvary family who do not feel called to embark on this journey" will continue to be welcomed and cared for by the congregation.

Catania said the departing members of Mount Calvary will become the first Episcopal Church parish to exercise the invitation offered in October 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI to groups of former Anglicans who wish to convert to the Roman Catholic Church. An apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, allows such converts to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of Anglican spirituality and liturgy. More information about the Anglicanorum Coetibus is here (http://episcopalchurch.org/81840_116538_ENG_HTM.htm).

A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Baltimore told the Baltimore Sun newspaper that Mount Calvary members would be welcomed. Sean Caine said that the departing members must submit a written request, which Archbishop John Myers of Newark, New Jersey, the Vatican's ecclesiastical delegate of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for admitting married former Anglican clergy to the Catholic priesthood in the United States, would have to accept.

Catania said in the Diocese of Maryland press release that the clergy, vestry, and people of Mount Calvary hope that "this transition can be accomplished with efficiency and with all due sensitivity to all involved."

"We are grateful for those members of the leadership of the Diocese of Maryland who were present to observe the meeting, and we look forward to working with the diocese as we begin this journey seeking to follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit," he said.

The diocese said in its release that its leadership "will work with the remaining parishioners of Mount Calvary to discern the future ministry of the parish and its urban community."

The Diocese of Maryland consists of 22,000 households in 116 congregations in 10 counties and the city of Baltimore.

Episcopal News Service