Anglican Church in Canada says 'Yes' to Catholic Invitation

"We accept, unreservedly and with humility and gratitude, the invitation of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church through the provisions of Anglicanorum Coetibus in a corporate manner. " (From the motion voted upon by the parish)

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - On November 21, 2010 the members of St. John the Evangelist parish in Calgary, Alberta, Canada voted 90 percent in favor of joining the Roman Catholic Church.

The vote ended a nearly nine-month period of exploration and discernment by the Rector and Vestry authorized at the Annual Parochial Meeting in February.

The preamble to the motion set before the parish stated, "On 16th February 1993 the Rector, Wardens and Vestry of the Parish of St John the Evangelist, Calgary adopted a Mission Statement which committed us to 'faithfulness to Scripture and Holy Tradition . . . based on traditional classical Anglicanism,' the faith of which was to be expressed in 'living traditional Anglo-Catholic Prayer Book worship.'

"While holding firm to these principles ever since, theological, ecclesiological and sacramental developments within the Anglican Communion over nearly forty years have led us, as a Parish, walking, in peace and in love, a different path from that of the Anglican Church of Canada as it now stands."

The motion stated, "We accept, unreservedly and with humility and gratitude, the invitation of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church through the provisions of Anglicanorum Coetibus in a corporate manner.

"Upon the ratification of this motion by parishioners at a Special Meeting, we instruct the Church Wardens to negotiate with the Anglican Diocese of Calgary the transfer of the Parish of St John the Evangelist, and its property, to the Anglican Ordinariate for Canada, to be effective on its establishment by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, under the terms of the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus and its Complementary Norms.

The Rector, Fr. Lee Kenyon, told the Calgary Herald that this was not a reactionary move. "We didn't vote to leave the Anglican Church of Canada," he stated. "We voted to accept the invitation of the Pope."

Kenyon, who is married and has two children, will be ordained as a Catholic priest through the Ordinariate.

There are a lot of details to be worked out on both the Anglican and Catholic sides at this point.  While the motion of the parish indicates a transfer of property, apart from some extraordinary circumstance, St. John's church, built in 1911, will remain with the Anglican Church of Canada.

"It's not the case that. they take the property with them. It's not theirs," Barry Foster, archdeacon of the Anglican Diocese of Calgary, told the CBC.

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He also said that the parish will remain Anglican until they are received by Rome.

"The bishop's concern is to maintain a good pastoral relationship with the parish," Foster told the CBC, "so that in good Anglican fashion, whatever happens next will be done in an orderly manner."

The Catholic Church will also have a lot of work to do, including the appointment of a bishop to walk the priest and church through the process.

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.

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