Mount Calvary Episcopal Church will vote in October on full-communion with the Catholic Church
WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - In a letter to parishioners, the Reverend Jason Cantania, rector of Mount Calvary Episcopal Church in Baltimore, Maryland, announced that the vestry of the parish had voted unanimously in favor of two resolutions. First, they have voted to leave The Episcopal Church (TEC) where they are a part of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, and, second, to become an Anglican Use parish in the Catholic Church through the new initiative from Rome - the Anglicorum Coetibus.
Under the terms of this apostolic constitution, the Church has provided opportunities for "personal ordinariates for Anglicans entering full communion with the Catholic Church."
It strikes me as odd that voting can change an entire congregation's affiliation. I mean, how can an entire church wake up one morning belonging to one faith, and then fall asleep the same night identifying themselves as something else? Is such a wholesale realignment possible, or does the identification a church decides for itself even matter?
And what happens to the members who voted not to change? Are they still Episcopalians, or would the parish's vote change them into Catholics?
At least in this case, the congregation gets the chance to vote on the vestry's decision.
PS. Vestry is another word for Committee.
