For longtime Anglican Richard Harding, switching to the Catholic church feels like coming home.
Last month, Harding and other members of the St. John the Evangelist congregation in Calgary became the first Anglican parish in Canada to accept an offer from the Pope to rejoin the Catholic church.Harding said they are excited about the change.
Only two members of the parish in Inglewood, one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods, voted against the move and a few others abstained.
"There is a bit of sadness. This is a very sobering step and is a serious step, but it is a positive one," said Harding, who has worshipped at St. John for more than 20 years. "Every new beginning is a goodbye to some of the past."
The congregation decided to leave a church that has been their spiritual home for all of their lives for varied and complex reasons.
Harding said the Pope's invitation, coupled with growing discomfort among some parishioners over the Anglican acceptance of women priests, gay clergy and same-sex marriage, was the catalyst for the move. Many parishioners feel the liberal innovations, even though they haven't been accepted by all Anglican diocese, are standing between the two denominations.
"They throw huge monkey wrenches into the unity of the church," Harding said. "It is a reflection that the bulk of the Anglican Church of Canada has dropped the conserving of the traditional liturgy, traditional worship and traditional values."
The vote by the St. John the Evangelist congregation doesn't automatically mean members will become Catholics. The parishioners must take some religious instruction before they will be allowed to officially make the switch, perhaps by Easter.
Sources include
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/home_family/calgary-anglican-explains-why-parish--wants-to-join-catholic-church-111470369.html
http://members.shaw.ca/stjohncalgary/
http://www.calgary.anglican.ca/Parishes/CalgaryStJohnEv.html
http://www.anglican.ca/index.php
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