Rev. Lewis, in a letter to friends published on the parish website, explained that his decision to join the ordinariate was not so much a desire to leave Anglicanism as it was to enter into full communion with the Holy See.
The debates within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion “illumined” Anglicanism’s lack of “the apostolic authority to defend the faith, guard unity, and settle disputes,” Rev. Lewis said.
He and his wife, Vickey, prayed and studied on these issues and “our hearts began to move toward Rome.”
Patrick Delaney, a lay parish leader from Mitchellville, also cited issues of church authority.
“In the Episcopal Church, bishops in one place say one thing and in another say another,” he told the Washington Post. “That’s the crux of it. Each bishop has its own kingdom.”
He and others at St. Luke’s said they were thrilled to help rejoin the Catholic Church, from which Anglicanism broke in the 1500s.
“It feels fantastic,” Delaney said. “It’s like correcting 500 years of history.”
Rev. Lewis said the parish had already embraced various Catholic practices but it has now ordered a larger statue of Mary. It plans more teachings on praying the Rosary and going to confession.
The pastor asked for prayers and support as he and the people of St. Luke’s “seek to live out our Anglican heritage with integrity in a Personal Ordinariate of the Roman Catholic Church.”
Cardinal Wuerl will announce next month at a bishops’ meeting how much interest in a U.S. ordinariate he has found. Officials think interest is high enough that they are creating a U.S. ordinariate for Anglican converts, the Washington Post reports.
Until an ordinariate is officially established for the U.S., St. Luke’s will come under the care of the Archdiocese of Washington.
(Story continues below)
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Kevin J. Jones is a senior staff writer with Catholic News Agency. He was a recipient of a 2014 Catholic Relief Services' Egan Journalism Fellowship.