OTTAWA – On Divine Mercy Sunday April 15, two bishops
of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC) – Bishop Peter
Wilkinson in Victoria, and Bishop Carl Reid in Ottawa - will lead their
clergy and people into the Catholic Church.
Other congregations and fellowships across the country, part of the
ACCC's temporary Pro-Diocese of Our Lady of Walsingham, will follow on
April 22 or dates soon to be announced to become ordinariate
parishes-in-waiting in their respective Roman Catholic dioceses. There
are groups in Edmonton, Oshawa, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, Montreal
and possibly Vancouver.
Victoria Bishop Richard Gagnon and Ottawa Archbishop Terrence
Prendergast will receive the groups at special Masses and afterwards
provide spiritual oversight and priests for the new Catholics until
their priests are ordained and the parishes can join the American
ordinariate.
Until the ACCC priests are ordained, Catholic bishops will supply
priests to celebrate the Anglican Use liturgy for the new ordinariate
parishes-in-waiting.
These parishes will join two already received into the Catholic Church
to eventually form the Canadian deanery of St. John the Baptist of the
American Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter that was
established on Jan. 1, 2012 with Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, a former
Episcopalian bishop and married Catholic priest, as ordinary.
FIRST FRUITS
Prendergast described the move as "among the first fruits" of the response to Anglicanorum coetibus, Pope Benedict's apostolic constitution that offered a way for Anglicans to become Catholic while bringing in approved aspects of their tradition, including their liturgy.
"While the apostolic constitution left open the possibility of an
ordinariate in Canada this linking Anglicans in Canada to the United
States ordinariate as a deanery attached to it is a good step for now,"
said Prendergast.
