Anglican Schism Now Official - Orthodox Episcopalians Seek Refuge - Convert To Catholicism

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: We've seen it coming for a long time. Ever since the election of Bishop Gene Robinson back in 2003, the demise of the US Episcopal Church (ECUSA) was inevitable. Now after multiple warnings from Anglican provinces around the world, as well as a stern warning from the Lambeth Council not to continue gay ordinations, the US Episcopal Church has openly defied the consensus of the worldwide Anglican Communion by voting for more gay ordinations as well as blessing gay "marriages." The US Episcopal Church has effectively thrown itself out of what remains of the former Anglican Communion. As of right now, thanks to the actions of the ECUSA's governing body, there is no officially recognized Anglican province in the United States.

A small group of Episcopalians have been working to create an orthodox alternative to the US Episcopal Church, and in time they may be recognized by the Archbishop of Canterbury. However a growing number of orthodox Episcopalians are beginning to realize that no matter what final resolution occurs, the Anglican Communion has now been wounded beyond repair. The end of an era has come.

(CNA) - Prominent biblical scholar and Anglican Bishop N.T. Wright has said the Episcopal Church’s recent decision to allow homosexuals to be ordained as bishops will mark a “clear break” with the Anglican Communion and formalizes a “schism.” He also insisted that chastity is not “optional” for Christians.

On Tuesday the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (TEC) voted by wide margins to pass a resolution allowing homosexuals to enter “any ordained ministry” in the church...

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A growing number of Episcopalians are beginning to understand that the only way Anglo-Catholicism can be fully realized in this post-modern world is within the communion of the universal Catholic Church and under the protection of the Bishop of Rome.

(Virtue on Line) - New Liturgical Movement is reporting that the Anglican All Saints Sisters of the Poor in Catonsville, Maryland have announced their intention to be received into the Catholic Church on September 3. These are wonderful women and this is wonderful news.

As an Anglican, I made two retreats with the sisters when the men's order I was an associate of held it's chapter at Catonsville and I've visited one or two other times. One of their sisters was assigned to St. Anna's, the small house they maintain in Philadelphia, and I knew her quite well from my days at S. Clement's.

The sisters have been in discernment about their future and the rumor mill has been churning for some time, so this is not unexpected, but it is very good to hear. Their resident chaplain, Rev. Canon Warren Tanghe, announced his submission some time ago. Their previous chaplain was also received four or five years ago. They've been in my prayers and those of many others.....

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It's not just clergy and religious who are making the switch, but individual laymen and entire congregations too. Some of them are making a clean break with Anglicanism and starting over as Roman Catholics. When the new English translation of the liturgy is released between 2010 and 2012, the ordinary form of the Catholic mass will become strikingly similar to the traditional form of the old Anglican liturgy. So transition from Anglican to Catholic will be significantly smoother in the years ahead.

However, a growing number of Anglicans converting to Catholicism are bringing their English customs with them, and believe it or not, Rome has already made provision for this.

It's called the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision. While not a full rite within the Roman Catholic Church, it does maintain many similar characteristics, which allows US Episcopalians to essentially do everything the same way they have always done it, except now they are under the pastoral protection of the pope. They are free from liberal influences, openly homosexual clergy, gay marriages, and even women priests. Those Anglican Use Catholic churches already established essentially run themselves the same way the Episcopal Church used to do things fifty years ago, before the radical changes and the overwhelming influence of modernism.

The Anglican Use Society was formed to help Episcopalians integrate their Anglican customs into the Catholic Church under the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision. By contacting the Anglican Use Society, Episcopalians seeking pastoral protection can be directed to an Anglican Use parish, or to an Anglican Use community that is in the process of starting a parish. Furthermore, if a group contacting the society is large enough, the Society can give instructions for the process of starting their own Anglican Use community and parish.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Anglican Use Society.