Mount Calvary Church Update

Three weeks ago I broke the news the vestry of Mount Calvary Episcopal Church in Baltimore had voted unanimously to approve two motions severing the church's ties to the Episcopal Church and requesting full communion with the Holy Catholic Church via Angliconrum Coetibus. The rector of Mount Calvary, the Rev'd Jason Catania, announced a special meeting at which the parishioners would vote on the vestry's two motions. That meeting was held today and both motions have passed by a substantial margin, nearly 85 percent. Now begins the rather involved matter of making Fr. Catania, his staff and parishioners Catholics; it will not happen overnight.

Now also, I suppose, begins the waiting game with the Episcopal Church, how it will react to this "Dear John letter" from one of its flocks. Will it cut a deal with Mount Calvary to allow the parish to retain its property or will Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, through her consigliore David Booth Beers, pour out her fury upon them as she has done to so many other departing Episcopal parishes? This time, of course, the mighty forces of the Catholic Church might possibly come into play but my guess is Holy Church is loath to get into a legal brawl with the Episcopalians and vice versa.

One thing is certain, however: the parishioners, the heart of any church (the blessed company of all faithful people), of Mount Calvary are leaving the Episcopal Church, with or without the property. Both sides will need our prayers.