Maryland Episcopal Parish Joins Catholic Church

St. Luke's Church in Bladensburg, Maryland will become the first Episcopal parish to make the change to the Catholic Church since the Vatican promulgated the new guidelines for such transitions in October 2009. Although other parishes are involved in the same process, St. Luke's is the first to obtain approval. They will complete the process in a few months. The parish was able to negotiate a lease to buy agreement with Episcopal Bishop John Bryson Chane, enabling St. Luke's to continue using its current church property. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the Archbishop of Washington, welcomed "the St. Luke community warmly into our family of faith."

Interior of St. Luke's Church in Bladensburg, MD

The parish voted in January to make the move to the Catholic Church, with only one family voting against it. As Rev. Mark Lewis, the rector of St. Luke's, stated "I am deeply grateful to Cardinal Wuerl and to Bishop Chane for their support throughout this discernment...We look forward to continuing to worship in the Anglican tradition, while at the same time being in full communion with the Holy See of Peter."


You can read more here, and view the parish's website here.