The Rev. Allan Hawkins, who leads Saint Mary the Virgin church outside of Dallas, said the Vatican’s decision could start unifying the Catholic and Anglican churches after a centuries-old rift.
“I didn’t think I would live to see this day,” Hawkins said during a recent Sunday Mass.
Saint Mary the Virgin is one of three churches in Texas to become Catholic after the Vatican’s 1980 approval of the “Anglican use” provision, which allowed U.S. churches to convert on a case-by-case basis but also retain their traditions and identity.
I would wager that the growth in these parishes comes primarily from Catholics who appreciate the beauty of the Anglicized liturgy and other traditions. In most Episcopal churches, we kneel to receive Communion — not so in American Catholic parishes. In fact, their altar rails were removed, in most cases.
The bilingual Novus Ordo is a particular atrocity but, this being Texas, it’s prevalent in the RC parishes. I can see Caucasian RCs appreciating the Anglican Use liturgy far more. I know that when my RC friends would occasionally come to a service at my Episcopal parish, they’d comment, “This is how the Catholic Mass USED to be.”
True statement. I occasionally attend Our Lady of the Atonement here . I was pleasantly surprised at the beauty of the Anglican rite.
They also do a full Latin mass. It certainly is interesting.