The Rev. Jason Catania, rector of Mount Calvary since 2006, said the congregation has consulted with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore about the parish’s future and with the Diocese of Maryland about the possibility of amicable separation.
If the congregation affirms the vestry’s two resolutions, the parish will send a proposal to the Diocese of Maryland’s standing committee four days later, Fr. Catania told The Living Church.
“A group from the standing committee has met with the vestry, and Bishop [Eugene] Sutton will be here on Sunday [Oct. 10] to hear from the folks,” he said.
He said Mount Calvary already had begun thinking about becoming a Roman Catholic parish when the All Saints Sisters of the Poor announced their decision to become a Roman Catholic Order.
God bless my friend Fr. Catania and his parishioners in this important and trying time.
Reliably, the diocese speaks to the property and not the innovations driving the loss of people – fellow episcopalians.
God bless Fr Catania and the faithful folks of Mt Calvary!
The 2009 statistics show an Average Sunday Attendance of 40, though when I was in Maryland some years ago the church had a sizeable endowment.
I suspect this church, like the other Anglican Rite Catholic Churches, will experience tremendous growth after they separate with TEC.
The Archdiocese of Baltimore in the past decade or so has closed or consolidated undersized parishes. Numbers at Mount Calvary have been low for twenty years or more. It’s hard to see the Archdiocese making a long-term commitment to keep such a small parish open when so many other parishes of comparable size have been eliminated.
Tegularius,
Thanks for the realistic comment. The idea that Anglican congregations that go to Rome will experience growth of any kind is, shall we say, highly optimistic.