The Rev. Edward Meeks and his flock attended to a “million and one details” last week in the run-up to a momentous day for their church. People to talk to. Flowers to arrange. Food to cook. And, of course, the new sign.
On Sunday, Christ the King Church ”” Anglican ”” became Christ the King Catholic Church.
The Towson congregation of about 140 is one of the first groups in the United States to join a new “ordinariate” established for those who want to be Catholic but hold on to Anglican traditions. The largest Anglican church in the country to do so, it follows in the footsteps of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore and St. Luke’s Parish in Bladensburg.
Kudos for the article simply saying the parish was switching to Catholicism, and was not “renegade” or some other scare mongering term. However, the scary quote marks around “ordinariate” were somewhat uncessary.
I don’t know: sometimes a quotation mark is just a quotation mark, in this case (possibly) due to use of an idiosycratic word.
On another note, a commenter at Get Religion noted publicity over the parish switches in media centers verses complete silence on similar events in less media intense outlets.
I’m with Charles52: the original — and enduring use — of the quotation mark is to quote. And it is the Roman Church which calls this action taken by Christ the King as an action made possible by the “Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.”
Sometimes a quotation mark is really just indicating what someone has said, just as sometimes “a cigar is just a cigar.”
My guess, as an editor, is that “ordinariate” was in quotes because it’s a specialized term not found in the [i]Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.[/i] Best wishes to the people of Christ the King!