VATICAN CITY (RNS) A group of conservative Anglicans in Britain announced that they would convert to the Catholic Church under new arrangements designed to accommodate Anglicans upset with their church’s growing acceptance of homosexuality and female clergy.
Representatives of the British province of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC) voted unanimously last week to pursue “corporate reunion … with the Holy See,” according to a statement posted on the group’s website.
The TAC claims to have 400,000 members worldwide, though its British branch has only about 20 parishes, according to published reports.
The resolution is apparently the first formal move by any group to accept the Vatican’s offer, announced last month, to permit the establishment of special national dioceses for former Anglicans.
Anglican clergy who are already married will be eligible for ordination as Catholic priests (but not bishops) within the new structures, which will permit the use of traditional Anglican music and prayers.
The new Catholic dioceses, called “personal ordinariates,” will be set up by national bishops conferences in response to local demand, following guidelines that the Vatican is expected to release shortly.
By Francis X. Rocca
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