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March 22, 2010

About 100 traditionalist Anglican parishes in the United States have decided to join the Catholic Church as a group. Meeting in Orlando, the House of Bishops of the Anglican Church in America voted on March 3 to seek entry into the Catholic Church under the guidelines established in Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic constitution “Anglicanorum Coetibus” (“Groups of Anglicans”). The request means that the 100 parishes of the Anglican Church in America will ask for group reception into the Catholic Church in a “personal ordinariate,” a structure similar to dioceses for former Anglicans who become Catholic. Churches under the ordinariate can retain their Anglican character and much of their liturgy and practices—including married priests—while being in communion with the Catholic Church. The Anglican Church in America is the third group of Anglicans to accept the Vatican’s invitation, following the United Kingdom branch of the Traditional Anglican Communion and the Australian branch of Anglican traditionalists, Forward in Faith.

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