K-W Anglicans welcomed into the Catholic Church
Written by Tony Gosgnach, Catholic Register SpecialWednesday, 11 January 2012 09:47
Hamilton Bishop Douglas Crosby, centre, welcomed this group of Anglicans into the Catholic Church in a ceremony at Hamilton’s Cathedral of Christ the King Jan. 1.- Photo courtesy of the diocese of HamiltonKITCHENER, ONT. - The new year meant a new beginning for a group of Anglicans from Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont.
On Jan. 1, 12 individuals from that area were received as a community into full communion in the Roman Catholic Church during an Anglican Use-rite Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Hamilton. The liturgy was presided over by Bishop Douglas Crosby and celebrated by their former priest-mentor, now chaplain, Fr. William Foote. The group made a profession of faith and received the sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist.
Now known as the Sodality of St. Edmund, King and Martyr, under the oversight of the diocese of Hamilton initially, they become the second community of Canadian Anglicans to be so received, following St. John the Evangelist in Calgary, which entered the Church on Dec. 18.
On Jan. 1, 12 individuals from that area were received as a community into full communion in the Roman Catholic Church during an Anglican Use-rite Mass at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Hamilton. The liturgy was presided over by Bishop Douglas Crosby and celebrated by their former priest-mentor, now chaplain, Fr. William Foote. The group made a profession of faith and received the sacraments of Confirmation and the Eucharist.
Now known as the Sodality of St. Edmund, King and Martyr, under the oversight of the diocese of Hamilton initially, they become the second community of Canadian Anglicans to be so received, following St. John the Evangelist in Calgary, which entered the Church on Dec. 18.
For Gary Freeman, one of the 12, the event marked the completion of a long journey that began in 1977 when he left the Anglican Church of Canada because of its ordination of women as clergy to join what was then called a “continuing Anglican” parish. Subsequent years saw the Anglican Church adopt more liberal positions on issues such as abortion, homosexuality and same-sex marriage as Freeman went in search of a spiritual home. He became a congregant in the Antiochian Orthodox Church, attended Roman Catholic churches as a non-Catholic and then joined the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada.
The goal of the ACCC was always to end up becoming part of the Roman Catholic Church, said Freeman, and on Jan. 1, his group accomplished that objective.
The goal of the ACCC was always to end up becoming part of the Roman Catholic Church, said Freeman, and on Jan. 1, his group accomplished that objective.
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