Another Parish for the Anglican Use




This time in the Diocese of Scranton. The announcement is on the Diocese's website here.

For the first time in the history of the Diocese of Scranton, the Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist. E.D., Bishop of Scranton, has begun the implementation of a special Vatican process that provides for the acceptance of a married former Scranton Episcopal clergyman and father, who is seeking to become a priest in the Roman Catholic Church.



The process, known as the “Pastoral Provision Decision,” will result in the conversion, priestly formation and potential ordination of Mr. Eric Bergman, a former priest of the Episcopal Diocese of Bethlehem, as a member of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Scranton. He and his wife, Kristina, are the parents of three children, Clara, Eric and Julia, all of whom who will become Catholic.



Mr. Bergman, former pastor of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church in the Green Ridge section of Scranton, said he would no longer serve the Episcopal Church USA, a member of the worldwide Anglican Communion, because of differences he has with its teaching and practices.



When Mr. Bergman, a Bethlehem native, announced his intention to resign to his former Scranton congregation, he said he learned that a number of members also indicated that they, too, were either leaning toward turning to the Roman Catholic Church, or had decided not to remain Episcopalian. That number now stands at over 30 adults and more than 10 children who plan to convert to the Roman Catholic faith with the former Rev. Bergman.



The Pastoral Provision Decision, rendered in 1980 by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, came in response to a request from the North American Province of the Society of the Holy Cross, a secular institute of Anglican priests, whose married members wished to offer themselves for priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic Church, as well as lay Episcopalians who wished to enter the Catholic Church with a common spiritual and liturgical identity.



In its acceptance of former married Episcopalian clergy as clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, the Pastoral Provision Decision grants a special exception to the Roman Catholic Church’s rule of mandatory priestly celibacy. However, the Decision stressed that this particular exclusion “should not be understood as implying any change in the Church’s conviction of the value of priestly celibacy, which will remain the rule for future candidates for the priesthood from this group.”



“I warmly welcome Mr. Bergman, his family and members of his former lay community on their new faith journey to become Roman Catholic,” said Bishop Martino. “We assure them all of our prayers and complete cooperation as they take the initial steps toward full communion with the Roman Catholic Church in the Diocese of Scranton,” the bishop stated.



Bishop Martino said that the Diocese of Scranton and Mr. Bergman have taken initial steps to begin the conversion/ordination process established through the Pastoral Provision Decision. The steps include preparation and submission of a dossier, or report, containing required documents which will accompany Mr. Bergman’s petition to the Holy See for priesthood and incardination, or service to the Diocese of Scranton. The report will contain Bishop Martino’s statement of willingness to ordain Mr. Bergman -- provided that the Vatican Congregation consents to this action -- along with various records provided by Mr. Bergman, including baptism and marriage, a profession of faith, seminary transcripts and a biography. The dossier will then be forwarded to the Holy See for approval. When the consent, is provided, the candidate then begins a period of theological preparation. A Scranton diocesan priest will be appointed to meet regularly with the petitioner and serve as his formation director. After the petitioner undergoes sacramental preparation and reception, and is in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church for a specified period of time, he may be ordained a transitional deacon, then as a priest.



As of January 1, 2005, Mr. Bergman has resigned as a member of the Episcopal clergy. Effective January 2, Bishop Martino has announced that Mr. Bergman will become Executive Director of the newly-formed St. Thomas More Society of St. Clare’s Church in the Green Ridge section of Scranton. Members of the St. Thomas More Society of St. Clare’s Church will provide for the temporal needs of Mr. Bergman and study with him in preparation to enter the Catholic Church. Mr. Bergman said that membership in the St. Thomas More Society is open to all former Anglicans or Episcopalians.



“The parish community of St. Clare’s offers its hospitality with open arms,” said pastor Monsignor William J. Feldcamp. “We are most happy to provide Mr. Bergman and the St. Thomas More Society of St. Clare’s Church with shelter, a place to conduct worship and religious instruction, and our utmost support in their efforts,” he said. Msgr. Feldcamp is announcing the establishment of the Society at all liturgies at St. Clare’s Church the weekend of January 1 - 2.



Msgr. Feldcamp noted that the St. Thomas More Society of St. Clare’s Church will conduct weekly Sunday Vespers, or Evening Prayer services, while its members begin their period of catechesis, or religious education in the Catholic faith. The service, taken from the Book of Divine Worship, a book of Anglican-style liturgies approved for use by the Holy See, is open to the public. The group has held organizational meetings at the Catholic parish in preparation of the creation of the Society.



To date, the Holy See has permitted the ordination of a number of former Anglican or Episcopal priests who have become Catholic in the U.S., Canada and Great Britain.

Though only just beginning, the new St Thomas More Society has a small website here.

A Prayer for the Anglican Use
O Holy Ghost, the Lord, who gavest the Church the gift of tongues that Christ might be known by peoples of divers nations and customs: watch over the Anglican heritage within thy Church, we pray thee, that, led by thy guidance and strengthened by thy grace, that Use may find such favor in thy sight that its people may increase both in holiness and in number, and so show forth thy glory; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Son, one God, world without end. Amen.