Anglican priest, flock cross a welcoming bridge

[rug]

The Rev. Jurgen Liias leads a Catholic parish that is an alternative for former Anglicans. (JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE GLOBE)

By Lisa Wangsness
Globe Staff
August 26, 2013

BEVERLY — Before Mass on a recent Sunday, the Rev. Jurgen Liias stood in a cramped sacristy of a Catholic church with an acolyte and cantor and began a call-and-response prayer of preparation.

Incense smoldered. The men thumped their chests in a gesture of contrition.

The elaborate ritual would seem unusual to most Catholic priests, who pray silently before Mass as they don their vestments, or quietly focus on the sacred work ahead. But Liias, who is 65, is different. He entered the church through a new doorway that lets members of the Anglican Communion return to the mother church in Rome while retaining their congregational communities — and, if they wish, much of their ornate ritual, including old Catholic traditions that Rome changed or left behind.

Pope John Paul II extended to Anglicans, including married priests, the opportunity to become Catholic in 1980. During the next 30 years, 100 or so Anglican priests entered the Catholic Church and were incorporated into local dioceses.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/08/25/episcopal-priest-embraces-catholicism-vatican-establishes-superdioceses-for-anglican-congregations/RR0uyIzbfXhWb4Q1aLiDyN/story.html

[arely staircase]

1. this anglican (Episcopalian) approves nt

[IrishAyes]

2. As does this cradle Catholic

I look forward to the day when Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran(?) clerics can co-officiate. I've always heard of talks in that direction, but nothing recent. Does anyone have an update?