Ordinariate Watch: Six ACA bishops announce desires to join a US ordinariate

Archbishop John Hepworth, the Primate of the Australian-based Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), and its American branch -- the Anglican Church in America (ACA) -- has announced that six ACA bishops are strongly considering joining the Anglican Ordinariate once it becomes established on this side of the Atlantic.

"We have six bishops and 61 ACA priests who have put in dossiers applying to be clergy of the Ordinariate, and 29 parishes have voted and indicated to Cardinal Donald Wuerl that they have voted from the ACA into the Ordinariate," said Hepworth.

The ACA House of Bishops has a census of 10 including Bishop Juan Garcia of Puerto Rico. Earlier this month three ACA bishops communicated to VOL that they are unwilling to be a part of the developing Ordinariate. They include: Bishop Brian Marsh, Diocese of the Northeast; Bishop Stephen Strawn, Diocese of the Missouri Valley; and Bishop Daren Williams, Diocese of the West.

"We are not going to Rome. We have chosen to stay together, to remain with the ACA," the three bishops emphatically stated in a VOL Exclusive. "With regard to the dioceses of the Northeast, Missouri Valley and West, we should advise you that these dioceses will remain with the Anglican Church in America."

The six US bishops are: Louis Falk, the President of the ACA House of Bishops and the retired bishop of the Diocese of the Missouri Valley, and the first Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion; David Moyer, the Bishop-in-Charge of the Patrimony of the Primate and Bishop of the Armed Forces; Louis Campese, the Bishop of the Pro-diocese of the Holy Family and the resigned bishop of the Diocese of the Eastern United States; George Langberg, retired Bishop of the Diocese of the Northeast; Welborne Hudson, retired Bishop of the Armed Forces; and James Stewart, retired Bishop of the West.

Archbishop Hepworth also noted in a recent e-mail to VOL that ACA Bishop Juan Garcia, Bishop of Puerto Rico, is also interested in the Ordinariate. But since, unlike The Episcopal Church, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops does not extend past US borders, the Puerto Rican bishop will have to become a part of a Caribbean Ordinariate when and if it is established

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