Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham (Houston)
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas is a Catholic Church erected in 1984 as a parish under the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Galveston–Houston. The church features unique architecture style reminiscent of Neo-Gothic style churches of an Anglican heritage and is the first parish in the United States dedicated to Our Lady of Walsingham. The Order of Mass is traditional and Anglican in character and content. The parish was founded by clergy who were previously pastoral leaders of Episcopal or Anglican churches.
History
In 1980, St. Pope John Paul II established the Anglican Use of the Roman Catholic Church that allowed Anglicans to enter into communion with the Catholic Church.[1][2] In 1982, Fr. James Moore and Fr. James Ramsey resigned their positions within the Episcopal Diocese of Texas to pursue a path into the Catholic Church. During this period, Fr. Moore and Fr. Ramsey held small weekly community meetings under the title of Our Lady of Wasingham. Although not yet formally part of the Catholic Church, Bishop John Louis Morkovsky allowed the parish to worship at a local church where parishioners met weekly for worship. On April 7, 1984, Fr. Moore and Fr. Ramsey were formally ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church and were appointed as co-pastors of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church.[3] The church moved several times during the following years until 1991 where it relocated into its current location.
On January 1, 2012, with the establishment of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, Our Lady of Walsingham became the principal church of the ordinariate. In 2014, a chancery was erected on the parish grounds to manage the operations of the ordinariate. On February 2, 2016, Steven J. Lopes was ordained as the first bishop of the ordinariate, succeeding Jeffrey N. Steenson as ordinary. With the ordination of Bishop Lopes, Our Lady of Walsingham was elevated to the status of cathedral.
Architecture
The church features unique Anglican heritage designs with limestone covering the exterior inspired by 14th century styles of the Walsingham area of Norfolk, England. The interior of the church is Neo-Gothic with stained glass windows, and wooden furnishings carved in Columbia. The church bells were cast in Normandy, France, and the reredos and tabernacle were hand-crafted in Spain. The architecture expresses elements unique to the gothic inspired buildings of the 12th to 16th centuries.[4] These include pointed arches and sloping roofs in the church's exterior and shrine areas.
The Shrine
The church is under the patronage of Our Lady of Walsingham and holds one of the remaining fragments of the eastern window that was part of the original priory in Walsingham, England dating back to the 12th century.[5]
Clergy
Before the implementation of Anglicanorum Coetibus in 2010, the parish was staffed chiefly by former Episcopalian clergy who were incardinated into the local Catholic diocese--one of whom was married, the rest of whom were not. After 2010, a new parish rector (Fr Charles Hough IV) was appointed. Several associate priests assist him in his duties, and the current clergy of the cathedral are all married with children of their own. The new bishop of the Ordinariate has expressed his intention to retain Fr Hough in his position as rector for the foreseeable future, while nevertheless expressing his desire that the rule of clerical celibacy become the norm for the Ordinariate, as it is for the rest of the Latin Church.
References
- ^ Stetson, William H., "History of the Pastoral Provision", Office of the Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision website
- ^ Jack D. Barker, "A History of the Pastoral Provision for Roman Catholics in the USA", chapter 1 of Cavanaugh, Stephen E., Anglicans and the Roman Catholic Church, Ignatius Press 2011, ISBN 9781586174996
- ^ Parish website. "History of the Parish". http://walsingham-church.org/history-of-the-parish-1. Accessed 28 February 2015.
- ^ Victoria and Albert Museum The world’s greatest museum of art and design. “Style Guide: Gothic Revival”. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/s/style-guide-gothic-revival/.
- ^ "Brief History of the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham", Archdiocese of Southwark Accessed 1 March 2015.