Scranton priest and parish join new Catholic jurisdiction for former Anglicans

By laura Legere
May 10, 2012

A Scranton Roman Catholic priest who was previously an ordained Episcopalian has been named the first priest in a new national Catholic jurisdiction that incorporates elements of the Anglican faith.

The Rev. Eric Bergman was incardinated on Tuesday into the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a jurisdiction of U.S. Catholics established by the Pope at the start of the year that welcomes Anglicans and some of their traditions into the Catholic Church.

The U.S. ordinariate is just the second such group established by the pope. The first, for England and Wales, was created in 2011.

"This is a significant moment in the young history of the ordinariate," Monsignor Jeffrey N. Steenson, the Houston, Texas-based ordinary of the jurisdiction, said in a statement Wednesday.

Father Bergman became the first priest of 60 preparing to join the ordinariate, about 30 of whom are expected to be ordained in the next few months. Unlike most of those current or former Anglican priests, Father Bergman was already ordained a Catholic priest in 2007. the rest