Defections to Rome hit Fort Worth: The Church of England Newspaper, April 1, 2011 p 9.

The Fort Worth 4 with Bishop Vann in 2008

First published in The Church of England Newspaper.

Two senior priests of the Diocese of Fort Worth have left the breakaway Anglo-Catholic diocese for the Anglican Ordinariate.

On March 8, Bishop Jack Iker announced that his number two man, Canon Charles Hough, and Fr. Louis Tobola had resigned their posts effective March 31.

The bishop noted Canon Hough had served as Canon to the Ordinary for the past 17 years, and he and Fr. Tobola had each served for over 30 years in the diocese.  “Though they have not yet resigned from the ordained ministry, they are expected to do so at the time the Ordinariate is established for former Anglicans who wish to come into full communion with the Roman Catholic Church,” Bishop Iker said.

“Though we regret their departures, we wish both of them nothing but the best in this new chapter of their lives. They will be deeply missed,” Bishop Iker reported.

While the secession of the two Fort Worth priests will hurt the morale of the diocese, it was not unexpected.  In 2008 Canon Hough and Fr. Tobola and two other priests, all members of the Society of the Holy Cross, met with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Worth to discuss uniting the Episcopal diocese with the Roman Catholic church.

In a paper summarizing their talks, the four Fort Worth clergy, concluded the “See of Peter” was “essential not optional” for the true church; a “magisterium” was needed; the “Catholic Faith is true”; the ecclesiology of the Anglican Communion was flawed as was that of the Episcopal Church; an overwhelming majority of Fort Worth’s clergy favored corporate reunion with Rome; Pope Benedict XVI “understands our plight”; and that there was a “charism which the Anglican ethos has to offer to the Universal Church.”

As Anglicans “we realize that Henry VIII, the monarch who wrote ‘Defense of Seven Sacraments’ and who was granted the title ‘Defender of the Faith’, never intended to make any substantive or permanent changes in the Catholic faith. Indeed, the Reformation itself was intended to be for a limited time only,” the four clergy said.

“We believe that it is now time for a new Season. It is perhaps, time for a church of Reformation to die and a new unification among Christ’s people be born: Unification possible only under the Holy Father,” they argued, asking the “Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth provide the guidance necessary so that we might ‘make a proposal’ that would lead our Diocese into full communion with the See of Peter.”

Following the release of the 2008 report, Bishop Iker said he was “aware of a meeting” between his four priests and the Roman Catholic Bishop of Fort Worth and they had his “trust and pastoral support. However, in their written and verbal reports, they have spoken only on their own behalf and out of their own concerns and perspective.”

“They have not claimed to act or speak, nor have they been authorized to do so, either on behalf of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth or on my own behalf,” Bishop Iker said.