Jeffrey Steenson's decision to leave his post as an Episcopal bishop in New Mexico last year came with a steep price.The former Bishop Steenson, a married father of three who will become a Roman Catholic priest later this year, said his lifestyle was "nothing to complain about."
Along with other perks, he left a $100,000-a-year salary for a pay cut of $75,000.
"It's a very big step. All the things you took for granted are gone," said Mr. Steenson, who laughed about his change in financial fortune.
"And if your identity was shaped as a [Episcopal] priest or bishop, that has to be unmade and redone again. That's a big thing. But I feel being in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church is worth those sacrifices."
Mr. Steenson and hundreds of others in the United States and England have left the Anglican Communion for Roman Catholicism over the past two decades.
(The Episcopal Church in the United States is part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.)
In recent days, there have been about 1,000 priests in England who have threatened to seek communion with Rome over their opposition to the ordination of female bishops.
In 1980, the Vatican made provisions for married Anglican priests to become Catholic priests without having to give up their family life. It also allowed for Anglican churches to retain their traditions of worship, liturgy and music -- but with some adjustments to conform to Catholic doctrine.
Mr. Steenson, who was ordained in 1979 and became a bishop in 2004, said he is not expecting any issues over the fact that he has a family because the makeup of the Catholic clergy has many priests who were once married.
"It's not always the usual men who have been celibate since high school. I don't think it's going to be a problem with the other priests."
Mr. Steenson said he had always hoped that the Anglican Church, which separated from Rome in the 16th century, would eventually reconcile with the Catholic Church.
But since the Anglican Church's ordination of women, the move toward same-sex blessings and the appointment of an openly gay bishop in the United States, that prospect has faded to zero.
In Canada and elsewhere, factions still loyal to global Anglicanism are forming new associations as a protest over same-sex blessings. But Mr. Steenson said creating new groups "is doing violence to the idea of Church."
"The last thing we need is another Protestant denomination," he said. He believes it is better to make moves that create unity rather than continuing to tear Christianity into even smaller pieces. And the place to do that, he said, is under Rome.
Allan Hawkins went a step further than Mr. Steenson: He moved his entire parish of St. Mary the Virgin, in Arlington, Tex., over to the Catholic Church in 1994.
"My roots in Anglicanism are very deep. My father was an Anglican priest. I was educated at Oxford and Cambridge. You can't get more Anglican than that. And I was raised to believe the Church of England was part of the [universal] Catholic Church but sadly separated for the time being. But we were taught to work and pray for the unity of the Church."
Over time, he said, the Anglican Church has become much more vague in its views and so there is no longer anything except the soft notion of "reason" to back up the radical changes it has made.
"I would want to say that the real issue was authority. And the question of ordination of women is really a symptom of the problem. If you're a fundamentalist Protestant and you're asked what your authority is, what you base your faith on, you say the Bible. And you'd have no hesitation about that. If you ask a Roman Catholic where their authority lies, they will say the teaching of the Church. Something very set. Ask an Anglican and you will get a much vaguer answer. They can't back up their moves by theology. Anglicanism has no answer except 'we want to do this.' "
He said that his personal theology always lined up with the Catholic Church. On the issue of women's ordination, one of the key issues for many in his parish and elsewhere, he accepts the Catholic teaching.
"It is a distinction between motherhood and fatherhood," Fr. Hawkins said.
"They are not interchangeable. A mother can't be a father. The role of a parish priest is to be an icon of God the father. Religions that have given a priestly role to woman have ended up by being fairly monstrous."
For his part, Mr. Steenson never had a problem with women priests. He simply felt that his Episcopal Church was no longer fostering the ideals of Christian unity. While he hopes he will be a model for other Anglicans, he warns that anyone thinking of following him has to think hard about their decision.
"Anglicans who are thinking about converting really have to think seriously about their comfort level with Rome. They shouldn't be running away from something they're miserable with. They should be embracing something they truly believe in."
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