Here are excerpts of a story in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about yesterday's ordination of six former Episcopalian priests as Catholic priests for the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter:

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 In what officials called a historic moment, Fort Worth Catholic Bishop Kevin Vann and other white-robed priests in the diocese laid hands on the priests at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Keller to welcome them.

-snip-.

The ordinariate is headed by a former Fort Worth Episcopal priest, Monsignor Jeffrey Steenson, who earlier converted to Catholicism.

"This is very moving for me today personally," Steenson said. "These men were all part of my generation, and we all served in Fort Worth."

-snip-

"We are Catholics now with an Anglican heritage," said one of the ordained priests, the Rev. Charles Hough III, a former high-ranking official in the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth. In what officials said was a rare happening, son Charles Hough IV was ordained with his father.

"My feeling is that I'm just overjoyed by the whole thing," the elder Hough said. "I'm blessed to say my son's a part of it, too. That's an added bonus. I am so proud of my son. He's such a fine young priest."

The younger Hough was recently named pastor of Our Lady of Walsingham Ordinariate Parish in Houston, which will be the principal church of the ordinariate under which the former Episcopal priests will serve.

"It's a great honor," the younger Hough said. "And I'm absolutely delighted and honored to be ordained with my dad."

The six are among 35 Episcopal priests to be ordained this summer, Steenson said.

Sixty former Episcopal priests are expected to be ordained by year's end, he said. "This is by far the largest class."

The new ordinariate has a decidedly Fort Worth flavor.

Steenson, a former rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Fort Worth and former bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, based in Albuquerque, heads the Houston-based ordinariate. The ordinariate is much like a diocese with a broader scope.

-snip-

Steenson and the six men ordained opposed many of the changes in the Episcopal Church, including the ordination of gay priests and bishops.

All emphasized, however, that those issues were not central in their decisions to convert.

"Hopefully we understand that this is not just about being opposed to something," Steenson said.

"If you were just opposed to something, you don't want to join the Catholic Church. It's a lot more than that."

There are many more pictures and links at the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter's Facebook page.

There is also a television item on the event here.

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And from Canada,  I haven't been able to find pictures yet of the ordinations in Calgary, but here's some good news from the website of St. John the Evangelist.

FIRST MASSES