Location Houston, Texas Denomination Catholic Church Completed 1984 Phone +1 713-683-9407 Bishop Steven J. Lopes | Country United States Architectural type Neo-Gothic Opened 1984 Dedication Our Lady of Walsingham | |
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Founder(s) Clergy who were previously pastoral leaders of Episcopal or other Anglican churches Address 7809 Shadyvilla Ln, Houston, TX 77055, USA Similar Co‑Cathedral of the Sacred H, Basilica of Our Lady of Walsingham, Mount Calvary Church, All Saints Catholic Church, Annunciation Church | ||
The Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham also Principal Church 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, and is currently the cathedral of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. The church features a distinctive 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 other Anglican churches.
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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. 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 Walsingham. Although not yet formally part of the Catholic Church, Bishop John Louis Morkovsky allowed the community to worship at a local church where they met weekly for worship. On April 7, 1984, Fr. Moore and Fr. Ramsey were ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church and were appointed as co-pastors of Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church. The church moved several times during the following years until 1991 where it relocated to 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 church's 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 a cathedral.
Architecture
The church features distinctive 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 window, 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 found in the Gothic-inspired buildings of the 12th to 16th centuries. These include pointed arches and sloping roofs in the church's exterior and shrine areas.
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.
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 but the rest 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.