Pope Benedict XVI named a married former Episcopal bishop today (January 1, 2012) to head the first U.S. organizational structure for disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians who want to join the Roman Catholic Church, the Associated Press website reports.
The Rev. Jeffrey Neil Steenson -- a father of three and a Catholic convert -- will lead the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, the equivalent of a diocese, that will be based in Houston, Texas, but will operate nationally.
The Vatican created the first such ordinariate in Britain last year. Other ordinariates are being considered in Australia and Canada.
Steenson stepped down in 2007 as the Episcopal Bishop of Rio Grande in Albuquerque, New Mexico, after the Episcopal Church elected the first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.
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