After the Feb. 19 ceremony, Steenson will wear the accoutrements of a bishop, but will bear the title monsignor.
Based in Houston, the ordinariate will be a niche within the Catholic Church for theologically conservative Anglicans (including Episcopalians) who want to embrace Catholicism while continuing to pray and sing in the liturgical traditions of the Church of England.
"Nobody does public liturgy the way the English do," Steenson, 59, said last week from his offices at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, where he teaches early Christian thought.
He recalled fondly the "stunning beauty" of the Psalms he heard sung in his graduate days at Oxford University. Benedict established an ordinariate for British Anglicans last year.
About 1,400 American lay people and 55 clergy are now preparing to "swim the Tiber," Steenson said.
In the Philadelphia area, they include two priests and dozens of laity looking to create their own parishes within the ordinariate.
They are welcome to recite the Hours and sing the Evensong hymns of the Anglican tradition, Steenson said. But moving to the ordinariate demands full conversion to the Church of Rome.
"You leave Anglicanism behind in the sense that you become a member of the Catholic Church," Steenson said. "But it's the Anglican traditions that shaped you that you bring with you."
For those who convert, the word Anglican "ceases to be a noun," he said, "and becomes an adjective."
The immediate task before him centers on vetting applications from current and former Episcopal clergy. Most are married and want to be ordained Catholic priests.
Among them is the Rev. David Moyer, who succeeded Steenson as Good Shepherd's rector in 1989. Moyer said last week about 70 members of that traditionalist Anglo-Catholic parish also planned to convert.
