PROVIDENCE –– A move by the Vatican to make it easier for Anglicans, including married clergy, to join the Catholic Church is unlikely to affect the churches in Rhode Island, in the view of Rhode Island’s Episcopal bishop and a number of other Episcopal clergy.

At the same time, one priest has already made the leap — the Rev. David Lewis Stokes, who left his position as rector of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church on the East Side in 1999 and is now a Catholic priest at St. Sebastian only a mile away. Father Stokes, a professor at Providence College, said Tuesday’s announcement by the Vatican “is a major step in the development of Catholicism and a major step in the Anglican church.”

He said it goes far beyond what was available to him when he became Catholic.

“It’s a real game-changer. This morning, I offered Mass of the Holy Spirit as an act of Thanksgiving.”

The Right Rev. Geralyn Wolf, Rhode Island’s Episcopal bishop, said she thinks the move is interesting, but would like to see more of the details. “I am curious to see what numbers we are looking at.”

She said that while the U.S. Episcopal Church has had some defections in the last few years as a result of the decision to ordain an openly gay man as bishop in New Hampshire, she doesn’t know of any current priests in Rhode Island, even among the more traditional ones, who have told her they want to become Roman Catholic.

She observed that the only major defection from Rhode Island was three years ago when the Rev. Mark Galloway took what is now the Church of the Apostles out of the diocese to attach itself to one of the more conservative Anglican prelates in Africa.

Mr. Galloway, however, never took that final step, instead attaching the church to the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, whose theology is closer to that of the Protestant Reformation.

Mr. Galloway said his members have absolutely no interest in becoming Roman Catholics.

“If they wanted to do that, they would have joined any of the Catholic parishes a long time ago.”

Father Stokes, the married Catholic priest, praised the Vatican’s move, saying it gives whole congregations an opportunity to become Catholic and to bring their Anglican spirituality into the church with them.

“We may not see an immediate effect in Rhode Island, but I think it will impact America.”

Bishop Wolf said she doesn’t believe the move will damage ecumenical relations between the Catholic and Anglican communions. “The one thing I’m sorry about is our church hasn’t made the accommodations for those who [now] want to go to Rome.”

rdujardi@projo.com