This parish could be one of the first in the United States to convert en masse after the Vatican completes plans for a new structure to allow Anglicans to become Catholic while retaining many of their spiritual traditions, like the Book of Common Prayer and married priests.

The arrangement is tailor-made for an "Anglo-Catholic" parish like this one, which has strenuously opposed the Episcopal Church over decisions like allowing women and gay people to become priests and bishops. Mass here is celebrated in the "high church" style reminiscent of traditional Catholic churches, with incense, elaborate vestments and a choir that may sing in Latin.

"The majority of our members will be on board with this," the Rev. Aaron R. Bayles, the assistant pastor, said as he finished celebrating a noon Mass devoted to church unity in a small side chapel lighted with blue votive candles.

He said he was exultant when he heard the news from the Vatican because he had always hoped to see the unification of Anglican, Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Christianity.

"This may be a step in that direction," said Father Bayles, the parish's new curate and a chaplain in the Air National Guard Reserve. (The previous curate left to become a Roman Catholic.)

The Church of the Good Shepherd has long been at loggerheads with the Episcopal Church, the American branch in the global Anglican Communion. This year, the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania sued to take over the church's building, a magnificent stone replica of a 14th-century English country parish that was built in 1894. The church's property is estimated by its accounting warden to be worth $7 million.

For 17 years, the parish has refused to allow the local Episcopal bishop to come for a pastoral visit or confirmation, and then stopped paying its annual financial assessment to the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania.

Even the parish priest's title and status are a sign of the conflict. Bishop Moyer is not a bishop in the Episcopal Church, but he uses that title because he was made a bishop in the Traditional Anglican Communion, a conservative splinter group that played a crucial role in persuading the Vatican to welcome the Anglicans.

In his office sitting room, where he keeps framed photographs of Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop Moyer said he was one of the 38 bishops in the Traditional Anglican Communion who signed a petition to Pope Benedict XVI in October 2007 asking for an arrangement that would unite Anglicans with the Catholic Church.

He said the bishops even ceremonially signed a copy of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to signify their full acceptance of Catholic doctrine. Meanwhile, the global Anglican Communion, with 77 million members, struggled to stay intact as conservatives splintered off or protested from within. Some were Anglo-Catholic, but others were evangelical Anglicans, dedicated to a conservative interpretation of Scripture but wary of Rome and papal authority.

Under the arrangement, the Vatican said it would allow married Anglican priests, but not married bishops. Bishop Moyers, a father of three, said he was waiting to hear whether he and other bishops could be "grandfathered in."

Bishop Moyer acknowledged that some of his parish's 400 members would choose to leave rather than become Catholic. Some are former Catholics who may not want to go back. Others feel loyalty to the Episcopal Church, despite the conflict.

But Lynn Shea, a member of Good Shepherd for 10 years, said she hardly cared what denomination the parish belonged to as long as the worship service was reverential, the community was supportive and the pastor was a genuine teacher.

"It doesn't matter to us that much what exactly the church's title is, it just matters how people are to other people," Mrs. Shea said. She lost her 15-year old son to suicide this year and felt the church embrace her family.

She said she did know some parishioners who would resist because they had bad memories of strict Catholic churches and schools, or bad impressions because of the sexual abuse scandals involving Catholic priests.

Bishop Moyer said he had become increasingly eager to jump as the ground underneath him became more and more shaky. In 2002, his former diocesan bishop, Charles E. Bennison, defrocked him for refusing to submit to the bishop's authority, but Bishop Moyer remained in place. (Bishop Bennison himself was defrocked in 2008 after a church trial found that he had covered up years before for his brother, a priest, who sexually abused a girl.)

Even as their disputes escalated, the Church of the Good Shepherd never formally left the Episcopal Church, unlike many other conservative parishes and four dioceses. A big part of the reason is that Good Shepherd did not want to be evicted from its property. Other conservative parishes have lost court battles to keep their properties when they tried to leave the Episcopal Church.

Bishop Moyer lives in a rectory on the church's property. He said he hopes to resolve the church's "legal quagmire" over the building before they decide to jump to the Catholic Church.

He opened the wooden door onto the circular driveway in front of the church. On a glorious fall day, the scene looked like a tourist postcard from Kent.

"It's a beautiful church," he said. "I hope we can keep it."

END