Turn down “Shadyvilla,” an unassuming residential street in Houston, and you will be greeted by a surprising sight: an imposing white stone neo-Gothic church that wouldn’t be out of place in 14th-century England.

This is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, the beating heart of one of the most unique dioceses in the Catholic Church, the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter.

Though in full communion with the Catholic Church, the ordinariate’s liturgical practice is deeply steeped in age-old English-Anglican traditions. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the ordinariate, however, is that despite the rapidly secularizing culture in the U.S., many of the ordinariate’s parishes, known for their reverent liturgies and respect for tradition, are flourishing.

According to several priests in the ordinariate, the diocese’s growth is primarily sparked by young people, especially young families. So, what’s going on and why are so many young people and families being drawn to the ordinariate?

What is the Anglican Catholic ordinariate?

When King Henry VIII broke with Rome and became the head of the Church of England in 1534, he ruptured centuries worth of religious tradition and practice developed between the English and the Latin Church.

Almost five centuries later, following growing requests from members of the Anglican Church, Pope Benedict XVI promulgated a document called Anglicanorum Coetibus that laid out a pathway for both individuals and congregations to be received into full communion with the Catholic Church.

Two years later three ordinariates — the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter in the U.S. and Canada, the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in the U.K., and the Ordinariate of Our Lady of the Southern Cross in Oceania — were founded.