Three hundred Anglican catholics were told to stay in the church and witness to their faith at a Eucharist and rally May 12 at St. Luke's Church in Bladensburg, Md.

The Rev. Geoffrey Kirk, preacher and general secretary of Forward in Faith United Kingdom, madethe central plea of the day from the pulpit at the conclusion of hissermon:

"Stay where you are," he said. "Be reviled by all, rejected, trampled upon by authority. Nothing -- I repeat, nothing -- you could do would be more pleasing to him."

One source where Anglican catholics found solidarity rather than persecution was from the Most Rev. George L. Carey, Archbishop of Canterbury. Fr. Kirk brought with him a letter of "warm greetings" from the archbishop.

"One of the joys I have had in recent years is a growing and deeper fellowship with Forward in Faith in England," Archbishop Carey wrote.

"I gladly recognize the sincerity of faith and the deep integrity of traditional catholics in our church, and I share with them a longing for our Communion to deepen our commitment to the fundamentals of the faith."

Participants came from throughout the metropolitan Washington, D.C., area and from severalEastern states, Texas, Florida and Wisconsin.