An interesting "ecumenical " story

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Rosebud77

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My first Irish landlady told me this, as a peace as she knew I was Anglican…

One of her sons went to work in England.

He went to Mass on Sunday; lovely Church with Stations etc. Lovely Mass. He felt totally at home

The priest was at the door greeting folk so the young man said to him how wonderful it was to be able to go to a Catholic Church anywhere in the world and find it just the same

Yes, You have guessed… The reply?

“This is a Church of England Church…”
 
Rosebud77 said:
My first Irish landlady told me this, as a peace as she knew I was Anglican…

One of her sons went to work in England.

He went to Mass on Sunday; lovely Church with Stations etc. Lovely Mass. He felt totally at home

The priest was at the door greeting folk so the young man said to him how wonderful it was to be able to go to a Catholic Church anywhere in the world and find it just the same

Yes, You have guessed… The reply?

“This is a Church of England Church…”
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I’d say that it was very nice of him to have welcomed said son. Period.
Unless he didn’t welcome him first… :tsktsk:
 
Rosebud77 said:
My first Irish landlady told me this, as a peace as she knew I was Anglican…

One of her sons went to work in England.

He went to Mass on Sunday; lovely Church with Stations etc. Lovely Mass. He felt totally at home

The priest was at the door greeting folk so the young man said to him how wonderful it was to be able to go to a Catholic Church anywhere in the world and find it just the same

Yes, You have guessed… The reply?

“This is a Church of England Church…”
Click to expand...
That kind of story happens almost weekly at my Episcopal parish during our Spanish mass. The Spanish speaking priest is a man and our church is very High Church/Anglo Catholic, so it’s not immediately apparent that our church isn’t Catholic. It was happening so often the Spanish speaking ushers had to start making a point of welcoming people specifically to the Episcopal church at the door that they didn’t recognize just so they knew they were in the place they’d intended to be.
 
Not the first time I have seen the lack of a sense of humour and the ironies of life on CAF… The GSP thread was one. a couple of others… when I tell folk this story they always chuckle; situation comedy stuff…

Need to lighten up folk please…
 
Padres1969 said:
That kind of story happens almost weekly at my Episcopal parish during our Spanish mass. The Spanish speaking priest is a man and our church is very High Church/Anglo Catholic, so it’s not immediately apparent that our church isn’t Catholic. It was happening so often the Spanish speaking ushers had to start making a point of welcoming people specifically to the Episcopal church at the door that they didn’t recognize just so they knew they were in the place they’d intended to be.
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Of course, some places are deliberately ambiguous, incoporating most everything visually Catholic, so as to not be able to tell it apart. Couple this with “another branch” theology and language and one would have to be well versed
 
Son_of_Niall said:
:confused:
Did you intend to have a point?
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it seems that some non-Catholic Churches have to be more Catholic than the Catholics to be seen as genuine.

Of course the genuine Church does not have to emulate itself. It simply Is.
 
SyroMalankara said:
Of course, some places are deliberately ambiguous, incoporating most everything visually Catholic, so as to not be able to tell it apart. Couple this with “another branch” theology and language and one would have to be well versed
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I wouldn’t call it being deliberately ambiguous in many cases.

I mean my parish is a Christian church, we are high church liturgical, we do have a mass that is based on primarily the Pre-Tridentine Sarum Rite like all Anglicans, and we are professed members of the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church as we express during mass via the Nicene Creed. None of that is done to be deceptive, but if you’re not aware it can clearly be unintentionally ambiguous, at least at the Spanish mass. Less so at the English masses seeing as our dean is a woman, which I’d presume is a dead giveaway we’re not Catholic. That or if you come in to the church from the courtyard and took the time to look up noting the Episcopal Church flag. But as I said even these dead giveaways aren’t quite enough sometimes for some people, hence ushers are on the lookout for new folks that might be in the wrong place. 👍.

That said I agree there are some breakaway Catholic groups that are purposely ambiguous, or even deceptive. I cite it a lot, but my Grandmother’s old church building is used by one such group. They’re not in good standing with Rome, they don’t have what Catholics would consider valid holy orders, and the diocese her church’s building was in before it closed even warns Catholics away from the congregation now using it. But the congregation utilizing the building presents themselves as a “Traditional Catholic Church” that is legitimate and that their priests are members of a Catholic religious order (again, one not authorized by Rome with no faculties to train or ordain Catholic priests). If one did not do some background checking they’d be unaware they were not attending a legitimate Catholic Church.
 
Michael68 said:
I fail to see how this is not a rude comment meant to insult the OP.
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To be fair the OP didn’t really present anything in the first post that looked to be a jumping off point for conversation. The opening post appears to be incomplete, unless it was a critique maybe of the Church of England or a commentary on the similarities between the RCC and COE?

But as I said, it’s very much unclear what point the OP was trying to make though I ran with it as much as I could 🤷
 
Rosebud77 said:
My first Irish landlady told me this, as a peace as she knew I was Anglican…

One of her sons went to work in England.

He went to Mass on Sunday; lovely Church with Stations etc. Lovely Mass. He felt totally at home

The priest was at the door greeting folk so the young man said to him how wonderful it was to be able to go to a Catholic Church anywhere in the world and find it just the same

Yes, You have guessed… The reply?

“This is a Church of England Church…”
Click to expand...
Wonder if he knows that some Anglican do consider themselves “Catholic” (or "catholic anyhow). 😊
 
LutheranScholar said:
I shouldn’t wonder if they did. Many a Lutheran will call himself or herself " Evangelical Catholic" when they mean " Confessional Lutheran"
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True … though not quite the same as calling yourself just “Catholic” with no qualifier like “Anglo-” in front of it.

P.S. have you considered “Luthero-Catholic”?
 
Peter_J said:
True … though not quite the same as calling yourself just “Catholic” with no qualifier like “Anglo-” in front of it.

P.S. have you considered “Luthero-Catholic”?
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😛 I’m guilty of considering myself an Evangelical Catholic ( even saying things like the Lutheran Rosary and being as High Church as possible to validate that claim. I still do say the Rosary, though). in my old age, I find that calling myself a Confessional Lutheran or an Evangelical Lutheran is sufficient. Catholic is a term that has a specific meaning and that meaning doesn’t apply to me ( I hope that my Granny in Heaven, who was raised as a Catholic- had a Cajun mother- will understand) any longer.

I’ve retained certain habits, like saying the Rosary and making frequent appointments for Confession.
 
The Church of England and the Catholic Church tend to be similar in their worship styles. They are not so similar on doctrine though.
 
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