I have been attending an Episcopal church for almost 2 years now. The Episcopal Church can be a pretty mixed bag. The are parishes that are very liturgical (High Church) that tend to worship like catholic churches. There are very evangelical (Low Church) that more resemble reformed churches. Social issues can range from parish to parish as well. Some leaning conservative and some leaning liberal. The national govening body and most parishes tend toward liberal social views. Most of the conservatives just recently left to establish their own church.
The main differnece between the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church is that the Catholic Church has a more narrow view of theology and morals and the episcopalians tend to be more broad in allowing a diversity of opinion on everything from sacraments and justification to abortion and homosexuality.
The only real reasons to join the RCC in my opinion are that you actually agree with 100% what they are teaching and you want to join a church that excludes ideas you personally disagree with or you believe their assertion that they are the one true church that Jesus Christ founded as the instrument of your salvation. I have never known anybody who was the former. Most Catholic converts accept the “one true church” idea and conform their other views to church teaching afterwards. The narrowly defined teaching is a comfort to many catholics assuring them that God loves them by giving them a sense of religious certainty.
Ah okay! Thanks! I am not entirely sure what the Episcopal Church in my area is like. I do know that the Episcopal Church in my state has a female Bishop though. I like that.
There are some here. I see CARV has replied. I’m not but I’ve had a Catholic or 2 more hardcore than I try to get me in there.
To be fair they try to get me to be more hardcore and conservative too.
I have heard TEC described sometimes as “Catholic Lite”. This may be because as CARV suggested the official body and many parishes are more liberal than Rome allows while some tending to have a “Catholic liturgical style” of worship. In some cases I’ve heard of Catholics attending an Episcopal service and the demeanor of the service feels to them very much to what they are used to. Also officially TEC believes in a physical Real Presence from what I understand. Although their Communion, unlike the Catholic Eucharist, is open to anyone baptized in the Trinity form. God bless you on your faith journey and where you land, peace to you always.
Thanks! I honestly found that to be rather surprising that some tried to get you to be more hardcore and conservative. I am guessing that you are kind of in the middle of the theological spectrum? Or perhaps you’re already “hardcore and conservative” (in quotes because I am using your words) and these people simply tried to get you to be more so? That said, if you don’t wish to share what part of the theological spectrum you are on, that is fine. Also, if you’d rather PM me about it, feel free to do that as well.
That said, I have done some research about the Episcopal Church in the past and I did know about their open Communion practice. I personally agree with this. I do not believe that Jesus would exclude anyone from receiving His most sacred body and blood that are baptized. Of course, I could be wrong as I am most definitely not Jesus. I’m just an amateur theologian with some theories of my own on different doctrines and such. I guess you could say, though, that although I am a progressive, I am also fairly mainline when it comes to doctrine and such. I do believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus, the real and physical death and resurrection of Jesus on a cross, that the Bible is inspired, etc. I also most definitely believe in the orthodox version of the Trinity. In fact, I love the Athanasian Creed. Here it is for your reference:
ccel.org/creeds/athanasian.creed.html
That said, I really don’t know a whole lot about the Athanasian Creed (such as the date that it was formulated and by whom and all that) but I do know that it is a very good summary of the orthodox teaching of the Trinity. The only part that I have trouble with is its reference to the Church as Catholic. I am not sure if that is just the modern translation of it or if the Church Fathers who formulated literally used the word Catholic. That said, I suppose it could also be possible that the term “Catholic” back then meant the “Universal Church”. I personally choose to believe the latter more than the other theories.
That said, may God bless you on your faith journey as well. May He bless all of us Christians on our journey of faith (and indeed all those who have some sort of faith in God) and lead us all to the truth!
No, I am not an Episcopalian, but I belong to a denomination that is in full communion with them: and the United Methodists, Presbyterians, Moravians, United Church of Christ and Reformed Church in America.
Ah okay. That is pretty cool. I did not know that the United Methodists, Presbyterians, Moravians, United Church of Christ, and Reformed Church in America were in full communion with the Episcopal Church. That makes me feel quite a bit better about the possibility of joining the Episcopal Church in the future. Of course, if I do choose to join, it probably will not be for at least a few months because I want to be 100% certain that this is the path that I am going to choose for myself.
I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the fact that I am interested in the Catholic Church to a certain extent. 
) and just go with the Catholic church. We’re cool 
, and we’re basically responsible for, everything you see around you in some historical way (you know, we killed off/converted all those evil pagans in the past so that you all might enjoy the liberty to “break off and form your own denominations” and freely worship in a country with the seperation of church and state, which was basically invented by Christianity (NOT some “Christian Humanist” or “Episcopalian”).
Never heard that one before!