Any Episcopalians in the house?

[Thorolfr]

Ironic. I was an Episcopalian, and converted to Catholicism. I never looked back. As a bonus, my father is an Episcopalian priest, retired.

My Dad’s church was big, he was there for 15 years. It was more like a country club then a church. People were nice, but I was the “preachers kid.” The congregation was conservative. They didn’t like touchy feely at all.

It was a great life for me growing up. I got to stay at all of these rich parishioner’s vacation homes, my parents went to all these parties, and I was so very charming. The whole thing was empty. As a child, I was an alter boy, and I had faith. When I got older, I found out my father had lost his faith.

I loved the rich liturgy, the stained glass, the dark woods and the marble. The music was awsome, and the church, the building itself, was my personal playground during the summers.

When I grew up, I began to drift spiritually. The Episcopal church lacked… I don’t know… teeth? There was no accountability. All other denominations left me cold. I tried them all save the really scary Protestant ones. The Catholic church appealed to me a great deal, but being in my 20’s and no sex till marriage? Hmmm.

So I entered what I refer to as my wandering in the desert years. I had a blast in the 80s and made money in the 90s, but I was empty. I needed God, but I kept looking in the wrong places. That was when I became a seeker. Nothing worked, everything seemed like a play, a show. The weight of sin got heavier and heavier all the while. I was basically still a good person, but the hypocrisy I saw everywhere was too much.

To make a long story short, it took me hitting a hard spiritual, financial, and emotional bottom before coming back. I KNEW in my heart of hearts, the only redemption for me would be confession, confession to a REAL priest. I began a long look at Catholicism and finally went. I never regretted it.

Every Mass is a joy. Catholicism isn’t about one day a week, one hour, sitting in a pew. It is every day, every moment in a universal church that is still is plugged in to God. I FEEL it. I feel it the most in adoration, and confession. I feel it in the Eucharist and with every bead I tick off on the Rosary. I have never looked back.

I still like the Episcopal Church, and many are happy there, but it is only a reflection of a Church that is so much more to me, one that saved my life, this one and hopefully the next one.

Best wishes,
-E

I’m glad that you found the one place that best allows you to connect to God. But we are all different and others find God and connect to him better in other places and styles of worship.

 

[benjohnson]

It’s the structure of the letter not just its language that indicates a knowledge of Greek rhetoric, so when would Peter have had this kind of education? As someone who has studied many foreign languages including Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, Greek and German, I know that there is a big difference between gaining a rudimentary knowledge of those languages and being a skilled and polished writer in them.

I see two assumptions that may not necessarily be true:

Rhetoric difficult and is only learned through education.
Fishermen are universally uneducated.

…

The trouble with such theories, in my opinion, is that we spend time worrying about them - when more profit could be gleaned by studying the words themselves.

Though I admit to hypocritically enjoying the speculation!

 

[SyroMalankara]

I’m glad that you found the one place that best allows you to connect to God. But we are all different and others find God and connect to him better in other places and styles of worship.

Absolutely, some connect to their version of what they term ‘God’ according to the ‘prophetic’ voices of Joseph Smith or Mary Baker Eddy or L. Ron Hubbard, etc. Of course they and others like them would be wrong - objectively.

 

[brian_custer]

Ironic. I was an Episcopalian, and converted to Catholicism. I never looked back. As a bonus, my father is an Episcopalian priest, retired.

My Dad’s church was big, he was there for 15 years. It was more like a country club then a church. People were nice, but I was the “preachers kid.” The congregation was conservative. They didn’t like touchy feely at all.

It was a great life for me growing up. I got to stay at all of these rich parishioner’s vacation homes, my parents went to all these parties, and I was so very charming. The whole thing was empty. As a child, I was an alter boy, and I had faith. When I got older, I found out my father had lost his faith.

I loved the rich liturgy, the stained glass, the dark woods and the marble. The music was awsome, and the church, the building itself, was my personal playground during the summers.

When I grew up, I began to drift spiritually. The Episcopal church lacked… I don’t know… teeth? There was no accountability. All other denominations left me cold. I tried them all save the really scary Protestant ones. The Catholic church appealed to me a great deal, but being in my 20’s and no sex till marriage? Hmmm.

So I entered what I refer to as my wandering in the desert years. I had a blast in the 80s and made money in the 90s, but I was empty. I needed God, but I kept looking in the wrong places. That was when I became a seeker. Nothing worked, everything seemed like a play, a show. The weight of sin got heavier and heavier all the while. I was basically still a good person, but the hypocrisy I saw everywhere was too much.

To make a long story short, it took me hitting a hard spiritual, financial, and emotional bottom before coming back. I KNEW in my heart of hearts, the only redemption for me would be confession, confession to a REAL priest. I began a long look at Catholicism and finally went. I never regretted it.

Every Mass is a joy. Catholicism isn’t about one day a week, one hour, sitting in a pew. It is every day, every moment in a universal church that is still is plugged in to God. I FEEL it. I feel it the most in adoration, and confession. I feel it in the Eucharist and with every bead I tick off on the Rosary. I have never looked back.

I still like the Episcopal Church, and many are happy there, but it is only a reflection of a Church that is so much more to me, one that saved my life, this one and hopefully the next one.

Best wishes,
-E

thank you for posting that. having been to high anglican service wonderful music wonderful prayers

i just wish all our christian brethren could be as one again in our true catholic church

the english church is catholic; it is just english catholic i hope they come Home soon

 

[MaryT777]

But which one is speaking truth? The Church or your own beliefs? By what criteria do you decide what you believe to be true and the Church false? Have you spoken to others who are knowledgeable about magisterial law to determine the truthfulness of its teachings? Surely you are not a Bible only catholic?

Why should the personal non-salvation beliefs of others affect the choice of your church? If you know the history of the Church, you would have known she is the Church that Jesus founded and built on Peter. And He promised that she will never teach error and that The HS will teach all truths. To go away from Her is to admit that Jesus guarantee is false if you assert the Church taught falsehoods and that the HS didn’t guide the Church into all truths i…e He lied. I am just taken aback by what you wrote. Life is messy at every generation, century. The Church teachings are good for all times. She doesn’t need to be trendy to teach truth.

Well said.
Amen.

Mary.

 

[Randy_Carson]

Fantastic! For years I’ve thought on and off about attending an Episcopal service (mass?) but have been too afraid to step out of my comfort zone. But for various cultural, political, and theological reasons (I won’t go over them all here, they’ve been discussed enough!), I feel like the Episcopal church is a better fit for me. I’m not getting any younger (I’m 39) and I feel that I need to get on with it instead of living with the feeling of biting my tongue when I’m around other (increasingly zealous) Catholic peers.
So…what can I expect at an Episcopal service? Do I speak with the reverend first, or do I simply attend? Catholic masses are usually pretty large congregations and no one approaches or notices if you are new or not. Is it the same in your church?

Virgo-

This is a deeply personal decision for you, but I can’t help noting that you are planning on moving away from Catholicism and into the Episcopal Church just as the wheels are flying off of the Anglican/Episcopalian communion.

When you finally arrive, you may find that someone pulling out of the parking lot hands you a set of keys to a darkened building.

 

[Picky_Picky]

Virgo-

This is a deeply personal decision for you, but I can’t help noting that you are planning on moving away from Catholicism and into the Episcopal Church just as the wheels are flying off of the Anglican/Episcopalian communion.

When you finally arrive, you may find that someone pulling out of the parking lot hands you a set of keys to a darkened building.

How splendid that would be — to have someone press into your hands the keys to the whole of Anglicanism!

 

[SyroMalankara]

How splendid that would be — to have someone press into your hands the keys to the whole of Anglicanism!

Ah yes, here are the keys. They used to fit into the doors of a structure that was right there, you might find the lock somewhere in that pile of rubble.

 

[Picky_Picky]

Ah yes, here are the keys. They used to fit into the doors of a structure that was right there, you might find the lock somewhere in that pile of rubble.

You sure? Not that living church that pulses through the life of England? Well I never!

 

[Potter]

I had a similar experience in some ways, except that I was a raging conservative who wanted church tradition and churchianity. I got it especially in trad Anglicanism and Anglo-Catholicism. I eventually left these movements when the Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself to me in his Word.

What kind of support do you find, considering the seeming death of Christianity in Britain and Europe?

 

[Contarini]

Virgo-

This is a deeply personal decision for you, but I can’t help noting that you are planning on moving away from Catholicism and into the Episcopal Church just as the wheels are flying off of the Anglican/Episcopalian communion.

When you finally arrive, you may find that someone pulling out of the parking lot hands you a set of keys to a darkened building.

Of course you can help making uninformed and nasty remarks about other bodies of Christians. All it takes is a little willpower, Randy.

Say that Episcopalians are heretics. But spare the prognostications for people who actually have some experience. Episcopal parishes are not growing and booming, but most are in no danger of closing. And people are finding God there.

Gloating over the supposed (much exaggerated) decline and collapse of other religious bodies does nothing except make you feel good (in a way that is by no means healthy for your own soul), make people who think like you applaud you and strengthen their own most vicious impulses, and alienate all who don’t already share your prejudices.

So just cut it out.

Edwin

 

[Contarini]

What kind of support do you find, considering the seeming death of Christianity in Britain and Europe?

What death?

Anywhere I’ve been in Europe there are churches with believers. Far fewer than in the past, but that’s probably a good thing. Much of European Christianity was cultural. That has fallen away.

The same thing may be starting to happen in the U.S., and given the record of U.S. cultural Christianity recently, I’m tempted to say the sooner the better.

Edwin

 

[MaryT777]

Of course you can help making uninformed and nasty remarks about other bodies of Christians. All it takes is a little willpower, Randy.

Say that Episcopalians are heretics. But spare the prognostications for people who actually have some experience. Episcopal parishes are not growing and booming, but most are in no danger of closing. And people are finding God there.

Gloating over the supposed (much exaggerated) decline and collapse of other religious bodies does nothing except make you feel good (in a way that is by no means healthy for your own soul), make people who think like you applaud you and strengthen their own most vicious impulses, and alienate all who don’t already share your prejudices.

So just cut it out.

Edwin

 

[Randy_Carson]

Of course you can help making uninformed and nasty remarks about other bodies of Christians. All it takes is a little willpower, Randy.

Say that Episcopalians are heretics. But spare the prognostications for people who actually have some experience. Episcopal parishes are not growing and booming, but most are in no danger of closing. And people are finding God there.

Gloating over the supposed (much exaggerated) decline and collapse of other religious bodies does nothing except make you feel good (in a way that is by no means healthy for your own soul), make people who think like you applaud you and strengthen their own most vicious impulses, and alienate all who don’t already share your prejudices.

So just cut it out.

Edwin

Oh. Is that what I did? :nope:

 

[Contarini]

Oh. Is that what I did? :nope:

Yes. That’s exactly what you did.

Are you basing your statement on statistics showing declining membership?

We’ve been over this before. If a denomination has 2 million people in 2000 and 1 million in 2010 (these are theoretical figures, not the actual ones for the Episcopal Church), this does not mean that in another ten years it will have 0 members. That’s the shoddy reasoning that you are using, it would seem, to justify demeaning your fellow Christians. Maybe it’s a steady loss of 50% over ten years, so that in another 10 there will be half a million. Or maybe the rate will slow or speed up. And different congregations have different histories.

Episcopal parishes are still drawing new people in. Hence, your statement was patently false. The fact that by and large they are losing more than they are gaining does not mean that they will soon be empty. Maybe they will, but just as likely they will decline until the only people there are people who really want to be.

Edwin

 

[MaryT777]

Yes. That’s exactly what you did.

Are you basing your statement on statistics showing declining membership?

We’ve been over this before. If a denomination has 2 million people in 2000 and 1 million in 2010 (these are theoretical figures, not the actual ones for the Episcopal Church), this does not mean that in another ten years it will have 0 members. That’s the shoddy reasoning that you are using, it would seem, to justify demeaning your fellow Christians. Maybe it’s a steady loss of 50% over ten years, so that in another 10 there will be half a million. Or maybe the rate will slow or speed up. And different congregations have different histories.

Episcopal parishes are still drawing new people in. Hence, your statement was patently false. The fact that by and large they are losing more than they are gaining does not mean that they will soon be empty. Maybe they will, but just as likely they will decline until the only people there are people who really want to be.

Edwin

Randy, quit with the shoddy reasoning right NOW!

 

[SyroMalankara]

Yes. That’s exactly what you did.

Are you basing your statement on statistics showing declining membership?

We’ve been over this before. If a denomination has 2 million people in 2000 and 1 million in 2010 (these are theoretical figures, not the actual ones for the Episcopal Church), this does not mean that in another ten years it will have 0 members. That’s the shoddy reasoning that you are using, it would seem, to justify demeaning your fellow Christians. Maybe it’s a steady loss of 50% over ten years, so that in another 10 there will be half a million. Or maybe the rate will slow or speed up. And different congregations have different histories.

Episcopal parishes are still drawing new people in. Hence, your statement was patently false. The fact that by and large they are losing more than they are gaining does not mean that they will soon be empty. Maybe they will, but just as likely they will decline until the only people there are people who really want to be.

Edwin

virtueonline.org/raw-numerical-truth-about-episcopal-church
One third of all 6825 Episcopal churches face inevitable closure

 

[virgo]

I really don’t care how large the episcopal church is, I just look forward to being among those of like minds and hearts and know that I am building a closer relationship with Christ. Edwin is spot on, by the way. The defensiveness and dismissive attitudes illustrates my point exactly.

 

[Contarini]

virtueonline.org/raw-numerical-truth-about-episcopal-church
One third of all 6825 Episcopal churches face inevitable closure

They’re wrong about young people not coming forward.

Again, I’m not denying that the Episcopal Church is declining numerically, which is all those figures prove.

But personal experience here matters more than statistics. I’ve met so many people younger than I am (I’m 40) who have been led to the Episcopal Church and have found a home there. Are there enough of them to replace the older generation now dying off? No. The Episcopal Church will be smaller in the future. But that is not the same as saying that it is dying or that the “wheels are coming off.”

Virtue Online is a laughable source to cite for the Episcopal Church. How would you feel if I cited an anti-Catholic or even a stridently liberal website to “prove” that the Catholic Church is in deep trouble? Do you have any doubt that I could find such websites, or that there are many statistics (such as the rate at which the Catholic Church is losing members) that would back up their analysis?

David Virtue is a scurrilous excuse for a religious journalist. He is a religious propagandist with little integrity and absolutely no concern for fairness. (I don’t mean that he lacks integrity in his personal life, but that his writings on ecclesiastical matters lack integrity. This is a serious charge but one based on my acquaintance with his work over the past decade and more.)

Edwin

 

[SyroMalankara]

They’re wrong about young people not coming forward.

Again, I’m not denying that the Episcopal Church is declining numerically, which is all those figures prove.

Wasn’t this the original insinuation?

But personal experience here matters more than statistics. I’ve met so many people younger than I am (I’m 40) who have been led to the Episcopal Church and have found a home there. Are there enough of them to replace the older generation now dying off? No. The Episcopal Church will be smaller in the future. But that is not the same as saying that it is dying or that the “wheels are coming off.”

I think ‘wheels coming off’ is more artistic license than strict science. The author may be using hyperbole, and including the steady dismantling Anglican Communion, and breakaway dioceses of the Episcopal church altogether.

Virtue Online is a laughable source to cite for the Episcopal Church. How would you feel if I cited an anti-Catholic or even a stridently liberal website to “prove” that the Catholic Church is in deep trouble? Do you have any doubt that I could find such websites, or that there are many statistics (such as the rate at which the Catholic Church is losing members) that would back up their analysis?

A better analogy would be a site like Rorate or an SSPX backed page.

David Virtue is a scurrilous excuse for a religious journalist. He is a religious propagandist with little integrity and absolutely no concern for fairness. (I don’t mean that he lacks integrity in his personal life, but that his writings on ecclesiastical matters lack integrity. This is a serious charge but one based on my acquaintance with his work over the past decade and more.)

Edwin

Some would say the same about the vast majority of journalists who mention the Catholic Church, including the latest comment by the President regarding the Inquisition and the Crusades. But after all, it’s to be expected regarding Catholicism, it’s far less likely to be said about an establishment church like the Episcopalians.