This is an immensely long thread, and I don’t have time to read all the posts, so you all might want to ignore this one.
I don’t think Catholics despise Anglicans. I have never seen or heard anything that made me think so. On the contrary, I think a lot of Catholics, at least, think of Anglicans as “almost” Catholics. Certainly some of the recent ordinations and appointments of bishops in the Episcopal church have caused a lot of Catholics, including me, to wonder mightily about whether they have lost their way big time.
I will say this much. When I was growing up in this very protestant part of the country, Episcopalians were the “ruling class”. You could almost exactly p(name removed by moderator)oint one’s socio/economic status by his religion. If a person was an Episcopalian around here, it almost certainly meant he was a professional or business person and was prosperous and influential. It kind of went down the scale from there. Methodists came next, then Presbyterians, and so on. Catholics were in a class of their own. Mostly working class, down with the Fundamentalists socially, but on a fast collision course, economically and professionally, with the ones above. And, if the truth be known, I think some of those on the upper levels knew a lot of Catholics were “comers”, didn’t like it, and didn’t make any secret of it.
I think for some Catholics around here anyway, any animosity toward Episcopalians in particular was more a class thing than a religious thing, exactly. You had to struggle your way through the Anglican/Methodist Ceiling to get anywhere. I think that’s all pretty much in the past now, though. Long ago, my father got his hands on a membership roster of the 1920s/1930s KKK. All the “best” citizens were on it. I see the grandchildren of those people now, who are my peers in every way, and I wonder whether they know. (They certainly won’t learn it from me.) And I wonder how much of the old resentment has been handed down. But it doesn’t dare to be overt anymore among the upper levels of local society, if it’s even there.
But you know, a fair number of the members of the “Mainline” protestant churches are now the social liberals locally. And considering that alone, and considering how social liberals dislike true Catholicism, there might be some transfer of the old feelings. Anymore, I guess I tend to assume that an Episcopalian, for example, is automatically pro-abortion and supports gay marriage, or he wouldn’t be able to stand being an Episcopalian. And to that extent, I will have to confess that I do harbor a certain degree of prejudice toward them. The ones who call themselves Anglo-Catholics or even, sometimes, just plain “Anglicans” just leave me puzzled. I tend to assume they are more like me in what they believe. I also tend to assume they are masters of the English language, which most of their clergy, at least, truly are.
But I do sympathize with those Anglicans who have difficulty accepting the claims of the Catholic Church. It took me a long time to work it out. Also, don’t be ashamed to say you were once an Episcopalian, for that’s what you were. At one time, the Episcopal Church actually stood for something besides the liberal deconstructionist agenda, and there are still many faithful God-fearing Episcopalians who are working through this time of trial in their communion. Nella’s certainly one of them, my family is another example. Pray for them, not only that they be led into the truth found in the Catholic Faith, but that God comfort them where they are now.