This was rather a hurtful post for me, as a “year old” received Episcopalian. I can report that the Diocese of North Carolina is going just fine thank you, and my parish of St. Christopher’s received or confirmed 10 new people this year (largest since 1978, and four more than my inquirers class last year). The Episcopalians I know are people who believe in the Great Commission and the social justice ministry of Jesus Christ, focusing on the essentials of Christian mission. I believe in the Bible and the creeds of the Church- I don’t “fill in blanks” so to speak.
I will point out that many Catholics have “fill-in-the-blank” theology; you could say many Catholic churches have become “rotary clubs” as well then. All you have to do is look at polls discussing various topics of theology and social policy to find that many or most Catholics dissent from the Vatican line. This be a double-edged sword, my friend.
Certainly you wouldn’t claim that Tony Blair is a devout Catholic! Democratic Senators Kerry, Dodd, and Kennedy, Governors Sebelius, Richardson, and Baldacci, and Vice President Biden (among countless other elected officials with Catholic affiliation) certainly don’t make your roster of the faithful! Really want to go with the rotary club argument?
Like some of my fellow Piskys, I’m not going to stand idle and watch my church be flogged by misconceptions.
The post should not be “hurtful” at all. I would first question why you’re in a Catholic forum if you’re a relatively new Episcopalian? What do you hope to gain coming into a Catholic forum? What I said in my post was WHAT AN ANGLICAN PRIEST TOLD ME! Another poster, if you had paid attention, made the “country club” comment. I was just saying, interestingly enough, that I know several Anglicans that have felt being in the Episcopal Church led them down that path. If that “hurt” you then you get hurt awfully easily!
Your points about “fill in the blank” Catholics are dully noted and I agree with them. No argument there. In fact, Catholics are some of the most notorious Christians for buffet-style religion. But that wasn’t the point. We’re talking PARISHES and DIOCESES. Catholic parishes are more politically-active in many areas, most especially the pro-life cause and opposition to the culture of death. Episcopalian (not orthodox Anglicans) parishes tend to not want to step on any toes and “hurt” anyone politically. They take neutral and easy positions. That’s my observation. I have never seen a more silent church where the life of the unborn is concerned. And on homosexual, cohabitation, and stem cell research, they tend to be in favor by and large.
The Episcopal Church, especially as delineated and articulated by Mother Schiori, largely believes Jesus is A way, not THE way. I hear Episcopalians refer to mother goddesses, you see Buddhists becoming Episcopal bishops, an openly gay adulterer living an active life of sodomy, and generally a culture of “you believe what you want to believe, no one is here to judge you.” To accuse the Roman Church of being fill in the blank when you attend the Episcopal Church is beyond any level of irony I could ever imagine.
I commend those dioceses like Fort Worth, San Joaquin (my area), Quincy, Pittsburgh, AMiA, Cana, Common Cause Partnership, and all the Anglicans that have had the courage to leave what manyI consider a completely irrelevent, lost, pagan-minded church and at least attempt to reform Anglicanism in North America.
