The Anglican Church Doesn't Really Expect Much of Me

Status
Not open for further replies.
PickyPicky said:
There are of course Churches outside the Communion (both of the Continuum type and otherwise) who derive from the Anglican tradition and heritage, just as there are Catholic Churches unaffiliated with Rome.
Click to expand...
The part bolded would trigger vehement disagreement from me, and some others.
 
Oh, I was thinking of what I would hope would be reasonably uncontroversial examples like the Old Catholics of Utrecht and the Polish National Catholic Church. I was not attempting to stir the “Anglicans are Catholics too” pot.
 
JohnStrachan said:
Is this the case in other Protestant churches. Is the bar so low that pretty much anyone can come and go as they please with very little in the way of commitment?
Click to expand...
I haven’t read the replies. What kind of Anglican are you? The Anglican Catholic Church in the U.S. has most of that last set of bullet points.

I do hear you. There’s a lot that I love in the Anglo-Episcopal church, but it can feel . . . spineless. My sister astutely pointed out that Anglicanism appeals to the head and Catholicism to the heart. Maybe that’s why I’ve gone back and forth so often in my life.
 
True.

In fact, I once rode in an elevator with that particular Q.

We were going up.
 
I’ll do that, when it is useful.

No one need agree, of course. In fact, they shouldn’t.
 
Maximian said:
He is a divorcee, married to a female Anglican vicar who is herself a divorcee.
Click to expand...
In Sydney, an incumbent minister who divorces would have his license revoked by the Archbishop. Likewise, divorced ministers are rejected if applying for an incumbency. No female presbyterate or episcopate in Sydney, although women are ordained to the diaconate.
 
It doesn’t really matter. Once you open the door to shifting principles, sooner or later everyone walks through it.
 
He may be right, as to his relative orthodoxy. More’s the pity.
 
Last edited:
Yes. Gone are the days when Newman could say “The Church of England is a great bastion against heresies greater than her own.”
 
blackforest said:
Maybe that’s why I’ve gone back and forth so often in my life.
Click to expand...
Just like me. Sometimes I think I’m headed back to Rome and then I realize what ticks me off so much. Ironically, this conversation is two sides of the same coin. The authoritarianism of Rome is one of the things I loath - yet with limited authority comes individual responsibility.

Perhaps then what I see as low expectation is actually the “reason” side kicking in. There is less hand holding in the Anglican church. We do talk a lot about a “personal” relationship with Jesus and discipleship - language that was used infrequently in the RC church when I was an adherent.

The onus is on me then as a Protest-ant to embrace faith, but without the incumbrance of an authority figure/institution lording over we with dogma and guilt.
 
Last edited:
Nobody does ceremony like the Anglicans! It was a real wrench for me to leave. The Cathedral Choirs, the music, choreography…

Sadly, a house built on sand, however splendid, must fall.
 
Ah, dogma and guilt! I’ve had to put both into perspective in my long struggle as a Catholic.

Dogma: I came to realize that to the extent that it provides guidance and structure, it doesn’t have to be a dirty word. While I appreciate their focus on loving God with the mind, the loosey-goosey, anything-goes structure of the ECA doesn’t resonate well with me. On the other hand, I get frustrated with a common Catholic conversation.

Me: Why do Catholics A?
Catholic: Because B.
Me: Why B?
Catholic: Because the Magisterium says so, now shut up.

I require a deeper faith journey than that.

As for guilt . . . . If it doesn’t go away after Confession, we’re letting the Enemy have his way. If others in our life use it as a weapon against us, ditto.

But to the extent that it serves as the voice of our conscience - and provided that we confess, make amends, and then let go of it- it can actually play an important role in our faith journey.
Maximian said:
choreography…
Click to expand...
Huh?
 
Become Charismatic Catholic and you hear that “personal relationship” language just as frequently as in the evangelical churches. I have anyway…

I’ve been both, like so many here. In the end, I find the authoritarian structure to be necessary …sometimes even a necessary evil as we have too many loathsome human beings wearing the collar, tbh. But just looking at this pandemic as an example – we needed Church authority, the diocese, giving us clear instruction on what to do. And we got that. No matter what CC I step foot into here, it’s the same instructions. No mixed messages, nobody claiming they got a ‘special revelation’ from God and he said do X, etc. The united front/uniformity is quite comforting.
 
The liturgy is so nice.

It’s very sad that they are falling off a liberal cliff because you still have many faithful Anglicans who do not want any part of it.
 
And some have walked out, in varying ways.

I’ve only attended two Episcopal Church services in 52 years: a wedding of a very long time friend and a funeral of a cousin.
 
Lenten_ashes said:
It’s very sad that they are falling off a liberal cliff because you still have many faithful Anglicans who do not want any part of it.
Click to expand...
There is a certain moral relativism that is taking hold - at least in the more liberal part of the Anglican Church. This is why many traditional/confessing Anglicans left in the 2000’s to form ANiC. I actually sympathize with them, but don’t believe it was worth leaving over.

Truth be told - and given the demographics of the current church - many of the liberals will be gone within a generation. In part because the don’t have as many kids and because they do a really bad job of propagating the faith. Liberal churches aren’t growing. The Anglican/Episcopal church grows where the message of Jesus is taken seriously and where biblical orthodoxy is embraced.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top