What Does It Mean To Be An Anglican Catholic?

There is a question I get asked all the time whenever I say the name of my church.

"Anglican Catholic?" People say. "What is that and how does that work?"

I think the reason why there is confusion in the title is because when most people think "Catholic" they think The Roman Catholic church.
But this is not the case. My church is not in communion with the Roman Catholic church, nor do we acknowledge The Bishop of Rome (AKA The Pope) as the head of our church.

So what does it mean to be an Anglo-Catholic?

Well, a very good explanation can be found on our church's website http://www.anglicancatholic.org/

Which states the following:

"The word "Catholic" is often understood in opposition to the word "Protestant." However, this is both a recent and uniquely western perspective. In the ancient church, Catholicism was understood to be the opposite of heresy, or false belief, and even today there are millions of Christians in Greece, Russia, and other parts of the world who consider themselves neither "Catholic" nor "Protestant," but "Orthodox."

 

During the sixteenth century, the Church of England sought to modify certain beliefs and practices that had developed over the centuries and appeared extraneous, unwise, or divergent from apostolic faith and practice. In doing so, the church did not abandon its catholicism; rather it engaged in a process of reform. As Bishop John Bramhall wrote in the seventeenth century, "our religion is the same it was, our Church the same it was...differing only from what they were formerly, as a garden weeded from a garden unweeded."

 

"Anglicanism, then, is best understood as a reformed catholic faith. Likewise, we believe that the church is in need of continual renewal and reformation. It must oppose the errors of every age in order to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints" (Jude 1:3)."

 

 

So what is the short version of what I just posted?

It's simple. We are Anglican by Theology and Catholic by Tradition.

 

In fact, my church is not the only church that falls into the Anglo-Catholic category.

 

There's the Episcopal church. (which my church originated from but separated in the 1970's. More on that later.)

 

The Anglican Church of North America.

 

Lutherans.

And yes, the church of England.

 

The world Catholic itself means Universal. It's one of the reasons why in the apostles creed, we say "I believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic church (Which we even said when I was in the Presbyterian church).

 

We keep the traditions of the early church alive, such as the Apostles creed, Lent, Advent, Sainthood, and many others that honestly, this blog would be 12 pages long if I went through them all. However in Theology, that's where we differ from the Roman church.

 

 

 

Our Theology is kept more inline with Anglican church (or The Church of England).

 

I know this entry is shorter, but I just wanted to go ahead and get this explanation out there. I know how confusing the name can be with someone that's not familiar with Anglo Catholicism.

 

Before I ever stepped foot into my current parish, I used to pass by the church all the time as a kid. I remember thinking "Where do they keep the nuns?" thinking again, Roman Catholic.

 

I hope this clears up something and expect another blog post sometime soon.

 

May The Lord be with you.

 

 

 

 

Welcome to my New Blog (An introduction)

Hello and welcome to my Blog,

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts.

I wanted to start up a blog (and eventually, a youtube channel) discussing my faith. Mostly my faith within the Anglican Catholic church.

"Anglican catholic?" you may be asking yourself. "How does that work?"

Well, I'll explain that in a later blog. This is just an introduction.

I was confirmed in the A.C.C. this past November and have been attending my parish since December of 2013. Since around spring of 2014 I have had a lot of my friends ask me questions about the A.C.C. ever since.

You see, I have a pretty diverse religious background.

I was born and baptized in the Methodist church, then my family became Presbyterians, then Baptists (where I was baptized again because Baptist don't believe in infant baptisms), then Presbyterian again, the attended 2 very different evangelical churches. One with a heavy Pentecostal influence (where I was baptized two more times, because, what the heck? I love Jesus!) and another with a heavy Baptist influence.

I spent most of my later years as an Evangelical. Which is funny, because I never liked calling myself an evangelical. In the media, Evangelicals have a bad reputation as Bible thumpers, street preachers, or Mega church millionaires.

So, I just called myself "Non Denominational".

I never called myself religious because I was taught Religion was man made and just a bunch of rules and restrictions that got in the way of having a relationship with Christ.

Now before I continue, I want to make this clear:  I have no bad blood to any church I have ever attended in my life. I still keep in touch with my Methodists, Baptist, Presbyterian, and evangelical friends. There was never a church I was ever a part of that God did not bring me too at that time.

In fact, I met my husband while attending the Evangelical church.

My Husband was raised Episcopalian and then left the church all together. Later in his life he came back to Christ and began attending Independent Baptist churches.

After we got engaged, he told me he wanted to take me to An Anglican Christmas Eve Mass. He assured me I would enjoy it and that it was always a found memory from his childhood.

So, In December of 2014, he found A local Anglican Catholic Church and we went.

Now, with my Methodist and Presbyterian background, I got the basic gist of the Liturgy. But I was still lost. The incense, the chanting, making of the sign of the Cross was beautiful and almost haunting. But the Evangelical in me kept telling me its all religion and poppy cock.

That night my then Fiancé (now husband) told me he felt lead back to the Anglican church.

I was heartbroken. That wasn't the plan. The plan was we would continue to go to the church my parents and I were attending.

My husband continued to visit the A.C.C. and I almost stopped going to my evangelical church all together. I didn't know what to do. He first suggested we just go to our separate churches, but I knew I did not want to do that.

Yet the very thought of becoming an Anglican scared me.  I was a bit kicking and screaming about the whole idea.

Little did I know, my husband was praying to God Everyday "Lord, if this is where you are leading me, lead her too."

Sure enough, God softened my heart and I went to another service. I ask husband questions about the customs and devotions, spoke with the rector, and got to know the Congregation. My inner evangelical would still speak to me and say "How can the spirit move in all this tradition?"

But I would observe the services and saw that it did. Sure, it's traditions, but that didn't mean that every single person in that room didn't put their entire hearts and souls in their devotions.

So I broke the news to my parents and the evangelical church I was attending at the time.

I wanted to make it clear to everyone that I wasn't mad at anyone or was upset, or anything of the sort, but that God was leading my Husband and myself to where we needed to be.

So here I am. A proud Anglican.

Now, you might be wondering where "veiled" comes in. Well, Whenever I go to church or when I pray at home, I practice headcovering. I used to do it full time for many months, but that was a season in my life. Glad I did it, but God let me know that full time was no longer needed of me.

Why do I cover my head from prayers. Well, I get into that in a later blog, but give 1st Corinthians 11 a look and you'll understand better.

So what's the point of starting this blog?

Well, like I said, I have many low church and Evangelical friends who are confused about some of the devotions I practice. So I created this blog to explain what and why we do them. I'll talk about the sign of the cross, the Common book of prayer, headcoverings, the Hierarchy of the church, Rosaries, and so much more.

keep an eye out for my next blog.
May the Lord be with you!