The New Officially Sanctioned Ask an Episcopalian Thread!!!!

Huayna Capac357

Huayna Capac357

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Jun 30, 2007
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Boston, Massachusetts
I am sorry for my premature start to this. I have gotten a mod's sanction for this.

The Episcopal Church is a rather small (2-3 mil.) denomination in the US, but one that has been on the forfront of debate because of its liberal policies towards capital punishment, homosexuality, and womens' rights. It is also in communion with the nearly 80 million-person denomination of the Anglican Communion.

We are center-Protestant on the religion spectrum.

Please remember that we are discussing myreligion, so try to respect it as much as possible. Thank you.

Ok: Ask away.
 
First, congratulations on having a great name for a religion (Episcopalian could be straight from a star trek episode, I like). Second, two thumbsup on your churche's stance on "the issues" and lastly, a question (finally) what does "Episcopal" mean?
 
The tenets of my religion are simply in the Nicene Creed, but more complicatedely in the Book of Common Prayer. They are pretty much the same as those of Lutheranism, but slightly more Catholic, or Anglicanism, except slightly more Protestant.
 
Ziggy Stardust said:
First, congratulations on having a great name for a religion (Episcopalian could be straight from a star trek episode, I like). Second, two thumbsup on your churche's stance on "the issues" and lastly, a question (finally) what does "Episcopal" mean?
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Episcopal comes from a Greek word and it means "governed by bishops."

It means that the Episcopal Church is divided into bishops, rather than a pope, cardinals, archbishops, etc., or, nothing. We're in the middle.
 
How would you describe your relationship with the Church of England or the Anglican Church of Canada. What authority of the former, if any, does your denomination recognise?
 
We are in communion with the Anglican Churches of England and Canada and maintain a close relationship with them but we sometimes disagree on issues such as the ordination of women and homosexuals. Also, the Church of England disagrees with us on capital punishment.
 
I recall news stories about a few churches breaking and accepting the leadership of the Bishop (or Arch-Bishop?) of the African Anglican church. Is there a risk of a nationwide split of your denomination over these issues?
 
There is a risk, however, we think that this will eventually blow over. We will probably reach a compromise.
 
What sort of compromise do you imagine? As I recall, there's a large divide because one side appointed a gay bishop.
 
Do you believe that your more leftist form of Christianity will be capable of survival throughout the next century or do you surmise your archaic religion will join the ranks of Knights of Columbus halls in the face of science and technology?
 
What is your opinion of the excellently named Gafcon?
Are there any anglo-catholics in america? And what is the point of being a pro-catholic anglican..(why not be catholic?)
 
How do you reconcile your liberal policies with Scripture? (Sexually active homosexuals in positions of leadership? What?)

Why don't you guys just convert to Roman Catholicism, and get it over with? You guys are Catholic Lite anyway, and if you all converted the Pope could straighten out some of your heresy. ;)
 
If you choose to drink the sacremental wine during the eucharist, why don't they let you hold the chalice? They just sort of sip it towoards you at an Episcopalian mass.
 
Huayna Capac357 said:
We are in communion with the Anglican Churches of England and Canada and maintain a close relationship with them but we sometimes disagree on issues such as the ordination of women and homosexuals. Also, the Church of England disagrees with us on capital punishment.
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I know that these differences have caused a considerable amount of stress between yourselves and the C of E (the AC of C has also been at odds with Westminster as well, some conservative Anglican parishes in Canada have left the AC of C and joined the Anglicans of Argentina!).

Do you think that these stresses could result in a full break with the C of E and moving to affiliation with more liberal sects, e.g. UC of C?
 
I think that there will be a compromise reached. I think that it would be a longshot to join the U C of C.
 
Red Door said:
Why aren't you a Catholic?
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We are not Catholic because we do not believe in a Pope, transsubstantiation, infallability, confession to a priest, the special importance of Mary, praying to saints, and many other Catholic beliefs. We are pretty much Lutheranism with bishops.
 
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