Greetings: I may be the world's most tentative Anglican, for all that I deeply love Anglican liturgy, culture, and spirituality. I grew up in a Wesleyan Holiness nondenominational house church (I can explain more if you're really interested). I went to grad school at Duke to study the Reformation, partly in order to figure out what I thought about it, since I'd already fallen in love with the Middle Ages. In my first semester there (fall 1995), I began attending Evening Prayer with a small group led by a Continuing Anglican seminarian and using the 1928 BCP. At the time I assumed that the Episcopal Church was way too liberal for me even to consider. However, the "Continuers" did not seem like a valid alternative--I was coming from sectarian religion, not looking for a version thereof blessed with beautiful liturgy. I got to know some learned and pious Roman Catholics and began looking seriously into that option--but my family were convinced that I was deceived by the devil, and I'm an extremely indecisive person by disposition. In 1998, with many misgivings, I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church, in a parish that combined Anglo-Catholicism (our priest went to Nashotah House) with a charismatic/evangelical tinge, in a way I've never quite encountered since. This parish fed my soul--and yet in principle, I found the claims of Rome more convincing than whatever claims Anglicanism can be said to make for itself. In 1999 I became a candidate for admission to the RCC, only to come running back to St. Joseph's (my Episcopal parish) a couple of months later. And yet my discontent continued--and indeed continues. I've stayed Episcopalian through the election of Gene Robinson and the resulting turmoil (which destroyed my old parish, in the form I knew it), and through two moves (to New Jersey, where I attended a parish that was basically middle-of-the-road by contemporary Episcopal standards, and then to Indiana, where I have a wonderful, evangelical bishop, a wise and crusty Barthian priest, and a tiny parish full of small-town Midwesterners who sort of think they are Anglo-Catholics but--as our priest points out frequently--really aren't). Part of it has to do with my wife, a lifelong Methodist with a longstanding interest in Anglicanism who was confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 2009 and is now discerning a vocation to the priesthood. Part of it has to do with the wonderful parishes I've been part of. Part of it has to do with my aforesaid love of many aspects of Anglicanism. Much of it has to do with my desire not to break entirely with my evangelical heritage (a concern made concrete by the fact that for the past six years I've worked for an evangelical college and wasn't sure I'd be able to keep my job if I became RC or Orthodox). And part of it is just because I'm so darned indecisive. Meanwhile I play the organ, pray the Liturgy, serve on diocesan council, and hope for further light. So here I am. Some of you know me from the "Catholic Answers" forum. God bless, Edwin
Thanks for the welcome! Clearly we have very different views of Anglicanism, but that's the fun of being Anglican. . . .
Welcome Edwin. We've been in quite a few discussions together on CAF. Glad you found your way here. Anna
I misread the title and thought it said "anglican poised for fight" lol, I was going to say lower your weapon I come in peace hello and welcome!
Wow, it's Edwin/Contarini! Welcome to this small but growing sheepfold... it's a good thing to have such a soul enriching us! By the way, I was called "Glorious Order" on CAF until I asked too many questions.
Welcome to the forum Edwin!! I've encountered your postings over at CAF and admire your well thought out and logical postings on that forum. You'll find that the Episcopalians on this forum love the Episcopal Church, despite its current state and many flaws. Many of us, like you, have reservations about the Episcopal Church and continue to have these reservations. Further, many of us have thought about and sometimes continue to think about Rome, Constantinople, and other options. However, we love our Anglican identity and are drawn to the Anglican prayer life and the Anglican Liturgy. I look forward to your posts and contributions!
Greetings Contarini, I stand with your wife as a life-long Methodist now joyously in flight to the Episcopal Church. Also, I welcome you as a fellow Hoosier (Diocese of Northern Indiana). To be certain there are those here with misgivings about aspects of TEC, myself included. Being a little long in the tooth, I can say that in my life I have never been associated with a church body with whom I could find nothing to quibble over. Best wishes as you figure out your journey. It took me over 50 years to land where I am and expect to stay (but who knows?). It is a process of discernment, after all. <>< seeking.IAM