How many have moved for Rome, only too late to realize just how liberal it is?

Discussion in 'Navigating Through Church Life' started by JayEhm, Mar 21, 2018.

  1. JayEhm

    JayEhm Member

    Posts:
    86
    Likes Received:
    34
    Country:
    Canada
    Religion:
    Orthodox Protestant
    Just wondering...how many moved to Anglicanism and then to Rome and Constantinople after realizing it was just too liberal?

    Yours in the Lord,

    jay
     
  2. Stalwart

    Stalwart Well-Known Member Anglican

    Posts:
    2,723
    Likes Received:
    2,563
    Country:
    America
    Religion:
    Anglican
    I have seen quite the opposite, in that Rome is far too liberal in practice (and now increasingly on the books as well). An Episcopalian service, despite whatever else is wrong with TEC, will normally be orders of magnitude more reverent than an average RCC mass.

    Constantinople can be seductive for a few people until they try it. I've known people who went there only to come back burnt out and at the end of their wits. The EO are a very strange bunch, incredibly in-grown and hostile, as well as ethnically supremacist. If you're a normal American who starts going to a Serbian EO church, they will literally try to make you into a Serb. The conversion rates into the EO are very small, and the reversion rates are very high, not to mention the fact that the EO youth are leaving EO churches in droves. Both ROCOR and the OPA are looking at a demographic crisis in the next 5-10 years.

    On the other hand I have known a lot of conservative presbyterians, baptists, methodists, who find Anglicanism the thing they've been missing. And now increasingly more and more RCC exiles are becoming Anglican as a way to retain tradition and reverence without being subject to the next new thing the Vatican says today.

    It is by no means as clean as that, and people go every which way, but on the balance I find that Anglicans, in the center of this maelstrom, receive and retain the most of this criss-cross exchange.
     
  3. JayEhm

    JayEhm Member

    Posts:
    86
    Likes Received:
    34
    Country:
    Canada
    Religion:
    Orthodox Protestant
    Excellent information, thank you.

    I'm on the fence. Should I or shouldn't I joint the Anglican Church of Canada? I'll sit down with the Priest soon and figure it all out. I want to know where we are headed. Sure, it's a conservative parish now but who knows?
     
  4. Religious Fanatic

    Religious Fanatic Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    609
    Likes Received:
    305
    Country:
    USA
    Religion:
    Christian
    I'm in a similar position but I'm a non-denom Protestant.

    There are virtually no traditional Anglican churches in my area except for two very very small ones, and they seem to be focused entirely on sacraments and liturgy than any fellowship or outreach according to their websites, as in, the kind of diverse and expansive community involvement I see from my mother's Assemblies of God church. Still, I respect most of the core doctrines of Anglicanism and for the particular points that I've been partial to, I must say that I wouldn't despise them at all but would still respect the observance of them by those who were more certain of them than I was.

    If I recall there isn't really a conversion process, only confirmation. My understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that this has to be done every time you attend an Anglican church, because there is no way for another church to tell if you are honest when you say you've had previous confirmation and rights to attend every other Anglican church. Otherwise, I think conversion to Anglicanism is simply believing and observing the 39 articles. I don't know how you'd be an Anglican at all if you didn't have a local church that was traditional and orthodox. Other Protestant denominations like Lutherans and Methodists share a similar doctrine and would be viable alternatives for those who can't attend one in their area, and may even be more appropriate to join if even a traditional Anglican church ends up being weak in some particular areas of its ministry and worship. I certainly would not attend the more liberal Episcopal churches by any means.
     
    JayEhm likes this.
  5. Botolph

    Botolph Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    2,276
    Likes Received:
    2,529
    Country:
    Australia
    Religion:
    Anglican
    Welcome among us. I just checked your home page and saw the graphic I created and was glad to see it put to good use.

    If I wasn't an Anglican I am not sure how I would play/pray. There are many great things in Rome and yet many things I struggle with. Perhaps at the center of that is the informed conscience. Anglicanism has a much better feeling in this area for me. I love the East and all my sisters and brothers in that world and I admire their attention to detail in matters of theology, however most of their expression has a cultural context (Greek, Russian, Serbian, Copyic ....) and the strength of that cultural context can be overwhelming. I'm not against culture however it can be a barrier to some whilst being an asset to others.
     
  6. Shane R

    Shane R Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    1,138
    Likes Received:
    1,181
    Country:
    USA
    Religion:
    Anglican
    You are incorrect. Confirmation carries across dioceses and even communions to some extent. For instance, an Anglican bishop and parish will typically accept confirmation from any jurisdiction known to be in the Apostolic Succession (RCC, EOC, OOC, even occasionally the Scandinavian and Slavic Lutherans). In the case of those folk, they are received into a parish rather than confirmed. Also, a confirmation record is usually made in some written form: my wife and I both have a BCP which records our confirmation date.
     
  7. Crusader1

    Crusader1 New Member

    Posts:
    10
    Likes Received:
    5
    Country:
    Usa
    Religion:
    Roman Catholic
    Well as for me I'm still in Rome for many reasons regarding doctorine and church history. Also i was born Catholic and raised Catholic. Plus I don't want to make the wrong choice and damn myself.
     
    Aidan likes this.
  8. ApostolicChristian

    ApostolicChristian New Member

    Posts:
    18
    Likes Received:
    17
    Country:
    England
    Religion:
    RC (Currently)
    It's true that Rome has it's problem with liberalism and irreverent masses, however, that's changing. The younger Catholic generation are a lot more traditional and in line with pre Vatican II Catholic spirituality and practice.

    Many Catholic saints said the Church would experience periods of turbulence but the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Things may look bleak but they won't be that way forever.
     
    JayEhm and Aidan like this.
  9. Aidan

    Aidan Well-Known Member

    Posts:
    945
    Likes Received:
    608
    Country:
    N Ireland
    Religion:
    Traditional RomanCatholic
    I have great faith in the faithful youth. Young people today who hold religious faith recognise and appreciate authenticity over presentation
     
    ApostolicChristian likes this.
  10. Flanders

    Flanders New Member

    Posts:
    5
    Likes Received:
    10
    I left Rome. Neither the lukewarm happy-clap of the mainstream or the gaudy rigidness of the so-called traditionalists were spiritually fulfilling or in line with historical Christian praxis. The broader sphere of Continuing Anglicanism and Old Catholicism seem like they can offer me a home, where authentic tradition and a sympathetic leadership can coexist. A decentralized hierarchy unburdened by institutional lethargy. Sure, conflict seems to have divided the Continuum in the past, but initiatives like the Full Communion Agreement of the G4 as well as the success of the Nordic Catholic Church seem to indicate a bright future to me.

    Eastern Orthodoxy too is attractive, but I fear for the stability of the Western Rite, and as a whole it seems plagued by ethnophyletism.
     
    Shane R and PotterMcKinney like this.