Catholic Anglicanism  

Posted by Joe Rawls in

The newly ordained Fr Robert Hendrickson is a curate at Christ Church in New Haven, Connecticut.  He blogs at The Curate's Desk and in this post addresses the longstanding question of how one can simultaneously be Anglican and Catholic.  A tip of the biretta to Society of Catholic Priests.

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At the parish I serve, we hear Confessions, offer daily Mass, believe strongly in the Real Presence, say the Daily Office, offer Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, and hold Our Lady in high esteem. These are all integral parts of a Catholic faith that sustains this community. They point toward “the thing itself” which we hold dear – that we worship a living God that condescends to come among us.
We are also a parish that has women serving as priests, has long supported LGBT causes, supports a degree of freedom in matters of conscience such as birth control.
For some, this seems like a case of serious cognitive (or at least theological) dissonance. Yet this is the joy of Catholic Anglicanism. We balance holy tradition with reason and Scripture in such a way that the individual is neither left unmoored to their own devices (as with much of mainline Protestantism) nor denied the dignity of conscience (as with much of Romanism). This kind of Generous Orthodoxy, to purloin a term, is supported by the comprehensive underpinnings of a creedal theology and Prayer Book Catholicism.
Our first concern is “the thing itself.” This means that our worship and service are directed toward the Holy One. All that we have we offer in worship, praise, and thanksgiving. It also means that we trust in a competent God that can handle the many issues that divide the Church today.
I believe that Catholic Anglicanism offers the best of traditional Catholicism and also offers substantial and distinctive contributions to the life of the Church.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 9, 2011 at Sunday, October 09, 2011 and is filed under . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

4 comments

Anonymous  

Except that your entire church in the US is barely 2 million-and shrinking away pretty quickly, too.
Mainline Protestantism keeps trying to dress itself up and get a new gimmick but it's pointless.
Religion is so boring-and we have much more effective ways of doing politics and spending our Sundays.

October 12, 2011 at 3:11 PM

"...this seems like a case of serious cognitive (or at least theological) dissonance. Yet this is the joy of Catholic Anglicanism. We balance holy tradition with reason and Scripture in such a way that the individual is neither left unmoored to their own devices (as with much of mainline Protestantism) nor denied the dignity of conscience (as with much of Romanism). This kind of Generous Orthodoxy, to purloin a term, is supported by the comprehensive underpinnings of a creedal theology and Prayer Book Catholicism."

What? I just came across your blog, and none of this has anything to do with Anglicanism in any historical sense of the word, or Catholicism in any historical sense of the word. A strong case can be made that you are simply making up your religion as you go, without any grounding in scripture, much less theology. Any of the founders of the Oxford movement would denounce this immediately.

October 16, 2011 at 1:28 PM

Fascinating and informative essay. That sounds like a parish with a vital spiritual life.

October 29, 2011 at 5:44 AM
Anonymous  

The "Society of Catholic Priests" and priestesses are neither catholic nor priests.....I wonder what they would be called in the Orthodox, Byzantine, churches??!!


September 14, 2012 at 10:00 AM

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