If this wasn’t GQ, Shag, I would tell you what you could do with yourself. You assume that just because they’re not religious that they’r enot close with each other? Or that they don’t talk to each other?
I know what it’s like not to talk to your family. My family is not close. His on the other hand is very close, so just find somebody else’s family to judge.
Get off your high horse.
As for who started it, that’s pretty well known. The Episcopal Church is the Church of England, which was started when King Henry VIII broke the church away from the authority of the pope.
I just want to point out that Polycarp’s Baptismal Covenant may state what Episcopalians believe the best . . . but it doesn’t exactly do anything to establish what makes Episcopalians different from any other variety of Christianity. This may be obvious, in fact it seems so to me, but one never knows quite how clueless other people may be.
Given that I’m not Episcopalian, I have no basis for making comments as to what
Episcopalians believe that other varieties of Christians do not.
friend anaamika,
these links could be of some help:
catechism of the episcopal church
the thirty nine articles of religion
lh
Aah! Good point!
Episcopalians hold to the Apostolic Succession – the belief that we are all tied, by confirmation and ordination, back through an unbroken line of bishops to the apostles and Christ, and that authority in Church matters is transmitted along this lineage. Episcopalians worship according to the Book of Common Prayer, using a standard liturgy based on the original Eucharistic liturgies and daily prayer services based on the monastic Liturgy of the Hours. We tend to celebrate the Eucharist at every conceivable opportunity. We hold strongly to the dignity of the individual and God’s grace as the key point to Christianity, leading us to be accepting of all, though with some rancor at those who teach otherwise. We tend to emphasize both Sermon and Communion, to a greater extent than most other churches do one or the other. And we favor intellectual freedom and the right to understand the time-honored truths of the faith in ways that make sense to the individual, not by any one-size-fits-all formula.
Well I certainly didn’t know I was an Episcapalian until I joined the Straight Dope. Before then I had only heard the word a few times. When Poly mentioned he was Episcapalian I was intrigued and looked up what it meant. I was doubly pleased when I found CofE me was also an Episcapalian 
NOBODY expects the Episcapalian Inquisition! Our chief weapon is suprise…surprise and cake…cake and surprise… Our two weapons are cake and surprise…and ruthless tea making… Our three weapons are cake, surprise, and ruthless tea making…and an almost fanatical devotion to lunch… Our four…no… Amongst our weapons… Amongst our weaponry…are such elements as cake, surprise… I’ll come in again.
That’s not the Anglican view of the matter. In our view, the Church of England was founded by S. Augustine, who led the first mission to England in 597 and became the first Archbishop of Canterbury. The Church has continued in unbroken succession since that date.
What Henry VIII did was sever the connection to Rome. He did not intend to found a new church, but to break ties of administrative allegiance. The Church of England under Henry’s leadership was doctrinally close to the Roman Catholic church, but took a view of national churches that is closer to that of the Orthodox: each country can have its own church, catholic and apotstolic in nature, in full communion with each other, without the need for papal supremacy.
With respect to the OP: you may find this thread of interest: Are Episcopalians Protestant?
:smack:
“catholic and apostolic in nature”
:smack:
No, not the Pope’s, her bishop’s permission.
Assuming that you are talking about the two of you joining an Episcopal Church and that you are Episcopalian and she is baptized Catholic, then…
As a baptized Catholic, she falls under the Roman Catholic Church law (whether she wants to or not, that’s the way the RCC sees it). Part of that law is that a baptized Catholic must be married in a ceremony officiated by a properly deputed Catholic clergy (or lay person in some mission areas of the world) in a Catholic church, chapel, or oratorium. Under certain circumstances permission can be given to dispense from this ‘form’ of marriage (e.g., a Catholic can marry a Jew in a hall if the Jew’s family has (understandable) qualms about being in a Christian church).
So, if you two got married in the Episcopal Church, the RCC won’t institutionally recognize this marriage (even though the RCC will recognize the marriage of two Protestants who get married outside the Catholic form of marriage).
Now, if she never intends to practice her Catholic faith, nor ever be a godmother or sponsor at a Catholic baptism or confirmation, nor ever be a witness to a Catholic wedding, then there’s no big deal. However, if she would ever want to do these things, the two of you will need to have your marriage ‘convalidated’ in the Catholic Church. Talk to a Catholic clegy about it. It can be as simple as a new exchange of vows with just two witnesses present in a very, very simple ceremony.
OTOH, if your wife were to formally renounce her Catholic faith (probably a letter of intent to her local pastor would suffice), then she would be considered, for all intents and purposes, a Protestant. Thus, your marriage would then be considered valid by the RCC. If you’re already married, she would have to make the formal renunciation, and then renew your vows.
Yeah, way too legalistic.
Peace.
God bless the godless. Heaven knows, they have enough troubles. :rolleyes:
“What does the Episcopalian church stand for these days?”
Nothing. In fact, I’m counting the days until the ECUSA gets kicked out of the Anglican Communion altogether, so I can start going to a Continuing Anglican or ACA church. Unfortunately, being Anglo-Catholic, those parishes are almost always low-church 1928, so I’m a bit SOL.
/me goes off grumbling about the corrupt House of Bishops…
Anaamika writes:
> If this wasn’t GQ, Shag, I would tell you what you could do with yourself. You
> assume that just because they’re not religious that they’r enot close with each
> other? Or that they don’t talk to each other?
>
> I know what it’s like not to talk to your family. My family is not close. His on the
> other hand is very close, so just find somebody else’s family to judge.
>
> Get off your high horse.
Please, Anaamika, try to understand why we find this so strange. It’s not the fact that they aren’t religious. Lots of people aren’t religious. Such people would usually just say, “We aren’t anything really,” if they’re asked what religion they are. Or they might say that they are agnostic or atheist if they have definite enough opinions to be able to make that statement.
Your boyfriend’s family is different though. Your boyfriend wasn’t baptized in an Episcopalian church. He apparently was either never brought to Episcopalian worship services or Sunday School or, at least, has no memory of being brought to them. And yet, despite this, his mother tells him that he is Episcopalian. It’s as though she thinks that being Episcopalian is an ethnic group. It’s as though she thinks that what you believe or what you claim to believe or where you go to church isn’t what makes you part of a church. It’s as though she thinks that being Episcopalian is something that you inherit from your ancestors.
Actually, we were married by a Baptist minister.
Even worse, a female Baptist minister. You would not believe how much her grandfather’s eyes were rolling.
Bluntly, GQ is not the place for this post. If you’d care to take it to the Pit, I’d be happy to comment on it… :dubious:
Thank you Wendell Wagner. I really wasn’t trying to be offensive to Anaamika and you summed it up well. I guess this is just a case of misunderstanding based on looking at things from completely different perspectives and levels of knowledge on this subject.
The example that I was going to use was: “Mom, we are liberal Democrats right?” “No, son, we are all right-wing Republicans, you are too.”
I suppose if you were Jewish, you could find out later in life that you are Jewish by birth and ethnicity. It doesn’t work that way at all in the Episcopalian church. The primary requirement for membership once you are baptised in a Christian church is self-identification. If you don’t self-identify as one then are are not one so it sounds bizarre that somewhere could “find out” that he or she is Episcopalian.
The Episcopal Church stands for divorcing your wife and cutting off her head.
That’s at least as accurate a summation of the Episcopal Church’s creed as most remarks on this board about Catholics.
In other words, not at all.
Anaamika, you may find this website helpful: URL=http://anglicansonline.org/basics/what_believe.html]Anglicans Online: What do Anglicans Believe?
try that again: Anglicans Online: What do Anglicans Believe?
Before we have another religious war here, I think I’ll close this one.
The OP has been adequately answered(of course, that might be just my opinion).
The number of snarky comments is growing, and we have other forums if you want to debate religion, or make nasty comments about other posters.
Those of you in this thread who made such comments, I’d appreciate it if you’d try to remember that you’re in GQ, not GD or the Pit.
samclem GQ moderator