What do Episcopals believe?

[HoneyBee]

Just as the title implies, I'm wondering what Episcopal Christians believe that differs from Roman Catholics. This can range from anything like from religious differences to contemporary issues. I'm just curious, that's all.

 

[Strathos]

We don't believe in the authority of the Pope, for one thing.

 

[Naomi4Christ]

We have the beliefs of the original and undivided church.

 

[Paidiske]

Our fundamental disagreement with Rome is about church governance (how the church should be led, make decisions, and so on). Our structure is much less top-down; where Rome has a hierarchy with a pope at the top, we are divided up into autonomous geographical areas (provinces). And within those provinces we are generally governed by synods (a bit like parliaments), with representation by lay people as well as clergy.

There are other specific things about which we disagree with Roman Catholics, particularly to do with how we understand holy communion and sacraments in general. But those discussions can get very technical, so it might be helpful if you ask about particular areas which interest you?

 

[seeking.IAM]

Perhaps differences can be divided between belief and practice. I do hope Searching_for_God will ask more specific questions of interest. But I will throw out some things.

For one thing, I think we are less about dogma than Catholicism. We are bound by common worship, not dogma requiring us to march in lockstep with each other. The three-legged stool of Anglicanism is found in the name of this forum, "Scripture, Tradition, and Reason." Allowance of reason means there may be some variation in belief from one person to another, yet we join together around the common cup united by common worship. OP may be interested in having a look at our prayer book, "The Book of Common Prayer" which will provide a good glimpse into Anglicanism.

Another practice difference is that we do not require a celibate clergy. Priests may be married. And some, but not all, who call themselves Anglican ordain women.

 

[HoneyBee]

Thank you everyone for your answers!

And, I notice that maybe I was being too broad in my question. To specify more what I mean by the differences, any difference is fine since I'm still new to looking into Anglicanism. But if you'd like more specific things, I guess I would ask, what are your opinions on praying to saints? Do you also pray to Mary like Roman Catholics do? And then, on contemporary issues (like same-sex marriage and abortion), do beliefs vary or is there a set belief by the Anglican Church? Thank you very much in advance for answering my questions!

 

[Albion]

It is still a difficult question to deal with easily, but I will start by mentioning that there is no the Anglican Church (in the singular) unless you mean the Church of England. There are many Anglican churches, and none is in formal fellowship or doctrinal agreement with all the others.

That's a hint that there are statements of belief and many points of agreement, but the answer to questions about such as Same-Sex marriages and Abortion and Women priests depends on which Anglican church you are speaking of.

 

[seeking.IAM]

Since your original post asked about "Episcopal" Christians, I will reply to some of your questions as to my experience with The Episcopal Church (TEC), which is the American expression of the Anglican Communion. At my church, we do not pray to Mary or pray the Rosary formally. However, you will find that in TEC we have a percentage of converts from Roman Catholicism who may still pray the Rosary in their personal devotions. We do not pray to the Saints for intercession typically in the same sense that Roman Catholics might.

However, as I said before we believe in "common worship" and hold that all the saints, living and dead, are praying with us. At my church you may sometimes hear a prayer ending such as "we pray along with all the Saints and the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen"

Congregants feelings about social issues run the gamut and do not necessarily meld readily with official church positions. I have been Episcopalian for about 13 years now and have never heard abortion as an issue from the pulpit. Once again TEC is about common worship, not adherence to common dogma.

The official position of TEC as a national body is that it has allowed ordination of gay priests, has ordained at least one gay bishop, and has said that under certain conditions gay marriages can be performed. Marriage of gay persons, however, is first of all under the authority of a bishop who may or may not allow it within their diocese. I live in a very conservative diocese where it was disallowed until we got a new bishop last year who does not prohibit. Once a bishop allows gay marriage within a diocese, it is (a) up to a priest if he/she will perform it and (b) up to a parish's Vestry (i.e. board) to decide if it will be permitted in their church building. It is not permitted in my church at this time.

You will find TEC is a "big tent" church meaning there is room for all under the big tent. We have conservatives and liberals, Pro-lifers and pro-choice persons, and straights, homophobes, and gays who all could be sharing the same pew and gathering at the communion rail. We are not about common belief, but about common worship. Literally in my church I sit in the pew to the right of a right wing political figure and to the left of a gay person. We don't all agree with each other but everyone is cordial with each other. It is said where you have 2 Episcopalians, you will find 3 opinions.

There are other Anglican churches who left the Episcopal Church over issues such as gay marriage and ordination of women. You will find them to have a different point of view about these issues obviously. Some are represented in this forum by notable and respected forum members.

 

[Paidiske]

And, I notice that maybe I was being too broad in my question. To specify more what I mean by the differences, any difference is fine since I'm still new to looking into Anglicanism. But if you'd like more specific things, I guess I would ask, what are your opinions on praying to saints? Do you also pray to Mary like Roman Catholics do? And then, on contemporary issues (like same-sex marriage and abortion), do beliefs vary or is there a set belief by the Anglican Church? Thank you very much in advance for answering my questions!

Praying to saints/Mary is, officially for Anglicans "a fond thing vainly invented." Which means we shouldn't do it, although some Anglicans still do.

Others have already pointed out that beliefs vary on "contemporary" issues. For example, I'm in Australia, and same-sex marriage has only just (like last month) become legal in this country. There is no suggestion on the radar of the Anglican church here that we should recognise or perform such marriages, although no doubt those arguments will come in time.

 

[seeking.IAM]

Rev. Padiske's quote about praying to the Saints is from an historic Anglican document, "The 39 Articles of Religion", (see XXII). It may be a bit much for you to see it at this point, but if you wish you may read it here: Anglicans Online | The Thirty-Nine Articles

 

[HoneyBee]

The more I seem to discuss Episcopalian ideologies, the more it seems like a good fit for me. I like it already! I mean, it's very traditional from what I'm reading, yet I don't have to adhere to any specific beliefs (I mean, except for believing that Jesus is the Son of God, of course). It sounds like it could be the denomination for me, but I still need to do my research. I'm planning on going to an Episcopal church this Sunday, so there's that.

...I have a question about the service I'm going to, though. It's in the morning and apparently they're having a Taize Inspired Eucharist service. What is that? I've never heard of "Taize" before and am very confused.

 

[seeking.IAM]

The best thing you can do is come and see. Keep in mind there are different characteristics of Episcopal churches that vary by congregation. For example variations may be: progressive to conservative; low to broad to high church; Anglo-Catholic to evangelical. My church is an Anglo-Catholic, High church. I still haven't figured out if we're more progressive or conservative, but then I've only been attending 13 years.

If one isn't to your liking you might try another before deciding it isn't for you.

 

[Paidiske]

...I have a question about the service I'm going to, though. It's in the morning and apparently they're having a Taize Inspired Eucharist service. What is that? I've never heard of "Taize" before and am very confused.

Taize is an ecumenical monastic community in France, which is famous for its distinctive style of worship service (see here: Taizé ). My guess would be that this will be a service of holy communion in which the spoken parts are simplified and the sung parts are simple chants sung repetitively. (Because Taize is a community which attracts people from all over the world, and they don't all have a common language, keeping the liturgy simple and repetitive helps to enable participation).

 

[Athanasius377]

Just as the title implies, I'm wondering what Episcopal Christians believe that differs from Roman Catholics. This can range from anything like from religious differences to contemporary issues. I'm just curious, that's all.

It depends on the Anglican you are speaking with. As Anglicans, we share a common history derived from the Church of England and the Episcopal Church (at least in the US). The Episcopal Church grew out of the Church of England and became separate after the American revolution.

So my perspective will be from a traditional Anglican point of view. Historically Anglicans have had a Book of Common Prayer, which contains the services of the Church including communion, matrimony, burial for the dead, Baptism etc. It also has a printed psalter as these are read/chanted during the daily office (morning and evening prayer). Our church body uses for the most part the 1928 book of common prayer but it does publish its own version that is almost identical. You can read the text of the prayer book with this link:

The 1928 U. S. Book of Common Prayer

As to what we believe, a good summary is the 39 articles of faith which can be found in the back of the BCP. If I were to describe what I call historic Anglican belief is that we are mildly Reformed, or as Peter Toon put it, "Reformed Catholic". Peter Toon was a traditional Anglican theologian and author. As to the similarities with Rome I would say that we are both liturgical, we both have a Episcopal polity (Bishops, Priests and Deacons), observe liturgical fasts and feasts. The differences we have are that we acknowledge two sacraments, not seven (Baptism and Communion), the sufficiency of scripture, denial of propitiatory nature of the Mass, etc. On the surface we look really similar but are biggest differences are theological. There is more that I could say but I think this is enough to give you an idea of the differences.

 

[Arcangl86]

Just as the title implies, I'm wondering what Episcopal Christians believe that differs from Roman Catholics. This can range from anything like from religious differences to contemporary issues. I'm just curious, that's all.

There's an old joke that if you ask 3 Episcopalians what they believe about a particular subject you will get 5 different answers.

As was mentioned, the thing that makes Anglicans unique is the use of the Book of Common Prayer. The Roman Catholics have a magisterium that is responsible for outlining Catholic Doctrine, and most Protestants have some sort of book of confessions like the Lutheran Book of Concord. But while Anglicans do have a confessional document in the Articles of Religion, it is primarily the Book of Common Prayer that defines us. Here is a link to the current edition of the Book of Common Prayer used by the Episcopal Church. I would pay particular attention to the catechism which can also be found here.

 

[HoneyBee]

Thank you for the resources Archangl86! I'll be sure to look at those links.

And yeah, I ended up not going to the Taize service this morning and instead went to the 11 O'Clock service which was more traditional, I think. It was a nice service and my favorite part was when I got to have the Eucharist. That was pretty nice, and as for the service itself, it was okay too, but for some reason, I think I like Catholic services better. I don't know what it is, but Catholic services seem more... structured, I think, is the word that I'm looking for.

I'm walking a very fine line here. It's like, I want to be Catholic, but at the same time, I don't think that's possible for me because I believe in birth control, I'm technically pro-choice even though abortion still hurts my heart when it does happen, I don't believe same-sex couples are sinful unions, and I'm more Jesus-centered than Mary-centered... and what makes it even more hurtful for me is that my entire family (on my dad's side, anyways) is Catholic, but I'm not. It makes me feel a little left out, truth be told, and like I'm not a true Christian if I'm not Catholic, because Catholicism is where it all started, right?

I'm sorry. Maybe I should be griping about this in the Liberal Catholics forum. In fact, I think I'll inquire about this over there too, just to see what they have to say on the matter. But I welcome any feedback from you guys as well! Thanks for taking the time to read this!

 

[Paidiske]

I'm surprised that you find Catholic services more structured. In my experience, many Anglican and Catholic communion services would have been interchangeable, and you'd have been hard pressed to tell which church you were in. It's possible you went to the sort of parish that has a more relaxed/informal approach, but not all Anglican parishes are like that.

FWIW, pretty much my entire family before me was Catholic. (My parents are very lapsed, but that's how they were raised). I did find it awkward that I'd chosen this Christian tradition they really didn't find it easy to relate to. But over time I've grown into it, and they've grown used to it, and it's hard for me to feel left out when I'm so very involved in my own church. That might be something that settles for you, with time, too.

 

[DavidFirth]

Thank you everyone for your answers!

And, I notice that maybe I was being too broad in my question. To specify more what I mean by the differences, any difference is fine since I'm still new to looking into Anglicanism. But if you'd like more specific things, I guess I would ask, what are your opinions on praying to saints? Do you also pray to Mary like Roman Catholics do? And then, on contemporary issues (like same-sex marriage and abortion), do beliefs vary or is there a set belief by the Anglican Church? Thank you very much in advance for answering my questions!

Hello, Searching. Please do not assume all Catholics pray to Mary and the saints. Many Catholics do not. I do not.

 

[HoneyBee]

Hmm, maybe. And, you know, maybe you are right about the Catholic service not being more structured. I could very well be biased simply because my family is Catholic and I'm feeling so left out. Not only that, but there are college services available for people of my age group who are Catholic, but as for protestant college-aged folks, I can't find any youth groups, so that's also contributing to my bias.

I feel like I'm being silly, honestly, but what can I do? Maybe I just need more time to think about things before I settle down and pick which church is right for me. Hmm...

 

[HoneyBee]

Hello, Searching. Please do not assume all Catholics pray to Mary and the saints. Many Catholics do not. I do not.

Ah, please excuse me David. I just thought that's what people did when they prayed the rosary and such.