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This page is devoted to providing
information about the Episcopal Church
and its beliefs, practices, and traditions.
The
following is taken from the Rev. Anne Gavin Ritchie's description of a 1998 course on the
Anglican tradition, of which the Episcopal Church is a part. It gives a succinct overview
of the Episcopal Church.
CHURCH
OF THE RESURRECTION: THE ANGLICAN TRADITION
One of the greatest joys
of my ministry is introducing people from other walks of faith to the Episcopal Church. I
delight in presenting Anglicanism and its unique and powerful marriage of catholic and
reformed traditions. We are catholic in ecclesiastical structure; our three orders of
ordained ministry (bishops, priests, and deacons) reflect the practice of the early
Church. Episcopal congregations do not stand alone but are organized into and connected
within dioceses, each under the authority of a bishop. Our worship life is centered around
the two sacraments our Lord instituted: Holy Eucharist and Holy Baptism. We celebrate the
sacramental nature of other rites that have more specific focus: confirmation; matrimony;
penance; ordination; the laying on of hands for healing.
We are reformed in that
there is no central authority equivalent to a pope telling us what to think and believe.
The Episcopal Church, like other national churches under the umbrella of the Anglican
Communion, is autonomous and has its own system of governance. Because the framers of the
Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church were by and large the same people shaping
the Constitution of the United States, our church is democratic in structure and spirit.
Our bishops are not appointed but elected by lay and clergy representatives to diocesan
conventions. Rectors, the chief pastors of congregations, are elected by parish vestries,
subject to the approval of the bishop.
The Episcopal Church
resists easy classification of liberal or conservative, traditional or innovative. People
of all theological persuasions call themselves Anglicans. Our diversity and predilection
for robust dialogue can at times make us seem contentious to the point of chaos. However
widely our positions may diverge, we are united in our use of the Book of Common Prayer.
Ceremony and style may differ from one congregation to another, but the shape of the
liturgy is the same. Reading and interpreting the Scripture lie at the heart of our
worship life. Anglicans tend to use the Bible as a mirror of our deepest fears and
longings. We recognize that we do not interpret the Bible so much as we invite the Bible
to interpret us.
"The Thinking Pilgrim" is the title of a
letter that the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, Bishop of the Diocese of Virginia, wrote for the
April, 2002 edition of Virginia Episcopalian. Click
here
to read about why the Episcopal church is "not for those who want all the answers to
contemporary life's pressing questions set forth with dogmatic clarity."
Episcopal Traditions
The website at
Trinity Cathedral in
Sacramento has a clear introduction to the Episcopal Church and Episcopal Customs. Visit
our own Links page for more resources
on the Episcopal Church.
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Church
of the Resurrection
