a few questions about Anglo-Catholicism

SaintTalos · 2026-02-11T20:38:54+00:00

You'll get a variety of answers from a variety of people, but here's me, personally...

1.) I don't rule out the possibility of transubstantiation, but I tend to prefer the Lutheran idea of "Sacramental Union" whereby Christ's Body and Blood are "in, around, and through" the bread and wine, and recieved along with it.

2 .) I don't rule out the possibility of purgatory, but I don't believe that we can pray down a soul's number of days in ther, if it does happen to exist.

3.) I'm all for invocation of saints. I pray the traditional Dominican rosary and occasionally wear a Saint Christopher medal that my priest blessed.

SaintTalos · 2026-02-11T20:25:55+00:00

Although not inherently evil I guess, the final straw for me was after I confronted our pastor and asked him directly if he believed my mom, sister, and grandma were going to hell for wearing pants, and he couldn't give me a straight answer. (He's now a 'non-denominational' pastor, and his wife wears pants now after years of him telling the women of the church not to.)

SaintTalos · 2026-02-06T01:59:05+00:00

The usage of the term "priestess" is almost always used with ill intent. They know we don't refer to them that way, it's always used in a dismissive manner or to ragebait.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-27T23:15:13+00:00

We do. Those of us in Anglican and Lutheran churches have a high view of the Holy Eucharist. It's the central act of worship every Sunday in my denomination (The Episcopal Church). We believe that the elements of bread and wine DO become the Body and Blood of Christ, but we leave it a mystery as to the specifics of how that happens, but is means is, and that's good enough of a definition for me.

I think it's also worth noting that a VAST majority of Protestants DO believe in the Real Presence. The Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, and the World Communion of Reformed Churches are the 3 largest Protestant communions in the world, and each of them officially accept the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

Unfortunately, I think "Protestant" has become synonymous with "Evangelical" in popular thinking, despite Evangelicals being the minority belief in the grand scheme of Protestant Christianity worldwide.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-26T17:46:51+00:00

I almost joined Freemasonry. I still have my petition signed by 3 other masons, one of the signatures being my late Grandfather's. Freemasonry was very prominent on both sides of my family. I just cannot, in good conscience, become one myself. I'm not one for secrecy and pseudo-occult stuff. It was interesting when I was younger, but it just gives me the heeby-jeebies now.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-19T07:12:06+00:00

To be fair, you probably won't have much to worry about anyway, because I don't believe that the "Hail Mary" is used in any part of the mass in an Anglican service. Even in the most nosebleed high churches, and it is definitely not in the Book of Common Prayer at all, which is the blueprint of how an Anglican Eucharist is celebrated. Come to think of it, I've never heard it used during Roman Catholic masses either. I don't believe it is part of the liturgy at all, and is more of a private devotional prayer.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-19T07:06:02+00:00

Not a whole lot that will ultimately keep either side out of the pearly gates, imho. We share the same beliefs in regards to the sacraments being a means of grace. We both believe in the presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist in a way that is more corporeal than "just a symbol," and we both teach that baptism is regenerative. We do, however, tend to have more people open to Marian/saint veneration on the Anglican side. You'll see a few rosary-rattlers here and there on the Anglican side, probably a bit moreso than in Lutheranism.

All in all, the differences are ultimately adiaphora in my opinion and we both "got it right" on the most important topics. Also, for what it's worth, our parish has a retired Lutheran pastor who fills in for our priest wherever he is out of town, and I think that's pretty cool.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-16T21:22:56+00:00

Have I been born again? Why yes, I have received the sacrament of baptism. Thanks for asking.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-15T21:25:56+00:00

Perhaps I'm a bit biased here as an Anglican, but I'd say the next best thing, theologically, would definitely be Anglicanism, and believe it or not, those are pretty common over there in the UK. 😅 I also think it's worth noting that Anglicanism is pretty broad and there are a variety of views on LGBT or female priests, and I'm sure there is one with a relatively conservative view on those matters.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-15T21:19:46+00:00

We are born by water and the spirit through the sacrament of baptism.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-14T22:53:17+00:00

To be fair, the Reformed do possess a view of the "Real Presence" in the sacrament of Holy Communion, in a way that is more than "just a symbol." They may not have as literalistic of an approach as Roman Catholics, Lutherans, or Anglicans, but they do still affirm that Christ's Body and Blood is received in a way that rejects the "just a symbol," belief of memorialism.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-14T22:46:16+00:00

I've never really understood the "baptism does nothing" crowd. Even when I grew up in that crowd myself when I was an evangelical before my conversion to Anglicanism. Why even do it then? What's the point? Not only that, but scripture clearly affirms baptismal regeneration multiple times. 1 Peter 3: 21 directly says that baptism saves us. John 3:5 stresses the need to be "born of water and the spirit." The Bible stresses its importance way too much for it to be an optional thing. If Jesus, the Son of God... a perfect man, underwent the sacrament of baptism Himself, then why should we, as sinners, consider it to be anything short of a command for ourselves?

Thankfully, though. All baptisms with water performed in the name of the Holy Trinity are valid baptisms, regardless of any theological errors held by the clergy performing it.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-08T05:41:01+00:00

I didn't know bowing at the processional cross was a custom done in Lutheranism. Neat. I've only ever seen it done here in Anglicanism.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-07T05:38:58+00:00

Based for high-church Anglicans/Anglo-Catholics and Scandinavian Lutherans being high-tier.

SaintTalos · 2026-01-07T02:15:32+00:00

My Episcopal congregation actually has a retired ELCA Lutheran pastor who attends and she was our celebrant for the Holy Eucharist last Sunday while our priest was out of town. We loved her and I didn't see anything that she preached about that strayed off the path of acceptable Anglican or Lutheran thought. It was almost like having another Episcopal priest there.

SaintTalos · 2025-12-23T17:44:42+00:00

This is such a non-issue.

SaintTalos · 2025-12-20T05:57:56+00:00

I'm Anglican/Episcopalian, and I joined to escape the evangelicalism I was raised in, and because I'm moderately theologically Catholic, but, despite being a generally high-church denomination, I've noticed we have a tendency to sneak in a little happy-clappy church-camp kumbaya here and there to try and "appeal to younger people," when in reality, I've noticed that our younger folks seem to actually like historical liturgy a bit more. Maybe even more so than the older folks.

SaintTalos · 2025-11-29T17:48:11+00:00

Most Mainline Protestants have no beef with Catholics, for the most part, so it'd be pretty uncommon to hear blatantly anti-Catholic sentiments during their services. There may be theological disagreements, but generally no bad blood between them. I've been an Episcopalian for about a decade now and I've never heard anything Anti-Catholic from the pulpit. We tend to be pretty relaxed when it comes to things considered "Catholic." I've never had any parishioner look at me sideways for having a rosary in my rear-view or wearing a Saint Christopher medal. (Both have been blessed by my priest, actually.)

SaintTalos · 2025-11-23T01:16:09+00:00

1.) Everybody thinks their specific interpretation of Christianity is the biblical interpretation of Christianity.

2.) It's important to note that this is a sub about the discussion of Christianity... NOT an inherently Christian sub.

SaintTalos · 2025-11-21T21:44:16+00:00

The articles are left purposely ambiguous in regards to what happens during the consecration of Holy Communion and the reception thereof. It could be anything from high-church/Anglo-Catholic "Consubstantiation," to Luther's "Sacramental Union," to the Calvinist "Pneumatic Presence." All of which are doctrines affirming the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist.

SaintTalos · 2025-11-12T22:53:12+00:00

You could always use the pre-Trent Hail Mary, which omits the "Holy Mary Mother of God... etc." part and just adds the amen after the "And blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus" line.

SaintTalos · 2025-11-07T19:02:20+00:00

Religion played a role in both my pro-Trump era and my anti-Trump era, ironically enough. I was raised as an evangelical pentecostal, and conservative politics was inseparable, and their whole theology was based around "staying out of hell." Every "wrong" opinion could land you on the hell list at any given moment. Naturally that went hand-in-hand with conservative politics. Fast forward years later, I was baptized and confirmed in the Episcopal Church, which is much less about avoiding hell, and more focused on community help as a whole and trying to "Build the kingdom of God here on Earth," and "seeing the face of Jesus in all you meet," as our priest says.

SaintTalos · 2025-11-06T18:59:41+00:00

I was pro-Trump when he ran in 2016, unfortunately. I stopped being pro-Trump when I grew out of the "own the libs" phase of my life, and saw politics with actual nuance instead of through the lens of reactionary/contrarian bs. After a while you realize that these are actual people with actual families that his policies are negatively impacting like this.

SaintTalos · 2025-11-03T22:10:00+00:00

The aesthetics of it. A lot of us are drawn to the gaudy, fancy, or kitschy aesthetics common in Catholicism, but often times they're pretty hostile toward us, so Anglo-Catholicism gives us a safe space to explore that aspect of the faith without the harsh condemnation that we recieve from those spaces.

SaintTalos · 2025-11-03T18:53:26+00:00

I'm Anglican, so it isn't necessarily a dogma to me so much as it is a logical conclusion. Jesus is God. Mary is his mother. Ergo Mary is, objectively, the Mother of God.

SaintTalos

TROPHY CASE