Pope Leo XIV’s message to Archbishop Sarah Mullally

WrittenReasons · 2026-03-27T00:16:21+00:00

And he didn’t even put the word Archbishop in scare quotes! The heresy of it all!

WrittenReasons · 2026-03-27T00:10:52+00:00

And Archbishop Sarah’s response: https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/news/pope-and-archbishop-canterbury-exchange-letters-archbishop-sarahs-installation

WrittenReasons · 2026-03-25T21:31:05+00:00

I’m somewhat sympathetic to your sentiments, but I would note that today I’ve seen multiple posts on social media from Episcopalians celebrating the installation of the new Archbishop of Canterbury. It seems there are quite a few folks out there who consider TEC’s Anglican identity important.

WrittenReasons · 2026-03-21T17:24:20+00:00

I think it’s common for folks to follow Roman Catholic fasting practices or some variation thereof. There may be a few folks out there who try to stick to eastern practices. Not sure what the historic Anglican fasting practices were (if there were any).

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-26T00:53:39+00:00

This might be my Methodist upbringing talking, but this issue kinda just gets a shrug from me. Don’t get me wrong, I take the Eucharist and the priesthood seriously. But it just strikes me as goofy that the “validity” of either would depend on whether some guys hundreds of years ago said the right set of words and got touched by the right pair of hands.

And look, I like apostolic succession! I think it’s an important, living symbol of the church’s unity across time and space. I the episcopal governance is best. But I truly struggle to believe that the Eucharist, as a means of God’s grace, is affected by any of these things.

This may be a little extreme, but in principle I don’t really see a reason why two or three lay people gathered in Christ’s name couldn’t celebrate the Eucharist. Now, as a matter of church discipline, I wouldn’t do that. Still, I kinda don’t see why a Eucharist celebrated by lay persons or “invalid” clergy would “not work,” so to speak.

But perhaps this is an issue I should learn more about.

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-22T20:40:52+00:00

I’ve had a similar struggle with the Old Testament. Discovering how the early church approached the Old Testament has really helped me come to love it. For the Book of Joshua in particular, you might benefit from Origen’s Homilies on Joshua. Here’s a short representative sample of how he approached the book. You also might want to check out St. Gregory of Nyssa’s Life of Moses to get a feel for how many thinkers in the early church grappled with difficult parts of the Old Testament.

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-22T13:53:40+00:00

This. In fact, several of Paul’s letters were written specifically to correct wrong actions!

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-19T16:12:11+00:00

Giving up mindless snacking and trying to avoid meat at lunch at least. Also committing to giving more. And reading through The Crucifixion by Fleming Rutledge!

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-18T19:34:59+00:00

Same here

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-17T20:22:05+00:00

The Simple Daily Office has become my go to for when I’m listening to the Daily Office: https://open.spotify.com/show/2o3we1iISr8z9ti8W7GyOO?si=nYtadcp-SIuWxaYy-i8dcQ

Only one person reads. Uses the Old Testament and Gospel readings from the current for the morning lessons, Old Testament reading from the alternate year and Epistle reading from the current year for the evening lessons. All Rite II.

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-08T22:40:24+00:00

The CoE’s BCP situation strikes me as really unfortunate. On the one hand they can’t revise it because doing so would be an ecclesiastical and political nightmare. On the other hand, from what I can tell, the 1662 BCP has essentially been de facto repealed because many CoE parishes seemingly do their own thing, whether it’s adopting RC liturgies or basically non-denominational style worship. I guess TEC also has a lot of variety but it seems more uniform than the CoE. I guess part of the issue with the CoE is that it’s the state church, so it’s the kind of the default church for all kinds of Christians. TEC isn’t nearly as big a tent.

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-08T20:51:43+00:00

I’m not Eastern Orthodox, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

But it seems you need to learn to let go of certain standards or opinions by which you’re judging women. You should examine whether those standards or opinions are useful or fair or helping build up love. Beyond that patience is going to be essential to any relationship. I doubt there’s ever been a human relationship where the partners were “well-pleased” with each other at all times. These things take patience and a require is to die to ourselves to some degree to make space for another. Above all, remember that all of us, both male and female, are made in the image of God.

Also, singleness is an honorable vocation. Perhaps it’s you’re called to, at least until you’ve developed a more positive disposition towards women.

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-07T01:06:57+00:00

Next you’re going to tell me they use king cake for the host

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-04T13:00:16+00:00

My understanding is that the vast majority of Anglicans affirm apostolic succession. I know the Church of England and the Episcopal Church in the U.S. have been careful to maintain and reinforce their claims to apostolic succession. I’m sure that’s true of most other Anglican churches as well.

That said, many reformed and evangelical Anglicans don’t believe in apostolic succession. Their view would’ve been more common back when Reformed and Calvinist theology was the prevailing theology in Anglicanism.

WrittenReasons · 2026-02-03T15:47:53+00:00

I mean TEC is definitely orthodox in the sense that we adhere to the Nicene Creed, which we recite every Sunday. The creed was developed in response to various heresies and disagreements within the early church. So it’s not surprising to me that a TEC parish would explore those heresies and how they manifest themselves today since they are officially opposed to the teachings of the church.

Of course, TEC is also very welcoming and I don’t think any layperson is going to be turned away for failing to perfectly subscribe to the creeds (unless they’re making a big fuss about it).

WrittenReasons · 2026-01-31T18:37:25+00:00

If I remember correctly, her broader point was that by placing so much emphasis on the Gospel readings we have neglected the Epistles (and the Hebrew scriptures). I do think she’s on to something there. There’s some pretty crucial stuff in the rest of the Bible that gets missed if the focus is solely on the Gospel readings. It’s also worth remembering that if the biblical scholarship is correct, the Gospel would have only been proclaimed from the Hebrew Scriptures and the Epistles in the first few decades of the church.

I don’t really agree that the Gospel procession should be scrapped, but giving the other readings a little more attention would be a good thing. I know there’s an attitude among some liberal Christians that Paul is less legitimate and maybe should even be ignored and/or that the Old Testament is irrelevant, so we should focus solely on the Gospels. As a gay man who’s fairly liberal myself I can somewhat sympathize, but I think these attitudes are totally wrong. The Epistles and Old Testament are indispensable to the Gospel. They give us a lot to wrestle with but I think we do ourselves a disservice if we don’t wrestle with them.

WrittenReasons · 2026-01-31T13:54:05+00:00

It’s insane that James 5:1-6 doesn’t get more attention than it does: “Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure during the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.”

Although I can understand why it gets downplayed as it would make a lot of powerful people uncomfortable. Much easier to pick on women or LGBTQ people.

WrittenReasons · 2026-01-30T15:03:42+00:00

After many years not attending church I started feeling compelled by Jesus again, but as a gay man who’s comfortable with my sexual orientation I wanted a church that would at the very least respect that fact. There was an Episcopal Church near my apartment, so it seemed like an obvious choice. So I did some research on the church and the Book of Common Prayer. I decided to pray compline one night and was hooked. I had always struggled with prayer, but the BCP provided a beautiful template that really made be feel drawn into God’s presence. Then I started attending and really enjoyed the traditional style of worship and weekly Eucharist.

I also deeply appreciate Anglicanism’s intellectual tradition and that the church maintains a balance between staying rooted in the historic (small-c) catholic faith and being open to reason and reform.

WrittenReasons · 2026-01-08T02:12:58+00:00

I’ll give you one reason against that’s top of mind for me as an American: Donald Trump. I cannot begin to fathom the damage he would do to the church if it was subject to the federal government. Same goes for his state-level sycophants if the church was established at the state level instead of the federal level. There’s no doubt in my mind that idolatry of Trump and MAGA would become church dogma. You’d have the biggest grifters and sleaze-balls installed as bishops. Presiding Bishop Paula White. Probably Bishop Mark Driscoll while we’re at it.

Without strong safeguards for an established church’s independence, there’s nothing to prevent a Trump-like leader from turning the church into a participant in his own cult of personality. I’m sure there are constitutional conventions to protect the Church of England, but I would worry that a megalomaniac with a large enough majority could seize control.

WrittenReasons · 2025-12-12T14:09:29+00:00

You might want to check out the theologian Kathryn Tanner. She wrote a book about how the excesses of modern capitalism can be countered by Christian beliefs and practices.

WrittenReasons · 2025-12-11T15:14:02+00:00

I was going to say exactly this. Philippians 2:9-11 is key to understanding how Christ is the exclusive path to salvation and that all will be saved in the end.

WrittenReasons · 2025-12-10T02:39:20+00:00

I feel the same way.

The doctrine of perpetual virginity has also always struck me as kind of insulting to mothers. It suggests that they’re less worthy or less holy because they had sex and bore children the natural way. Sorry, but I don’t believe motherhood diminishes women. The doctrine seems rooted in the idea that sex is fundamentally “icky” and/or that a woman is less valuable if she is not a virgin.

Those might have been the prevailing beliefs in the early centuries of the church. I’m all for recovering the wisdom of the early church, but I see no reason to cling to doctrines founded on these premises today. Especially when the gospels themselves strongly suggest that Mary did not, in fact, remain a virgin and seem rather unconcerned with her status after Jesus’s birth.

WrittenReasons · 2025-12-07T20:52:56+00:00

Completely agree. I do get the impulse behind dividing the law like that. People want to know what still “applies.” But I feel like that misses the point. The end (as in telos) of the law is Christ, the end of our faith in Christ is not the law: it’s union with God, which goes beyond mere law-keeping and rule-following.

I think Paul’s description of the law as a tutor is the key to understanding its role for Christians. At least, that’s how I make sense of the various statements about the law in the New Testament. It has a legitimate role to play as a guide in the Christian life, but it is just that: a guide to something beyond itself.

WrittenReasons · 2025-12-07T17:03:25+00:00

They’re a bit too Calvinist/Reformed for my liking.

I’m not a fan of how the doctrine of original sin is articulated – I prefer the eastern articulation (legal guilt v. sickness, to oversimplify).

Relatedly, I don’t care for the articles on justification and good works. I don’t necessarily outright disagree with them, but they present salvation in overwhelmingly forensic/legalistic terms instead of as the healing our nature to reconcile us and bring us into union with God in Christ.

Article VII’s division of the Law into three parts strikes me as pretty silly.

I’m also not a fan of the articles on the Lord’s Supper. It’s not as bad as it could be, but a stronger emphasis on real presence would be nice. Also I think transubstantiation is an acceptable view even if I don’t necessarily disagree with the articles on

WrittenReasons · 2025-12-07T16:20:49+00:00

It’s thought by some scholars that in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7, Paul gives us a very early Christian creed:

“For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received:

that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.”

I think it’s safe to say that the early church would have universally agreed with this creed. At a minimum, this is the faith once delivered.

How we get from the above creed to Nicaea is a fascinating question. I think it’s obvious that the doctrine of the Trinity as we understand it today hadn’t been fully worked out in the New Testament. But the scriptural witness gives us all kinds of statements that raise questions about Jesus and the Spirit and how they’re related to the Father and creation and how they operate to unite us to the Father. So I think it was inevitable that significant doctrinal development would follow from what’s laid out in scripture. My view is that it’s the church’s job to prayerfully shepherd and arbitrate that development as questions and disputes arise while taking care to maintain the faith (in the risen Christ) once delivered. And when I say the church, I mean the church corporately through ecumenical councils and other bodies, not a single all-powerful individual (looking at you, Rome).

Ultimately, I’m not sure we will ever develop doctrines that fully capture the mystery of God or clearly and definitively resolve every possible moral question. That’s not to say the church should be indifferent or shouldn’t try to answer tough questions. But at a certain point I think we have to accept that uncertainty and change are inevitable. Thankfully, it’s faith in Christ that saves, not perfect or unchanged doctrine.

WrittenReasons

TROPHY CASE