I think I’m slowly coming to some conclusions about who and what I am with reference to my priestly vocation and this unwieldy thing called “Anglicanism.”
I’ve never been an “Institutional Man.” Go figure. Why in the world am I then in a hierarchical institution to which I have vowed conformity and obedience? Good question! I can only answer that by saying that through discernment and the affirmation of “the people” – together with my sense that each step along the way that God was leading and two bishops’ approved – here I am.
I have come to the point that when asked what I am, I say, “I am an Anglican priest in the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.” I say am an “Anglican priest” rather than an “Episcopal priest” because I have come into the Catholic notion of the Church. Our Church is Catholic (though reformed and not under the authority of the Bishop of Rome – which I do understand is problematic for other parts of the Church Catholic) and if we profess to believe that we, as Anglicans and as Episcopalians, are really part of the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church,” then I must believe that my priesthood is more than with a denominational institution known as The Episcopal Church. This is one reason why I was so anxious and insistent that I was ordained a priest before the last General Convention (2006) – if the Convention made decisions that resulted in The Episcopal Church USA no longer being part of the Anglican Communion, then I wanted it to be known that I was ordained priest while still part of something Catholic, still part of the Anglican expression of the “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church,” still part of the Anglican Communion.
I specify “The Episcopal Church in the USA” rather than “The Episcopal Church” (promulgated since the last General Convention because some people believe to specify ‘USA’ is to be arrogant and noninclusive to those Episcopalians under our jurisdiction that are part of other geopolitical nation-states). I do this because while we have jurisdictions in places outside the geographical boundaries of the United States and its territories, there is not a single Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion.
In this country, we are the expression of Anglicanism (an Episcopal Church) within the geopolitical boundaries of the USA. In our missionary work in other parts of the world, we should be striving to build indigenous churches with their own identity – “The Episcopal Church in Ecuador” or in Taiwan, for example. We support them in their efforts, but shouldn’t think that we should keep them under this “American Church.” That is paternalistic. There is a sense of self-loathing coming from those who insist that this Episcopal Church USA needs to take on a different identity other than “Anglo” or “American” as a heritage and cultural-ethos because there are people who are currently part of us from other cultures and countries that we are helping to become self-sufficient and independent that are not Anglo or American. We don’t have to deny who we are or what we have been in order to help build the Church in other cultures and countries, unless of course we hate ourselves. Some do, and it is sad. To truly celebrate diversity and to truly appreciate other cultures, we must first understand and appreciate our own. If we hate our own, we cannot honestly understand or appreciate what other cultures have to offer us.
The Episcopal Church USA is not an “international Church” akin to the international nature of the Anglican Communion. IMHO, this is profoundly disrespectful, in ways only Americans can be, to those “Episcopal Church” jurisdictions in other parts of the world, like the Episcopal Church of Scotland. We are not “The” only Episcopal Church within the Anglican Communion, and to drop the “in the USA” implies that perhaps we are. It also implies that we are alone – better than, superior to, those other Episcopal Churches of the world, either separate now or seeking eventual, rightful independence from our jurisdiction. Take that, rabid political correctness!
I also believe it is a sin to continually divide the Church organic because of our particular dogmatic demands that the Church give way to every whim devised by our very limited and prideful notions of what Jesus means when he calls the Church to be, something. Perhaps the 2,000+ Tradition really does have something to say to our very limited and parochial-zeitgeist. Like my previous post mentions from the author Sarah Cunningham, “This kind of unexpected idolatry—the obsession with living in despair over what is wrong with the institutionalized church—creeps up on you (like most shifty little idols do). … Criticism becomes what we end up worshiping.”
I am an Anglican priest that has vowed to obey my bishop, that is a bishop in The Episcopal Church in the USA, part of the Anglican Communion, institutions within the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church.
All that being said, I’m really tired of the Idolatry that has resulted from the inter-perspectival fights between liberals and conservatives, The Episcopal Church USA hierarchy and rebellious priests, parishes, and bishops – both here and abroad – and my part in it all. I want and need to stop. (Although, I think I’ve worked for moderation and continued communion between us all rather than trying to force a particular theological or ideological perspective that results in schism!)
“Anglican” is an ethos or heritage as much as it is an institution. The institutions may crumble under the weight of our hubris, selfishness, and fear, but the “Anglican Way” will hopefully remain. I want it to, I will work for its survival even if the institution does not survive, and I will remain an Anglican priest.
That’s what I’m think right now, anyway.