Friday, March 27, 2015

Anglicanism? Why I've been Thinking of Leaving Roman Catholicism.


Update: Since I've wrote this post, and after much prayer and consideration, I have decided to stay in the Roman Catholic Church. It has been a long and painful journey, but I am joyful to find a place I can call home. You can read here my reasons for staying in the church.

For the past 2 years I have embarked on a journey that has been both painful and exciting. I have been thinking, praying and exploring other expressions of my Catholic faith that are not exclusively "Roman" Catholic.

In this process, I have deepened in my Catholic faith, but my disenchantment with Roman Catholicism continues to grow.

I have been exploring other streams of Catholicism and the most attractive one at this point is Anglicanism.

But before we go into Anglicanism, let's talk about what I mean by Catholicism.

Some people use Catholicism and Roman Catholicism interchangeably, as if the Church of Rome had a monopoly on Catholicism. Sorry to burst your bubble, but this is not the case.

Catholic means "universal". To be a Catholic is to affirm the 4 Ecumenical Creeds. To be Catholic is to have a faith that has apostolicity and a direct connection with the succession lines of the Apostles. To be Catholic is to have the Eucharist as the center of our worship.

Under this category, there are many streams of Christianity that are Catholic.

In fact, many protestants traditions, especially the mainlines, still recite that part of the Nicene Creed that says "We believe in the holy, catholic and apostolic church", affirming their connection to this ancient apostolic tradition.

Before there was a Holy, Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church there was the Catholic church. Catholicism predates Roman Catholicism.

This may be hard to believe for those of you who see Roman Catholicism as the One True Church that Christ instituted, as I used to.

Why leave Roman Catholicism?
There are many things why I'm contemplating the move. One reason is that, theologically and ideologically, I'm not perfectly lined up with Roman Catholic doctrines and ideologies. I'm sure that if someone went all medieval on me and put me through an inquisition, I will fail the requirements to be considered a "true" Roman Catholic.

Another reason is what seems to me the arrogance from the Roman Catholic church to still call and consider itself the "One True Church of Christ", and seeing all churches as imperfect members of the Body of Christ.

They get to dictate who is in or out. They get to say to heaven "this is so" and expect heaven to simply follow suit (and yes, I know the keys of heaven, the tie and untie verses they base this on), with little consideration of how the God of Heaven thinks of the situation.

They get to declare protestants ordained orders, even Anglican Holy Orders, as "null and void" because they didn't follow the "form and matter". or simply said, they didn't follow the ordination rites with  the same words they do, ignoring the fact that the apostles themselves never ordained people to the ministry the way Roman Catholics do, and yet they dare to say that their Eucharist is not really the body of Christ, as if they really knew this.

Do they really think that God is up in heaven thinking, "oh...wait, you didn't say the right words exactly as the Romans Catholics do to ordain this Bishop, sorry no ordination grace to you buddy"?

Can the distribution of Grace be given by God so arbitrarily? We are ministers of His Grace, not the owners of it, with the authority to say who God gives it to or not.

They get to close communion to those who believe in Christ, and yet not in everything the institutional Roman Catholic church says we must, making belief in the institution more important than belief in Christ.

They deny women to the ordained ministry, even to the diaconate, despite the early church's practice of it, and the biblical mention of deaconesses, and they starting doing so by saying that women "are imperfect members of the body" and inherently more sinful than men.

They also say that since women were not present at the institution of the Eucharist, they cannot preside over it. Only men were there, therefore, only men can preside over the Eucharist.

First, there is scholarly debate about this, some saying that women could, and most likely were present at the Last Supper.

But even if they didn't, following this logic leads to dangerous places. First, only Jews could preside over the Eucharist, since only Jews were present at the institution of the first Eucharist.

Second, only men could partake of the Eucharist, if not, how could you justify the dividing of the command to "take and eat" from "do this in remembrance of me"? Jesus made no distinction between both of these commands. Where, therefore, do we get the authority to say that women can eat the Body of Christ, and so obey Christ's command to "take and eat" but not to preside over the Eucharist, so they cannot follow the other command to "do this in remembrance of me"?

If we really followed this logic then only Jews could preside over the Eucharist, and only men could partake of it, since only Jewish men were present at the institution of the Eucharist.

There are many reasons more, but these suffice.

Why Anglicanism?
Anglicanism is a stream of Catholicism that cherish both Catholic traditions and protestants traditions. From my understanding of it, they don't consider themselves "the one true Church" but simply a part of the Catholic Church.

They celebrate both Catholic and protestant saints. In fact, they celebrated Archbishop Romero years before the Roman Catholic Church decided he was a martyr after all.

They would not frown upon my love of protestant authors and music, as I find many Roman Catholics do when I tell them about it.

Did I ever tell you about the time I was leading a choir for the youth group in my local Roman Catholic parish, and was told not to sing "Christian" songs anymore, but only "Catholic" songs? We sang some Christian songs because those were the youth's favorites!

Anglicanism also leaves me room to breathe theologically, without the demand made on me that I agree perfectly with all their traditions in order to be in.

Anglicanism allows for the ordination of women as well.

Why haven't I made the move yet then?
This is not an easy decision, and not one that I should make hastily. Sometimes I worry about the future of Anglicanism, worrying how long they can stay together with all their differing views.

Also, sometimes I feel like I'm betraying my faith and my community. Just writing this post makes me feel like a traitor.

This is not the time for me to make this decision in my life, as I'm getting ready to get married. This is just not my decision anymore. It will be my future wife's decision and mine.

Also, Pope Francis is just amazing. I never been prouder of my Pope. This seems like the worst possible time to leave. Can I still follow the Pope and not be Roman Catholic? I think so, but I'm still uneasy about it.

And so I am, in what it seems to be a long state of limbo. My mind and spirit is urging me to make a decision, to find a place to land after all these wanderings. I yearn to make a decision. And yet I must wait.

I am not to make a decision like this without prayer, and without the Lord's approval. Please keep praying for me.

2 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your forthcoming marriage.

    Praying for you.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Victor. I really appreciate your prayers. Please continue praying for me.

      God bless.

      Daniel.

      Delete

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