Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message
“Catholic”
August 19, 2015
Parishioners occasionally ask me why the creed uses the word
“catholic” when it says we believe in one holy apostolic church. For some, the usage seems strange given the
fact that we are not Roman Catholics.
Many know that the word is Greek, kat’ –holikos, “according to the
whole” and treat the word as a dolled up version of the word “universal.” But it still feels strange.
August 17 was the feast day for Samuel Johnson, Timothy
Cutler, and Thomas Bradbury Chandler in the Holy Women, Holy Men cycle of
commemoration. These three were American
colonials in the 18th century who founded Anglicanism in the New
World. Johnson and Cutler were
Congregationalist ministers
who became
profoundly dissatisfied with the rampant dissent and local power
struggles
inherent in Congregationalist Church polity and doctrinal formation.
They found that Anglicanism and the tradition of the Church, its links to
antiquity, and its view of Biblical authority mediated by tradition and
reason remedied the quirkiness of American religion. The
comprehensiveness of prayer book worship was the way to escape what they
saw as
the peculiarities and solecisms of church life based in local
congregations.
They sought Anglican orders and brought the Church to America. Chandler was a student of Johnson who was
instrumental in building the Anglican Church here.
The idea of the Church as catholic is that the Church is
more than its local embodiment. Its
liturgy is more than local usage. Its
teaching is more than what we learned from the specific people who taught
us. This is more than just
geographical: the comprehensive and universal nature of the Church extends
through time as well.
The 1928 Prayer Book has a liturgy of instruction that reads, "Catholic
[means] it is universal, holding earnestly the Faith for all time, in
all countries, and for all people; and is sent to preach the Gospel to
the whole world" (p. 291). Catholic in this sense means being true to the faith given to the apostles and those who
followed them. This is often expressed
by valuing the Nicene and Apostle’s Creeds, as well as the first four (or
seven) ecumenical councils of the united Church.
Our catholicism is one the reasons that people coming to
traditional Episcopal worship from Roman or Eastern Orthodox communities see
much that they recognize as their own.
It is also why Lutherans and Methodists, and even perhaps today's
Congregationalists, do not feel too far from us.
The centrifugal forces at work in society and history are such
that each community tends more and more toward its unique character. And that is fine, as long as it means
authenticity and honesty. But
crankiness, eccentricity, and leaving the heart of the riches of the Gospel,
once taught and preached by the apostles, is no virtue.
For many, the word “catholic” implies dogmatism, legalistic
brand-consciousness, and exclusion. That
comes from how some have focused too much on the externals of the
tradition and defining and excluding heresy. But at its heart, catholic
faith is the opposite of these. It means
comprehensiveness, connection to others beyond our own horizon in place and
time, and a broad openness to God’s grace.
Grace and Peace,
Fr. Tony+
No comments:
Post a Comment