I'd start an Ask An Episcopalian thread, but

[Liz CA]

Has anyone mentioned sitting on different sides of the aisles; it means something specific - but I forgot the names.

Is this still practiced?

[Crimson Wife]

Do you find the term WASP to be pejorative, or is it sometimes ok to use?

I can't speak for anyone else, but my mom's side of the family are Scottish and Episcopalian/Anglican and they definitely use the term.

[Crimson Wife]

Has anyone mentioned sitting on different sides of the aisles; it means something specific - but I forgot the names.

Is this still practiced?

I'd be curious about this because it's something I'm not familiar with at all despite growing up with a mom who is Episcopalian and visiting her or relatives' churches several times per year.

[Mbelle]

Oh boy this thread just lets me know why I can't go to an Episcopal church anymore.  I love love love it and yet the confusion is so crazy.  Oh yeah and the apathy.  Why do you think there is so much apathy?

 

I also can't go to any "Anglican" churches in my area either.  Gosh the whole stupid church thing drives me insane.  I'm not as liberal as the current Episcopal church, but no way am I as conservative as the "Anglicans"  plus all the ones in my area are die hard Calvinist and I sure can't be doing that either.  Why do you think the "Anglicans" are all Calvinist?

 

I have to say though there is nothing like Episcopal/Anglican liturgy.  Love it.

 

There is one conservative Episcopal church in our area and it is growing, but gosh I'm pretty conservative with theology, but not politics or social and wow when I heard the priest preaching a sermon on a conservative topic I almost couldn't listen to him and then I found out he's from SC.  I don't want to play around with any potential church splits.  Too dramatic. Would that concern you if you went to an Episcopal church and it was conservative and the priest was from SC? 

 

I have visited the Catholic churches a bit lately and we may end up doing that, but the liturgy is just so lacking...at least in our area. I'll have to figure that out.

 

Maybe I'm turning apathetic too..lol maybe I should go back to the Episcopal church.  I'm so pragmatic now.  Liturgical church and with a few homeschoolers that attend.  How many Episcopalians homeschool?

 

edited:  I realized I didn't ask any questions after I saw the comment below.  My apologies.

 

 

[Mbelle]

I thought sitting on the different sides is simply to do with the Christ candle on one side of the altar and the gospel candle on the other side.

 

So you either sit on the Christ side or the Gospel side?

[PrincessMommy]

Oh boy this thread just lets me know why I can't go to an Episcopal church anymore.  I love love love it and yet the confusion is so crazy.  Oh yeah and the apathy.  

 

I also can't go to any "Anglican" churches in my area either.  Gosh the whole stupid church thing drives me insane.  I'm not as liberal as the current Episcopal church, but no way am I as conservative as the "Anglicans"  plus all the ones in my area are die hard Calvinist and I sure can't be doing that either.

 

I have to say though there is nothing like Episcopal/Anglican liturgy.  Love it.

 

There is one conservative Episcopal church in our area and it is growing, but gosh I'm pretty conservative with theology, but not politics or social and wow when I heard the priest preaching a sermon on a conservative topic I almost couldn't listen to him and then I found out he's from SC.  I don't want to play around with any potential church splits.  Too dramatic.  

 

I have visited the Catholic churches a bit lately and we may end up doing that, but the liturgy is just so lacking...at least in our area. 

 

Maybe I'm turning apathetic too..lol maybe I should go back to the Episcopal church.  I'm so pragmatic now.  Liturgical church and with a few homeschoolers that attend.  

 

While I understand your frustration, I don't think this is the purpose of this or the other, "ask a....", threads.

 

[Crimson Wife]

I've never heard the term WASP applied to Episcopals. It must be a regional thing

I think it's mostly a Northeastern (especially New England) thing. If you were English or Scottish, you were most likely an Episcopalian or other mainline Protestant (UCC, Presbyterian, Methodist, etc.) If you were Irish, Italian, Polish, French, or Portuguese, you were most likely Catholic. If you were Greek or Slavic, you were probably EO. Germans were about 50/50 Catholic or mainline Protestant. I knew a handful of Jews, Unitarians, Mormons, and Christian Scientists growing up but no Evangelicals or any of the non-Western religions (Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, etc.) The African-Americans I knew were mostly Catholic.

[Mbelle]

While I understand your frustration, I don't think this is the purpose of this or the other, "ask a....", threads.

 

Oh sorry!  I went back and edited to fit the format.

[Kathryn]

Oh boy this thread just lets me know why I can't go to an Episcopal church anymore. I love love love it and yet the confusion is so crazy. Oh yeah and the apathy. Why do you think there is so much apathy?

 

I also can't go to any "Anglican" churches in my area either. Gosh the whole stupid church thing drives me insane. I'm not as liberal as the current Episcopal church, but no way am I as conservative as the "Anglicans" plus all the ones in my area are die hard Calvinist and I sure can't be doing that either. Why do you think the "Anglicans" are all Calvinist?

 

I have to say though there is nothing like Episcopal/Anglican liturgy. Love it.

 

There is one conservative Episcopal church in our area and it is growing, but gosh I'm pretty conservative with theology, but not politics or social and wow when I heard the priest preaching a sermon on a conservative topic I almost couldn't listen to him and then I found out he's from SC. I don't want to play around with any potential church splits. Too dramatic. Would that concern you if you went to an Episcopal church and it was conservative and the priest was from SC?

 

I have visited the Catholic churches a bit lately and we may end up doing that, but the liturgy is just so lacking...at least in our area. I'll have to figure that out.

 

Maybe I'm turning apathetic too..lol maybe I should go back to the Episcopal church. I'm so pragmatic now. Liturgical church and with a few homeschoolers that attend. How many Episcopalians homeschool?

 

edited: I realized I didn't ask any questions after I saw the comment below. My apologies.

I live in SC. I was in the Diocese of Upper South Carolina, which was known to be more liberal than the Diocese of South Carolina. Our priest once interviewed for a position in the other diocese and was told by their bishop there was no way he'd ever get a job at any parish in that diocese.

 

As for homeschoolers, where I am, I know of a couple of Episcopalian homeschooling families. It's about the same as Catholic and Orthodox.

[Chris in VA]

Has anyone mentioned sitting on different sides of the aisles; it means something specific - but I forgot the names.

Is this still practiced?

 

The two sides are the Gospel side and the Epistle side. As you look at the altar, the Gospel side is on the left. Traditionally, it is the side where the Gospel is read, and the Epistle is read on the other side.

 

But that's in a traditionally structured (architecturally) church.

 

In my church, which is colonial, the Gospel is processed into the middle of the congregation, and the Epistle is read on the side, below the pulpit.

 

Epistle side/Gospel side don't really "mean" anything WRT worship.

 

[Chris in VA]

Why do you think the "Anglicans" are all Calvinist?

 

Calvinist how? Calvinism doesn't jive with the official Episcopal teachings.

 

[trinchick]

Thanks for starting this thread, Chris. I'm a cradle Episcopalian and just joined my parish's vestry this year, but I still didn't know about a lot of the items mentioned in this thread!

 

For instance, we are definitely an "open table" parish in that each week the priest says, "The Lord's table is set, and all are welcome." But when I was growing up it was "All baptized Christians are welcome to receive," which evolved to "All who are moved by the Holy Spirit are invited to receive." I had no idea that this wasn't the case throughout all churches and that my parish are actually rebels. Go us!

 

And as a New England Episcopalian (and a WASP), I have mixed feelings about the term. A lot of it has to do with the intention of the speaker. I agree with the PP who said the distinction is a bigger deal in the northeast, where Protestants are greatly outnumbered by Catholics. I consider the divide more ethnic than religious in that it is differentiating the "Anglo-Saxon" from the Irish and Italian (who are more traditionally Catholic). That used to have greater meaning in terms of socio-economic status; thankfully, those days have largely gone to the wayside. 

[Laurie4b]

Do you find the term WASP to be pejorative, or is it sometimes ok to use?

 

I grew up in an area where it was used,and consider it descriptive of a demographic group (white, Brit heritage, Protestant). I  have never seen or heard anything about it being connected specifically with the Episcopalian church. It fit Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Quakers, etc as well. However, since it's an elitist term, it's possible that it was associated with Episcopals, because they tended to have a rep as being where the wealthiest went to church.

 

It could well be ASPs :) instead since if one is Anglo-Saxon, I'm pretty sure that one is white. So Protestants of British descent. There were some WASP jokes in our area, told by WASPs, which when you are in the majority, is not a big deal. However, I can see others using it to denote the elitist ruling class.

 

Back in the day, the big issue was the Protestant-Catholic divide. There was a sad love story in my extended family in which a woman (WASP) was in love with an Italian who was Catholic. They ate dinner together every day of their lives till she died. They never married, though, because opposition from both families was too strong. Sad.

 

I think it also hearkens to a day when WASPs were the majority and bigotry extended to other Europeans who were not Anglo-Saxon, so Italians, Greeks, etc. maybe even back to the bigotry against the Irish. That may or may not have been religiously based; could also have been cultural prejudice.

 

While I don't find it pejorative to use of the demographic group I belong to, I do suspect that it was elitist--ie WASPs constituted the majority in certain areas of the country.

[ktgrok]

Oh boy this thread just lets me know why I can't go to an Episcopal church anymore.  I love love love it and yet the confusion is so crazy.  Oh yeah and the apathy.  Why do you think there is so much apathy?

 

I also can't go to any "Anglican" churches in my area either.  Gosh the whole stupid church thing drives me insane.  I'm not as liberal as the current Episcopal church, but no way am I as conservative as the "Anglicans"  plus all the ones in my area are die hard Calvinist and I sure can't be doing that either.  Why do you think the "Anglicans" are all Calvinist?

 

I have to say though there is nothing like Episcopal/Anglican liturgy.  Love it.

 

There is one conservative Episcopal church in our area and it is growing, but gosh I'm pretty conservative with theology, but not politics or social and wow when I heard the priest preaching a sermon on a conservative topic I almost couldn't listen to him and then I found out he's from SC.  I don't want to play around with any potential church splits.  Too dramatic. Would that concern you if you went to an Episcopal church and it was conservative and the priest was from SC? 

 

I have visited the Catholic churches a bit lately and we may end up doing that, but the liturgy is just so lacking...at least in our area. I'll have to figure that out.

 

Maybe I'm turning apathetic too..lol maybe I should go back to the Episcopal church.  I'm so pragmatic now.  Liturgical church and with a few homeschoolers that attend.  How many Episcopalians homeschool?

 

edited:  I realized I didn't ask any questions after I saw the comment below.  My apologies.

 

I think I understand you. I was the same way. Ended up in the Catholic Church, but I do miss the Episcopal liturgy. There is actually one of the Anglican Ordinariate parishes not far from me, but they seem a bit "holier than thou" from their website...haven't made it over there. Plus, it's the English Missal, not the Book of Common Prayer, so still wouldn't be what I'm used to. So I still with my regular old Novus Ordo Catholic Mass. I'm dying to drive a few towns over for a Latin Mass though. Communion at an altar rail, etc. 

[Laurie4b]

What is the status of relations between the Episcopal or Anglican churches and the Roman Catholic Church?

[Chris in VA]

Not sure exactly how to answer, Laurie4b, but this I do know--

 

Episcopal priests can go over to the Catholic church. They can keep their marriages if married.  They are being quietly invited--not "recruited," exactly, but for those Ep priests who don't want to stay because of the acceptance of gay and women priests/bishops, it is a way to stay a priest.

 

All Catholics can take Eucharist in Episcopal Churches according to the Episcopal Church, but it doesn't "count" as going to a valid Mass according to the Catholic Church. They are not "in communion" with each other.

 

They are unofficially getting closer, though, IMO.

 

Is that sorta what you wanted to know?

[MIch elle]

What should have been said, is that "All baptized Christians" are welcome at the table. Any denomination is fine. But Baptism is a requirement.

 

No, baptism is NOT a requirement.  It depends on the priest and church.  My dc were raised Episcopal and received communion WITHOUT baptism. 

[Chris in VA]

No, baptism is NOT a requirement.  It depends on the priest and church.  My dc were raised Episcopal and received communion WITHOUT baptism. 

 

A priest who offers communion to someone s/he knows is not baptised is not following the rubrics and canons of the church.

It happens.

It isn't the "official policy."