THE ANGLICAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
Holy Scripture
We believe the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation and serving as the final authority in matters of faith and doctrine.
While many faithful and worthwhile English translations of the Holy Bible are available, the King James Version (KJV) is the authorized text for public worship and official use in our parishes. Other translations may be used for Bible study, teaching, and other approved purposes with the permission or guidance of the Bishop.
Nourished by the Sacraments
The Anglican Catholic Church recognizes seven Sacraments, preserving the sacramental life of the undivided Church. Of these, Holy Baptism and Holy Communion are the two Gospel Sacraments instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ and are regarded as generally necessary to salvation.
The Church also joyfully administers the remaining five Sacraments: Confirmation, Penance (Reconciliation), Holy Matrimony, Holy Orders, and Holy Unction (Anointing of the Sick). Together, these seven Sacraments are outward and visible signs of God's inward and spiritual grace, through which He strengthens, heals, and nourishes His people throughout the Christian life.
Worship and Liturgy
The worship of the Anglican Catholic Church is grounded in the historic liturgy of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, together with the American Missal or Anglican Missal. These venerable liturgical books preserve prayers and rites whose origins extend to the earliest centuries of the Christian Church, faithfully reflecting the doctrine and worship of the Anglican Catholic tradition.
Other approved devotional texts, including the Traditional St. Augustine's Prayer Book, may be used with the authorization of the Bishop Ordinary.
The principal hymnal of the Church is The Hymnal 1940 of the Episcopal Church. Hymns Ancient and Modern, together with other approved collections of sacred music, may also be used to support the dignity, beauty, and reverence of Anglican worship.
We Believe in One God
“I believe in one God…” so begins the Nicene Creed. The Anglican Catholic Church accepts the Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed as succinct summaries of the Christian faith. The statements made in these creeds are both our personal and corporate expression of our faith.
Upholding Apostolic Roots
The Anglican Catholic Church, maintains the three major catholic orders of deacon, priest, and bishop. Our bishops are consecrated within the historic apostolic succession that traces back to the original Apostles of Jesus Christ.
In addition to the major orders, we uphold the minor orders of reader and subdeacon as well as the ancient lay vocation of deaconesses. These minor orders are not ordained but are “called and set apart” lay ministries for the good of the Church.
The Church is holy
The first mission of the Church is the worship of Almighty God. And it is in this context that the holiness of individual members is realized. Our worship is elegant, respectfully formal, essentially timeless in its form and attitude. That does not make it an historic relic or a sterile ritual. Rather it is a structured worship that allows the individual mastery over its elements and the ability to pray the liturgy on a deeply personal basis. Yes, our prayers are largely “written down,” but this is so we may use them as familiar and personal avenues to God. Nothing to our mind is more productive of passivity in worship than to have someone else pray for you in ways and words you are hearing for the first time and which cannot be your own (or with which you may, in fact, disagree!). Our liturgy provides the foundation for personal holiness, for the continuing process of each member to stretch and reach and grow in God’s grace.
The Church is catholic
St. Vincent of Lerins in the early fifth century defined catholicity as “what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.” It is by this test that we Anglicans consider ourselves to be catholic, together with the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholicism and the Old Catholic Churches. The seal of that is the apostolic succession, the consecration of our bishops at the hands of other bishops tracing their consecrations back to the apostles themselves. Our theology is that of the seven Ecumenical Councils and the common understanding of the great churches of Rome and the East. We stress the underlying unity of faith and order with this early Church and judge contemporary issues in the light of Holy Scriptures and that Holy Tradition. We preach an individual living faith in Jesus Christ, but stress a life lived out in the Church, the community of saints. We exalt the Lord Christ above all – yet it recognizes the proper honor paid to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. We hold to traditional Christian morals yet provide ready confession and absolution to the penitent sinner. In short, we hold to the catholic faith, the faith once delivered to the saints.
The Church is traditional
By this time, you will have gathered that we are not interested in being “blown by every wind of doctrine”. Trees deeply rooted do not succumb to passing breezes. We are sorry that so many of our Christian brethren have decided to take as their examples of life the passing whims and fancies of the popular culture. We are not trendy. We believe in an historic faith which is a “still point in a changing world”. The Church is a rock, a sure foundation on which we can build our own lives and the lives of our children.