The Differences Between The Catholic and The Episcopal Church

For the past 5 or 6 years, I've always said that the Catholic Mass and the Episcopal Mass were exactly the same word for word: That they differed at one point where we pause for breath and Catholics pause for breath two syllables later.

In the prayer that starts "Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might ...", the way I learned to say it as a child in the Catholic Church was: "Holy Holy Holy, (pause) Lord God of Power and Might ..." which I take to mean HOLY HOLY HOLY -- a litany, "magic words"; LORD GOD -- we're talking to God, calling him "Lord God", a mark of our respect and obedience; OF POWER AND MIGHT is simply more of what we are calling Him, an additional title. Whereas, as I understand it in the Anglican Church, it is said more naturally -- HOLY, HOLY -- not a litany, but more similar to "Hosanna", which is often repeated; HOLY LORD -- we are talking to Him, calling Him "Holy", an indication of His Divinity and His Love for us, and when we say GOD OF POWER AND MIGHT, we are talking about God in the third person. I don't see that as actually a "difference", or a difference to be worth noting, just that it's a funny quirky thing.

I miss the ringing of the bells, and the altar boys. Although my church has had boy and girl acolytes in the opening procession, they don't sit at the altar during mass, and they don't "serve mass". I know that for many Catholics, the ringing of the bells announce certain "invisible" events that are taking place during the mass. I just miss the sound of the bells.

I have a "weak" belief in Transubstantiation, because I learned it at a very young age. To me, the Host WAS God. There was no doubt about it. I did not know why. I did not question. But I believed that God was in Heaven watching down at us, that God was all around us, all the time, and that God was most definitely in the chalice in that little house behind the altar. That is why one genuflects when entering or leaving a Catholic Church, one is submitting one's allegiance to Christ who is up at the front of the church -- using the same gesture as medieval knights used with their king.

To think that we take the bread and wine, and that at some point, Christ "infuses" Himself into the bread and wine so that it truly become The Flesh and Blood of Christ which only looks and tastes like bread and wine -- does my head in to actually have to do the math. So I do believe in Communion as "symbol", just that at the back of my head, I have a sneaky suspicion that it's not just that.

I think that the holy rites of Confession, Penance, and Absolution COULD BE a very powerful psycho-spiritual experience. And that adding the Act of Contrition to the mass just doesn't cut it. Everyone needs to sit in a darkened box, and talk to a disembodied voice -- offering up one's Soul, and receiving Absolution. Not that it ever has been that in the Catholic Church. Penance, being the command to say a certain number of certain prayers has NOTHING to do with Atonement, with Striving Towards Correction, or Forgiveness. But the practice could be ever so much more.

If I had a child, I would want him to go to confession, because I went to confession at the ages of 7, 8, 9 and it strikes me as heart-warming and cute. But the Catholic attitude towards Sin could be a very harmful thing to be exposed to.

I grew up with the Mysteries, the belief in Magic, and the superstitions of the Church -- and that without that, most of it doesn't hold together or make sense. I know that Anglicanism is more reasonable, human, and sensible.

I believed, or I did believe as a child -- that the priest was my direct conduit to God. That the words he said were OF God. I was not sophisticated enough to make a distinction between what he said -- at the pulpit, in the confessional, or at the Christmas Bazaar. It's been my belief that an Episcopal priest facilitates one's spiritual quest. That rather than as a "shepherd to his flock", he's on more of an equal footing with his parishoners. That respect for Human Autonomy is, to me, a cornerstone of Anglicanism, and is why I am an Episcopalian.