Catholics And Episcopalians Essay, Research Paper

Catholics vs. Episcopalians, is there truly a distinction? When I recollect on

my religious tradition, Catholicism, I ponder on just how different it is in

practice and theology from that of protestant traditions. When examining I came

to compare how deeply Catholics and Episcopalians are divided on questions of

political and religious leadership? Through research I have concluded that

Catholics and Episcopalians are vastly separated in political and religious

leadership and this factor is the foremost distinction between the two

traditions. Since the establishment of the Episcopalian Church we can see the

link between the Church of England and further with the Roman Catholic Church as

stated, ?It was part of the Anglican Communion, formally organized in

Philadelphia in 1789 as the successor to the Church of England in the American

Colonies. In points of doctrine, worship, and ministerial order, the church

descended from and has remained associated with the Church of England. The

history of the church began with the first permanent English settlement at

Jamestown, Va., in 1607.? (Encyclopedia Britannica Online) The establishment

of the Episcopalian Church was in fact for political and religious leadership

freedom from its ties with The Church of England and in conjunction freedom from

the Catholic Church. The differences in church organization are prevalent and

are the main distinction between the two traditions. The Episcopalian

organization is described as; In the organization of the church, each

self-supporting congregation (parish) elects its lay governing board (vestry)

for temporal affairs and its rector as spiritual leader. Congregations that are

not self-supporting (missions) are directed by the bishop of the area. In a

given area the parishes and missions make up a diocese, headed by a bishop. All

clergy and laity representing all congregations meet annually in convention to

conduct the business of the diocese. The convention elects the bishop to serve

until death or retirement. The dioceses and mission districts belong to the

General Convention, which meets triennially. All bishops are members of the

House of Bishops, and the House of Delegates is made up of equal numbers of

clergy and laity. The Executive Council, the administrative agency of the

General Convention, is headed by the Presiding Bishop (elected by the House of

Bishops), who also presides over the House of Bishops. (Encyclopedia Britannica

Online) In contrast the Catholic Church?s political and religious leadership

is organized in a manner that follow a distinct order. This order can be grouped

by papal authority, the Roman Curia and the college of Cardinals, the college of

bishops, ecumenical councils and the priesthood. Catholics also hold the Vatican

as the capital for Catholicism and place it as a global leadership source. The

study of these two traditions consisted of two visits to St.John?s Episcopal

Church and two visits to St.Thomas Moore Catholic Church. The comparison of

these traditions stimulated interest in me due to two factors. First, I am

Catholic and have been raised in the Catholic tradition, which stimulates much

interest in the Episcopalian tradition. This will allow me to play both roles as

an insider when I attend Catholic Church and as an outsider in the Episcopal

Church. Secondly, until this religion course I was unaware of the details in the

Episcopal Church and wanted to further examine the tradition. In preparation to

visit St.John?s Episcopal Church I felt a discomfort due to unknown rituals,

physical appearance of the church and it?s location in the downtown area. I

thought a good method of visiting the church would be to invite an Episcopalian

friend of mine. He agreed to visit the church with me and addressed the concerns

I had in visiting the church. As I soon learned the issues I was concerned

about, should not have been a concern at all. I found that the rituals were

almost identical to that of the Roman Catholic faith. Rituals such as spoken

prayers, hymns that were sung and receiving communion were done in an almost

duplicate manner. I was fortunate enough to visit St.John?s Episcopal Church

on two special occasions. On my initial visit they had baptism of newborn

infants. This was performed in the same manner as the Catholic method with the

exception that Catholics do not perform baptisms during the regular Sunday mass.

On my second visit it was Saint?s Sunday in both traditions. This experience

almost leads me to conclude that there was no difference in practicing rituals.

Both traditions reflected on given Saints during the mass and explained how one

should try to follow the examples of these Saints. The appearance of both

churches truly enhanced my experience as a visitor. Visiting these local

churches reminded me of the pulchritude I witnessed visiting Catholic churches

in Spain this past summer. Both churches are laid out similar in that they are

in a ?T? shape. The pulpit was located in the middle where everyone is

allowed to view the priest at the pulpit, although if you are seating along the

sides, you would have a side view of the mass. The method in which the pews,

windows and ceiling were constructed were also arranged similarly. The two

noticeable differences were the way the choirs were seated and the absence of a

statue of Jesus on the cross. The choir in the Episcopal Church was seated to

face each other and was significantly larger in quantity than that of the

Catholic Church. After researching why the Episcopalian Church does not have a

statue of Jesus on the cross, I was unable to determine the reason, however I

thought that it is a notable difference. Being raised in a middle class family,

I was accustom to attending church in a casual style wearing jeans and a nice

shirt. My expectation of the attire at this particular Episcopal Church followed

was correct, formal dress. Everyone in the church was in formal wear, males wore

suits, and females wore long dresses. This dress phenomenon I do not believe is

linked to a particular faith, more to the social class that makes up the church

members. One aspects that Catholics seem to appraise more than Episcopalians is

the Virgin Mary. It is not that Episcopalians do not recognize the Virgin Mary,

however they generally do not hold the caliber of importance as Catholics. In my

visits to the Catholic Church, I found statues of the Virgin Mary and people

praying over her statue. Other ritual practices which I noted to be different

was how Catholics have confession and pray the rosary. Though Episcopalians do

not practice confession, it should also be noted that the Catholic Church as

changed the magnitude of confession in the late twenty century. I have found

that Catholics are adopting the protestant way of belief of forgiveness which

has the general idea that God gave us Jesus to have a one-on-one relationship

with God through Jesus therefore eliminating the need to confess to a priest.

This argument is quite controversial and will continue to be a topic of

discussion for decades. When discussing the use of the rosary to a Episcopalian

friend of mine he stated that the tradition does not practice the use of a

rosary. This coincides with not having confession, since praying the rosary is

often something done after confession. In concluding I would have to say my

experience in surveying these different traditions was extremely educational. It

is interesting how much one can learn by exposing themselves to other traditions

and learning unfamiliar aspects of one?s tradition. The research conducted led

me to affirm my statement that there is a strong divison on political and

religious leadership between these two traditions. However, I must say what

intrigued me the most was how similar a protestant tradition is to the Catholic

tradition and the only separation being the leadership and politics.

"Protestant Episcopal Church" Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

[Accessed 15 November 1999]