Did you all really split from Rome just so Henry VIII could get a divorce?

It’s not that simple. It wasn’t unheard of before and during the 16th century, for kings to request annulments from the Pope in order to secure a wife who was able to bear an heir to the throne. Henry’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon, gave birth to a daughter, Mary. Henry’s second wife, Anne Bolyn, gave birth to a daughter, Elizabeth. Not until Henry’s third marriage, to Jane Seymour, did he receive the male heir he sought. The Pope was reluctant to grant the necessary annulment for political reasons, namely due to pressure from Catherine’s nephew, Emperor Charles V. Henry eventually had his first two marriages declared “invalid” for various reasons, a maneuver that earned him a formal excommunication from the Pope — either by Pope Clement VII in 1533 or Pope Paul III in 1538, depending on who you ask. Henry died still believing himself to be a devout Roman Catholic and he entrusted the further reforms of the state and church to his only son, the child-king, Edward VI. The Reformation in England was dominated by the vision of a reformed Catholicism, in distinction to the “harder” reforms of the Continental protestants. And just as the Protestant reformation was taking place throughout Europe, so too was Rome in the midst of reform, the fruits of which were revealed and codified at the Council of Trent in the middle and latter 16th century.

So, you’re just like Roman Catholics except you ordain women and married people?

It’s probably more true to say that the fact The Episcopal Church ordains women and married people reveals the fruits of a very fundamental difference from Rome — namely, that Jesus was incarnated not just as a man, but as a (hu)man. Episcopalians take this to mean that, in fact, any human being, properly called and ordained by the community of faith, may stand in persona Christi (in the person/place of Christ). Further still, because we believe that the priest also stands in persona ekklesia (in the person/place of the gathered community), and since their are women and married people in the community — not to mention people who also happen to be black or hispanic or gay or lesbian or whatever — it’s only reasonable that the ordained priesthood should mirror the diversity of the gathered community. We consider this openness to ordaining “real people with real lives” to be a gift not only within The Episcopal Church, but also a gift for the larger Body of Christ.

Why are you all so obsessed with pretty vestments and fancy worship?

We’re fussy about our fabulous vestments because we believe our worship offers a true foretaste of the heavenly banquet, not only by consuming bread and wine and hearing the chorus of angels around the altar, but also in seeing with our eyes and hearing with our ears the beauty of heaven. Worship, for Episcopalians, isn’t just about showing up to hear the Word of God, but is about participating in the drama of salvation, wherein God comes among us to instruct, to console, to nourish, to bless, and to send us forth as bearers of Good News — sight to the blind, freedom to the captive, life to those living in death. Our pretty vestments and fancy worship demonstrate that we take this all very seriously. Though these sometimes becomes distractions and ends in themselves, they’re intented, nonetheless, to give us a glimpse of that Kingdom toward which all our service in the world is directed. Incense anyone?

Why do you all talk about sex so much?

Because a) sex is good and b) sex is a precious gift to be cared for. No doubt, sex is a hot topic in the Church these days — especially in regard to the nature and function of our sexual identities. The Church has long struggled to include and affirm the whole person, libido and all. But to be more specific, the full inclusion and affirmation of homosexual persons is a going concern because the conversation involves a significant re-appraisal of the Church’s fundamental building blocks — Scripture, reason, and tradition. This weighty topic isn’t simply about justice or injustice, but is about how faithful people in the Church on all sides of the conversation disagree about the nature of biblical authority and interpretation — and also, some would suggest, on nature of the Church itself. In question is the role of ‘reason’ as an interpretive tool for discovering the ’second’ and ‘third’ meanings of Scripture, when the ‘first’ (or ‘literal’) meaning of Scripture is no longer contextually tenable today — e.g. creation narratives, levitical codes, cultural imperialism, slavery, women in the church, gays and lesbians in the church, etc. The Episcopal Church is generally friendly toward modern science and, thus, takes seriously new insights about the nature of the world and humankind within it. As a result, the biblical and cultural ‘traditions’ we inherit are forever evolving as we seek in every time and place to offer the best possible witness to the core Truth of the Christian gospel — that light will overcome darkness, that freedom will overcome captivity, and that life will overcome death. While TEC remains internally conflicted regarding the full inclusion and affirmation of our glbt brothers and sisters, most Episcopalians (if General Convention is any indication) nonetheless believe that our general trajectory in light of the Gospel is headed in the right direction. Since we believe the Church is the Kingdom-bearer in the world, it matters to us that our witness have some integrity to it — so we air our dirty laundry not as a witness to the allure of our own navels, but as a means by which we demonstrate the constant nudge of God’s Spirit to seek ever-wider circles of reconciliation and peace within the Body and the world we exist to serve. The Church, and the Gospel is shares, is for all people — as God created them — even when our evolving understanding of ourselves conflicts with the understanding of our Judeo-Christian forebearers.

Isn’t the Episcopal Church just for rich folks and smarty pants?

Why are their so many drinking jokes about Episcopalians?

How come you all don’t talk more about ’sin’?