Whom Seek Ye?

By Fr Jonathan Munn OblOSB

A little guide for those preparing to enter the Anglican Catholic Church, exploring their faith, or perhaps a little curious as to who we are. This book contains exercises to help explain the Catholic Faith as understood by Anglican Catholics.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Sep 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9781470943202

Book preview

Foreword

By the Rt Rev Damien Mead

Bishop Ordinary - Diocese of the United Kingdom

Anglican Catholic Church

This book has been written to fulfil an important and urgent need for this Diocese in providing an opportunity for newcomers to the Anglican Catholic Church to explore what we believe and why. There is nothing new or unique in our Faith and Practice as traditional Anglican Catholics, we do not claim to be THE one true Church - but believe we are part of THE One True Church. Father Jonathan Munn, OblOSB, has risen to the challenge I gave him when commissioning this book and I thank him and heartily recommend it.

Everyone comes to the same Christian Faith from a different direction, and we believe that, while the Church’s doctrine is fixed, our journey to and within that doctrine is not and needs careful guidance. There can be no one-size-fits-all approach to catechism (teaching the faith) especially in the present day and age in which self-discovery is high in the minds of people. There is, within the following pages, clear opportunity and direction for the newcomer to learn from discussion with a mentor. One simply cannot learn the faith by books: it must be lived with others. Even the reading of Holy Scripture needs to be read in a Christian community for it to inform and encourage the soul.

Readers can rest assured that, although the Anglican Catholic Church is very small in the United Kingdom, it has people within it who are happy to share their journeys to God with those who are interested. The practice of the Catholic Religion must come from the heart. This book seeks to help reconcile what we believe with what we do, and readers would do well to see how the Works of Mercy fit in with their lives. Our duty to tend to the needs of others must be informed by what we believe, and not the other way around as some may think in this day and age.

  +Damien

Chapter 1: Who am I?

You

Let us begin with you. If you are reading this, then you are probably making a decision to be received into the Anglican Catholic Church, or Baptised or Confirmed as a Christian. You are thinking about this decision because it matters to you a great deal even if you can’t always put your thoughts and feelings into words. There is a desire within you to come closer to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and you are trying to see if we, the Anglican Catholic Church, can help you find God. Hopefully, you have a Mentor – a priest or experienced layperson – to help you work your way through your preparation. This Guide is designed to help you think through the central issues of what we believe, and help you develop your understanding so that you can begin a purposeful life in the Christian Faith. Please do the exercises that follow so that you can make the most of this preparation time, and come to enter the Church as a member of the Body of Christ.

Perhaps:

In all three cases, this is about you and your relationship with the Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Know now that we are very excited about getting to know you as a member with us and look forward to helping you make your decision. Let us start with an exercise.

Exercise 1.1

Think about your expectations for what lies ahead in this preparation. Who do you understand God to be? How would you describe your relationship with Him right now? Discuss these with your Mentor.

Us

Before we examine what we believe and how we express it, we ought to say a little bit about ourselves so that you can understand where we’re coming from and thus see how we approach the same questions that you’re asking. Remember, these are very likely to be the same questions that many Christians have asked through the centuries.

We are the Anglican Catholic Church, and we believe ourselves to be inheritors of the Catholic Faith as received historically through the Church in England.

We’re not Roman Catholic: while we venerate the Pope as the Patriarch of the West, and thus our patriarch, the Faith that we see in History tells us that he is the first bishop among brother bishops, not as a monarch over them.¹ Neither can we accept that all Roman Catholic beliefs are part of the Ancient Catholic Faith. In our understanding, Catholic is not the same as Roman Catholic. We will come back to that point later when we discuss what we mean by Catholic.

We’re not the Church of England: while much of our history is common with the Established Church in the United Kingdom, their understanding of how the Church relates to Society is different from ours. They believe that the Christian Faith can and should adapt to fit the understanding of the society around them. We believe that the Christian Faith cannot change in such a way, but rather issues a challenge to everyone to be faithful to God and thus bring a greater sense of His Love in the world on His terms and not ours.

We are a tiny church, and many would regard us as being eccentric and a little bit awkward, but we have life-changing beliefs which we largely have in common with all Catholic Churches. Our sole purpose is to spread the Good News of Christ’s love through the Ancient Catholic Faith once received by the Twelve Disciples, and to help guide people in living out that very faith. This includes you.

Exercise 1.2

What do you want the Anglican Catholic Church to do for you? What are your expectations of us? Discuss these with your Mentor. How might they answer the same questions?

You will probably now have more questions than answers. That’s healthy: we cannot expect all our questions to be answered at once. Indeed, we will probably spend most of our lives asking the same questions and never find a satisfactory answer. This little guide will show you how we, the Anglican Catholic Church begin when we have difficult questions. It probably won’t answer all your questions but we hope it will set you on the road to discovery. One good question to start with is, Who is God?

Chapter 2: Who is God?

We begin to look at what the Church believes. To do so, we must start looking at what the Church proclaims in the most important statement of Faith that we recite each Sunday at Mass.

The Nicene Creed

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge both the quick and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life; who proceedeth from the Father [and the Son]; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified; who spake by the prophets.

And I believe one holy catholic and apostolic Church. I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.

This Creed is the basis of our faith. There are two other creeds that we affirm: the Apostles’ Creed is an abbreviation of the Nicene Creed and can be heard at Mattins and Evensong; the Athanasian Creed expands what we understand by the Holy Trinity. It is a longer creed than the Nicene Creed, but is still read regularly during the Church Year. There are no other Christian Creeds which speak about the faith as fully, or as truthfully as these three. We have included the Apostles’ and Athanasian Creed in the Appendix.

Exercise 2.1

Read the Apostles’ Creed and the Athanasian Creed. Note how they are different and, yet, note how they are saying the same things.

I believe

To believe literally means to hold something beloved. We say that we believe in our best friend when we trust them not to hurt us. We say that we believe in our husband or wife when we make our marriage vows and promise to keep them. We say that we believe in free health care, or in the right to free speech, if we hold these principles so strongly that we build our lives around that belief. Beliefs grow and change with us, but we may still hold onto them with the same sense of conviction. When we say that we believe it will rain tomorrow, what we are really saying is that we believe in our understanding of how nature works. We might be wrong, but that we are willing to trust in the way things appear to be working. When we cannot be absolutely certain, we must rely on our beliefs.

Exercise 2.2

What would you say that you believe in right now? How does it affect your life? Discuss this with your Mentor.

As Christians, we say that we believe in God. This Creed above sets out what that belief means. We may not understand it, but we don’t have to. Our beliefs will develop and grow the more we try to understand. We just have to allow what we believe to change our lives, slowly but surely, in our own time. There will be many things that challenge our belief, but we should meet that challenge head on with honesty and see just how our belief meets that challenge. The Christian Faith is being challenged every day. However, the Church exists to be with you on your journey and to benefit from your membership too.

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty

Fundamentally, Christians first believe in only one God. God first revealed Himself to humanity – we did not find Him! – and the Old Testament is the testimony of the Hebrews who first saw Who God is. Read this excerpt from the third