Believing in.. - + Catholic Faith + + Orthodox Worship + + Apostolic Order + + ACC + Welcome Guide Diocese of the United Kingdom Find out about.. What we believe? Where to find us? How to get involved? and much more.. Contents Welcome 2 The Anglican Catholic Option 3 Why Apostolic Order? 5 The facts made easy 8 Diocese of the United Kingdom 11 Find your local ACC place of worship 14 The Northern Deanary 14 The Southern Deanary 15 Anglican Catholic Church Worldwide 26 How can I get involved? 27 Anglican Catholic Fellowship 29 Anglican Catholic Area House Groups 30 Canterbury Church Shop 30 1 Welcome Lets walk the ancient path together... Whether in grand church buildings, people’s homes, converted shops or hired halls, we seek to live out our vocation by proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ. The parishes and missions of our Diocese are open to all who seek the comfort of the Holy Sacraments, the guidance of Scripture and God’s companionship and love. We are sometimes accused of being stuck in the past. However, the greater danger for Christians today is an uncritical acceptance of new teachings and practices. Because “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), the faith of the past is the hope of the future. As God said through the prophet Jeremiah “Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls” (Jeremiah 6:16) Why not join us as we walk that ancient path together... 2 The Anglican Catholic Option Perhaps you are a ‘traditional‘ Anglican or indeed a traditionally inclined Christian of another tradition, disturbed by changes and developments in the modern Church. We welcome people of good will to worship with us and encourage you to consider joining in our work and witness. The Anglican Catholic Church is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not part of the Anglican Communion, nor are we in communion with the Church of Rome. We continue to pray for the unity of the Holy Catholic Church. As a world-wide continuing Church, we uphold Anglican Catholic tradition and teaching in Australia, USA, South America, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, parts of Africa and the United Kingdom. The Diocese of the United Kingdom was established in 1992 after the Church of England broke with catholic faith and tradition by admitting women to the priesthood. We have a validly consecrated Bishop [in apostolic succession via the Church of England], and a growing number of clergy and congregations throughout the land. Yes, to follow our way does entail sacrifice and hard work. It is therefore not an easy option. But the existence of our already organised diocese in this country, plus the hundreds of enquiries we continue to receive, bears witness that it can be done. Do you care enough about your faith to continue with us? Do you want to remain Anglicans as you were baptised and confirmed, but in a restored Anglican Church? 3 Yes, restored, and indeed fulfilled, because the Anglican Catholic Church doesn’t just continue Anglicanism of yesterday. (To do so would mean that we have not learned the lessons of yesterday, and which have led to today’s turmoil.) By its OFFICIAL adherence to the Faith of the Undivided Church and the Faith as set forth in the Seven Ecumenical Councils (something which the Anglicanism we have known never did) the Anglican Catholic Church has returned to the fullness of the Catholic and Apostolic Faith; a fullness which many Anglicans claimed was theirs, but which they could never satisfactorily claim was the official Faith of their Church until now, in the Anglican Catholic Church. Thus the Anglican Catholic Church offers a vision for the future, the ONLY vision for the future of Catholic Anglicanism in this country and elsewhere. It is Anglicanism fulfilled, CATHOLIC AND ORTHODOX, proclaiming positively the Faith of the Ages, to bring our country back to the feet of Our Lord. PLEASE CONSIDER THE ANGLICAN CATHOLIC OPTION 4 Why Apostolic Order? Bishops and the Church... A “Church” may be simply defined as a body of Christians gathered around a bishop in the Apostolic Succession. Whatever the English Reformation got right or wrong, it never abandoned the office of bishop or the requirement that every deacon, priest, or bishop must be ordained by a bishop in the Apostolic Succession. “No man shall be accounted or taken to be a lawful Bishop, Priest, or Deacon, in this Church, or suffered to execute any of the said Functions, except he be called, tried, examined, and admitted thereunto, according to the Form hereafter following, or that had Episcopal Consecration or Ordination”. (Preface to The Ordinal, BCP, p. 529). However the Church of England and her daughter Churches viewed themselves, they never allowed convert clergy from Protestant bodies without the Apostolic Succession to function as clergy without ordination by bishops, nor did they ever require or permit convert clergy from the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Churches, which do have the Apostolic Succession, to be re-ordained. There has long been a debate in Anglican circles about just how necessary bishops are for the Church. Latin tags have marked the lines of debate. Some have argued that bishops are of the esse (the very being or essence) of the Church, so that without bishops there is no true Church at all. Others have argued that bishops were of the bene esse (the well-being) of the Church, so that without bishops the Church would not be healthy but might still exist. Still others held bishops to be of the plene esse (the fullness of being) so that without bishops the Church would exist but not as fully as it might with them. 5 In other words, some held bishops to be absolutely essential, others held them to be very important, others held them to be rather a good idea. For many years the dominant view was that stated by Richard Hooker, the great Elizabethan theologian. Hooker said that if bishops were not instituted by God the Son (through his selection of the apostles) they were in any case instituted by God the Holy Ghost (through the early Church). He did not hold that Christian bodies without bishops were no Churches at all, but that they had lost something desirable and important. As time went on, however, Anglicans were more and more inclined to see bishops as essential. Whatever private theological opinions have held, however, the practice of the church has been unvarying: non-episcopal ordinations were never accepted, while episcopal ordinations always were. The exact status of non-episcopal Churches does not have to be settled. God (the Son or Holy Spirit, to follow Hooker) tells us that we must keep to bishops and ordinations by bishops only. God does not require our help in judging others who disagree with this view, unless those others wish to join us or be recognized by us in some way. The Apostolic Succession has several components. The first is the “tactile” or physical succession. That is, our bishops are always consecrated by others who are bishops, who in turn were consecrated by bishops. This succession goes back to the apostles. This tactile succession distinguishes the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and historic Anglican Churches from almost all other Christian bodies. Methodist ordinations, for instance, ultimately go back to John Wesley, who was a Church of England priest, not a bishop, and to Thomas Coke, who was made a “Superintendent” or “bishop” by Wesley. However, the tactile or physical succession of consecrations is, while necessary, not sufficient by itself to ensure the preservation of the Apostolic Succession. The physical laying on of hands by a bishop is not magic. There are two other aspects of the Apostolic Succession in particular which must also be maintained. One of these is the succession of office. In The Ordinal printed with the Prayer Book there is a requirement for the reading of “Testimonials” (p. 552). These testimonials include certification that the man has been 6 elected to a particular diocese or office as bishop. Bishops are not consecrated into a void but into a particular office, to be bishop of a particular church or body of Christians in a particular place. So when The Ordinal speaks of “the Office whereunto he is called” (p. 553), “this Office” (p. 553, emphasis added), it means not just the general order of bishops but the particular office in question. This particular diocese or office in turn has a succession. So Bishop Smith is consecrated by bishops in succession, but also is normally consecrated to be bishop of a diocese which also has a succession or list of former bishops. The third aspect of succession in addition to the tactile succession and succession of office is the succession of faith. That is, bishops not only are consecrated by other bishops for an office held by former bishops, they also are to teach and defend and preserve the faith of those former bishops which in turn was built on the faith of the apostles “once delivered to the saints” (St. Jude 3). Of course it is desirable if the individual bishops are learned and understand clearly that faith and believe it firmly with a strong, individual belief. However, what primarily is in question here is the public teaching of the bishops. There have been many bishops throughout history who privately held erroneous or very inadequate ideas about matters of doctrine or morals.