Evangelical Liberal Catholic Anglican

The Rt. Rev. Charles Grafton (1830-1912), the 2nd Bishop of Fond du Lac, described himself as “Evangelical at heart while in belief, liberal Catholics.” I like that and am happy to describe myself in those terms. Each of the historic dioceses of Wisconsin have roots in the catholic Anglican tradition going back to Bishop Jackson Kemper’s embrace of a “Reformed Catholic” church.

This is also more or less the position of other Anglican worthies of the 20^th century: Francis Hall, Charles Gore, Evelyn Underhill, William Temple, Vida Dutton Scudder, C. S. Lewis, Charles Williams, Dorothy Sayers, Austin Farrer, E. L. Mascall, Michael Ramsey, Desmond Tutu, and Kenneth Leech. We might add contemporary folk like John Milbank, Stanley Hauerwas, Sarah Coakley, and Rowan Williams. Though there are differences among them, each of these of these is fundamentally Catholic in orientation while also being informed by some Liberal and Evangelical approaches to faith.

What might it look like for us to be Catholic Anglicans in the 21^st century? Can we be “Evangelical at heart while in belief, liberal Catholics”?

Catholic

Church, the Body of Christ:

We understand the divine-human drama to be centered not on the individual but on the community of the Church. While not strictly a matter of either/or, it does matter where we put the emphasis. By the Holy Spirit, God calls us into community where we learn to love one another as God loves us and empowers us to bear that love in the world. We learn to see our solidarity with all people and the rest of creation. As the body of Christ the Church is, in a mystical sense, an extension of the Incarnation. In, with, and under that community, the Holy Spirit moves like an electric current empowering the Church to make our “life together a sign of Christ’s love to this sinful and broken world, that unity may overcome estrangement, forgiveness heal guilt, and joy conquer despair” (BCP, p. 429). We seek to live together in anticipation of the Kingdom of God and the restoration of all things. We embrace the mission of the Church “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ” (BCP, p. 855).

We will recognize the Church as central to the mission of God in the world, bearing witness to, and seeking to live in anticipation of, the Kingdom of God. It is the body of Christ and contrary to the rampant individualism of our age we will affirm that the fullness of our personal relationship with Jesus depends on our being members of that body. And that wherever people are on their spiritual journey that journey finds its clearest direction in baptism and as members of the Church. The Church is the community established by Jesus to bear witness to the reconciliation and healing of human brokenness. As such it is not insular but rather the place where we learn to see our solidarity with all people and the rest of creation.

Being Catholic Anglicans also means recognizing and celebrating that the church is not bound by time or place. For us that means that we are not just members of congregations, dioceses, or national churches, but members of the Anglican Communion.

The Church is essential. But we have no illusions of it being anything other than a treasure-bearing clay jar (2 Corinthians 4:7). We recognize that the Church has not always embodied well the love and peace of Christ. And we repent.

We acknowledge that the Church is not a closed circle but must remain open in humility to seeing what the Holy Spirit is doing elsewhere in the world. The Holy Spirit is not limited to the Church, of course. It blows where it will. But wherever else it blows, we can count on it blowing through the baptized community that is the Church.

Worship:

We place worship, particularly, the Eucharist, at the center of our lives. When we are baptized into Christ, we are made a member of his body, the Church. As the body of Christ, the Church is called to witness to and be a sign and foretaste of the kingdom of God. The central sign and practice of this body is the Eucharist. In the Eucharist, the body of Christ, the Church, is nourished by the body of Christ in the bread and wine. We remember what God has done in Christ and anticipate God’s restoration of all things in Christ. And we participate in Christ and are nourished by his body and blood. The Church is thus a Eucharistic community living in remembrance and anticipation, nourished by its participation in Christ along the way. But, partaking of the body of Christ in the Eucharist also entails judgment. Is the community – and its members – living eucharistically as the body of Christ?

Sacramental:

We embrace the centrality of the sacraments in the life of the Church and their transforming power. This is particularly true of the sacraments of Baptism and Holy Eucharist by which Christians are formed. We embrace the sacramental life of the Church. We believe in the potency of Baptism and the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist.

We also understand that sacramentality is not only something about what happens to the consecrated Bread and Wine or the water of baptism, important as they are. We learn through our involvement with the Sacraments to see the whole of creation and one another sacramentally as potential means of God’s grace.

The Christian vision is that all creation and every human being is sacramental. The universe, including all humanity, is a vast interlocking web of glory, charged with the grandeur of God. All things participate in and manifest God. Not just grand vistas and glorious sunsets, but every tree, plant, and animal. And especially each human being along with the whole human community. Creation vibrates with God who is in, with, and under it all, sustaining and cherishing everything. The stuff of creation, like some bread and wine, can bear the Presence of God. Jesus came to heal the damage done to all of this by sin and to restore our ability to see all of creation, including every human being, with God’s delight.

Apostolic Tradition:

The Baptismal Covenant calls us to “continue in the apostles’ teaching.” We embrace a robust and unapologetic affirmation of the classic creedal faith of the Church. Anglican Christianity, trusting that the Holy Spirit continues to move in the Church, looks to the tradition of the Church for guidance, particularly the first five centuries. Tradition is not the dead weight of the past but rather the momentum of centuries of Spirit-led faithfulness giving us direction and propelling us forward.

We engage the tradition of the church not as a problem to be overcome, but a community across time to which we belong and with which it is possible to dialogue. We are not be bound to a simple repetition of the past in all things. Tradition is not static. The Church needs to engage in careful, prayerful, patient discernment to avoid and resist unfaithful deviation. The basic dogma of the Church is set. But there is adaptation and development in some matters of practice. Still, we will seek continuity with the Apostles in communion with the Saints who encourage us as we run the race in our time.

Though not universally the case, we have by and large come to embrace and celebrate women in ordained ministry and tend to be more affirming of those of the LGBTQ community.

Practices:

We seek to cultivate a catholic ethos that will open our hearts and lives to the movement of the Holy Spirit and enable us to resist the spiritually corrosive effects of secularism and consumerism. We seek to reclaim classic practices disciplines that open our lives to God’s mercy and delight? Practices such as: Daily Prayer and devotion, Spiritual Direction, Confession, Regular Fasts, Observance of Holy Days, Sabbath, Commemoration of the Saints, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, etc.

Comprehensive:

A truly catholic Anglican Christianity is characterized by what Rowan Williams calls a “passionate patience” that is reticent to declare too handily exactly how God is to be defined or to presume too easily to know what God desires in all instances. It is a tradition that does not avoid issues of sin, guilt, repentance, and judgement. And as we have seen in earlier posts, it takes seriously the beliefs of the Church and the call to discipleship and holiness. But Anglicans are more likely to start with grace rather than shame or fear. Ours is a tradition that rejoices in God’s grace revealed in Jesus Christ, and from that embraces spiritual disciplines that enable us to live more fully in that grace. As Charles Williams says of Christianity generally, the Anglican tradition embraces an understanding of the faith characterized by generosity and “largesse”.

Our tradition does not look back only to the early and medieval church for wisdom. We are also a church shaped by the insights of the Protestant Reformation We seek to be comprehensive and catholic enough to embrace the wisdom from various Christian traditions – and even wisdom from non-Christian traditions when it is compatible with the creeds.

Liberal

Generous:

We seek to be liberal in its purest sense – a spirit of generosity which makes space for the broadest diversity of views possible within the context of creedal Christian faith. As Chareles Williams wrote, “[Christian doctrine] is a largesse of spirit―courtesy, generosity, humility, charity” (The Figure of Beatrice).

Social Justice:

We seek to be generous toward the poor and oppressed. While not beholden to a particular political or economic ideology, program, or party, we are committed to being on the side of human rights and the uplift of all humanity – particularly the poor the vulnerable, the marginalized, and the forgotten. We might well disagree on the means to such ends and our liberality will include honoring such disagreement.

Receptive to Scientific Discovery and Wisdom Discerned from Creation:

We embrace the intended goodness of creation recognizing all of creation as the object of God’s delight showing forth God’s glory. Confident of the truth revealed in scripture, interpreted by the tradition. and summarized in the creeds, we also avail ourselves of whatever creation reveals about itself and thus about its Maker and about us as part of creation. We do not fear that new learning is a threat to Christian faith even if it might sometimes compel us to take a new look at aspects of the face. We accept the evidence that creation includes a process of evolution and that creation – including humanity – exhibits a surprising and extravagant diversity.

Humility:

Liberality was not based on an attempt to accommodate secularism or appease Christianity’s cultured despisers. Rather, it was rooted in deep humility. And humility is a fundamental Christian virtue. As Rowan Williams has written, “There is in the Anglican identity a strong element of awareness of the tragic, of the dark night and the frustration of theory and order by the strangeness of God's work . . . the result is a mixture of poetry, reticence, humility before mystery, local loyalties and painful self scrutinies” (Anglican Identities, p. 6).

Evangelical

Prima Scriptura:

We are committed to engaging with scripture together. We understand the scriptures to be “the word of God because God inspired their human authors and because God still speaks to us through the Bible” (BCP, 853). “We understand the meaning of the Bible by the help of the Holy Spirit, who guides the Church in the true interpretation of the Scriptures” (BCP, 853-854). We can recognize that the Bible is not the only means by which God reveals himself to us. We are more prima scriptura than sola scriptura. We look to the Bible first in order to know the mind and character of God, to understand the world and our place in it. We do not do so uncritically or by imposing theories of what kind of book it must be. We expect the Sprit to speak to us through the scriptures, but we do not think that mean it must be read in a wooden, literalistic way.

Joy in the Gospel:

We rejoice in the Christian gospel, the good news of redemption in Jesus Christ. We seek to embody a humble, generous, and hospitable spirit full of confidence in the hope of the gospel. We desire to fall in love again (and again) with the One who first loved us and demonstrated that love in the Incarnation and on the cross.

Sharing the Good News:

We are confidence that we have Good News to share. And that people outside (as well as inside) the Church need to hear that Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, continues to transform lives and will transform the world. Archbishop William Temple defined evangelism this way, “Evangelism is the presentation of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit in such ways that persons may be led to believe in Him as Savior and follow Him as Lord within the fellowship of His Church.”

Conclusion

An Anglican Catholic expression of Christianity that is Evangelical at heart while in belief, liberal Catholic is authentically and unapologetically Christian, while embracing humility, generosity, expansiveness, and adaptability. An Anglican Catholic expression of Christianity that is Evangelical at heart while in belief, liberal Catholic is authentically and unapologetically Christian, while embracing humility, generosity, expansiveness, and adaptability. It is committed to worshiping the triune God in the beauty of holiness and in the pursuit of personal holiness, to holy community as the body of Christ, and to being a leavening presence of the peaceable kingdom of God in the world. I think it is a faithful expression of Christian faith.

That Way vs This Way

 

“We live in a world, in the real world that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

– Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security advisor, CNN interview, January 5, 2026

 
Yesterday, the President of the United States of America stood before the world and declared, “To the victor belong the spoils”
 
Those proverb-like sayings represent one way to be in the world. But there is a better way.
 
Here are some proverbs spoken from the heart of God. Shape your life and politics around these. And measure the leaders and movements you support against them.
 
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
(Matthew 16:24)
 
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”
(Matthew 5:7)
 
“If you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”
(Matthew 5:22)
 

"On the day of judgement you will have to give an account for every careless word you utter."

(Matthew 12:36"

“If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also.”
(Matthew 5:39)
 
“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,”
(Matthew 5:44)
 
“If you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.”
(Luke 6:14)
 
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
(Luke 6:36)
 
 “No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth”
(Matthew 6:24)

"First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor’s eye."

(Matthewn 7:5)
 
“It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
(Matthew 19:24)
 
 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
(Matthew 6:19-21)
 
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
(Matthew 6:33)
 
 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”
(Matthew 6:34)
 
“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.”
(Matthew 7:1-2)
 
“See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.”
(Matthew 10:16)
 
“So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
(Matthew 20:16)
 
“What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.
(Matthew 15:18)
 
“All who draw the sword will die by the sword.”
(Matthew 26:52)
 
“If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
(Matthew 15:14)
 
“A tree is recognized by its fruit.”
(Matthew 12:33)

"Just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,[g] you did it to me.”

(Matthew 25:40)
 
“And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”
(Matthew 7:26)

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord', will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven."

(Matthew 7:21)

What Does God Hate?

The Lt. Gov. of Indiana, Micah Beckwith, recently preached a sermon on “How to Hate Properly.” It is a theme he appears to be fond of. In an interview last May, he said Americans should be given “permission to hate again” and that “God hates certain things.”

That prompted me to do an old fashioned Bible word search for things God hates and things maybe we should and should not hate. Curiously, they do not seem to be the things that most agitates the Lt Governor.

I don't think I've missed any. I included related words in the search like detests. I’ve also included passages that suggest hate might not be the passion we most need to cultivate.

There are other ways than using the actual word by which the Bible indicates things of which God disapproves. But this seems a good place to start. And I would take people like Micah Beckwith more seriously if they seemed to take the following seriously.

Deuteronomy 12:31

You shall not do so to the Lord your God; for every abominable thing which the Lord hates they have done for their gods; for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

Deuteronomy 16:22

And you shall not set up a pillar [idol], which the Lord your God hates.

Deuteronomy 29:17

and you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them.

Psalm 5:5

The boastful may not stand before thy eyes;

thou hatest all evildoers.

Psalm 11:5

The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates him that loves violence.

Psalm 22:23-24

You who fear the Lord, praise him!

all you sons of Jacob, glorify him,

and stand in awe of him, all you sons of Israel!

For he has not despised or abhorred

the affliction of the afflicted;

and he has not hid his face from him,

but has heard, when he cried to him.

Psalm 31:6

Thou hatest those who pay regard to vain idols; but I trust in the Lord.

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Psalm 69:32-33

Let the oppressed see it and be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy,

and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

Psalm 102:17

he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication.

Psalm 119:104

Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.

Psalm 119:113

I hate double-minded men, but I love thy law.

Psalm 119:128

Therefore I direct my steps by all thy precepts; I hate every false way.

Psalm 119:163

I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love.

Proverbs 6:16-19

There are six things which the Lord hates,

seven which are an abomination to him:

haughty eyes, a lying tongue,

and hands that shed innocent blood,

a heart that devises wicked plans,

feet that make haste to run to evil,

a false witness who breathes out lies,

and a man who sows discord among brothers.

Proverbs 8:12-14

I, wisdom, dwell in prudence,

and I find knowledge and discretion.

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil

and perverted speech I hate

[perverted speech = that which distorts reality to mislead, manipulate, or tear others down]

I have counsel and sound wisdom,

I have insight, I have strength.

Proverbs 13:5

A righteous man hates falsehood, but a wicked man acts shamefully and disgracefully.

Proverbs 14:21

He who despises his neighbor is a sinner, but happy is he who is kind to the poor.

Isaiah 1:14-17

Your new moons and your appointed feasts

my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me,

I am weary of bearing them.

When you spread forth your hands,

I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,

I will not listen;

your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;

remove the evil of your doings

from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,

learn to do good;

seek justice,

correct oppression;

defend the fatherless,

plead for the widow.

Isaiah 61:8

For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery and wrong

Jeremiah 33:4-5

Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abominable thing that I hate!’ But they did not listen or incline their ear, to turn from their wickedness and burn no incense to other gods.

Ezekiel 20:7

And I said to them, Cast away the detestable things your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.

Amos 5:21-24

“I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and cereal offerings,

I will not accept them,

and the peace offerings of your fatted beasts

I will not look upon.

Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an everflowing stream.

Zechariah 8:16

These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, says the Lord.

Malachi 2:16

“For I hate divorce, says the Lord the God of Israel, and covering one’s garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts. So take heed to yourselves and do not be faithless.”

Luke 14:26

“If any one comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.

Luke 16:13-15

No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”

Those who were lovers of money, heard all this, and they scoffed at him. But he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for what is exalted among men is an abomination [bdelyktos, sometimes translated as “detestable”] in the sight of God.

John 12:25

He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

Revelation 2:6

Yet this you have, you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. [The Nicolaitans were a group apparently given to idolatry and sexual license]

Romans 12:9-10

Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.

[The whole of Romans 12 is a summary of what it means to “hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good.”]

Whatever it might mean to “hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good” it must be practiced in light of the following:

Psalm 51:17

The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Psalm 69:32-33

Let the oppressed see it and be glad;

you who seek God, let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy,

and does not despise his own that are in bonds.

Psalm 102:17

he will regard the prayer of the destitute, and will not despise their supplication.

Proverbs 14:21

He who despises his neighbor is a sinner, but happy is he who is kind to the poor.

Matthew 18:10

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.

Luke 18:9

He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others.

Romans 14:3

Let not him who eats despise him who abstains, and let not him who abstains pass judgment on him who eats; for God has welcomed him.

Romans 14:10

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God;

1 John 2:9

He who says he is in the light and hates his brother or sister is in the darkness still.

1 John 2:11

But he who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

1 John 3:15

Any one who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

1 John 4:20

If any one says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.

1 Thessalonians 5:13-22

Be at peace among yourselves. And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that none of you repays evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to all. Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit, do not despise prophesying, but test everything; hold fast what is good, abstain from every form of evil.

Ephesians 4:30-32

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

James 3:8-10

but no human being can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brethren, this ought not to be so.

1 Peter 3:15

but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence;

Philippians 4:5

Let all men know your forbearance.

Anglicanism is . . . 16. Passionate, but Balanced, Patient, Humble, Comprehensive

This post is something of a grab bag of quotes that did not all quite fit any of the earlier chapter, but which capture something of the Anglican spirit. Anglican Christianity is characterized by what Rowan Williams calls a “passionate patience” that is reticent to declare too handily exactly how God is to be defined or to presume too easily to know what God desires in all instances. It is a tradition that does not avoid issues of sin, guilt, repentance, and judgement. And as we have seen in earlier posts, it takes seriously the beliefs of the Church and the call to discipleship and holiness. But Anglicans are more likely to start with grace rather than shame or fear. Ours is a tradition that rejoices in God’s grace revealed in Jesus Christ, and from that embraces spiritual disciplines that enable us to live more fully in that grace. As Charles Williams says of Christianity generally, the Anglican tradition embraces an understanding of the faith characterized by generosity and “largesse”.

“O God of truth and peace, you raised up your servant Richard Hooker in a day of bitter controversy to defend with sound reasoning and great charity the catholic and reformed religion: Grant that we may maintain that middle way, not as a compromise for the sake of peace, but as a comprehension for the sake of truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.”

– Collect for the Feast of Richard Hooker (1554-1600), Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 

“What is Christianity but a doctrine of largesse? The doctrine of the Trinity is a doctrine of largesse; the doctrine of the Incarnation and the creation is a doctrine of largesse; the doctrine of the Redemption is a doctrine of largesse; the doctrine of heaven is every way a doctrine of largesse. Add that the doctrine of all true adoration―single or mutual―is a doctrine of largesse.”
 
“It is a largesse of spirit―courtesy, generosity, humility, charity.”
– Charles Williams (1886-1945), The Figure of Beatrice
 

“In the Anglican Church we find a harmonious combination of authority and reason. They are not found, as is sometimes supposed, to be contrary one to the other. Our Church teaches us with authority, but with maternal authority. She is our Mother. She does not come to us with a big stick, and say: ‘Youve got to believe this, because I say so, or you’ll be damned!’ but she shows to us the reasonableness of the truth she has been authorized to transmit. She teaches as our Blessed Lord taught. She tries to put her spiritual children in the right relation to the Faith. She enables them through grace to see the Truth for themselves, and so embracing it through their own reason and will, it becomes their own possession and a joy to their hearts.”

– Charles Grafton (1830-1912), Some Characteristics of the Episcopal Church

[Anglican Christianity avoids the extremes] “represented by a dogmatism that crushes instead of quickening the reason of the individual, making it purely passive and acquiescent, and on the other hand by an unrestrained development of the individual judgment which becomes eccentric and lawless just because it is unrestrained."”
– Charles Gore (1852-1932), Roman Catholic Claims
 
“Within the comprehensiveness laid down by the Elizabethan Settlement, the Church of England included those who learned their doctrine chiefly from the continental Reformers, those who gave greater value to the appeal to the ‘Catholic Fathers and ancient Bishops’, and those whose outlook owed most to the learning of the Renaissance. It is commonly said that these three types of Anglican have their successors in the Evangelicals, the Anglo-Catholics and the Liberals. This comprehensiveness opens the way for the Church of England to be a school of synthesis over a wider field than any other Church in Christendom. Within it people of very diverse points of view use the same Prayer Book, and join in the same services. Hence there exists a way of approach, which is common to different types of Anglican, not by seeking to agree on cut-and-dried formulations, but by regarding the truth as a mystery whose full understanding is beyond us, but which can be elucidated by the interplay of different minds seeking it from different angles. It is a matter not merely of reaching right conclusions, but of seeking them in the right way.”
– Catholicity, A Study in the Conflict of Christian Traditions in the West Being a Report presented to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury (1947) by a group of scholars including Dom Gregory Dix, T. S. Eliot, Austin Farrer, and Michael Ramsey
 
“The English Church also recognizes the authority of the undisputed General Councils. It was in these Councils that all the great heresies were rejected, and the main truths of the Catholic faith asserted.
 
If this be our principle as to the truth, it may be asked, — How is it that there exists such diversity of teaching amongst us? There is no doubt a good deal of diversity on certain points, not so much touching the main doctrines of the Creed (e.g., the doctrines of the Trinity, the Incarnation, the Atonement, or the Divinity of the Holy Spirit), as on matters of practice, and the mode of carrying out our services, and the meaning given to some of our usages. This is to some extent unavoidable, seeing that in a great body of teachers there will be variety of thought and feeling. Judging by St. Paul's Epistles, we see that in the apostles' times, there was a good deal of disagreement, and this upon important points, which often greatly troubled the minds of the apostles. Much of the diversity of teaching in our midst is due to the fact, that men teach in the Church's name that which is not her doctrine. Amongst ourselves there is great unwillingness to carry authority too far, so as to crush the individual energies of earnest men. Often truth comes out the more clearly by allowing these differences to appear; and we are warned by our Lord against too great exercise of discipline, ‘lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them’ (Matt. xiii. 29).”
– Vernon Staley (1852-1933), The Catholic Religion: A Manual of Instruction for Members of the Anglican Communion
 
“The peculiar character of Anglicanism arises in part from the operation of history; the conflict within her own borders, both before and after her cultus took form, of Puritan and Catholic ideals. But it is also a true expression of certain paradoxical attributes of the English mind: its tendency to conservatism in respect of the past, and passion for freedom in respect of the present, its law-abiding faithfulness to established custom, but recoil from an expressed dominance; its reverence for the institutions which incorporate its life, and inveterate individualism in the living of that life; its moral and practical bent.”
– Evelyn Underhill (1875-1941), Worship
 
“The Church of England is a superlative example of the strange English spirit of compromise, which contrives to make things apparently incompatible in theory work together somehow to produce a reasonably satisfactory result in practice. Of course, this sort of compromise has its disadvantages. The Church of England has rather the appearance, sometimes, of being a creature with a head at both ends. . .
– Dorothy Sayers (1893-1957), Worship in the Anglican Church
 
“We often speak of Anglican ‘comprehensiveness.’ If this is a way of making relativism palatable or a means of accommodating all shades of opinion with no regard for truth, then it needs to be rejected. If by comprehensive we mean the priority of a dialectic quest over precision and immediate closure, then we are speaking of the Anglican consciousness at its best.”
– Urban T. Holmes (1930-1981), What Is Anglicanism?
 
“Comprehensiveness demands agreement of fundamentals, while tolerating disagreement on matters in which Christians may differ without feeling the necessity of breaking communion. In the mind of an Anglican, comprehensiveness is not compromise. Nor is it to bargain one truth for another. It is not a sophisticated word for syncretism. Rather it implies that the apprehension of truth is a growing thing: we only gradually succeed in ‘knowing the truth.’ It has been the tradition of Anglicanism to contain within one body both Protestant and Catholic elements. It has been the tradition of Anglicanism to contain within one bod Protestant and Catholic elements. But there is a continuing search for the whole truth in which these elements will find complete reconciliation. Comprehensiveness implies a willingness to allow liberty of interpretation with a certain slowness in arresting or restraining exploratory thinking.”
– The Lambeth Conference, 1968, quoted in The Spirit of Anglicanism, William Wolf, ed.

“We are unhappy enough anyhow, and if Christianity is to mean a little more unhappiness, more discipline, more trials—the prospect not unnaturally drives men to that plea for annihilation which (the Church declares) is the only thing the Omnipotence will never grant, except indeed by the annihilation which is he. On the other hand, there is an offensive cheerfulness encouraged by some Christians which is very trying to any person of moderate sensibility. We are to be bright; we are to smile at strangers; we are (last horror of daily life!) to get into conversation with strangers. It is some comfort to reflect that Messias was against our being bright as he was against our being gloomy. He was against our being anything at all. He indicated continually that it was our wish to do or be something by ourselves, even to be saved by ourselves, that was the root of the trouble.”

– Charles Williams (1886-1945), ‘He Came Down From Heaven’

“There is in the Anglican identity a strong element of awareness of the tragic, of the dark night and the frustration of theory and order by the strangeness of God's work. . . The result is a mixture of poetry, reticence, humility before mystery, local loyalties and painful self-scrutinies.”

– Rowan Williams, (1950 -  ), Anglican Identities

“As a living Church with a mission to every generation of mankind, she [the Episcopal Church] must be alive to meet every developing need of humanity. She must enter into [humanity’s] growing intellectual, moral, social life – yea, into their literary, musical, artistic life. Her mission is to [humanity]; to lift [humanity] upward and Godward; to ameliorate the condition of servitude and labor; to undo the chains of the slave; to bless every investigation and effort for the advancement of humanity; to mitigate the evils of war; to quicken all philanthropic enterprises; to enlarge people’s hearts towards [other people]. And so in the domain of truth, while she is immovable in declaring the faith once and for all revealed, allowing of no alteration by addition or diminution . . . yet she possesses the power to meet by her definitions the newer aspects of human knowledge in science and philosophy, and show how conformable they are to revealed truth. She stands thus in no conflict with the discoveries and ascertained results of modern sciences. . . She does not fear any established results of the higher criticism. She, in calm security, possesses her deposit of truth, knowing that every difficulty in the future, as in the past, will only confirm the Catholic faith.”

– Charles Grafton (1830-1912), Church Principles and Church Parties

 
“Anglicanism offers a richly textured Christianity with ancient roots, expansive sources, a living commitment to justice and reconciliation, and space for people to explore, question, and grow along the way.”
– Dwight Zscheile (1973 - ), People of the Way: Renewing Episcopal Identity
 
“In an age that craves certainty and tribalism, Anglicanism offers something quieter and stronger shaped by prayer and lit from within by the glory of Christ. That is what gives me hope.”
– The Rt Rev Sarah Mullally (1962 - ) in her address upon being appointed as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury

“Be of good comfort, we have to do with a merciful God, ready to make the best of that little which we hold well, and not with a captious sophister who gathereth the worst out of everything wherein we err.”

– Richard Hooker (1554-1600), A Learned Discourse of Justification

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15. Embraces an Ordered Ministry

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1. Biblically Focused, but not Literalistic

Anglicanism is . . . 15. Embraces an Ordered Ministry

In the ordination of a priest, we are reminded that that “All baptized people are called to make Christ known as Savior and Lord, and to share in the renewing of his world.” This is an essential conviction. To lead, instruct, and equip all baptized people the church sets apart and “orders” some as Bishops, priests, and deacons. These ordained leaders are vested with the authority to teach, preach, and lead on behalf of the whole church. In many, if not yet most, Provinces of the Anglican Communion, both men and women are ordained to these offices.

 

Q. What is the duty of all Christians?
A. The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
 
Q. Who are the ministers of the Church?
A. The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
 
“The true Anglican position, like the City of God in the Apocalypse, may be said to lie foursquare. Honestly to accept that position to accept, –
 
1st. The Holy Scriptures as the Word of God.
2d. The Primitive Creeds as the Rule of Faith.
3d. The two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself.
4th. The Episcopate as the key-stone of Governmental Unity.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
 
“And they [clergy] cannot but lead us right, so long as they but teach us to 'follow the Lamb whither He goeth.’ For their office is but to lay forth before us the way traced by the steps that He went. Those steps, when all is done, are ever our best directions.”
– Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), Sermons of the Nativity Preached Upon Christmas-Day, Sermon X
 
“Our Church, in the preface to her Ordinal, has declared, that ‘it is evident unto all men diligently reading the Holy Scriptures and ancient authors, that, from the Apostles' time, there have been three orders of ministers in Christ's Church, Bishops, Priests, and Deacons.’”
– William Hale Hale (1795-1870) The Duties of the Deacons and Priests of the Church of England Compared with Suggestions for the Extension of the Order of Deacons, And the Establishment of an Order of Sub-Deacons
 
Bishops
 
Q. What is the ministry of a bishop?
A. The ministry of a bishop is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as apostle, chief priest, and pastor of a diocese; to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the whole Church; to proclaim the Word of God; to act in Christ's name for the reconciliation of the world and the building up of the Church; and to ordain others to continue Christ's ministry.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
 
“The Church where a Bishop is set with his Colledge of Presbyters about him, we call a Sea; the Local compass of his authority we term a Diocess. Unto a Bishop within the compass of his own both Sea and Diocess, it hath by right of place evermore appertained to ordain Presbyters, to make Deacons, and with judgment, to dispose of all things of waight.
– Richard Hooker (1555-1600), Lawes of Ecclesiastical Polity

“It is generally agreed that in the first age of the Church, bishops were chosen by the suffrages of the faithful, and then consecrated to their office and given authority to execute its duties by other bishops who had in times past been similarly empowered. It is thus that the American Episcopate is perpetuated to-day. Our bishops trace their consecration to the Anglican Church, and through the Anglican Church to the Church of the Apostolical age; but they owe their election to the free voice of the people of their respective flocks, and exercise their authority in as strict conformity to constitutional law as a president or a governor.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
 
“The Bishop . . . will help us to see that faith means standing near to the Cross in the heart of the contemporary world, and not only standing but acting. Our faith will be tested in our actions, not least in our actions concerning peace, concerning race, concerning poverty. Faith is a costly certainty, but no easy security as our God is blazing fire.”
– Michael Ramsey (1904-1988), address at the opening of the 1968 Lambeth Conference
 
“I don’t want to see the church so balkanised that we talk only to people we like and agree with. . . a bishop is a person who has to make each side of a debate audible to the other.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), from Rowan Williams: God's boxer an interview with David Hare in ‘The Guardian’
 
As the chief shepherds of the church, Bishops are accorded a degree of respect. That is meet and right. But that respect should not be obsequious. But their authority is not absolute and there is the acknowledgement of their fallibility. They are human – and sometimes all too human.
 
“As for us over whom Christ hath placed them [bishops] to be the chiefest guides and pastors of our souls, our common fault is that we look for much more in our governors than a tolerable sufficiency can yield, and bear much less than humanity and reason do require we should. Too much perfection over rigorously exacted in them, cannot but breed in us perpetual discontent, and on both parts cause all things to be unpleasant.”
– Richard Hooker (1554-1600), Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity
 
“The Divine Thing that made itself the foundation of the Church does not seem, to judge by his comments on the religious leadership of his day, to have hoped much from officers of a church. The most he would do was to promise that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. It is about all that, looking back on the history of the Church, one can feel that they have not done.”
– Charles Williams (1886-1945), He Came Down from Heaven
 
Priests
 
Q. What is the ministry of a priest or presbyter?
A. The ministry of a priest is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as pastor to the people; to share with the bishop in the overseeing of the Church; to proclaim the Gospel; to administer the sacraments; and to bless and declare pardon in the name of God.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
 
“The Greek and Latin words which we translate Priest, are derived from words which signifie holy: and so the word Priest according to the Etymologie, signifies him whose meer charge and function is about holy things: and therefore seems to be a most proper word to him, who is set apart to the holy publick service and worship of God: especially when he is, in the actual ministration of holy things. Wherefore in the Rubricks, which direct him in his ministration of these holy publick services, the word Priest is most commonly used, both by this Church and all the Primitive Churches Greek and Latin as far as I can find, and I believe it can scarce be found, that in any of the old Greek or Latin Liturgies the word Presbyter was used in the Rubricks that direct the order of service, but in the Greek, ἱερεύς (hiereus), and in the Latin Sacerdos, which we in English translate Priest, which I suppose to be done upon this ground, that this word Priest is the most proper for him that ministers, in the time of his ministration.
 
If it be objected, that according to the usual acception of the word, it signifies him that offers up a Sacrifice, and therefore cannot be allowed to a Minister of the Gospel, who hath no Sacrifice to offer.
 
It is answered: that the Ministers of the Gospel, have Sacrifices to offer, S. Peter 1 ep. 2. 5. Ye are built up a spiritual house, a holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual Sacrifices of prayer, praises, thanksgivings, &c. In respect of these the Ministers of the Gospel may be safely in a metaphorical sence called Priests; and in a more eminent manner than other Christians are; because they are taken from among men to offer up these Sacrifices for others. But besides these spiritual Sacrifices mentioned, the Ministers of the Gospel have another Sacrifice to offer, viz. the unbloody Sacrifice, as it was anciently call’d, the commemorative Sacrifice of the death of Christ, which does as really and truly shew forth the death of Christ, as those Sacrifices under the Law did foreshew it, and in respect of this Sacrifice of the Eucharist, the Ancients have usually call’d those that offer it up, Priests.”
– Anthony Sparrow (1612-1685), A Rationale upon the Book of Common-Prayer of the Church of England
 
“The priest is the teacher and preacher, and as such he [or she] is the man [woman] of theology. He[or She] is pledged to be a dedicated student of theology; and his [or her] study need not be vast in extent but it will be deep in its integrity, not in order that he [or she] may be erudite but in order that he may be simple.”

– Michael Ramsey (1904-1988), The Christian Priest Today
 
“What is the role of the parish priest today? It is to be in the middle of both the Christian and the non-Christian community as somebody who 'keeps the door of the empty tomb open' in people's lives. Someone who holds that openness of the world to God: that through that great emptiness, the empty tomb, and the stone moved aside; through that God came through and made a difference in the world. And we who preach the resurrection have that responsibility – our holding that door open. Now that means in terms of the Christian community that the parish priest is someone who preaches and celebrates and – if that's your tradition – hears confessions too: keeping the doors of grace open, reminding people in the household of faith that again and again God comes in and is free to come in. But in the wider community – because the parish priest is as we all know, not just there for the believers – it's finding all the ways possible of saying to folk 'there's more to you than you realise', 'things are possible that you didn't know'. And that's where the parish priest's involvement in all sorts of community work and regeneration and keeping the wheels of common life turning, is a theological thing: not just doing it for secular reasons, but doing it out of obedience to the Risen Christ. And that sense that here is someone in the middle of a community 'keeping the door open' I think that's the very heartbeat of the parish priest's life, and I find myself immensely moved by the courage and the imagination with which parish priests up and down the country do that day after day, hour after hour. I so glad that that is done.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), Risen Today: The Resurrection as Good News Now,  Part two of the Bishop of Winchester’s Lent Lectures, February 28, 2008
 
“The pastor’s whole job is to safeguard the community’s joy, to guard against how we so easily slip back into fear, and cover ourselves with despair. There aren’t enough people. There isn’t enough money. We tried that once. No one will like that. Fear is the spiritual practice of looking at the darkness and giving up. Hope is the practice of looking at the world’s darkness and remembering God’s faithfulness. As a priest, your job is to call people back to hope, and to safeguard their joy.”
– Craig Loya, Bishop of Minnesota, Sermon Preached at the Ordination of Cody Maynus as a Priest in Christ’s Church, Friday, June 12, 2020
 
“Preaching is like weaving. There are the two factors of the warp and the woof. There is a fixed, unalterable element, which for us is the Word of God, and there is a variable element, which enables the weaver to change and vary the pattern at his will. For us, that variable element is the constantly changing pattern of people and of situations.”
– Stephen Neill (1900-1984), On the Ministry
 
“The point of preaching is actually to open people’s horizons in a new way, to open places in the heart they didn’t know were there.”
– Rowan Williams (1950 - ), I am afraid I failed to write down the source of this quote
 
Deacons
 
Q. What is the ministry of a deacon?
A. The ministry of a deacon is to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as a servant of those in need; and to assist bishops and priests in the proclamation of the Gospel and the administration of the sacraments.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
 
“The duties of the Deacons. . . are evidently of two kinds, Ecclesiastical and Temporal. Their Ecclesiastical ministrations are all public in their character: ‘to assist the Priest in the divine service, specially in the Holy Communion and in the distribution thereof; to read Holy Scriptures and Homilies in the Church to the people there assembled; to instruct the youth in the Catechism; to baptize infants in the absence of the Priest; to preach, if admitted thereto by the Bishop himself.’
 
The Temporal ministrations of the Deacons are, ‘to search for the sick, poor, and impotent people of the parish, and to intimate their estates, names, and places where they dwell to the Curate’ (who has the cure of souls), ‘that by his exhortation they may be relieved,’ &c.”
– William Hale Hale (1795-1870) The Duties of the Deacons and Priests of the Church of England Compared with Suggestions for the Extension of the Order of Deacons, And the Establishment of an Order of Sub-Deacons
 
“The role of a deacon is to learn and communicate to the church the needs, hopes, and concerns of the world.”
– Ormonde Plater (1933-2016), Many Servants: An Introduction to Deacons
 
Laity
 
Anglicans embrace an ordered ministry. But those ministers are set apart for the sake of the whole body of Christ. And the whole body of Christ is called to bear witness to the good news of Jesus Christ and serve the world in his name as healers, reconcilers, peacemakers, etc. In the Anglican tradition, we sometimes say we are “episcopally (bishop) led and synodcially governed.” That is a fancy way of saying that lay members of the church have an essential role in determining how the church functions.
 
Q. What is the ministry of the laity?
A. The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be; and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ's work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.
– An Outline of the Faith commonly called the Catechism, Book of Common Prayer (1979)
 
“Our bishops trace their consecration to the Anglican Church, and through the Anglican Church to the Church of the Apostolical age; but they owe their election to the free voice of the people of their respective flocks, and exercise their authority in as strict conformity to constitutional law as a president or a governor.”
– William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), The Church Idea
 
“Christianity . . . is the hallowing of all human interests and occupations alike. Worship is a very small fragment of devotion. The Christian does not offer to GOD part of his life or of his endowments in order that he may be at liberty to use the rest according to his own caprice. All life, all endowments, are equally owed to our Lord, arid equally claimed by Him. Every human office in every part is holy. Our conduct — our whole conduct — is a continuous revelation of what we are.”
– Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), Incarnation and Common Life
 
“As Christians we hold that the faith does cover every fragment of life. As Christians we hold that the greatest thoughts are for every believer.” 
– Brooke Foss Westcott (1825-1901), From strength to strength : three sermons on stages in a consecrated life

“The Anglican Church preserves . . . the rights of both clergy and laity. She believes that the laity are sharers in the priesthood, royalty, and prophetical power of Christ.

The laity have thus a choice for their vestries and officers in the selection of their pastors. The laity and clergy assemble yearly together in Diocesan Council, and pass their own canons, regulating the government and discipline of the Diocese. The clergy and laity can vote separately, and thus have a veto power on each other.” 

– Charles Grafton (1830-1912), Some Characteristics of the Episcopal Church

“The temptation to establish a ‘set apart’ ministry of the ordained haunts the church. We have great difficulty grasping the idea that all of us are called, all of us are ministers. Confronted by God
The separation of the body into clergy and laity was not intrinsically sinful. … The sin lay in what we did with the division, assigning to one part the designation that belonged to the whole people of God—holiness.”
– Verna Dozer (1917-2006), The Dream of God
 
“There are no second-class citizens in the household of God. Religious authority comes with baptism, and it is nurtured by prayer, worship, bible study, life together.”
– Verna Dozer (1917-2006, The Calling of the Laity
 
“I define ministry as service in response to the dream of God, the restoration of the good creation that God brought into being at the beginning and that ‘groans in travail’ as Paul put it, for the people of God to wake up to the reason why they are called.”
– Verna Dozer (1917-2006), The Dream of God
 
“If I believe that there is a loving God, who has created me and wants me to be a part of a people who will carry the good news of the love of that God to the world, what difference does it make when I go to my office at 9 o'clock Monday morning? What difference does it make in my office that I believe there is a loving God, that God loves me, and that God loves all human beings exactly as God loves me? What different kinds of decisions do I make? What am I called to do in that office?”
– Verna Dozer (1917-2006), Authority of the Laity

Anglicans have an number of influential lay members, some of whom became public teachers of the faith. Here are some examples:

William Wilberforce
Evelyn Underhill
Charles Williams
Vida Dutton Scudder
Dorothy Sayers
C. S. Lewis
William Stringfellow

T. S. Elliot

W. H. Auden

Verna Dozier

Frances Perkins

Thurgood Marshall
Rodney Clapp
Stephen Fowl
Liza Anderson

Religious Orders

Anglicans also have Monastic communities—often known as religious orders— which are communities of men and women, lay and ordained, who live under a common rule of life, often taking vows of poverty, celibacy, and obedience. 

“We must see that we go on learning to be true Religious by a constantly-increasing attention to the mysteries of God’s Word. Wonderful is it how the life of God opens to the soul—but we must watch. It is a laborious and a detailed exercise; the same consonants as it were, but speaking in such fresh fulness of meaning with fresh vowels. The same routine of outward observance, time-table, earthly work, but continually renewed affections, gifts of grace, intentions, joys of heaven.”

– Richard Meaux Benson (1824-1915), Letters of Father Benson [Benson was one of the founders of the Society of St. John the Evangelist monastic community]

“It is the blessedness of our Religious Life that we have already died to all that are upon the earth, and our portion is much more with those that are at rest than with those that are struggling. And yet none have such a struggle as we have. The world cannot even realize what our struggle is. But in our struggle our true strength is to be restful, buried with Christ, abiding in God, that Satan may do what he will, but may find us unmoved.”
– Richard Meaux Benson (1824-1915), Letters of Father Benson

“The vows of the Religious Life had their meaning because through them the soul was dedicated to God to a degree and after a manner which would not otherwise be. Humility was but a necessary consequence of the attitude which the creature must hold towards the Creator, on whom all created being depends. Self-denial was an instrument for clearer vision of God and closer conformity to the divine will.”
– Harwell Stone (1859-1941), An Appreciation, Appendix in Letters of Father Benson
 
“‘The innate principle of monasticism,’ writes Rev. F. C. Woodhouse, ‘is the life of God.’ The devout soul ‘desires God above all things, and God alone’. It seeks solitude that it may better commune with God. As it grows in likeness to Christ, it is forced to imitate His life of mercy for the bodies and souls of men. ‘They do not flee away from the world in order to escape duties, trials, or temptations, but to meet them as valiant soldiers of Jesus Christ.’ It is ‘an honest and literal acceptance and fulfilment of our Lord’s precepts in the Sermon on the Mount, and has adapted itself to the requirements of all times and all environments’.”
– Charles Grafton (1830-1912), A Journey Godward [Grafton was one of the founders of the Society of St. John the Evangelist monastic community and later co-founded the Sisters of the Holy Nativity along with Sister Ruth Margaret Vose (1826-1910) who was that order’s first mother superior]

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 16.  Passionate, but Balanced, Patient, Humble, Comprehensive

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1. Biblically Focused, but not Literalistic