The Congregation of Saint Athanasius
The Anglican Use: Swimming the Tiber
"Swimming the Tiber." That was a light-hearted
phrase from our Anglican days -- there were lots of light-hearted
phrases and stories and memories from those days. If a Roman
Catholic became an Anglican, he had "swum the Thames";
If an Anglican became a Roman Catholic, he was "swimming the
Tiber".
Why did we do it?
Cradle Roman Catholics might wonder why we put that question
at all. We often find that devout Roman Catholics look at
Episcopalians, especially Anglo-Catholics, and the customs and
ceremonies and our devotion to the blessed Mary, and ask,
"Why don't they just 'come in??".
It is understandable, for their experience is not ours -- but
we come from a rich tradition which we loved. In the Anglican
Communion, we first loved. In the Anglican Communion, we first
learned the Name of Jesus; we first heard of His Gospel, we
studied His Life, we received the priceless Gift of Holy Baptism.
Within the Anglican Church we "worshipped the Lord in the
beauty of holiness". There were seasons and feasts and fasts
and celebrations; there were processions. Year in and year out we
joined together in the worship set out in the Book of Common
Prayer, joined in the singing of the glorious hymns of our
tradition, sought to love His Mother. We knew that there were
many Catholics wondering why, if we really loved these things, we
didn't just "come in," but we thought we already WERE
In!! -- we believed that we were members of the Catholic Church,
albeit parted for now from Rome. As we knelt Sunday by Sunday at
the altar rails of our churches, praying "that our sinful
bodies may be made clean by His Body, and our souls washed
through His most Precious Blood, and that we may evermore dwell
in Him, and He in us", and had our Priests with the greatest
reverence administer "The Body of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Which was given for thee ....", we sincerely believed that
we were Catholics. And although we genuinely hoped for reunion
with the Holy See, we also believed that it would be selfish of
us to convert individually. We had a work to do -- to work within
the Episcopal Church, within the Anglican Communion, for reunion.
So -- What happened?
The first thing which happened was that our Anglican Church
began to change before our eyes. Classically, Anglicanism had
claimed to be nothing more, and nothing less, and certainly
nothing other than the Church of the Fathers of the Church.
Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple put it best -- we have no
doctrines of our own, nor do we wish to; we are a servant of the
future united Church, and until then we will put no obstacle in
the way of that unity by defining our own doctrines.
Anglicanism abandoned that ideal beginning in the 1960's. In
the last quarter century we have seen, all over the Anglican
world, synods and elected assemblies sitting down to solemnly
debate and vote on doctrine. Our own General Convention in the
Episcopal Church voted to allow the marriage of persons who were
previously married in the Church while their former spouses were
still living; quickly the ordination of women as deacons, priests
and bishops followed; the marriage discipline of the Church
collapsed as fornication, premarital and extramarital
cohabitation became topics which were never discussed; presently
the blessing of homosexual unions is conducted quietly by some
clergy of the Episcopal Church and openly debated in its
councils.
It would be impossible to describe briefly the amazing change
in the Church's life. Suddenly, everything was up for discussion,
vote and resolution by majority -- there was no need to think of
the wider "Catholic Church", no thought of Archbishop
Temple's dictum that no barrier should be put in the way of
Christian unity by way of unique doctrinal assertions.
Why did we "swim the Tiber"?
One good reason was that the Anglican churches were claiming
an authority they had never before claimed. The Pope himself says
that the Catholic Church has no authority to ordain women -- the
General Convention of our Church labored under no such
restriction, it seems, and that meant that Anglicanism itself had
fundamentally changed in its self-understanding. As a matter of
fact, the only restriction on the General Convention of the
Episcopal Church was -- literally -- Robert's Rules of Order.
General Convention could vote to add a fourth Person to the
Trinity if it chose to and followed the rules of parliamentary
procedure. The Church which had previously said that it had no
authority to set forth new doctrines at all, now decided that it
had the authority to ordain women -- and we were expected to
accept this on that Church's authority!
A second good reason was that the unity of the Church, which
we had always been taught was a priority, was obviously no longer
important to our Chuch at all, as it was implementing these
divisive changes which would separate us even further not only
from Rome and the Eastern Churches, but from each other.
Ultimately, it comes down to a question of authority --
"By what authority do you do these things?"
We already know that the Anglican Communion does not have the
authority to change the deposits of Faith -- Anglicanism never
claimed this authority.
We also know that as a congregation we could affiliate with
any number of bodies which have bishops and claim to be part of
the Catholic Church. There are the venerable churches of the
East, the Eastern Orthodox, there are "Old Catholic"
bodies. There are "Continuing Churches", small bodies
of former Episcopalians who separated from the Episcopal Church
and continue a corporate life with the Anglican liturgies. And we
know that there are traditional Episcopalians who are looking to
Bishops in other parts of the world for help.
But, our congregation lives in Boston, and it was not
necessary for us to reach out to a Bishop in Rwanda or
Matabeleland. There was a Catholic Bishop here in Boston. He
welcomed us; he took us under his pastoral care -- and today we
are the Anglican Use Chaplaincy of the Archdiocese of Boston,
worshipping each Sunday according to the Anglican Use. More
important, we have a Bishop; through him we are in communion with
every Catholic Bishop throughout the world, and with our Holy
Father the Pope. Five hundred years after our spiritual ancestors
were tragically torn from the communion of the Holy See, we're
home! And we were welcomed.
We are Catholics -- no longer apologizing for an Episcopal
diocesan convention refusing to acknowledge the saving Lordship
of Jesus, no longer explaining how we are Catholics while being
Episcopalians ..... we're Catholics! No apologies. Just much
gratitude. Would you like to know more:
Why not join us for Mass this Sunday?
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