Saw Blessing of Animals / Episcopal Church

[Rosina Lila]

 I apologize for my simplistic view of the differences between the Roman
Catholic and the Episcopalian churches.
Perhaps the one  glaring difference is that the Episcopalian church, as
indeed, the Anglo Saxon Catholic Church,  tends towards verbal dogmatism,  as
opposed  to the Latin (in American and European countries) Catholic practices
where the religious participation  with the church is based on spiritual and
emotional feelings and not on dogma.
A  Roman Catholic all my life, and as suited to the church as a fish to
water, I do not know, and have never  thought about, religious dogmas or any
other  other attempted  verbalizations of  what to me is a special connection
with the spiritual wonders of  times gone by,  times to come, and the very
present. .  The word religion,  of Greek origin, signifies, after all,
"linking back".
For me personally, either one feels the link  or one doesn't, and any attempt
to put the effort or the process  into regulated  and regulatory verbal
definitions  seems  oxymoronic and futile. Yet, we humans are so diverse and
complex that most significant emotions by necessity need be experienced
differently.
But I do know that I  feel as religiously comfortable in Episcopalian
churches as my
Episcopalian friends, including priests, appear to feel in mine.
The word Catholic, after all, means "universal"; A part of  the Episcopalian
Mass, somewhere in the middle, calls for  blessings  for the Catholic Church.
 Quite moved by the ecumenicalism of such sentiment the first time I heard
it,  I went to the priests to give thanks for the Episcopalian prayers on
behalf  of my church.  Well,  I was promptly set  straight.
It doesn't matter. Substantially, and  beyond procedural forms and
distractions, we are one and the same, as we realize all too well when we
meet each other in the Camino. Bless it!
Affectionate regards,
Rosina









-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.oakapple.net/pipermail/gocamino/attachments/20021008/b52b742f/attachment.htm