Saw Blessing of Animals / Episcopal Church

[Donald Schell]

Christopher and all,

I could offer some significant nuance to the likenesses and distinctions you
identify between Roman Catholics and Episcopalians, and will gladly do so
off list in personal e-mail for any who are genuinely interested.  For this
conversation about the Camino, however, I want only to suggest that the
Camino itself offers a very perspective on this:

> If a church's true identity derives from its teachings and its interpretations
> of Scripture, then the Episcopal and Catholic Churches are not as close as
> their surface similarities might make it appear.

Your 'if' proposes that we test a standard of unity, likeness, or communion.
The Episcopal Church since the time of Elizabeth I has claimed to find its
true identity in shared practice of corporate prayer rather than doctrinal
formulations, teachings or interpretations.  (I do think we could find more
common ground in the teachings and interpretations than you suggest, but for
Camino purposes, I want instead to point to shared practice.)  A church that
defines itself by shared prayer and expects to accommodate significant
differences of belief and opinion beyond that practice seems somewhat like
our wide community of pilgrims - don't we as pilgrims come to recognize the
clearest and simplest description of fellow pilgrims "as those who have also
walked the path," the ones like us who have journeyed to Santiago?

I certainly heard this from Catholic priests preaching at various pilgrim
masses each of the three times I have walked on the Camino:  the simple
sharing of walking and prayer takes us to the place where Christians (and
all humanity) can discover our unity.

love,

donald

(The Rev. Donald Schell
St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church
San Francisco, California)

donaldschellasaintgregorys.org
www.saintgregorys.org

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mailman.oakapple.net/pipermail/gocamino/attachments/20021008/ade3e85a/attachment.htm