Grateful to be Anglican

Dear editor,

I am so weary of reading letters to the Journal which are full of complaints about the Anglican Church. I must confess that I am eternally grateful to be an Anglican. It was Richard Hooker who set the Anglican style in the late 16th century. It was a time of intense religious conflict and he could draw from both the Catholic tradition and the more biblical Reformation churches; yet he would also include the growing interest in the value of intellect. It worked. He set the stage.

We are rooted personally in prayer, meditation and scripture through the Daily Office, using Old and New Testaments, plus the informative writings of the Apocrypha. We are rooted corporately in the eucharist, at the command of Jesus to “do this.” We have followed the prophets’ call to justice and compassion in a broken world and provided leaders in the struggle against slavery and the evils of the “dark satanic mills” of the Industrial Revolution.

We can work with – and are enriched by – scientific findings; we have benefited through the impact of biblical criticism. We provided leadership in the restoration of the healing ministry. We are reaching out to the marginalized in the pattern of Jesus; we have opened wide the doors to female participation and we are working to allow homosexuals a full measure of acceptance.

All the real essentials are there in this Communion and it is a struggle. But I am happy to be a part of it.

Canon Gerald P. Loweth

Richmond Hill, Ont.