After you read the link, ask yourself this question (please respond in the comments): how should an Episcopalian member of the clergy respond to the same inquiry? What differences between that response and Sister Mary Martha's are most notable, and why?
Finally, ask yourself this question: which is better at handling atheists -- the Episcopal Church (USA), or the Roman Catholic Church?
Great post.
ReplyDeleteI for one will not marry any couple unless both of them are baptized Christians who actively engage their faith. I have watched multi-faith couples try to live the married life and most of them fail, and the ones who do not have confused children.
Well -- how "should" an Episcopalian member of the clergy respond -- or how "would"? I'm in an odd situation, though maybe a very lucky one, having been a communicant at an Anglo-Catholic TEC church for about 10 years, and leaving it for an Anglo-Catholic ACA church earlier this year. The TEC clergy I know would probably give an answer slightly to the left of Townsend -- they'd marry a couple if one intended to participate in that TEC church, and I suppose they'd ask various questions to try to determine how compatible they'd be on that basis.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, their TEC diocese has Bp Glasspool, who on her episcopal visit to that parish explained to us about the "coversation" going on whereby these petty little issues like baptism and confirmation are being finessed. I suspect that even the liberal TEC clergy at my old parish are somewhat conflicted in the face of this, and Bp Glasspool's views on whether to do that marriage would probably not be consistent with even those of the clergy there.
I went from the TEC parish to the ACA parish for specific reasons not directly related to the upcoming Ordinariate, but Sister Mary Martha certainly increases my comfort level at the ACA parish's direction.