About Us

What is the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite?

The Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite is Catholic, because it accepts the doctrines of the ancient Church, which have been “believed everywhere, always, and by all.”

We are, obviously, Catholic Christians, but not Roman Catholics, Christians in the Eastern and Western Rites of the Orthodox Church would claim to be Catholics. But, by virtue of that claim, they would not consider themselves to be Roman Catholics. The Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite is not a Protestant church nor a Roman Catholic church, but a via media, true to the meaning of Anglicanism.

Anglicanism: What it is and is not

Anglican means “English.” In other words, members of the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite are Christians who have an English liturgical and theological heritage, a spiritual heritage and an ancestral connection to the Church in England. A unique balance between Evangelical and Catholic, between Word and Sacrament, is associated with the Anglican branch of Christianity. While the Episcopal Church of the United States was the first Anglican church in the United States, others have come into existence, as long ago as the mid-nineteenth century, and as recently as during the last twenty years.

The Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite accepts the teachings of the Undivided Church, the Church of the first millennium of church history. From the Day of Pentecost, when the Church of Christ was born, to the Great Schism in 1054 A.D., the Church was truly Catholic: one in faith and doctrine, even though there were liturgical differences between the Eastern and Western Churches.

Therefore, the Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite claims to be a Western Rite, an Anglican Rite, in the Catholic Church, deriving her liturgy from the Church of England. Liturgies from different Rites in the Church can be translated into the English language. But the Anglican Liturgy is truly English, because it comes from English speaking people in England.

A serious misconception is that the Anglican Church was begun by Henry VIII because he wanted a divorce. While Henry may have founded the Church of England as his kingdom’s state church in the sixteenth century, after his take-over of it, to grab its wealth, the Catholic faith in England existed long before, since the first century, and grew simultaneously with the other Catholic churches in Rome and Constantinople.

Holy Catholic Church Anglican Rite Core Belief

~We hold to the doctrines of the first seven ecumenical councils prior to the schism between east (Orthodox) and west (Roman) in 1054 AD.

~We believe the Holy Scriptures to be the revealed Word of God, containing all things necessary to salvation, and that salvation is found only through Jesus Christ.

~We believe the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds to be sufficient statements of personal faith

~We believe in the seven sacraments, outward signs of inward and spiritual grace.

~We believe in the real presence of Christ in the Holy Eucharist and deem it as a mystery.

~We recognize and support the sanctity of human life, beginning at conception.

~We accept the ordained ministry of male Bishops, Priests, and Deacons in Apostolic Succession (as in Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches), and as in Eastern churches, married men may be ordained.