Inclusively Catholic

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,” writes John in his great Revelation and this is a pretty good place to start when thinking about what it means for the Society of Catholic Priests (SCP) to be inclusively Catholic within the Anglican Communion.

The word Catholic means part of the whole and we believe that God is drawing us ever onward towards a broader vision of that new heaven and new earth; a vision of great wholeness.

Our tradition has received several ways of leading us towards that broader vision: we take very seriously the sacramental life of the Church, as visible expressions of the grace of God at work in our lives. We place the Eucharist at the centre of everything, because it is the sacrament of God-with-us. The Daily Office joins us in the prayers of our sisters and brothers in the past, present and future. We believe that Scripture is the Word of God and that he gave us the Church Fathers, reason and experience to engage and wrestle with them. The celebration of the lives of the saints encourages us to move towards becoming the people God created us to be, that we might set the world on fire, as Catherine of Sienna put it.

Part of our inclusive Catholic vision is the belief that God calls both women and men to receive the sacrament of ordination to the diaconate, priesthood and episcopate.

We believe that God blesses those who seek to live in permanent, faithful and stable relationships, regardless of their sexual orientation and that these relationships are as much an example of God’s love in the world as heterosexual relationships.

We celebrate humanity in all its God-given diversity and seek to ensure that the voices of LGBTQ+, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Christians are heard, understood and engaged with in the wider Church.

Traditionally, the Catholic arm of the Church has been at the forefront of serving and defending the poor and we have strong connections with parishes in disadvantaged communities.

All of our work seeks to bring about that new heaven and new earth, where God will dwell with us and we shall be his people.

Thank you for visiting.