Never (in the vernacular) a mackerel slapper¹ but rather an agnostic Episcopalian my entire life, as a result of my mom leaving the Presbyterian Church, or, as she called them, “namby pamby grapejuice-drinking Presbyterians.”

The Catholic Church and the Episcopal made it to the finals. Every Catholic sermon mentioned sin; none of the Episcopal ones did. As my Episcopalian friends often say, “We’re Catholicism without the sin.” Big churches, fancy dress, smells and bells at the cathedrals², and most of the same saints. Oh, and also divorce, thank you Henry VIII, as well as married priests.


I briefly considered the Episcopal priesthood, once I found out you could be married, but that wasn’t enough: you needed a calling. I didn’t have one.

My mom’s best friend became an Episcopal priest, who told her at least a third of Episcopal priests are atheists. My best friend from high school was welcomed in the diocese of Oregon once he had agreed to the terms of the most conservative bishop in the state³. I’ll summarize for you: “don’t do it in the street, you’ll scare the horses.”
⁴
The Episcopal priest at St. Mary the Virgin presided over our wedding. Shortly before, he came out and tipped the TV, so it was quite well known that he was gay. The 8 am congregation was fine; less enthusiasm was displayed by the 11 am congregation (aka the Blue Rinse Crowd) , yet none walked out. (As someone thought to be gay in high school ⁵ I was fortunate no one walked out either)
Some Catholics miss Latin rites. I am sure there are still announcement boards saying, “This Is A Latin Rite Church.”

It’s been 50 years since the “new” Episcopal prayer book replaced the 1923 book. People who cannot stand a non-gendered God now attend “This Is A 1923 Prayer Book Church” establishments.

Footnotes

1. 1. Catholic ↩︎
2. 
   
   2. Or, for that matter, Cathedrals ↩︎
3. 3. And that’s saying something ↩︎
4. ↩︎
5. 5. see the second paragraph here ↩︎