The Cathedral Parish of the Annunciation

Member of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC)
and of the Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC).

Who Are We? What are the ACCC and TAC?

Introduction
A Brief Answer
What's in a Name?

Introduction

It is not easy to answer the question "Who are we?" within the confines of a single web page. Moreover, we do not know you, the reader. We do not know how or why you came to our web site. Please bear with us if we assume that you have either more or less knowledge than is in fact the case. Our hope is that we tell you enough to bring you to one of our worship services, or, if that is not possible, to encourage you to seek a like-minded parish near you. Elsewhere on this site you will find links to related web-sites. These should lead you to more information and to other Traditional Anglican parishes. If you contact us by e-mail, telephone, or snail-mail we will do our best to help you. You will also find contact information elsewhere on this site.

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A Brief Answer

The brief answer to the question "Who are we?" is:

Most simply stated, we are nothing more than old-fashioned Anglicans. What that means specifically is spelled out below in Bishop de Catanzaro's article, "What's in a Name?".

We are variously called: Anglican Catholics, Traditional Anglicans, or Continuing Anglicans. Some refer to us as Anglo-Catholics, but that is really a term that refers to a particular style of churchmanship that may or may not refer to our individual parishes.

We are members of the Diocese of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (ACCC), which has member parishes from coast to coast. And the ACCC is, in turn, a member of The Traditional Anglican Communion (TAC), an international organization having members in some 14 countries worldwide. That may seem like a small number of countries; however, there is no need for the TAC to exist in many countries (actually the majority of Anglicanism) where the Anglican Communion still holds to "the faith once delivered for all". Members of TAC share our dedication to preserving, teaching and practicing Traditional Anglicanism in the face of growing secularism and liberalism in the Anglican Communion.

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What's in a Name?

We are delighted to reproduce "What's in a Name?", written by the Rt. Rev. Dr. Carmino J. de Catanzaro (1916-1983). Bp de Catanzaro was the founding priest of the Cathedral Parish and the first bishop of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada. He has provided an excellent description of who we are and that for which we stand.

What's in a Name?
By the Rt. Rev. Dr. Carmino de Catanzaro

"We are Anglican in background and tradition. We are Catholic - not in the sense of Roman Catholic, though, no doubt, we have much in common with them. Rather, we accept the whole Christian Faith. We don't want to be 'cafeteria-style' Christians, who pick and choose the parts of the Christian religion that we like, and turn up our noses at the rest.

"We therefore accept all that Jesus Christ has taught. He is the eternal Son of God, 'the Way, the Truth, and the Life,' who was born into this world as a human child of the Virgin Mary, lived among us as a perfect human being, died on the Cross, rose from the dead, and lives and reigns for evermore. He is the Centre of our Faith - no one else. What we believe, we believe because of Him. He is the standard of what is right or wrong, true or false - not what society or the contemporary world thinks.

"Because we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in the Bible. We believe the Bible because it speaks of Him, His acts, His teachings. It points forward to them in the Old Testament; it relates them directly in the Gospels; it looks back on them and reflects on them in the Acts and Epistles. It looks forward to His Second Coming and final Judgement of mankind in the Book of Revelation. The Bible is infinitely precious to us because of Jesus Christ. We do not want to avoid it or explain it away!

"Because we believe in Jesus Christ, we accept the Creeds. They summarize what Christians, guided by the Holy Spirit, have always believed about Him. We recite them with pride and confidence, not with 'tongue in cheek.' They express the convictions by which we live and die.

"Because we believe in Jesus Christ, we accept His commandments. We know that we are responsible to Him as the judge of all mankind. We also know that we often fail to measure up to them, but that He offers us forgiveness of sins and His Holy Spirit to overcome our weaknesses and shortcomings and make us like Him.

"Because we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in His Church. It is His Church, subject to His marching orders, sent by Him to witness to His truth to all men everywhere. It is not ours to change as we see fit, to make into a social club for 'our kind of peple,' or into a political organization to prop up the existing order or to bring about 'social change.'

"Because we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in His Sacraments. We believe that in Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Absolution, Holy Unction, Holy Matrimony, and Holy Orders He really is present and acts for our salvation, and that we must meet Him in faith and penitence.

Because we believe in Jesus Christ, we believe in the sacred Ministry. Bishops, priests, and deacons are His agents who must act on His instructions, first given to the Apostles. They must proclaim His Word, administer His Sacraments, and on His behalf minister to people. Their role is not to be glorified social workers, political agitators, or amateur psychologists. We do not accept women priests because Jesus our Lord did not choose women Apostles. For us that is enough. He, the eternal truth, knows better than any of us.

"We do not set up ourselves as being better or more perfect than other people. We know that we are imperfect and sinful, and that our only hope is in trying to obey our Lord Jesus Christ and to worship Him.

"We do not wish to be another sect of Christians. On the contrary, we rejoice that so many believe what we believe and want to be as close to them as possible. We desire to be at one with them in the one Christ, the Son of the living God, risen, ascended, and glorified.

To Him be all honour and glory for ever and ever!

Amen.

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