GLAD TIDINGS

No.6. Vol 09 August 2009 christchurchguilford.org

From the Interim Rector

HIGH, BROAD, OR LOW:

WHICH WAY DO WE GO?
J
ust as in politics, labels in religion can be troublesome, inaccurate and, often, misleading.
When it comes to politicians, labels such as liberal, conservative, or moderate usually never
accurately describe the totality of an individual’s political views. Someone who may be called
liberal when it comes to social issues might just as well hold very conservative positions when
economic/fiscal issues are discussed. There are those who would describe themselves as “pro-life”
when it comes to abortion issues, but, at the same time, adamantly defend capital punishment
when it comes to cop killer.

Labels can be troublesome, inaccurate and often misleading. In the parlance

of ecclesial theology and liturgical practice (i.e. churchmanship) and liturgical
theology within the Anglican Communion and, particularly, within the American
Episcopal Church, we hear descriptive words and terms thrown around such as:
High Church, Low Church, and Broad Church. Add to that: Lexicon Catholic,
protestant, high and dry, evangelical, Anglo-Catholic, traditional Anglo-Catholic,
Prayer Book Catholic, Conservative Evangelical, charismatic and something called
Anglo-Papalist -- no kidding! Our Lutheran brothers and sisters would add to
this veritable chowder of the descriptive language of churchmanship: Liberal
Protestant, Pietist, Confessional Lutheran or Evangelical Catholic. Are your eyes
glazing over? Confused? Stay with me, now. We’ll get through this. I’ll limit the
discussion to three principal forms of churchmanship within Anglicanism (i.e. in
our case: Episcopalianism): Low Church, Broad Church, and High Church and how they are
often misappropriated to various forms of churchmanship.

Low Church is now generally used to refer to the Puritan or Evangelical tradition within
Anglicanism. Initially used as a pejorative term, alluding to the absence of something, rather than
a substantively descriptive term. Low Church generally indicates churchmanship that places
greater emphasis on the protestant nature of Anglicanism. Low churchmen tend to favor Prayer
Book services of Morning and Evening Prayer over regular celebration of the Holy Eucharist.
Pejoratively used, Low churchmanship indicates the absence of the use of proper Eucharistic
vestments, and the rejection of the doctrine that the Sacraments of the Church confer grace. Some
low Episcopal churches include elements of charismatic Christianity, personal conversion, and
even Pentecostalism, glossolalia (speaking in tongues), biblical inerrancy, and biblical literalism.

The term High Church is, by far, the most loaded phrase of the three types of churchmanship. Loaded, in
the sense that if I were to ask ten individual Anglicans from varying church backgrounds and geographical
areas what High Church means, I might get as many as twelve distinct descriptions and explanations!
Why so much confusion? I believe it’s fair to say the confusion comes from the historical metamorphosis
of the very term High Church. There is not a simple explanation of what High Church means, because it
means different things to different people. For this discussion, lets trace back only as far as what is known
in history as the Oxford Movement, sometimes referred to as the Tractarian Movement that emerged in
1833 England led by Anglicans John Henry Newman and J. Hurrell Froude, among others. The Tractarians
(so named because of their utilization of printed tracts or pamphlets they called
“Tracts for the Times”) subscribed to the idea that the Church, as a catholic entity
of the body of Christ (the word catholic, literally meaning universal and has nothing
to do with Rome or the pope!) was the sacramental system divinely given the means
of grace, as opposed to low churchmen who stressed simple personal conversion.

In mid-19th century England, the descriptive term High Church morphed into an
Anglo-Catholic or even a triumphalist position (i.e. the “My religion’s superior
to yours” attitude expressed by recent Bishops of Rome.) This was foreign to
the religious philosophy of the Oxford Movement. High churchmanship holds an
orthodox approach to worship and elaborate liturgical practice: the frequent, almost
regular use of celebrants, deacons, and sub-deacons in the celebration of the Holy
Eucharist; regular and frequent use of incense – I’m talking every Sunday frequent;
Eucharistic devotional liturgies such as Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, the
use of votive candles, regularly scheduled Confession, daily celebration of the Holy Eucharist, etc. (See the website of
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Philadelphia saintmarksphiladelphia.org, a thriving and openly Anglo-Catholic parish.)

Now, before considering the term Broad Church, lets go to our Book of Common Prayer for guidance. Under the
heading, Concerning the Service of the Church, our Prayer Book states this: “The Holy Eucharist, the principal act
of Christian worship on the Lord’s Day (i.e. Sunday) and other major Feasts, and Daily (i.e. weekdays) Morning and
Evening Prayer are the regular services appointed for worship in this Church.” In other words, when Episcopalians
gather for worship on Sundays and other major Feasts or Holy Days, the appropriate liturgical expression is the Mass.
Oh, too Catholic a word, some might say! But, just a moment. Let’s go to our Episcopal Catechism, which begins
on page 845 of the Book of Common Prayer. On page 859, in the classic Q & A format, the Catechism tells us this:
Q. What is the Holy Eucharist? A. The H.E. is the sacrament commanded by Christ for the continual remembrance
of his life, death, and resurrection, until his coming again. Q. Why is the Eucharist called a sacrifice? A. Because the
Eucharist, the Church’s sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, is the way by which the sacrifice of Christ is made present,
and in which he unites us to His one offering of Himself. (Now watch this!) Q. By what other names is this service
known? A. The Holy Eucharist is called the Lord’s Supper, and Holy Communion; it is also known as the Divine
Liturgy, the Mass, (my emphasis) and the Great Offering. So referring to the Eucharist as the Mass has nothing to do
with High Church, Low Church, NO church nor the Roman Catholic Church! It’s right there in our Episcopal Book
of Common Prayer.

So what does Broad Church mean? Simply this form of churchmanship is open to a Broad range of
opinion, theology, liturgy, and scriptural interpretation. Broad Church is a mixture of low and high church
elements. Particularly with regard to styles of worship, the overwhelming majority of Episcopal churches,
including Christ Episcopal Church, Guilford, fall into this category. Broad Church mixes the informality
of the low with the formality of the high. Some parts of the service may be sung but the majority of the
liturgy will be said. Most Broad Church worship includes the regular use of Eucharistic vestments worn by
the Celebrant. Some Broad Church worshipers may use devotional acts (i.e. making the Sign of the Cross,
genuflecting, bowing to the passing processional cross or at the invocation of the Trinity in prayer), praying
at the Stations of the Cross during Lent, while others may not. Broad Church worship may mix the use of
Anglican chant with more evangelical hymns, just as we do at Christ Church. Infrequent use of ceremonial
incense on High Holy Days such as Easter, Christmas, All Saints Sunday or Pentecost is a common feature
of Broad Church worship. Rarely, if ever, would a parish in the Broad Church tradition use incense
on a every Sunday basis, as do most High Church parishes. Sermons in the Broad Church tradition are
typically based on scripture lectionary readings for the day. In a nutshell, Broad Church churchmanship is,
without a doubt, the future of the Episcopal Church. Does that mean that Low and High churchmanship
will disappear? Most likely no, and that’s a good thing; that’s the beauty of being an Anglican Christian!
That’s the gift of being, staunchly, part of the via media or the Middle Way. The Anglican/Episcopalian
expression of Christianity is the middle way between Roman Catholicism and mainline Protestantism. So,
when someone asks: “Are you a Roman Catholic or a Protestant?” An appropriate response would be: “I’m
an Anglican, part of the Church of the Middle Way.
Fr. Anthony Dinoto +
 GLAD TIDINGS
Planning Meeting sets
2009/2010 Church
Events Schedule
Father Tony and Jean Valentine hosted a planning session on
Wednesday, July 29th, at 6 p.m.  to look ahead and develop the
2009-2010 program year at Christ Episcopal Church. 

A light meal, arranged by Pat Wakefield, was served to the

attendees which included volunteers, members of the Search
Committee, and the Vestry. A month-by-month provisional calendar was prepared for a most active and
inspiring upcoming church year.

Greetings One and All!

from Adam Pajan, Music Director

I
t’s hard to believe that the summer is almost over.  The break has been wonderful for me, and I hope
you all have enjoyed vacations, relaxation, and all the other projects you have undertaken during these
past months. 

Here are a few details concerning the upcoming months.


1) Church of the Holy Advent, Clinton would like to combine with us for a Chorister retreat day at Christ
Church on August 19th.  It’s the week before school begins, so I’m hoping that most of you will be in
town and will be able to attend.  The retreat will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. with lunch and other activities
included. It’s a wonderful opportunity to get a head start on the coming year and a great chance for our
Choristers to meet others in the area. Please respond with your availability regarding this date. 

2) The choir of Westport/Weston United Methodist Church is also interested in a combined project,
with Leslie playing and me conducting. I have chosen the Dvorak Mass, a wonderful piece with plenty
of challenges, for our work together.    If you have issues with this date, please let me know ASAP!  It’s
very important to nail down the details right away.  I’m looking forward to working with Leslie again, and
I’m sure you will be excited about taking on another large project.  The Faure was a ball, and it will be
wonderful to combine again in Guilford.  We will need a few Saturdays to work on the repertoire, but I
won’t schedule them until September.  I will make scores and CD’s available as of this Sunday, so if you are
in church, please stop by and get a head-start listening and learning this incredible work!

3) Labor Day is September 7th, so normal rehearsals will begin Thursday, September 10th.  Welcome Back
Sunday is September 20th. We have a couple of weeks to get things in gear.  Our first Sunday singing will
be on September 13th. If there are conflicts with any of the above information, please let me know as soon
as possible.  We can all look forward to another year growing together both spiritually and musically!

Visit our New Redesigned web site www.christchurchguilford.org

Log on to get the latest report from the Parish Search Committee entitled
A Time of Transition & Discernment
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GLAD TIDINGS
a publication of Photo Festivals Day
Christ Episcopal Church
11 Park Street
Guilford, Connecticut 06437
Directory Fair
The Rev’d. Anthony C. Dinoto Recently, Olan Mills was Time marches on and November 7 is coming
Interim Rector into view. We would like to have an idea of table
Editor in the parish hall tak-
[email protected] space requirements for each area.  Please give
ing photos for our new
203-453-2279 me your best 'guesstimate'.  We do plan to have
church directory. If you 'Granny's Attic' in a front room of the Rectory. 
Edward Seibert were unable to have your  
Senior Warden
[email protected] photo taken during these We will purchase all supplies that you need:
203-458-6516 sessions, you can still i.e. Bake Shoppe-gloves, bags, boxes, kitchen-
submit a personal photo plates, napkins, utensils, etc.  If you need
Pat Wakefield anything else, please advise me.  Pricing stickers
Parish Administrator to the church office for
[email protected] will be supplied as well. All table coverings,
203-453-2279 addition to the new di- decorations and signage is being done.  Each
rectory. table will receive a cash box with "start-up"
William D. Glover
Managing Editor money. 
[email protected] Time is running out, so  
203-458-1926 We will have a short meeting of table leaders
if you missed the regualr
after church on Sunday, September 13. We still
Vicky Pantalone sessions, call Pat and add
Photographer need crews for set-up and clean-up. 
[email protected] your own photos.   Jean Meiselman
203-458-7831