FAQ´s

1.- What does the word "Anglican" mean?

It is the term used to name the Church of England. England was formerly known as "Anglia Terra", the land of the Anglos. The Anglos were a tribe that settled in England.

An Anglican is thus a person belonging to the Anglican Communion, a family within the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. In our case, although we are not part of the Anglican Communion, however, To be derived from the Church of England, we share with her structures, traditions and historical forms: the Book of Common Prayer, the 39 Articles of the Religion and the Ordinal. 

Four pillars of the Anglican faith:

The Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments with their 73 Books.

The Catholic Creeds: Nicene, of the Apostles and of St. Athanasius.

The Seven Sacraments of the New Covenant, namely:

* Baptism, by which the new Christian receives the forgiveness of sins (original and present), is elevated to the dignity of son of God, heir of the Kingdom of the heavens, is made a member of the Catholic Church and participant of the Common Priesthood Of Christ in the faithful.

* Confirmation, by which the baptized is strengthened by the grace of the Holy Spirit, so that he may be a witness of Christ in word and deed, and that he may propagate and defend faith.

* Eucharist, perpetual memorial of the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, and in which under the species of consecrated bread and wine, Jesus Christ is truly present and given to us as spiritual food in Holy Communion.

* Penance, by which God forgives us the sins committed after baptism through priestly absolution and penance.

* Anointing of the sick, by anointing with the blessed oil and prayer of the priest is conferred upon the sick the grace of God to bear his sickness in a Christian way, for the health of his soul, and if it is the will of God, also receive health bodily.

* Priestly Order, a sacrament by which some of the faithful (only men) are made Ministers of Christ, by the imposition of hands of the Bishops and of the Consecration Prayer prescribed for each degree of Order: Bishops, Priests and Deacons .

* Marriage, which is the single, exclusive, permanent and lifelong (Indisoluble) union between a man and a woman, baptized and free to marry, and who voluntarily and freely express their mutual consent to enter into Christian marriage.

* The uninterrupted Apostolic Succession by which the Bishops become the Successors of the Apostles in the government of the Church; They are in charge of keeping the faith, unity and discipline of the Church.

In the Anglican Church, every doctrine must conform to three criteria:

The Scriptures, which are the Word of God revealed to the world.

Reason, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit and helps us to understand the depths of divine truth.

The Tradition of the Church, ie the development of the Church under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, for its continuity and consistency, Tradition helps us to preserve THE DEPOSIT OF FAITH.

2.- Who founded the Anglican religion?

We can not speak of an "Anglican religion," since a religion has its own body of belief and is distinct from any other religious group, which is not the case with the Anglican Church, since it professes the same Faith and Order of The Primitive and Indivisive Catholic Church. Its rule of faith is the Nicene Creed, which is the same creed used both by the Roman Church and by the Orthodox Churches. This is the Creed that we pray on Sundays and solemn feasts in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. Now, being a Church of Catholic faith and tradition, it only recognizes Christ as its sole founder. The Church of England has existed since the early years of Christianity and although it has experienced great difficulties throughout its existence, it continues and will continue in the future because it has the promise of its Divine Founder.

Erroneously, it is attributed to Henry VIII the foundation of the Church of England, product of a tantrum for not receiving the annulment of its marriage with Catherine of Aragon on the part of the Bishop of Rome. Henry VIII was a man subject to many passions and committed many sins of which he will give account to God like any other person. To say that Henry VIII founded the Church of England is as false as saying that Constantine founded the Christian religion. The Church of England existed long before Henry VIII was born. The Christian faith was brought at a very early age to England, and by the year 300 AD, there was a flourishing National Church, indeed historical records mark the participation of three British bishops at the Council of Arles, France held in 314 AD.

The question of the divorce of Henry VIII of Catherine of Aragon (who had been his sister-in-law and whom Pope Julius II granted a dispensation to marry) must be seen as something historical (which some have been charged with making it hysterical) and something totally political, Every time that Rome was ally of Spain in its conquests in the new world, wherever the Spaniards went, the missionaries accompanied them to bring the faith to the Spanish colonies and to extend the hegemony of the Roman Church in the Christian world, So that Pope Clement VII, not wanting to lose such a great ally, logically denies the marriage annulment to Henry of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the Catholic kings of Spain Ferdinand and Isabella and aunt of Charles V, king from Spain. Nor should we forget that Charles V had already made his fortune known to Pope Clement during the Sacking of Rome (May 6, 1525), where the Pope was imprisoned for more than seven months in the castle of St. Angelo. On the other hand, when Henry VIII appointed Thomas Cranmer as Archbishop of Canterbury, Pope Clement himself gave his approval to this election and granted him the Archiepiscopal Palium. Archbishop Cranmer was consecrated to the Episcopate on March 30, 1533, by Bishop John Longlands (1521 Lincoln) and Co-consecrators the Bishops John Veysey (1519 Exeter) and Henry Standish (1518 St. Asaph); All of them Roman Catholic bishops, so that the Apostolic Succession was not lost.

 3.- Is The Anglican Church Catholic?

Yes. We are true Catholics because we profess the Catholic and apostolic faith of always, as found in: The Holy Scriptures, expressed in the Catholic Creeds, namely: the Nicene Creed, the Apostles' Creed and the Creed of St. Athanasius, the Dogmatic statements of the first seven Ecumenical Councils of the primitive and undivided Church, the Seven Sacraments and uninterrupted Apostolic Succession, that is, our Bishops are true successors of the Apostles.

Some believe that the only way to be Catholic is to be inside the Roman Church and to be in communion with the bishop of Rome. This does not make sense, according to the Holy Scriptures, the Body of Christ is One, but it has many members (1Cor 12: 12-20), St. Paul tells us that "a single member is not enough to form a body, That many are needed ..... if the whole body were an eye, how could we hear? ... IF ALL WERE THE SAME MEMBER, WHERE WOULD THE BODY BE? BUT THERE ARE MANY MEMBERS, AND ONE BODY "In other words , If we were all Roman Catholics, we would not be the Body of Christ, but an amorphous entity, we would lose the essence of the Catholic term, that is universal; We would become the Church of Rome scattered throughout the world.

"The unity of the Church is not uniformity: believers are not placed in the same mold, it is not a matter of having the same options on human problems, we also have the right not to think faith in the same way, That we accept all that the Creed says "Latin American Bible, Commentary to Ephesians 2, p. 460.

We recognize the Church of Rome as a Catholic Church, but not as the only (universal) Catholic Church, every time, that there are other churches that have maintained the same faith in Jesus Christ, the same 7 sacraments and Apostolic Succession in the Sacrament of Order, and we rightly call ourselves Catholics. Reducing the universality of the Church of Christ to one Church is sectarianism. True communion is with God the Father through Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 1: 9, 1 John 3) and not with a man. We recognize the Bishop of Rome as Primate of Honor (Primus interpares - the first among equals) along with the Patriarchates of: Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, centers of Christianity in the Early Church, according to an ancient tradition.

It was evident that among the Apostles there was no chief (Mark 9: 33-37, Lk 22:24) because they all had the same level. St. Paul recognizes that Peter, James and John were the pillars of the Church (Galatians 2: 9), it is interesting to see that in the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15: 1-35), Intervened with his word, it was James the first bishop of Jerusalem who defined what should be done with the Gentiles who were converted to the faith. St. Peter himself was never referred to as the Rock of the Church; on the contrary, he teaches that the cornerstone of the Church is Christ (1 Peter 2: 3-6), otherwise there is no historical or biblical evidence proving that St. Peter lived in Rome as his bishop, the Bible tells us that Peter dedicated his apostolic ministry to the evangelization of the Jews (Galatians 2: 7-8), while Paul was dedicated to the evangelization of the Gentiles. Historical evidence tells us that St. Peter was taken to Rome to die and the proof is that there is a tomb. The founder of the Church of Rome was none other than St. Paul as he tells us in his Letter to the Romans (Romans 1: 5-6, 15:20) and in his second Letter to the Corinthians (2 Corinthians 10: 14-15). The Church of Christ is founded on believing that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, that is the faith of the Church, that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, the anointed one, the savior, the redeemer. That is the faith that Peter expressed about Jesus "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God" ... on this rock or on this faith Christ founded his Church and not on the person of Peter, the powers that Peter received that Day, Jesus gives them to the other apostles (Matthew 18:18), so Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians (Ephesians 2: 20) tells us that the Church (the family of God) is founded on the apostles And the prophets, and whose Cornerstone is Christ Jesus. Some say that after his resurrection Christ delivered the Primate to Peter (John 21: 15-19), but this is not true. If we remember the times that Jesus asks Peter if he loves him, we see that it is three times, the same three times that Peter denied it in the house of the high priest (John 18: 15-27). Jesus knew what Peter felt because he had failed, he knew that Peter needed to be restored and therefore the triple profession of love.

The doctrine of the Universal Primate was defined as a dogma of faith in 1870 in the Vatican Council I by Pope Pius IX still with many votes against, that is to say that there was no majority consensus on the part of the bishops present. The same happened with the Dogma of the papal infallibility, promulgated in the same Council, that is to say that the pope is not mistaken when he speaks ex-professed about doctrine and moral.

In ancient times this was not mentioned, St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage in Africa (AD 250) taught that: "No one among us proclaims himself bishop of bishops, nor compels his colleagues to enforced obedience, considering that every bishop for his freedom And power has right as he pleases and can not be judged by another, just as he can not judge others. We must all expect the judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ, who alone and especially has the power to appoint us for the government of his Church and To judge our actions "(Epistle 55:21).

IF ANY CHURCH CLAIMS WITH RIGHT THE PRIMACY OF CHRISTIANITY, THAT WOULD BE THE CHURCH OF JERUSALEM, BECAUSE THAT STARTED EVERYTHING ..... And so it was recognized by the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451), when it conferred the title of: Mother of All the Churches.

4.- What is Apostolic Succession?

It is the Authority of God in Earth to minister in sacred things. Apostolic Succession is the uninterrupted line in time that unites the Church of today with the early Church, the Bishops of today, with the apostles and of them to Christ himself. Apostolic Succession is maintained in the Church through the ordination of bishops by the imposition of hands of other ordained bishops within the Succession. That is, the apostles ordained some of their collaborators as bishops, who in turn ordained others as bishops and these to others, and so on and on uninterruptedly they have continued to ordain new bishops to this day. Anglicans have always maintained that the Apostolic Succession is essential for the life and work of the Church. That is why we are an Apostolic Church, because we follow the teaching of the Apostles and because we are united to them by our Apostolic Succession. (See section on APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION)

5. Why can Anglican priests be married?

In our rite the ministers can be married men, or if they are single they can marry and continue serving God, since besides the Scriptures allow and they recommend it (Genesis 2: 18-24; 1Cor 7: 9), this was the common practice of the early Church (Titus 1: 6; 1 Timothy 3: 2,12; 1 Corinthians 7: 20, 9: 5).

Peter himself was a married man when Christ called him (Mark 1: 30-31).

We recognize the value of celibacy, but not as an imposition or condition for ordination; But as a special vocation of free, voluntary and generous surrender to Christ and his Church (Mt. 19: 11-12). There are married and single ministers in our Church.

A separate mention for priests who are members of a Religious Order, for them, the observance of the evangelical vows of obedience, poverty and chastity as well as community life is kept in force, so that they can not marry.

6. Does this Church ordain women to the priesthood?

NO. Although some Provinces of the Anglican Communion ordain women to the priesthood and in some cases up to the episcopate, we do not share this because we consider it to be contrary to the Sacred Scriptures and to the Tradition of the Holy Catholic Church in its two thousand years of life, Because it completely destroys the essence of the Eucharist and the Priesthood.

(Exodus 18: 13-27, 28: 1-3, Num 11: 16-17, Mark 3: 13-19, Mt 10: 1-4, Acts 6: 1-3, 1 Tim 5 : 17-20, Tit 1: 5-6, 1 Tim. 3: 7,13), in addition Article XX of the 39 Articles of Religion forbids the Church to teach something that is contrary to the Word of God.

We believe that women are also called by God to work and strive for their Kingdom of love, peace and justice to be established throughout the earth, but NOT within the ministerial priesthood, but, being by their baptism partakers of the common priesthood of Christ In the faithful (1 Peter 2: 5,9, Rev. 1: 6), to live a specific apostolate in service to God and his Church (catechesis, visits to the sick, praise, prayer, charity, etc.) In the image and likeness of the pious women who accompanied Jesus and ministered to him. (Luke 8: 1-3).

7. Do You Bless unions between people of the same sex?

NO. Since it is not in accordance with our own purposes as a Church. Besides that there are already enough churches in Mexico and the world with this ministry, just do a search on the internet to find out. We ask for respect for our conscience and belief, just as we respect it in others.

8.- How can I be part of this Church?

According to our Constitution, there are 3 ways to be a member of this Church:

1.- By Baptism: If the person has not validly received the Sacrament of Baptism, then it must be baptized by a minister of this Church, who will properly settle the act in the Book of Baptisms of the Parish.

2.- By Confirmation: If the person has already received baptism, and that baptism is recognized by this Church as valid (see list in the corresponding section), that person may be admitted to the Sacrament of Confirmation from the hands of our Diocesan Bishop . Once confirmed, this person is a member of this Church.

3.- Reception: A person baptized and confirmed validly in another denomination, can be received by the Bishop as a member of this Church on the recommendation of his Pastor in the framework of the Pastoral Visit to the Parishes and within the Holy Mass.

In order to receive any Sacrament in this Church, it must be fulfilled beforehand with proper spiritual preparation (Catechesis, pre-sacramental talks, Confession, etc.), which will lead us to fully live the Sacrament received. "Express" sacraments are not given.