*Question:
I’ve decided to see if an Episcopal church is a good "fit" for my family. I know next to nothing about this church, other than I like what I’ve seen in terms of theology as it relates to present, real life issues. I’ve noticed that a lot of churches are named for saints - are you taught about the saints (I don’t even know how to ask the question, lol, but I hope someone knows what I’m asking)? Do you have to become a member before you can take Communion? If not, should you take it on your first visit? If a church lists on its schedule of worship the Holy Eucharist, Sunday Service and Christian Education(which I’m guessing is Sunday School)what’s the difference in services?**

Answer: Etymology, history, doctrine and picayuny details..

The Anglican church is the traditional catholic church of England. "Anglican" means "of England". The Anglican church is called "Episcopal" in the US (which means "of Bishops") ‘cause you had this little fuss back in 1776 that led you not to want to identify with England.

Prior to the eighth century, the Bishop of Rome did not exercise authority over other Bishops. The Anglican church as we know it was born out of Rome’s 700-year struggle to assert that authority over (largely Celtic) Bishops who had already put the stamp of their own spirituality and culture on their worship style. Rome made considerable impact on the Celtic-British clergy during the Renaissance, aided by the Papally-sponsored Plantagenet invasion and dynasty. The struggle culminated in Henry VIII’s formally establishing the Anglican church as explicitely independant from Rome. (Normally this is described as "Henry VIII started his own church so he could marry Anne Boleyn", a gross and skewed oversimplification).

Since we believe the Catholic church is the whole company of Christian people, you "become a member" by being baptized. In other words, you already are Anglican, you just don’t know it yet :-). We believe in "the Communion of Saints" – which means that all believers (both "militant" i.e. alive, and "triumphant" i.e. dead), are joined in the body. So we believe in saints, and we believe you are a saint. Some people however, our tradition teaches us are exemplary saints, so we give them a capital "S" and use it as a title. Since we don’t acknowledge any primal authority – the Archbishop of Cantebury has no authority over any bishops outside his own See – there is no official body to "canonize" Saints; just consensus of the whole people. We acknowledge Scripture, Tradition and Reason as sources of revelation, so calling someone a saint because it’s traditional to do so is good enough for us. < Some congregations have been more influenced by other movements: Methodism, Lutheranism, and of course Romanism. Some of those congregations may feel that you should be confirmed in an Anglican church before taking communion. They’re out of sync with the Anglican communion at large, but they do exist. Check the bulletin, it usually says something like "all baptized persons are welcome at the Lord’s table". For legal reasons you usually have to do something to qualify as a member to vote at the annual congregational meeting, but it’s usually a trivial and informal requirement, like put your name in the church register.

There’s no way to figure out ahead of time what kind of congregation you’re getting into. Besides, Heisenberg prevails so as soon as you insert yourself you change the equation. You can try interviewing the church staff by telephone, or getting cozy with the diocesan secretary in the hopes that she’ll gossip, but for practical purposes you pretty much have to try them out.

The worship is written down in the prayerbook, which is cryptic and hard to follow. The congregation will suddenly burst into something vaguely song-like just when you thought they were going to recite scripture. The nice parishioner in the next pew is supposed to notice you flipping pages in confusion and mark pages for you. Communion is taken in both kinds. You go up to the front in turn, usually kneel down, and are given the bread – or more commonly a white wheatflour-wafer – in your hands (to be formally correct, cup them right over left and raise the bread directly to your mouth, but don’t worry cause most of us aren’t formal nowadays anyway), then a sip of wine from a common cup (guide the cup to your lips with your hands). Sit in the middle of the pew so there’s someone next to you on both sides to copy. Some congregations have communion every week, some every second week or so.