In search of a modern religious experience? Your faith need not compromise your intelligence! If you love the beauty and poetry of traditional liturgy, but seek a modern inclusive theology where everyone is fully accepted. We have what you are looking for! CHRISTIC - We are a limb of the one Christian church, the Mystical Body of Christ. We acknowledge the Christ as our founder, living head, and e
ternal high priest. INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC - We are a Catholic church in the original, universal, sense of that word as well as in our form of sacramental worship. We are neither Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, nor Protestant, though our bishops and priests trace their Holy Orders, or “apostolic succession” (the tradition of bishops consecrating other bishops), through Roman Catholic and Orthodox lines. In this way we trace our roots as far back any other Catholic or Orthodox church. Our priests perform the liturgy and administer the seven sacraments. SACRAMENTAL - We are a sacramental church. We hold that the sacraments are visible signs of a manifestation of divine grace, and are powerful aids to spiritual growth. Holy Eucharist (Communion), Reconciliation (Penance), Holy Unction (healing of the sick), and Holy Marriage and Holy Union are made available to all who seek them. Baptism is the rite of formal initiation into Christ's church. Confirmation seals the commitment to a Christian way of life. Holy Orders is an initiation available to those who wish to serve as clergy. We maintain that eternal truth cloaks itself in garb appropriate to the age, and that the outward form of religion should keep pace with human development. We do not shrink from new knowledge. Our form of Independent Catholicism embodies an ancient truth for a new age. We provide an intelligent alternative — traditional worship with the free exploration of new ideas and techniques. All seekers are encouraged to explore every relevant resource for spiritual development. FELLOWSHIP - Our church is a spiritual fellowship, a community of followers of the Spirit. We give ourselves and others encouragement to live the truth. To live the truth is to become ever more the Christ, the true Self of all and the source of real happiness and abiding fellowship. LOVE CENTERED - We are a church of love. We accept Saint John's testimony that God is Love For us, Christ's ministry is the law of love: “Love the Lord, thy God, with thy whole heart, thy whole mind and thy whole strength; and love thy neighbor as thyself. This is the whole of the Law and the prophets.” Saint Augustine epitomized Christian ethics in the precept, “Love and do as you will.”
UNIVERSAL -We maintain that the Holy Spirit acts through pure channels everywhere, regardless of age, s*x, race, creed or culture. There is only one true God, however this God is known or worshiped; hence, there is eternally only one holy universal Church, regardless of the cultural form it happens to assume in a given time and place. We revere the saints, sages, and holy ones of all ages and places. MYSTICAL - We are a mystical church, keeping in mind the Old Testament words, “Be still and know I AM - God.” We give a primary place to Christ's saying, “The kingdom of heaven lies within you.” and acknowledge that the greatest advancement in spiritual truth is made by those who discover that divinity resides within. If God is Love, then it is through our love that we come to a real and abiding knowledge of God. For Christians, love is spiritual knowledge par excellence. SPIRITUAL We seek to draw back the veil, first to discover the deeper intellectual import and then the experiential dimension, which is the true meaning of spiritual symbolism in scripture, ritual, liturgy and theology. OPEN COMMUNION - We believe that the chief purpose of our spiritual community is to perpetuate the historical sacramental tradition as instituted by Jesus Christ, and as preserved through apostolic succession. We maintain that the sacraments are channels of divine grace and are therefore easily available to all. Communion is not a reward for following the rules. Rather, it represents and repeats the great sacrifice that Christ made for us by atoning for our sins. We believe that the Eucharist puts us in communion with the Christ and is a channel of Grace without parallel. Therefore, at our altars all reverent persons are welcome to receive communion, whether members of our church, or any church. AN INVITATION - Do you want the freedom to read and investigate the best of modern thinkers and writers, at the same time keeping your roots in the beauty form and poetry of the traditional church? Large numbers of worshipers are leaving their traditional churches because they realize the difficulty of combining rational thought with irrational and old fashioned religious control. That these people are often the most intelligent and best educated church members! They have used their time and energy to keep up with the times and investigate the best thinking of our age and they have had the heartbreaking experience of having to leave the churches, which they still love and in which most of them were raised in order to respect what they have learned. If you are such a person, it could be that you are spiritually ready to join us at Ascension by the Sea. Perhaps do not even realize it! We set no limits to your thinking, and instead encourage you to use your intelligence to develop the deepest spiritual truths that you can. We urge our family to read and assimilate all they can on scriptural interpretation, comparative religion, mystical traditions, as well as the best works in psychology, psychiatry, philosophy, and anthropology. At the same time, we share in community the experience of worshiping in the rich traditional beauty of Eucharistic fellowship.
