From the Rector
The Week of July 2, 2025
"It is precisely this personal encounter with the Lord that then strengthens the social mission contained in the Eucharist, which seeks to break down not only the walls that separate the Lord and ourselves, but also and especially the walls that separate us from one another." (Sacramentum caritatis, "The Sacrament of Charity," Apostolic Exhortation of Pope Benedict XVI, 2007)
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Dear friends in Christ,
What does it mean that Saint Andrew’s is an Anglo-Catholic parish?
The simplest answer is this: we believe Jesus is fully present in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar and fully present in the poor and marginalized.
That belief is at the heart of our life together, shaping our worship and our service. It’s also what situates us within the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Episcopal Church—a tradition rooted in the 19th century Oxford Movement, which sought to reclaim the spiritual depth, liturgical beauty, and sacramental theology of the early Church.
Saint Andrew’s is the only parish in the Diocese of Alabama with a truly Anglo-Catholic heritage. That history shows in our liturgical life—through the vestments we wear, the traditional Anglican Church Music we sing, the way we celebrate the Eucharist, and in the very architecture of our church. We are not what some might call "spiky" or rigidly ritualistic, though. Rather, we celebrate the ancient traditions of the Church in a way that honors our Southern context and reflects the humility of Christ himself.
A former rector once wrote:
"We at Saint Andrew's are proud of the history of our church and hope that in manifesting the glory, dignity, and beauty of Anglicanism we give praise and glory to Almighty God. The center of our lives as a parish is the worship and liturgy of the undivided Church, done with reverence, beauty, and love for God's creatures, through the means given to us by God."
This tradition has not always been easy to sustain. In fact, Saint Andrew’s was the first parish in the diocese to reserve the Blessed Sacrament in a Tabernacle—an act of eucharistic devotion that brought us into conflict with the bishop at the time, who insisted we refrain from the custom. Yet, that same devotion to Christ’s real presence in the Eucharist has shaped who we are and how we live out our faith for generations.
The Anglo-Catholic Revival in the wider Anglican Communion was always about more than just ceremony. It was—and is—about connecting our worship with our witness. One of the great voices of that movement, Bishop Frank Weston of Zanzibar, preached these words at the Anglo-Catholic Congress of 1923:
"If you are prepared to fight for the right of adoring Jesus in his Blessed Sacrament, then you have got to come out from before your Tabernacle and walk, with Christ mystically present in you, out into the streets of this country, and find the same Jesus in the people of your cities and your villages… You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the Tabernacle if you do not pity Jesus in the slum."
That’s what it means to be Anglo-Catholic at Saint Andrew’s—not simply holding fast to sacred traditions, but allowing those traditions to form us into disciples who serve Christ in the world today. We honor and adore Jesus Christ at the altar and cherish his presence in the lives of the needy. The Eucharist tethers and commits us to the poor. At the altar rail, we kneel in reverence, and we stand together in compassion.
Our liturgy may look a little different from that of other parishes in the diocese. It may look different today than it did even several years ago. But our heart is the same: to love and serve Jesus Christ, truly present in simple creatures of Bread and Wine, and truly present in the lives of our neighbors.
May Christ rule in our hearts and fill us with every resolve to love and serve our neighbors.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Peter
