Recall the old joke about the Episcopal Church as Roman Catholic Lite?

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4. I was formally received into the Episcopal Church today

Ever since the Cardinals gave us Benedict I had off and on thought of converting to the Episcopal Church. I had decided that if my job took me to a new city that I would join an Episcopal parish and not a Catholic one - but I made no further moves. I remained in the Catholic parish I was a member of right up until January of 2012.

Then came a couple weeks in a row where a trip out of town and work kept me from going to Mass for a few weeks. It was about that time that we had the Bishops start going on about religious freedom. I lost any desire to go back to a Catholic church. I went to the local Episcopal Church or the first time a few days later. Within a few weeks of going to Episcopal services there and another nearby Episcopal parish I knew I had found a new spiritual home. Services there just felt so right to me, and it feels so right to have women leading us in prayer. The Vatican taking aim at the LCRW and Bishops comparing our President to Hitler among other things a short time later strengthened my resolve to leave the Catholic Church.

I told the rector that I wanted to join the Episcopal Church and was told that I was quite welcome to be received when the Bishop came to town. She said I was still welcome at services and to receive communion regardless since their only requirement to receive communion is to be baptized. I still wanted to be recognized as a member of the church though. Normally they have inquirers classes but since I was the only person who was going to the classes I just met the rector a couple times. (The others either already had the classes and just needed the Bishop to make it official or had a special needs kid and were attending confirmation classes with him so he had the attention he needed).

It was a great weight off my shoulders to move beyond the Catholic church. It was a great weight off my shoulders to be free of all the baggage that came with the church. And today I made it official when I was formally received into the Episcopal Church. Felt DAMN good too.