Tuesday, January 27, 2004
Memo
If a church is not the seat of a bishop (that is, if it does not have an episcopal throne), then it is not a cathedral. I don't care how big it is. If Rowan Williams decided to set up shop in a local pub, Canterbury Cathedral would become Canterbury Church and the pub would become something like "Cathedral of The Green Man and Shilling." If your denomination doesn't have bishops, you cannot possibly have any cathedrals. Those of the Roman Communion, Anglican Communion, Eastern Patriarchates, United Methodist Church, and several other groups can have cathedrals. So far as I know, Baptists and Presbyterians cannot have cathedrals. Whether or not the various small, generally Charismatic, denominations where the minister is called "bishop" count is an open question. Nonetheless, a cathedral is not determined by the size of the church, but by the presence of the seat of the bishop.
Thank you, that is all.
If a church is not the seat of a bishop (that is, if it does not have an episcopal throne), then it is not a cathedral. I don't care how big it is. If Rowan Williams decided to set up shop in a local pub, Canterbury Cathedral would become Canterbury Church and the pub would become something like "Cathedral of The Green Man and Shilling." If your denomination doesn't have bishops, you cannot possibly have any cathedrals. Those of the Roman Communion, Anglican Communion, Eastern Patriarchates, United Methodist Church, and several other groups can have cathedrals. So far as I know, Baptists and Presbyterians cannot have cathedrals. Whether or not the various small, generally Charismatic, denominations where the minister is called "bishop" count is an open question. Nonetheless, a cathedral is not determined by the size of the church, but by the presence of the seat of the bishop.
Thank you, that is all.
