I'm not a particularly spiritual person but I'd like to find an open, welcoming church that focuses its energy on community issues (i.e. social gospel).

I bear no animosity towards lay Catholics, but I am not interested in aligning myself with that institution (having been raised Catholic). I believe opposition to gay marriage is tantamount to opposition to interracial marriage. I am also strongly opposed to the death penalty.

I do not want to go to church with a bunch of bigots - although I am not homosexual I want a church that accepts people who are.

I haven't been to church in 10 yrs. and I'm not looking to be "born again". I'd just like to be around some nice, idealistic people who will allow me to find my own version of a higher power.

Church must be in the city as I do not own a car.

How about the Episcopal Cathedral at 38th and Chestnut? I don't know where you would be coming from, but you can get pretty close on the el or the trolleys. Bus is a bit trickier.

There are other Episcopal churches in the city, all of them pretty much open and welcoming of all sorts of folks, all of them oriented toward service and justice, some of them more into the "historic" thing than others (this being Philadelphia.)

The cathedral offers a beautiful, open space and a relatively non-traditional take on the ancient liturgical form you would be familiar with as an ex Roman Catholic. We don't do born-again, biblical literalism, or exclusion of any sort. The congregation tends to be on the younger side, with many who would call themselves seekers, trying to find a spiritual home at their own pace.
Universities on both sides of us have an effect on the shape of the congregation. Average attendance is about 75-80, less in summer with students away.

The liturgy is at 10:00 a.m..

You would be warmly welcomed.

Based on how you describe your views and beliefs, it sound like you might want to check out:

Episcopal


Friends (Quaker)

and possibly

Unitarian Universalist

congregations

The above links should take you to the respective "find a congregation" websites for each of these faith traditions. Thanks for your post.

I hope this helps- best wishes with your search. I hope you will stop back and post an update and let us know how your search is going!

__________________
Peace,

John

My eBay World

My Librarything

MySpace

. . . .

for your considerate replies. I'm looking forward to attending the Episcopal Church this Sunday.

Arch St. United Methodist Church

and

Arch St. Friends Meeting

are both progressive, historic churches with strong social justice ministries and inclusive gatherings as well- which may also be worth checking out...

Arch St. Friends Meeting frequently brings in excellent speakers as well, from what I have heard.

Also, here is a link to

First Unitarian Universalist Church

which is located on Chestnut Street.

__________________
Peace,

John

My eBay World

My Librarything

MySpace

. . . .

The Episcopal Church is pretty varied in its style of worship, so you may want to try a few out. Unlike the Roman Catholics, you are not bound geographically to a parish's catchment area.

We went to the Episcopal Cathedral once and it was a bit too liturgically wacky and for us, found the music a bit schizophrenic. Plus we have read some of the books of the Cathedral's dean - he is a nutjob and apparently he was going for the whole generic conference center converted from a church feel to the space. Plus, they didn't seem to have any Books of Common Prayer around which is just wrong.

Now, the nice thing is that there are so many other options so you can find a parish that can fit what you are looking for. Talk to members of congregation and the priest. And don't be afraid to schedule an appointment to talk with the priest, as he/she can probably answer a lot of your questions about what they do. You may also want to take a look at the Book of Common Prayer, too.

There are a few downtown and transit accessible parishes that we have tried, Christ Church (a bit more of a traditional parish), St. Stephens (they have some Taizé stuff and meditation), St. Peters (haven't been yet), Trinity Memorial Church (haven't been yet), St. Marks (a bit Catholicy liturgically and amazingly beautiful architecturally), and St. Clements (liturgically they out Catholic the Roman Catholics).

As for the basic Episcopal liturgy, it is quite close to the Roman Catholic (at least when done out of the BCP) with only a few minor differences (well at least to the limited Roman Catholic samples we have seen). So there may be that bit of a comfort factor for you.

The Lutherans (well at least the ELCA) also sound like a good option for you, but again, shop around.

Unitarian, Friends, or if you're open to non-Christian, then also ISKCON.

__________________


Is it ghey that I love this song so much?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl_Wc6Nm8lc

I guess you could say I'm not as jaded about "stuff" such as enduring love yet...

l can assure one and all that the dean of the Episcopal cathedral is not a nutjob. He has an international standing in liturgical arts and architecture, and is invited extensively to consult with parishes about liturgical space and worship. His books are read by liturgists in virtually all the liturgical denominations, who make pilgrimages with some regularity to see what has been achieved here in Philadelphia.

His "nutjob" status was probably accorded him because he had the utter temerity to face down one school of historical preservationists who seem to feel anything once put in place must remain unchanged, regardless of its architectural dullness.

I count him a friend and will be extremely sorry to see him depart NEXT week when he retires after nine years with us and returns home to England.

More on the Cathedral:
http://diopa.org/office/cathedral/about

I do not know much about the Dean so I can't speak about him one way or the other.

However I was surprised about no Book of Common Prayer in the Cathedral? Is this so?

__________________
"I think that anything that begins to give people a sense of their own worth and dignity is God."
John Shelby Spong

Congrats Phils 2008 World Champs!

OK, we are straying a tad off topic, but here goes:

I have heard him called much much worse by people.

Actually, it was from people who could care less about the physical and instead about the spiritual. Among the nicer things I have heard about him were "closet papist," "should stick to theory," "doesn't understand the American church." Again these things were from non-preservationalists.

According to what I have heard, he is basically leaving because he hitched his horse to the currently inhibited and on trial Bishop Charles Bennison who has apparently had some shady financial dealings with church funds along with covering up sex abuse in California. This was probably likely to the fact that in the Church of England, bishops have stronger authority and the dean's lack of knowledge about the operational aspects of the church on this side of the Atlantic.