The other day I met up with a college friend who happens to attend one of the historic anglo-catholic (ECUSA) parishes here in Baltimore City. We got to talking about the future of anglo-catholicism, and whether parishes like his (or mine, for that matter) are really sustainable in the long run. I believe that anglo-catholicism can have a real, viable future, but that to do so it must migrate to the suburbs. The problem is not with the liturgy, or with the cermony in other words, but with the location.
In my secular career I work in church art and church restoration, and have been doing so for several years now. Without question, and no matter what the denomination, the people and the money are in almost completely in the suburbs. The city churches of just about every tradition are barely holding on, or just outright dying, just as many American cities themselves are dead. The reason is that there are so few families living in the city. City life in historic, east coast cites, is simply not compatible in many peoples' minds with postmodern family life. So young families leave the city, and move to places with lawns, swimming pools, and peace and quiet. Without families, churches slowly die, and that leaves city parishes with the short end of the stick in most cases. The problem isn't with ceremony, or overly formal worship and language. Suburban catholic parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore are booming (although their liturgy is rather banal there is still a lot of ceremonial in it). And the problem isn't with strange, and unusual ceremonies in worship. There are Orthodox parishes in the Baltimore and Washington suburbs that are gigantic, attracting not only people from their ethinice tradition, but also westerners. Mircea Eliade has pointed out for many years now that ritual and ceremony are part of the fabric of human life. Even secular man has his set of cherished ceremonies and "sacred" actions.
Anglo-catholicism can and does appeal to a great many people. My friend and I are both converts to it, as are many other people I know. That says that ACism still has something to offer people today. Many people are still converting to anglo-catholicism because it is a beautiful and mysterious way to worship the Triune God. It doesn't appeal to everyone, obviously, but there are many people I know who could not worship anywhere other than in an anglo-catholic setting. We need to take our wonderful tradition to the suburbs, so we can share it with more people, and with more families. There it will grow and prosper, and help people grow in holiness, for the greater glory of God.
