How can I find out what flavour of Anglican a priest is?

[aquarimum]

Somewhat new to the whole CofE thing, but curious to know how one finds out what kind of Anglican a priest/bishop or deacon is? Are they high church or more HTB? Please use simple words because I’m still hazy on the differences between bishops and deacons 😁

The closer they seem to RC, the higher church they are!

High church signifiers include calling yourself Father (if Anglican), crossing yourself, incense etc.

A bishop is in charge of a diocese - a geographical area with a large number of churches in it. They don't have a parish church of their own, but oversee the whole diocese.
A priest (or vicar, or rector) is usually in charge of one or more parish churches and will be who you see on a Sunday if you go to a CofE church. Some churches also have curates. These are people who've done their training at theological college and then spend three years doing further training / development alongside a vicar in a parish. The first of those three years they are called a deacon, and can take most services, but not Holy Communion. At the end of the first year they are ordained priest, and then for the next two years (still as curates) they can take all services, including Holy Communion.

As to how to find out what 'flavour' a vicar is, I would suggest starting by looking at church websites. See what sort of language they use to describe themselves, what sort of services they have and so on. Have a look at the pictures - churches where the vicar wears robes are generally 'higher' than those where the vicar wears casual clothes with a dog collar (or no dog collar at all, in some cases). Those churches tend to be more HTB in style.
If a church talks about having services like Evensong, or using BCP (book of common prayer), again, they will be higher than the HTB style churches.
The HTB style churches tend to be more conservative, in that they're not so keen on LGBTQ+ people (especially those in relationships) and don't always agree with women in ordained ministry. 'Higher' churches tend to be (though not always) more inclusive and will have women in ordained ministry. There are exceptions to those generalisations, of course!

Finding out what 'flavour' Bishops are is a harder task, not least because they have to represent a wide range of people in each diocese, so often aren't all that public about what they think about certain issues; though (as an example) the LLF process has caused many Bishops to 'go public' with their views.

Oh this is fab thanks. So it’s not like there is a Yellow Pages where you can look up each vicar and find out what style they are?

Our local church’s rector has just retired and I really liked her style. We have someone coming in the meantime to do Communion etc but he’s more into guitars than I would really like. I’m hoping whoever is the new permanent vicar would be a bit more traditional.

There is in fact a Yellow Pages of clergy, called Crockford’s. Once you understand what to look out for, you can usually work out where their theological allegiances lie. Crockford’s is free for basic searches. You have to pay for the detail, but I imagine you can access it free through a library.

And referring to the Eucharist as Mass. also some services will be from the Book of Common Prayer. In my experience they are more Catholic than most Catholics.

What does HTB and LLF mean please?

HTB means Holy Trinity Brompton which is a church in London that set up the Alpha course. They are quite evangelical. Not sure they are for me.

Don’t know about LLF tho!

HTB- Holy Trinity Brompton, the home of Alpha. An evangelical/charismatic church in London.

LLF- living in love and faith. A listening exercise to find an acceptable way to consider sexuality- gay marriage etc.

Thanks all interesting. This is a good thread, I'm a different type of Christian altogether but have learned a lot about curates etc.

Not always true of the Book of Common Prayer, though. Also favoured by (small c) conservative churches that are suspicious of smells and bells.

@MissLucyEyelesbarrow trey. My parents middle of the road church still used it for their 8am Sunday service. My super high up the candle church used it and had Mass. when I was converting to the RC church, I was asked if it was much higher than I was used too. Err no!!

The thing is, you aren't appointing the new Rector.

Whoever is appointed, why not carry on going to the services for a few weeks, or however long you want to give them to see what you are like - maybe months, or maybe until after a particularly important festival or special service - and then see if you are enjoying the services or not ?

It generally takes quite a while for changes to be made - most newly appointed presbyters will make gradual changes over time, not all in the first couple of months.

But, if you find the new person's theology and presenting 'style' aren't for you, then look around elsewhere at that point ?

My local CofE church has a picture of the Pope up, which is a good indication of them being 'High Church.' The first time I went I had to double check in the order of service that it did say Anglican Church as I thought it seemed more Roman Catholic. To be honest I quite like that. I like to go to church, sit in peace and sing to some traditional hymns. I'm not too keen when Vicars start asking for too much audience participation!

Really? Paging Thomas Cromwell....

Paging Thomas Cromwell

Loving this, and the username

Lucy E was the first fictional character who was an inspiration to me.

Maybe Anglo-Catholic?

The hardest part to navigate is LLF in my opinion.

Traditional churches are likely to be liberal about same sex relationships.

More modern churches (younger, with bands, and good coffee) are more likely to have a ‘traditional’ view of marriage.

Not universally the case, but quite reliable.
Young modern churches that are actively inclusive of gay people are likely to signal that fairly clearly. If it’s a young, modern church that doesn’t signal inclusion, it’s likely to be what they wrongly imo call ‘biblical’ about marriage.

Good advice, Newname24. I’d rather not have to find a new church because this is my local village church, and I like that it’s part of the community where I live.

Clothing can be a clue to C of E clergy.

Button down shirts and chinos is the uniform of the mega church charismatic evangelicals. If they own a clerical collar it will be pale blue and only worn at funerals. Most charismatic evangelical incumbents (usually called senior pastors like their American colleagues) are male. The women who are usually assistant clergy or wives, are a more diverse group and may wear a clergy collar under street clothes or they may be indistinguishable from the laity like their male counterparts.

Conservative evangelical clergy are male and may well be in a suit rather than smart casual. If they are wearing a clerical collar it could well be a full one rather than one of the tab collars.

Parish clergy who are found in smaller and/or rural parishes will often wear a clerical collar and may well be in all, or mostly black. If you have seven churches, three schools and four villages that haven't spoken to each other since the civil war then having everything in black saves time first thing in the morning.

Parish clergy need to be identified as clergy as they are there for the whole parish. Mega church clergy have churches where people travel for that style of worship so they are less concerned about being known in the geographical parish.

There are some niche variations. Some male clergy wear cassocks around the parish like Father Brown. They are probably traditional Catholics who do not affirm the ministry of women and would be over to Rome if wasn't for the rules on celibacy.

Bishops can usually be spotted wearing a cerise colour although some do wear black. The give away if they are in black is that they wear a big cross on a chain (pectoral cross) and a ring with an amethyst in it. They are usually accompanied by a chaplain who is chivvying them onto their next appointment. If you find a stray bishop please take them to the nearest coffee shop, feed them cake and tell the Diocesean offices where you found them. They are doing an impossible task trying to work through the impossible task of church unity so caffeine and cake and a nice chat will cheer them up immensely.

Parish clergy who are found in smaller and/or rural parishes will often wear a clerical collar and may well be in all, or mostly black. If you have seven churches, three schools and four villages that haven't spoken to each other since the civil war then having everything in black saves time first thing in the morning.

This is our benefice 😂

This thread has cheered my up immensely! I recognise the bit about the civil war with much mirth and really wish the church would stop with trying to combine people who really don't like it. So far in my benefice, it's been in operation 10 years and its still a source of conflict. My parents' benefice, its been about 25.

As for flavourings, the vicar calling himself 'father' and having an array of ecclesiastical costumes is a big clue. The vicar is appointed by the parrochial council (a group of parishioners) and thsy have decided he is a good fit, so you can guage what type of people that you will be worshipping with too. The latter point is not always accurate as sometimes they are so desperate for a vicar they'll have anyone and attempt to make the poor cleric bend to their will. This then leads to at least 5 years of arguing.

I for one am a little suspicious of bells and smells, processions, genuflecting and making the sign of the cross at the drop of a hat. Ooof. I just about manage bog standard anglican.

Could you just ask?
Generally asking their thoughts on the Eucharist is quite telling.

But the Anglican Church can be quite confused for example there is a lovely parish near me which is high church, very catholic in worship style and no women priests but also really liberal and welcoming in its outlook and so genuinly welcoming to trans/gay etc.

Whereas my seemingly welcome local more evangelical parish which does loads of outreach in the local deprived community ran a basically anti gay workshop showing videos of people who were gay but being celibate or did conversion therapy. You had to email to get a place as they knew it could easily be boycotted.

It’s bemusing, really.

Whatever flavour you end up with, they’ll have strengths and weaknesses. We try and get along, plug the gaps, and value them for their strengths.
I’m fortunate to work with vicars and they are massively various yet share some indefinable quality- possibly having their mind on higher things, or perhaps just being generally counter cultural. I learn from them all.