What we Believe

We believe in living out our Christian faith as effectively as possible, having an impact on those who have not yet heard or experienced the great news about Jesus Christ.
 
What underpins the beliefs in our Parish

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,” 
writes John in his great Revelation and this is a pretty good place to start when thinking about what it means to describe what we in St. Wilfrid’s and the Presentation Church believe and follow.

Each Sunday, we repeat the words of the Nicene Creed and share our belief that we are part of the of one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Catholic means part of the whole and we believe that God is drawing us ever onward towards a broader vision of that new heaven and new earth; a vision of great wholeness.

Our tradition has received several ways of leading us towards that broader vision: we take very seriously the sacramental life of the Church, as visible expressions of the grace of God at work in our lives. We place the Eucharist at the centre of everything, because it is the sacrament of God-with-us. The Daily Office joins us in the prayers of our sisters and brothers in the past, present and future. We believe that Scripture is the Word of God and that he gave us the Church Fathers, reason and experience to engage and wrestle with them. The celebration of the lives of the saints encourages us to move towards becoming the people God created us to be, that we might set the world on fire, as Catherine of Sienna put it.

Part of our inclusive Catholic vision is the belief that God calls both women and men to receive the sacrament of ordination to the diaconate, priesthood and episcopate. 

We believe that God blesses those who seek to live in permanent, faithful and stable relationships, regardless of their sexual orientation and that these relationships are as much an example of God’s love in the world as heterosexual relationships. 

We celebrate humanity in all its God-given diversity and seek to ensure that the voices of LGBTQ+, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Christians are heard, understood and engaged within the wider Church. 

Traditionally, the Catholic arm of the Church has been at the forefront of serving and defending the poor and we have strong connections with organisations in disadvantaged communities.

All of our work seeks to bring about that new heaven and new earth, where God will dwell with us and we shall be his people.
 
 
 
We value                                                                                            
 
Regular prayer, study and worship to nurture personal growth and equip us to be Christ’s apostles in the world.
Commitment to the social and ethical transformation of the world.
A living catholic tradition to carry the gifts of the past into the future.
Models of love, friendship and community for all seeking to follow the gospel, irrespective of ethnicity, gender, disability or sexual orientation.
Diversity and freedom of conscience within the community of faith.
Liturgy to inspire holiness and relate the greatness of God to people today.             
We aim to:

Resource people to grow in the faith, in order to help them respond to contemporary society’s spiritual hunger and thirst for justice.

Inform and influence debates in the Church by helping people to engage in the underlying theological issues.

Words adapted from the liberal catholic websites of the Society of Catholic Priests and Affirming Catholicism both mainstream organisations within the Anglican Communion and supported by our Archbishop and other leading Anglicans including the Bishop of London.