EVERY WEEK WE PUBLISH a selection of letters we receive in response to something you've read at Anglicans Online. Stop by and have a look at what other AO readers are thinking.

Alas, we cannot publish every letter we receive. And we won't publish letters that are anonymous, hateful, illiterate, or otherwise in our judgment do not benefit the readers of Anglicans Online. We usually do not publish letters written in response to other letters.

We edit letters to conform with standard AO house style for punctuation, but we do not change, for example, American spelling to conform to English orthography. On occasion we'll gently edit letters that are too verbose in their original form. Email addresses are included when the authors give permission to do so.

If you'd like to respond to a letter whose author does not list an email, you can send your response to Anglicans Online and we'll forward it to the writer.

Letters from 11 to 17 April 2005

Like all letters to the editor everywhere, these letters are the opinions of the letter writers and not Anglicans Online. We publish letters that we think will be of interest to our readers, whether we agree with them or not. If you'd like to write a letter of your own, click here.

Foundering

Two articles in Time Magazine recently stated that 'Henry VIII founded the Church of England'. This statement has always greatly offended me as I'm sure it does other Anglicans. I have often written letters correcting this statement, but as an individual, they seem to have little affect. Also, there is an awful lot of misstatement about the Anglican faith in general floating around out there warranting an official church response.

I feel strongly that Anglicans need to take some kind of action in an effort to correct these inaccuracies. An official response from the office of the Archbishop of Canterbury and offices of primates of national churches and provinces, would have a far greater impact than letters from ordinary lay persons.

I would like to see a concerted effort by Anglican lay people to contact the primates encouraging their offices to officially respond to inaccurate statements drawn to their attention. I earnestly believe this is a plausible approach to correcting this deplorable situation. Letters from thousands of concerned Anglicans could very possibly bring about some official action.

Rick Woodward
St Edmund's Episcopal Church
Pasadena, California, USA
rickwoodward@charter.net
14 April 2005

A question of terminology

I am an Episcopalian from Baltimore, Maryland. For the last couple of weeks the world has been watching the declining health and then finally the death of Pope John Paul II. On the day of his death the news reported that he received Last Rites or Extreme Unction. I know that Unction is a Sacrament in the Anglican Church. But do Anglicans receive Last Rites at the time of death as in the Roman Catholic Church? I have always wondered about this.

In the Episcopal Church in the USA 1979 Prayer Book (pages 462-467) there is the rite for when a person is near death. A prayer mentions receiving the Body of Christ but there is not actual last Eucharist or anything of the sort. I was wondering if the Sacrament of Last Rites was followed in the Anglican Church.

Phillip Clark
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
Baltimore, Maryland, USA
rollerblader749@hotmail.com
13 April 2005

Earlier letters

We launched our 'Letters to AO' section on 11 May 2003. All of our letters are in our archives.