Community Parish of The Holy Angels, Portsmouth

A CHURCH FOR EVERYONE

The Jesus we know of was an exile. He was far away from (and yet at one with) Heaven - his homeland. He identified, and even now identifies, with all defined as outcasts or socially marginalized. He knows the very depths of what it means to be touched by love, tears and laughter, pain and suffering, and he knows far better than most the pain that comes from prejudice.   In Christ’s name, our promise is that as long as anyone wants us, we will walk alongside them as Jesus does. We cannot pretend to have all the answers, nor can we provide instant solutions. However, what we do promise is the unconditional and unquestioning love that Jesus has called us to share with everyone, no matter what their situation in life might be.

We are often asked whether we are Catholic, Protestant, Anglican... or what? The answer is none (and all) of them! This is true in three fields, Faith, Canon Law and Liturgical Practice. We are purely Christian and Catholic, as it was before any of the historical splits. Roman Catholic is the name given to the part of the Latin Church that remained under Roman obedience after the Reformation, and which even today imposes its condemnation on so many, and restricts the ability to answer vocation to the ordained ministry to a minority of people.

Being 'catholic' means that we are universal and accessible to anyone and everyone, embracing the sacraments as the very early church did, but with a 21st century realism to the changing face of our society, without any of the strictures and censures that many of our ‘big sisters’ in the mainstream have imposed on some people.  Among our family are people in all sorts of professions, and in all sorts of situations: Couples (some married), some with families, same-sex couples and Civil Partners (including those with children), young people, not so young people, some working, some unemployed – all of them cherished, and all  with a role in the life of our Community Parish. We have no particular agenda (e.g. LGBT, feminist, pacifist, political etc), other than to follow Christ – nor do we criticise any other Christian family, big or small, despite receiving the occasional knock from others.

Our faith is ancient, our vision is new - and we are ready for action. We fully appreciate that our world and society is increasingly secularised, and that membership of any Church is less attractive than it used to be, but we believe that it is our responsibility to take the gospel to all people – regardless of who or what they are, and to offer regular celebration and worship. You are more than welcome to join us.

We are a contemporary body of Christ's faithful. We are a member church of The One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. While our orders originally derive from The Roman Church, in our services we use the rites of most mainstream Churches depending on need. The Ecumenical Christian Church Parishes and Ministries within the United Kingdom together form a member body of the worldwide United Ecumenical Catholic Church, a contemporary church of catholic – totally universal - tradition.