The veiling of crosses is a practice that I have come to find more and more difficult to situate well within the general principles that seem to guide the Western approach.
Read more
Author: Matthew S. C. Olver
Matthew S. C. Olver is Assistant Professor of Liturgics and Pastoral Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary, Nashotah, WI and a priest in the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas. He received his PhD from Marquette University in 2018 with a dissertation titled, "Hoc est sacrificium laudis: The influence of Hebrews on the origin, structure, and theology of the Roman Canon Missae" under the direction of Susan Wood, SCL. From 2006-13, he was the Assistant Rector at Church of the Incarnation, Dallas (Episcopal) and undertook his previous studies at Wheaton College (literature) and Duke Divinity School (MDiv, magna cum laude). He has published in The Journal of Ecumenical Studies, the Anglican Theological Review, Nova et Vetera, and Antiphon and is a regular contributor to Covenant, the weblog of The Living Church. He was a member of the last round of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation in the U.S. (ARCUSA), which produced "Ecclesiology and Moral Discernment." He is married to Kristen and they have two elementary-aged children.
Ashes to Go? Context and Rationale
Many Episcopal parishes, along with other Christian in other communities, have begun to engage in a practice known as Ashes to Go. The idea is to go out into the world and bring something of the uniqueness of the Gospel to people in their busy lives.
Read more
Married Priests?
One argument that is put forward is that if men could discern a vocation to celibacy separately from discerning a vocation to the priesthood, there would be a lower rate of sexual abuse and sexual immorality amongst priests.
Read more
The Moving Feasts of Christmastide
Christmastide provides a strange array of moving feasts that are only more confusing when one begins with the Anglican Prayer Book tradition and then expands to the current Western calendar.
Read more
What to make of the Advent Wreath, or When the periphery moves to the center
The great Robert Taft, SJ (only recently having passed on to another shore where he now stands in a greater Light) famously reminded us that
Read more
Do we still have a king?
There is a curious feature in the Prayer of the Faithful for Episcopalians: we tend to give tremendous airtime to the executive branch. One might suspect that this is the result of some sort of residual effect of its historic relationship to the Church of England. But a look at the history of the texts says otherwise.
Read more
Liturgical revision in the Episcopal Church
Headlines this summer sounded that the Episcopal Church was revising its historical Book of Common Prayer. It turns out they were wrong. Sort of. The
Read more
The Death Penalty and the Prayers of the Faithful
Those present were invited to verbalize petitions. Veiled one-upmanship sometimes happened.
Read more
Joseph of Arimathaea and Jesus in England
Today, August 1, the Episcopal Church commemorates St. Joseph of Arimathea, whom the Gospels all record begged the body of Jesus, which he then laid
Read more
A homily for Rogation Monday
Readings: Ezekiel 47:6-12; Mark 4:26-32 Yesterday, I was wondering if Stonebank Elementary School was trying to help my kids participate in the Rogation Days this
Read more