Whether the question is developing and honoring a personal rule of life that offers stability - or finding a way to help a parish comprehend the depth and the riches of the faith we carry- to worship, to think and to act out of the gracious heritage that is ours- these are not projects that an individual can easily sustain without collegial support.
The SCP exists to help you flourish as a priest in the Catholic Tradition of the Church and to encourage spiritual growth and Catholic Evangelism. While SCP members belong to a variety of organizations which undertake campaigning this is not currently felt to be the raison d’etre of SCP, which focuses on priestly support and formation for its members. We thank you for visiting and hope to hear from you.
The Society Prayer
Father, we thank you that you have called us to your service, to feed your people by word and sacrament. By the power of your Spirit, keep us faithful to you and to those in our care. Keep united in the bonds of peace and love the members of our Society, that by sharing in Christ’s priesthood here on earth, we may come to share in the joys of his eternal kingdom, where he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Daily Prayer for Priests
GRANT, we beseech thee, Almighty God, that we who have received the office of priesthood may be assisted by thy grace, that we may worthily and devoutly serve thee in all purity and in a good conscience. And though we are not able to walk in such innocence of life as we ought, yet grant unto us worthily to bewail the evil that we have done, and henceforth in all lowliness and righteousness more earnestly serve thee.
A Message from the Society's Patron
The Most Rev'd Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury
"If you believe that ordained ministry in the Anglican Church is part of the continuing witness of the whole Christian and Catholic tradition, Eastern and Western; if you believe that the priestly task is to be what Austin Farrer called a walking sacrament' (not just a leader or co-ordinator or even teacher); and if you also believe that the specific shape of this priesthood can properly develop as the Church moves on, SCP exists to help you flourish as a deacon, priest or bishop in the Anglican Church."
If you believe that ordained ministry in the Anglican Church is
part of the continuing witness of the whole Christian and Catholic
tradition, Eastern and Western; if you believe that the priestly task
is to be what Austin Farrer called a walking sacrament' (not just a
leader or co-ordinator or even teacher); and if you also believe that
the specific shape of this priesthood can properly develop as the
Church moves on, to include those among the baptised who have
regularly been excluded, SCP exists to help you flourish as a deacon,
priest or bishop in the Anglican Church."
The Society consists of chapters, each covering one or more dioceses, organized in such a way as to enable the Society's common life to flourish. These chapters are grouped into a province (US and Canadian chapters are part of the North American province).
Chapters are expected to meet regularly no less than three times per year for the offering of a Mass, for fellowship, and for study/discussion. The concelebration of the chapter Mass is commended as a laudable practice and is encouraged as witnessing to the corporate nature of Christ's priesthood.
An annual meeting shall be held at the provincial level which shall also incorporate an annual general meeting for Society business.
"We invite you to join with us- to help us create local chapters and to contribute to the larger conversation as this Society of Catholic Priests takes up these three tasks- to create connections among us, to strengthen us in the things that are central and energizing to our faith and vocations and to celebrate the heritage and the future of the Anglo-Catholic movement in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Church of Canada. "
A Message from the Society's Patron