How Does One Become an Anglican (priest, ritual, attending, churches)

[MidnightBlue]

Originally Posted by spiritually inclined

Is there no period of learning or instruction as there is in the Catholic church before one is baptized, confirmed, and then takes communion?

It depends on where you're coming from. If you are (or have been) Catholic, you can start taking Communion immediately, and you won't need to be re-baptized or re-confirmed. To actually be a member of the church, you may or may not have to go through a period of instruction, depending on the bishop and the parish.

Although the Catholic Church doesn't recognize Anglican orders, Anglicans/Episcopalians do recognize Catholic orders.

When I joined the Episcopal Church in the USA, I didn't have to be baptized, but I did have to be confirmed, since my previous confirmation in the Methodist Church wasn't recognized. The Methodist episcopate originated with bishops appointed by John Wesley (who was an Anglican priest, but not a bishop), so nobody outside the Methodist movement recognizes Methodist bishops as having apostolic succession. In the Western view, any Christian may baptize in a pinch, but only a bishop may confirm.

If you have never been baptized, or if your baptism is unacceptable for some reason, you'd have to be baptized. An acceptable baptism as far as the Anglicans are concerned is one that has been performed with water in the name of the Holy Trinity. There are sects that baptize "in the name of Jesus" or using some other formula; that's not acceptable. Most priests would probably also require baptism if you've been baptized in a non-Trinitarian church, even if that church baptizes "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Generally speaking, the amount of instruction you'd have to undergo would be up to the priest, but your confirmation will have to wait till it can be arranged with the bishop. Most bishops will confirm whatever candidates are presented to them by the priest.

[MidnightBlue]

Originally Posted by spiritually inclined

What time of the year does Confirmation occur? Is it around Lent?

It's not any particular time of year, and the bishop usually does a number of confirmations every year. I'm not sure (it was a long time ago), but I think I was confirmed in September. In my case, I was confirmed at a parish other than the one I attended; the bishop had scheduled a confirmation there, and priests from several other parishes brought their candidates to that one.