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Sorry you had such a distasteful experience. Which continuing church, might I ask?

Many people here will simply not understand the sacramental part of your vocation. That is part of the execrable heritage of the Reformation I’m afraid. You will be up against this your whole life and I think you will drive yourself batty trying to expect anything different from those firmly in the Protestant camp. Of course they will resist your vocation—your priesthood is the heart of what their ancestors were Protesting and Reforming in the first place. Your priesthood cannot and will not fit into their paradigm, because they have constructed a paradigm specifically to exclude it. Bluntly, your very existence is an attack on their theology. That’s why the hatred, misplaced though it be.

To answer your question, yes they are Christians, they have been baptized into the Church same as you or I. It’s just that the legacy of the Reformation has left them with such a stunted, deformed version of Christianity that they have learned to hate what Christ gave us. That is the world as we have inherited it. Our response can be either to despair the fact or try to repair it as best we can by showing people what they lost when they abandoned the ordained priesthood and the sacraments.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of Anglican/Catholic/Orthodox threads and ping lists you are welcome to participate in here and where you will find people who hold dear to the tradition of the Universal Church in regard to the priesthood and where you will find a sympathetic ear. You may find us proselytizing a little bit of course, but one thing’s for sure, we Catholics and Orthodox will get your vocation 100%.