The Anglican Church
By Cedric N. Frank MA.
Catholic Truth Society No.r163 (1967)
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1. Rome and Canterbury
Cardinal Pole was the last Archbishop of Canterbury appointed by the Pope. He died in 1558 only twelve hours after the Roman Catholic Queen, Mary Tudor, had breathed her last. He was succeeded as Primate of All England under Queen Elizabeth by Matthew Parker, whose appointment was made without any reference to Rome. For nearly 400 years not a foot was set on the sheet of ice separating Rome and Canterbury, but then Dr (now Lord) Fisher, Archbishop of Canterbury, paid a courtesy visit to the Pope at the Vatican and signs of a thaw at last set in.
Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council in 1962, not only 'to reform the Church and to reproduce the spirit of the Gospel', but also that 'we shall be able to understand our separated brethren and they will understand us. We must go to work with all the good will at our command, overcoming old viewpoints and prejudices, laying aside less courteous expressions, and so creating a climate favouring the hoped-for home-comings'. The Decree on Ecumenism, produced by the Vatican Council, lays great stress on the need to promote the restoration of unity among all Christians and points to ways in which this may be done. With reference to the divisions arising in the West as a result of the Reformation, it says that 'many Communions based on nationality or common belief have been separated from the Roman See. The Anglican Communion has a special place among those which continue to retain, in part, Catholic traditions and structure'.
As a result of this important Decree (Footnote: Directory for the Application of the Decisions of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican concerning Ecumenical Matters {Available from Catholic Truth Society, London, or downloadable direct from the Vatican website: www.vatican.va}), dialogue has started at all levels between Roman Catholics and Anglicans, co-operation in social work is being encouraged, joint retreats are held and theological talks are going on to discover what we hold in common and where our differences lie. In this spirit, Lord Fisher's successor at Canterbury, the Most Reverend Michael Ramsey, then visited Rome, not on a mere courtesy visit, but to demonstrate to the world the loving relationship between the Holy Father and the leader of another great Communion and to pledge themselves afresh to the ecumenical cause. They met most cordially at the Vatican for a public exchange of greetings and for private consultations and then, on 23 March 1966, they joined together in an act of common worship in the great Basilica of St Paul without the Walls and issued jointly the following statement:
'In this City of Rome, from which St Augustine was sent by St Gregory to England and there founded the Cathedral See of Canterbury, towards which the eyes of all Anglicans now turn as the centre of their Christian Communion, His Holiness Pope Paul VI and His Grace Michael Ramsey, Archbishop of Canterbury, representing the Anglican Communion, have met to exchange fraternal greetings.
'At the conclusion of their meeting they give thanks to Almighty God who by the action of His Spirit has in these latter years created a new atmosphere of Christian fellowship between the Roman Catholic Church and the Churches of the Anglican Communion.
'This encounter of 23 March 1966, marks a new stage in the development of fraternal relations, based upon Christian charity, and of sincere efforts to remove the causes of conflict and to re-establish unity.
'In willing obedience to the command of Christ who bade His disciples love one another, they declare that, with His help, they wish to leave in the hands of the God of mercy all that in the past has been opposed to this precept of charity, and that they make their own the mind of the Apostle which he expressed in these words: "Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3, vv. 13 - 14).
'They affirm their desire that all Christians who belong to these two Communions may be animated by these same sentiments of respect, esteem and fraternal love, and, in order to help these to develop to the full, they intend to inaugurate between the Roman Catholic Church and the whole Anglican Communion a serious dialogue which, founded on the Gospels and on the ancient common traditions, may lead to unity in truth for which Christ prayed.
'This dialogue should include not only theological matters such as Scripture, Tradition and Liturgy, but also matters of practical difficulty felt on either side. His Holiness the Pope and His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury are indeed aware that serious obstacles stand in the way of a restoration of complete communion of faith and sacramental life; nevertheless, they are of one mind in their determination to promote responsible contacts between their Communions in all those spheres of Church life where collaboration is likely to lead to a greater understanding and a deeper charity, and to strive in common to find solutions for all the great problems that face the Church in the world today.
'Through such collaboration, by the grace of God the Father and in the light of the Holy Spirit, may the prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ for unity among His disciples be brought nearer to fulfilment, and with progress towards unity may there be a strengthening of peace in the world, the peace that only He can grant who gives "the peace that passes all understanding", together with the blessing of Almighty God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that it may abide with all men for ever.'
2. The Church of England and the Reformation
It thus becomes obligatory for all who are associated either with Rome or Canterbury to give ourselves to the task set us by Pope and Archbishop. The first step inevitably for all of us as Roman Catholics must be to understand what is meant by Anglicanism, which Dr Ramsey represented at this historic meeting in Rome. It should be remembered that the terms 'Anglican Church' or 'Anglican Communion' are synonymous with Anglicanism. In order to grasp fully the meaning of Anglicanism, it is necessary first to understand what is meant by the Church of England, for it is from this body that the Anglican Communion has sprung as a Church extending to many large areas of the world.
There is dispute as to whether the 'Church of England' by that name existed before the Reformation. However, whatever we call it - the Church of England, the Church in England or the Ecclesia Anglicana - the Church was firmly planted in this land from at least the Third Century as part of the one Catholic Church. The early Christian missionaries had come from the Continent as traders and soldiers as well as priests and had converted many, particularly in the south-east, but they were driven later before the Angle and Saxon invaders into the western parts of Britain. Celtic missionaries from Ireland and Scotland and the mission led by St Augustine in A.D. 597, to which the joint statement refers above, brought about the conversion of these Anglo-Saxons in the North and South respectively. There were differences of various minor kinds between the Celtic and Roman Missions, but at the Synod of Whitby in 664 these were resolved in favour of the Roman customs and of the organization of the whole Church in England under one head, the Pope. So she remained until the 16th Century, although it is true to say that at times Church and State came into conflict with one another or with the Papacy with regard to the limits of their jurisdiction and their claims to revenue. Her faith and order were one, that of the Catholic Church, and nobody would have challenged the assumption that her head was the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on earth.
It was Henry VIII who was responsible for the first real breach between the Christians of England and the Papacy at Rome. His failure to persuade the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon brought him into direct conflict with the central authority of the Church. The circumstances were ripe for such a confrontation. There was much justification for criticism of the wealth enjoyed by the Church in England and for condemnation of the ways in which monastic standards had fallen. There were plenty of merchants and other members of the new middle class ready enough to support the King in his fight with the Church on the promise of a share in his plunder. Survivals of lower class religious discontent, loosely labelled as Lollardy, had produced a lack of deep appreciation of the sacramental life of the Church. There is no doubt that many people resented Papal taxes and it is certain that the civil lawyers found themselves at odds with the subtle canonists. New feelings of Nationalism made many Englishmen reluctant to accept the authority of a distant Italian, even though he were the Supreme Pontiff himself. The Reformation led by Luther had shattered the unity of Christendom on the Continent and his ideas and those of other Reformers had begun to affect English minds. In the flowering of the Renaissance or New Learning, men like Erasmus, St Thomas More, who was to give his life for the old Religion, and Colet led the way in new theological approaches and everywhere men felt the need for a religion more spiritual and personal than appeared available to them. In this atmosphere and with the executioner's axe as his ultimate sanction, Henry caused the clergy in Convocation to acknowledge him and not the Pope as the 'supreme head of the Church of England so far as the law of Christ allows', while Parliament, at his bidding, passed a series of laws breaking all judicial, financial and administrative links between Rome and England.
Although excommunicated by the Pope for this schismatic act, Henry regarded himself as a Catholic to his death and was equally ready to put to death those who refused to recognize his denial of Papal authority and those whose views, introduced from the Continental Reformers, disagreed with orthodox Catholic teaching. It is true that he dissolved the shrines and monasteries that had played such an important part in the life of the people and that he had introduced the Great Bible in English into all the parish churches of the land, but in all those places of worship to the very end of his reign the Catholic Mass in Latin continued to be offered by Catholic priests and nowhere in the country could be found any service even remotely tinged by the doctrinal and liturgical changes taking place elsewhere in Europe, apart from the Litany in English produced in 1544.
3. Anglican Orders
(a) With Henry's death in 1547, those affected by Protestant ideas used the brief reign of Edward VI not only to continue the separation from the Papacy but to bring in changes in the Faith and Order of the Church contrary to the teaching of Rome. Thomas Cranmer, as the Archbishop of Canterbury chosen by Henry VIII to facilitate his divorce, produced in incomparable English a Book of Common Prayer in 1549, in which many subtle changes were made in the translation and arrangement of material taken largely from the Catholic Liturgy and sacramentals, and the new and beautiful services of Morning and Evening Prayer (also called Matins and Evensong) were formed from the offices to be said by priests from the Latin Breviary. Three years later, Cranmer produced a second Book of Common Prayer which went much further than the first in its doctrinal bias towards Protestantism, and all clergymen were required in future to subscribe to the 42 (later 39) Articles. His Ordinal, produced in 1550 for the ordination of Bishops, Priests and Deacons, has since been regarded by the Roman Catholic Church as ordaining ministers of an Order fundamentally different from the Catholic priesthood in spite of Anglican claims that it perpetuates it.
(b) Apostolicae Curae These Anglican Orders were officially condemned by the Papal bull Apostolicae Curae in 1896. At one time rejection rested much on doubts about the breaking of the tactual succession in the consecration of Archbishop Parker, but now the denial of Anglican Orders is based mainly on the argument of defective intention in the rite. The Church of England appeals to the Preface to her Ordinal in support of her claim; it states 'It is evident unto all men diligently reading Holy Scripture and ancient Authors, that from the Apostles' time there have been these Orders of Ministers in Christ's Church; Bishops, Priests, and Deacons', and goes on to declare that no man is a lawful Bishop, Priest or Deacon in the Church 'unless he be called, tried, examined, and admitted thereunto, according to the Form hereafter following, or has had formerly Episcopal Consecration or Ordination'. In keeping with this declaration is the fact that the Church of England until now ordains afresh Nonconformist ministers who wish to enter her ministry, but accepts, without ordination by her own rite, priests of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. In the conversations leading to agreement with the "Old Catholics" in 1931 the point was made that all the Anglican representatives believed that the Apostolic Succession had been maintained and that the Church of England was identical with the Pre-Reformation Church. The "Old Catholics" had expressed doubts about this and the Evangelical Anglicans gave this assurance. Nevertheless some Anglicans do not value the Apostolic Succession and, while they may think episcopacy is beneficial as a system of Church government, they do not regard it as essential.
Edward died in 1553 and for the next five years Mary Tudor, staunch Roman Catholic as she was, restored the Papal supremacy in England, so that once more Catholic Faith and Order alone were to be found in the land. Under her all those ordained by the new Ordinal were removed from their parishes and about 300 people including Archbishop Cranmer and Bishops Latimer and Ridley were burnt at the stake for refusing to renounce their new-found faith, although of course many of them had been ordained to the Catholic priesthood in the days of Henry VIII. It is good indeed that both Rome and Canterbury have asked for mutual pardon for the terrible steps both Catholics and Anglicans took in Tudor days to suppress those who did not agree with them.
4. The Final Breach with the Papacy
Under Elizabeth the Church of England, separated from Papal authority and differing doctrinally from Rome, was firmly established, so the basis of faith was no longer the Church, but the Queen (or King) in Parliament. The Crown assumed the title of 'Supreme Governor of the Church of England' and ever since has nominated the Bishops. The Second Book of Common Prayer with a few slight changes became the service book of the Church of England and from then onwards all ordinations would be according to the new Ordinal, so that, as the last of those ordained by the Roman rite were either deprived or died, only those whose Orders the Papacy did not recognize were left as ministers of the Church of England. Matthew Parker became Archbishop of Canterbury in circumstances which Anglicans claim kept the Apostolic Succession in the Church of England and made him truly a successor to St Augustine - a claim repudiated by Rome in Apostolicae Curae after due investigation.
The Elizabethan Settlement of the Church of England was enforceable by law, but brave opposition to it came from two quarters in spite of fines, imprisonment and death as punishment for refusing to accept it. In 1570 the Pope had excommunicated the Queen and especially from then onwards a group of loyal Catholics kept alive Catholic faith and practice here and there in the land at the cost of the martyrdom of many of them. On the other hand, the Puritans thought changes had not gone far enough in a Protestant direction in regard to belief and to rites and ceremonies. Men like Bishop John Jewel and Richard Hooker defended the Church of England against both Rome and Geneva and argued for its position in the Via Media (the Middle Way), appealing to Scripture, the Fathers and human reason in support of the Anglican compromise. Ecclesiastical controversy drove the Bishops into close dependence on the State, working through the Court of High Commission as the instrument for prosecuting all who refused to conform in matters of religion. So it came about that, then and ever since, all the Cathedrals and parish churches of England, hitherto only used for the Roman liturgy, became the places of worship of the Church of England, while Roman Catholics, refusing to accept new beliefs and forms of service, held Mass in secret, risking death for defying the law that all English people must conform to the Church of England, while the Puritans, still within the Church of England, pressed for 'purer forms' of worship.
Under James I the Convocations of Canterbury and York met and, by royal licence and assent, drew up their own Canon Law in 1604. Puritan opposition to the Church of England increased during his reign, during which, for example, the Pilgrim Fathers fled to America to secure freedom for themselves to worship as they wished. Charles I was a staunch supporter of the established religion of England and both he and Archbishop Laud were executed primarily as a result of their stout defence of the Church of England in general and of episcopacy in particular. These were issues too in the Civil War, in which Parliament's victory led first to a Presbyterian reform of the Church and then, under the influence of the Army, to Independency, a system by which every parish had a minister of its own theological choice and was completely autonomous. During the Commonwealth and Protectorate, the Book of Common Prayer was prohibited and parish livings were held indifferently by Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Independent ministers.
With the restoration of the Stuarts in 1660, the Church of England became once more the established State Church of the land. An attempt by the Puritans to make her more comprehensive at the Savoy Conference failed and led to a further revision of the Book of Common Prayer in 1662 and also to more persecuting measures against those who would not conform whether Catholics or Dissenters. Both Charles II and James II tried to gain toleration for these isolated groups and the latter's open attack on the Church of England led to his downfall, resulting in exile for him and an invitation to the Protestant William of Orange and his wife, Mary, to reign in his stead.
5. Revival in the Church of England
With the Anglican Succession to the Throne firmly secured by William and then by the House of Hanover in the 18th Century, the Church of England was delivered from what it regarded as 'the dread danger of Popery'. She settled down to a period of religious decline in which limited toleration was given to Dissenters, the Convocations sank into complete inaction, forced on the then unwilling clergy by the Government's desire to stifle the very lively 'Bangorian' controversy in 1717, theological controversy faded and Church and State became closely allied. Of course, there was some theological life, as witness the work of men like Leslie, Law, Waterland and Lavington, and the foundation of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (S.P.G.) is evidence that many members of the Church were anxious to spread and deepen religion both at home and overseas. The Methodist revival, launched by that dynamic clergyman, John Wesley, not only brought into being a new Christian body, the Methodist Church, but also was paralleled by an evangelical revival in the Church of England, giving to the task of reform such names as William Wilberforce, Henry Venn, Henry Thornton and Charles Simeon. Their piety and practical humanity gradually won them a large following and in the 19th Century they took a leading part in missionary work, founding the Church Missionary Society, the Colonial and Continental Church Society, and the British and Foreign Bible Society and bringing about social reform in the abolition of slavery and the factory laws. They upheld the verbal inspiration and sole authority of Scripture, maintained the supreme importance of preaching with a relative minimizing of liturgical worship in a Catholic sense, usually (although some at first upheld a kind of 'High Church Evangelicalism') rejected Baptismal regeneration and the Eucharistic sacrifice and in general were strongly suspicious of the Roman Church and of Romanizing tendencies in the Church of England. Today they play an important part in advocating what is known as Low or Evangelical churchmanship within the Anglican Communion and have as one of their mouthpieces the annual Islington Conference.
6. The Oxford Movement
A little later the Oxford Movement arose with the object of restoring the High Church ideals of the 17th Century and of pointing to the claims of the Church of England, explicit and implicit, to be Catholic and Reformed. Against a background of decline in Church life and of the spread of liberal theology, it was feared that the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, freeing at last Papalists from most of their legal hindrances, would lead many members of the Church of England into Rome and there was much anxiety about the effects of the great Reform Bill and of the plan to suppress Irish bishoprics. In 1833 the Reverend John Keble preached at Oxford on National Apostasy and won immediate support from many distinguished Churchmen in defending the Church of England as a divine institution, the doctrine of the Apostolic Succession as proof of the Catholicity of the Church of England, and the Book of Common Prayer as a rule of faith. One clergyman who gave his support to the Movement was John Henry Newman, one of the authors of the 'Tracts for the Times', which were widely read.
The Bishops and the liberal thinkers in Oxford University attacked the ideas of the Oxford Movement and inevitably caused some of its members to consider submission to Rome. After his book had been censured by the Convocation of Oxford, W. G. Ward was received into the Roman Church to be followed later by F. W. Faber and others. In the next year, 1845, Newman himself seceded, a convert whose piety and scholarship were later recognized by his being made a Cardinal. In 1850 the Gorham case in the courts about the alleged unorthodoxy of a clergyman's baptismal teaching caused further conversions to Rome, including those of H. E. Manning, later Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, and R. I. Wilberforce, son of the great Evangelical deliverer of the slaves. In the face of opposition from the Government and the Press and in spite of litigation and bitter controversy about 'High Church practices' in the churches, the Oxford Movement spread and exercised a great influence not only on doctrine and worship but on the responsibilities of the Church in the social sphere, particularly in bringing help to the huge population living in slums. The Oxford Movement has had a profound effect on the Church of England and its influence has decisively affected the pattern of her faith and practice, both here in England and overseas. Those who continue to press strongly the views of the Oxford Movement are variously known as High Churchmen, Anglo-Catholics, Tractarians and Prayer Book Catholics; each knows which particular label to attach to himself according to some aspect he feels it necessary to emphasize. The High Churchman is primarily concerned with not being 'low', the Anglo-Catholic with being dogmatically at one with the Universal Church, and the Prayer Book Catholic with the need for loyalty to lawful authority.
7. Tension between Church and State
The end of the 19th Century and the beginning of the 20th saw considerable tension between the State and the Church of England and there was also much controversy over Biblical interpretation and the relationship between Science and Religion. There was a big decline from the regular worship of a large part of the population found in Victorian days, but the Church was in fact doing fine pioneer work in education and was improving her pastoral ministry.
After the First World War, Church and State agreed to adjust their differences in part through the Church of England National Assembly Powers Act. Under it Parliament established the Houses of Bishops, Clergy and Laity in the Church Assembly and gave them powers to prepare legislation on ecclesiastical matters for the consideration of the House of Commons. Bitter controversy raged within the Church of England over the proposals of the Assembly for a revised Book of Common Prayer in 1927 and 1928 and over their rejection by Parliament, although in fact many of its services have been widely used by the clergy ever since without involving legal action against them. Many of these changes are included in the experimental services recently given legal approval. [Written in 1967.] The Church Assembly has given much time recently to pastoral organization, the limits of doctrinal latitude, the supply and training of ordinands, consultation with the Crown over the appointment of Bishops, the revision of Canon Law, reunion with other Christian bodies and the relations between Church and State. The various degrees of churchmanship found in the Church of England have been much reflected in these debates. Latest proposals suggest that in future the Church Assembly and the Convocations of Canterbury and York should merge into a national synod of bishops, clergy and laity with ever-increasing powers to govern the affairs of the Church even though that may demand a break with Parliament and disestablishment from all State control.
8. The C. of E. today
Let us then look at the Church of England today [1967]. Latest available figures show that about two-thirds of the population of the country [the United Kingdom] would claim on official forms to be 'C. of E.' In fact 27.25 million of our people have been baptized in the Church of England, but, in spite of the promise made at the font that they would be 'brought to the Bishop to be confirmed by him', less than 10 million of these have been confirmed and less than 2.5 million of them make their Communion at Easter let alone at other times of the year. The decline in religious belief and practice has indeed seemed to hit the Church of England hard in recent years, although the disproportion between nominal and real membership is said to be no worse than it was at a census in 1850; it is more publicized and high-lighted by the larger population.
The Church of England is divided, as was the Church in England before the Reformation, into the two Provinces of Canterbury and York each with its Convocation consisting of the Bishops, dignitaries and elected representatives of the 'inferior clergy'. The Archbishop of Canterbury presides over the Bishops of the Southern Province and the Archbishop of York over those of the Northern Province. The former, as Primate of All England, takes the chair at gatherings of Bishops from all over the country or at joint meetings of both Convocations, although the two Archbishops have no jurisdiction over their brother Bishops, and they both have charge of their own dioceses of Canterbury and York. Each province is divided into dioceses and each of the 43 dioceses in England is under the supervision of the Diocesan Bishop helped by an Assistant or Suffragan Bishop or Bishops and a series of dignitaries such as the Archdeacons, the Dean or Provost of the Cathedral, the Cathedral Chapter of Canons, and the honorary canons together with a host of committees in an executive or advisory capacity representing the clergy and the laity. The diocese is again divided into parishes - there are about 14,500 in England - in each of which a Rector or Vicar is appointed to the 'cure' or 'care' of all the souls in it. Some of these 'incumbents' - about 9,400 of them - look after more than one parish, indeed some of them administer to a group of several, particularly in rural areas. They in turn are helped by just over 3,000 assistant curates, sometimes called priest-in-charge or curate-in-charge if they have special responsibility for an important area of the parish. Slightly less than 2,000 other clergymen are engaged in non-parochial work found in education, the Services, institutions and administration. Everybody in England therefore lives in some ecclesiastical parish of the Church of England and officially the incumbent is responsible for the spiritual welfare of all in it including Roman Catholics. In each parish a constitutionally elected Parochial Church Council, over which the incumbent presides, has control over the finances of the parish, and some other matters, but the Rector or Vicar has sole responsibility for the services held in Church, even at the risk of a clash with his parishioners clinging to some particular tradition. Hence arises the great differences found in them, from the high celebration of the Eucharist with incense and solemn ceremonial to a simple Morning or Evening Prayer and an evangelical service similar to one to be found in a Nonconformist Chapel.
The Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England are appointed on the nomination of the Sovereign, who gives the appropriate Cathedral Chapter formal leave to elect him: one day a Chapter may be found to reject the nominee as a protest against this practice! In fact the Patronage Secretary to the Prime Minister of the day, after almost certainly some confidential discussion with the Archbishops and others concerned, suggests a name to the Sovereign, who may of course reject it and choose somebody else for nomination to the Chapter. On the whole, this system has worked well, although great difficulties arise if a Bishop of one kind of churchmanship follows one of another kind. There have been times when the political colour of the nominee may have influenced the choice. Many members of the Church of England favour disestablishment, breaking all official links with the State not only that she may regulate her own services and affairs but also choose the men who are to be her Bishops, as already occurs in the Anglican Communion outside England, even though such a step would involve the loss of many privileges and immense legal complications in regard to the ownership of Church property including Cathedrals and parish churches.
Bishops are consecrated by at least three other Bishops, usually including one of the Archbishops, and, after their consecration, new Diocesan Bishops or existing ones appointed to another Diocese are required to do homage to the Sovereign. It is a significant fact that in recent years "Old Catholic" Bishops have assisted often at the consecration of Anglican Bishops, thus introducing a Catholic strain, for their own Orders are regarded as valid by Rome, even although they have been separated from the Papacy since they rejected the doctrine or Papal infallibility in 1870 and set up their own Church in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, linked with the Church of Utrecht which separated from Rome in 1724 over Jansenism.
Vicars and Rectors are chosen for vacant parishes by the patron, who may be the Crown, the Lord Chancellor, a College, a Diocesan Board, a Corporation of some kind or an individual to whom the right of nomination has passed by constitutional law or by inheritance, though it is no longer possible to buy the advowson as it was in the past. The Bishop of the Diocese has to institute the new incumbent, in person or through a deputy, and in this way could prevent a thoroughly unsatisfactory appointment by the patron, but once he is installed in his 'parson's freehold' the Vicar or Rector is legally free from any interference by the patron and can only be removed from office by a legal process on most grave grounds. This system of patronage has often been criticized on the grounds that patrons may only have a limited choice confined to their own friends, relatives and others brought to their notice and that they may perpetuate or occasionally overthrow a tradition of high, central or low churchmanship in a particular parish, although most patrons usually take great pains to appoint a man acceptable to the parishioners. The fact that the Church of England is the 'State Church' does not mean, as is popularly believed, that her clergy are paid by the Government: all clerical stipends come from past endowments on the living and special funds raised by the Church, all of which are administered by the Church Commissioners, who in recent years have invested money wisely to the benefit of incumbents and curates. The Government does, of course, pay the stipend of all ministers of religion of any denomination holding official appointments as Chaplains in the Services and similar organizations.
The training of candidates for ordination in the Church of England is generally supervised by a body drawn from the Church Assembly, but the various theological colleges have their own constitutions and tend to have the different ecclesiastical slants of their founders, so that their products are High, Low or Central Churchmen in consequence, and therefore stamp their own brand of churchmanship on the parish to which they go. In many Colleges the majority of students have a University degree, but others provide courses suited to the age, experience and academic qualifications of candidates, particularly older ones. Candidates are required to pass the General Ordination Examination in full or in part according to other qualifications; subjects cover Biblical studies, Doctrine, Pastoralia, Worship, Ascetic Theology and Church History. Of 605 men ordained in 1964 thirty-eight per cent were graduates of a University, representing a considerable decline over recent years. The Church of England like all other Christian bodies is finding that fewer men are offering themselves for the ministry. Minor Orders are not given in the Church of England: men begin to work in a parish on being made Deacon and usually receive priest's orders within the following year if they have met certain academic and practical requirements made by the Bishop.
9. Anglican Contributions
The religious life plays an important part in the Church of England today. It began through the influence of the Oxford Movement. In 1841 the first nun of the Church of England took her vows and, in spite of scornful opposition in the early days, women's communities soon flourished and won recognition by their piety, practical charity and educational work. Today the communities at Wantage, Clewer, East Grinstead, Whitby and elsewhere are well-known. The contemplative life was revived by the Order of the Love of God in 1907 and has embraced others since then. It is sometimes said that there are now more nuns in the Church of England than there were women living under religious vows in this country before the Reformation. Communities for men came into being later than those for women. Newman established a community of men living without vows at Littlemore near Oxford before he was received into the Roman Catholic Church. In the second half of the 19th Century there were founded the Society of St John the Evangelist at Cowley, Oxford, the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield in Yorkshire and the Society of the Sacred Mission at Kelham in Northamptonshire, while the English Order of St. Benedict at Nashdom Abbey in Buckinghamshire sprang from the Benedictine Community at Caldey, founded by Aeldred Carlyle, who later seceded to Rome with most of the monks. A Franciscan Order with headquarters at Cerne Abbas in Dorset has developed rapidly in recent years. Many of these communities both for men and women have houses overseas and new monastic orders and convents have grown up in Africa, India, America and Australasia. Both at home and overseas the religious have done much in the way of education, medical work, training of ordinands and the conduct of missions. They have, of course, helped to maintain in the Church of England the belief that she is an integral part of the Catholic Church.
The liturgical movement has long been at work in the Church of England and the Eucharist has taken an increasingly significant place in the worship and life of her devout members. In some churches a Solemn Eucharist with three ministers in vestments and a well-trained band of servers to assist them in the sanctuary presents a model of common worship beautifully and devoutly offered to God. Many of the clergy and laity have found the 1662 Book of Common Prayer archaic for modern use and so experimentation has been officially encouraged to make the services more suitable for today, often following the lines of new forms of worship adopted by their brethren overseas.
The music of the Church of England has always been of a high order and great composers like Byrd, Tallis, Orlando Gibbons, Purcell and Vaughan Williams have made a wonderful contribution to her hymnology and the musical setting of services. In many Cathedrals and parish churches choir schools ensure a notable standard of singing to the glory of God, while the Royal School of Church Music has given invaluable help to the thousands of choirs who, in face of many difficulties, continue so nobly to lead congregational singing.
Scholarship too has always been in the forefront of the Church of England particularly in the realm of Biblical studies, Theology, Sociology, Pastoralia, Asceticism and the Liturgy. In many of these areas there is much agreement with Catholic teaching. The Church of England has always had a stake in national education. Today [1967] she has 3,151 aided schools with 388,000 children and 4,268 controlled schools with 434,000 pupils. She also has several Colleges of Education for training teachers. A host of organizations and societies apply themselves in theory and practice to contemporary problems.
The Church of England has been a pioneer in seeking reunion with those separated from her and in this 20th century has made approaches both to Rome and to Non-conformity, often speaking of herself as the 'bridge' between them. There may be some closer contact with Methodism, while her negotiations with the Presbyterian Church of Scotland have made more progress than was at first expected in view of the traditional Scottish objection to episcopacy. She is also in full or partial communion with new Churches overseas created by an amalgam of denominations such as the Church of South India, formed by agreement between Anglicans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and members of the Dutch Reformed Church, and also with the "Old Catholics", the Swedish Lutheran Church and others. There has been friendly dialogue for many. years between the Church of England and the Orthodox Church.
10. Doctrinal Difficulties
In matters of doctrine, the Church of England appeals to the Book of Common Prayer, the 39 Articles and the Ordinal as well as to the undivided Church, the teaching of the Fathers, and the first four General Councils. The Archbishop's Commission on Doctrine in the Church of England attempted in its Report to enunciate clearly her beliefs, but there is a wide variety of interpretation of all of them, as the controversy following the publication of the Report clearly showed. At one end of the theological spectrum in the Church of England are some clergymen who accept all the teaching of Rome including Papal Infallibility - except that which has refused to recognize the validity of their Orders. At the other end is a small but vociferous group which continues to condemn 'Romanizing' tendencies and opposes prayers for the dead, recognition of the seven Sacraments, veneration of Our Lady and the Saints, and in particular any view of ordination and of the Eucharist that implies a priestly sacrifice. In between these two extremes of High and Low churchmanship are the 'Anglo-Catholics', 'Prayer Book Catholics', 'Modern Churchmen' and especially 'Central Churchmen', who claim a substantial measure of agreement and yet who differ on many issues. Their differences are reflected on the notice-boards outside the parish churches and Cathedrals. On some of them will be found references to 'Mass', 'Benediction', 'Confession', 'Stations of the Cross' and the like and the incumbent will certainly wish to be addressed as 'Father', even though many of his parishioners will not be willing to give him this title. On other notice-boards appear the Sunday time-table for Holy Communion, Morning Prayer and Evening Prayer and any of the titles found on those other boards would be strongly repudiated by the incumbent in view of their doctrinal implications. On other boards a compromise will be made by referring to 'Eucharist', 'Family Communion' and the like, while the fact that the clergyman is prepared to hear Confessions according to the rubric in the Book of Common Prayer will be veiled under a general statement that he will be available at certain times to give spiritual advice, in order not to offend some parishioners who reject the Sacrament of Penance.
This moderation and this comprehensiveness are regarded by some as the glory of the Church of England but by others as its shame. They certainly complicate immensely the differences between Rome and Canterbury and make reunion with the C. of E. as a body most difficult, but the hope remains that, out of the diverse, opposing sections found in her, there will one day arise a new synthesis of unity.
As a clergyman in England and Africa for 26 years before he submitted to Rome in 1962 on theological and conscientious grounds, the writer wishes to record with gratitude the debt he personally owes to the Church of England for training him so carefully for the ministry and for giving him that love of Catholic teaching and practice which finally led him to take the most difficult step of abandoning her for Rome. He gladly remembers the dignity and beauty of so many Anglican services, the piety and goodness of so many of his clerical and lay friends in the Anglican Church, the sincerity of their beliefs and their deep devotion to God and to their neighbours. On conversion he rejoiced to find not only a lack of unholy glee among his new friends in the Roman Catholic Church but also an absence of reproach among his old friends, who must have been deeply disturbed by the action he took.
11. The Anglican Communion
Anglicanism owes its origin to the Church of England. Strictly it applies to the system of doctrine and practice upheld by those Christians who are in religious communion with the See of Canterbury, claiming a religious outlook distinguished from that of other Christian Communions both Protestant and Catholic. For the first 250 years after the Reformation, the Anglican Communion consisted solely of the State Churches of England, Ireland and Wales and of the Episcopal Church of Scotland which was disestablished by William III. It was inadvisable and unsuitable to call members of the Churches in parts of Great Britain other than England members of the Church of England: the title of 'Anglican' was more fitting to describe them wherever they might be. Meanwhile Anglicans had settled overseas in America and needed epsicopal ministrations, but efforts to found sees in these colonies were hindered by niggling laws, and clergymen, working there more or less as State chaplains, were placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Bishop of London thousands of miles away. At last in 1784 the Scottish Bishops, untrammelled by English laws and State control, accepted an invitation to consecrate Seabury as the first Anglican Bishop in America. Twelve years later an Act of Parliament permitted the consecration of Anglican Bishops abroad and the English Archbishops quickly produced three more Bishops for America.
So the Protestant Episcopal Church of America came into being as an autonomous, independent body in full communion with Canterbury. In 1789 it produced its own Prayer Book, following closely the Book of Common Prayer which had there and elsewhere provided such common ground for Anglicans. Soon there was an Anglican Bishop in Nova Scotia and then in Calcutta and many more sees were created as missionaries from the Church of England established themselves in the growing British Empire. By 1835 the Bishop of Calcutta had become Metropolitan of India, presiding over all her Bishops, and a provincial organization was set up on the model of Canterbury and York. Gradually those dioceses with provincial organization became completely independent both of the English State and of the jurisdiction of Canterbury. The Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1869, that of Wales in 1920 and that of India in 1928. As the Empire gave way to the Commonwealth, so too groups of Anglican dioceses overseas achieved autonomy and today [1967] there are no fewer than eighteen autonomous Churches of the Anglican Communion comprising 33 provinces as well as 13 dioceses in isolation still looking to Canterbury for the appointment of their Bishops after due consultation with all those concerned.
In the spread of the Anglican Communion overseas missionaries from the United Kingdom have played a noble part and have done pioneer work in many lands in preaching the Gospel, healing the sick and teaching the people. They can claim many whose names are written in the opening chapters of the history of new nations; some of them have been martyrs in their cause. Unfortunately, the missionaries went overseas under the auspices of the various British missionary societies, which owe their origin to people of differing grades of churchmanship and so once more varied ecclesiastical patterns have been printed on the new Churches and on. their training for the ministry, so that one diocese bears one theological label and the next one in the same province a different one, although it is good to see that there is more willingness nowadays to iron out these differences than in the past.
Membership of the Anglican Communion is recognized by the fact that the Bishop of a Diocese is invited to the Lambeth Conference, thereby showing that he is in full Communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The first conference met in 1867 at Lambeth Palace in London, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury from Pre-Reformation days, and assemblies have met since then about every ten years. The resolutions of these Conferences are not binding, but are significant expressions of the opinions of the Anglican episcopate and give some 350 Diocesan Bishops from all over the world an opportunity to discuss their various hopes and problems and to develop common action and strategy in certain fields.
The Pan-Anglican Congress has also now become firmly established for gathering together, also every ten years, each time in a different country, the Bishops and representatives of the clergy and laity for discussion and common action consistent with the autonomous powers of each constituent member. Many of these Anglican Churches have taken active steps for union with some of the Protestant denominations working in the same areas. A United Church has already come into being in South India and others are contemplated in most of the other parts of the world where the Anglican Church exists. Indeed many Bishops are already proclaiming that it will be the final glory of Anglicanism to disappear altogether in the larger Christian bodies to be formed by acts of reconciliation into a United Church.
This then is Anglicanism. It will be seen that it shares with the Catholic Church very much in common, but the area of agreement varies in size with both groups and individuals within the Anglican Communion. It will be seen too that there are many serious differences to be overcome if the goal of unity is to be achieved.
12. Outstanding Differences
Firstly, there are outstanding differences between Rome and Canterbury in morals and discipline. Catholic requirements in regard to mixed marriages are a source of real resentment among Anglicans, who share with us belief in the indissolubility of marriage and who strongly object to the fact that Rome regards as single a Catholic married to a non-Catholic outside the Roman Catholic Church and therefore able to renounce the marriage and take another partner in the Catholic Church with her full approval. Views on family planning differ widely among Anglicans from the official teaching of the Catholic Church, which also would not give to the marriages of divorced persons previously validly married in her eyes that blessing some Anglican clergymen are ready to give. Many Anglicans, both clerical and lay, are Freemasons, but membership of that society is forbidden to all Catholics. The fact that most Anglican clergymen are married need not be an insuperable obstacle in view of the fact that, in the Uniate Churches in full communion with Rome and in several individual cases abroad, Catholic priests, who are married, are allowed to fulfil their ministry, but the present rule on this matter in the Catholic Church could not easily be abandoned, although, possibly, many Anglican clergymen would accept Roman claims if they could be allowed to serve as priests while retaining their married status.
Secondly, comes the question of Anglican Orders. Rome has declared them invalid (see Section 3.(b) Apostolicae Curae - above). It has been suggested in some quarters that there may have been an infusion of validity into them by the "Old Catholics", mentioned above, and that perhaps conditional ordination of Anglican clergymen might meet the difficulty. This would, however, appear to be ruled out by the fact that Leo XIII declared that 'ordinations performed according to the Anglican rite have been and are completely null and void'. It must also be remembered that many Anglican clergymen would not wish any doubt to be cast on the validity of their priesthood and that others would not desire in any way to regard themselves as Catholic priests, let alone subscribe to Roman doctrines.
Thirdly, in any scheme of reunion there must be subscription to fundamental doctrines and this Anglicanism as a whole could not for the present give, since within itself are held as wide a variety of beliefs as even to be contradictory at times one with another. The absence of any central authority in the Anglican Communion would mean that, even where some members were ready to enter into negotiations for reunion with Rome, others would continue to cling to individual views not least with regard to the Eucharist about which Anglican opinions range from belief in the Real Presence to the idea that it is a bare memorial of the Last Supper, and also with regard to their acceptance of only two instead of seven Sacraments. However, the spiritual descendants of the Oxford Movement declare that Anglican formularies do in fact present a coherent system of faith, order and discipline and believe that they themselves represent the true mind of the Church of England, aiming at the recovery of Catholic belief and practice throughout the Anglican Communion as the prelude to reunion with Rome and Orthodoxy.
Papal Supremacy and Infallibility, Marian dogma, the Sacrifice of the Mass, Transubstantiation, the nature of the Church, these are only some of the doctrines about which there is deep division not only between Rome and Canterbury but also within the Anglican Communion itself and again between it and the other separated brethren. Moreover the Anglican Church is now involved in many schemes of reunion with other denominations, who pronounce themselves uncompromisingly to be Protestant, although far from all regard Rome in these ecumenical days as being in grave and serious error. These schemes, whether already fulfilled or in process of fulfilment, she will be neither able nor willing to abandon in order to draw nearer to Rome. It is true to say that Dr Ramsey was in fact representing in Rome not only the Church of England nor even the Anglican Churches spread throughout the world in independent national communities, but also in some respects he was representing the many other bodies working for unity with his own Communion. As has been said above, the Anglicans have played a most important part in ecumenical organizations. More than any other group of Christians in the world, the Anglican Communion has had the best experience of the meaning of unity in diversity, especially in her own internal life. This stems from that splendid English tradition of moderation, tolerating most if not all forms of Christian denomination and belief. This makes Anglicanism in many ways a microcosm of the whole of Christendom. Outside Anglicanism the various types of Christianity generally stand aloof, but in the Anglican Church they are found side by side, not always in harmonious unity but always in a dynamic tension marked by loyalty to something in common.
The further widening of this already wide comprehension to embrace many groups of Christians outside the Anglican Communion, who are proud to call themselves uncompromisingly Protestants, would make reconciliation between Rome and Canterbury even more difficult than it is at present, although a strong 'Catholic' tendency is found in some Protestant bodies and might strengthen Anglican or combined dialogue with Rome. Indeed, some shrewd Anglican observers have suggested that modern ecumenism will result in the formation of three Christian blocks - Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant, continuing in dialogue and co-operation in certain fields but still unable to meet at a common altar with a common priesthood in a common faith, still unable to be that One, Undivided, Visible Body of Christ on earth for which all Catholics and many others pray. In that event, Rome could only achieve unity with individual Anglicans of clergy and of laity who were prepared to leave their present allegiance and to be reconciled with Rome. This, of course, raises the whole psychological issue of 'submission' in the minds of many, but at the moment it is hard to see how reunion could take place in any other way. Yet with God all things are possible and the burning zeal of so many Christian bodies for unity according to the declared will of Christ may, under His guidance, find a solution to our differences acceptable to all, particularly as joint theological and Biblical studies enlarge the area of agreement.
13. A Strong Hope of Unity
In spite of all these differences, the Pope [Paul VI] spoke only recently 'how strong a hope of perfect communion with the Anglican Church we must nurture' [1967]. A Centre for Anglican Studies has been opened in Rome, so as, the Pope says, 'to make the Anglican Church better known and also to make the Roman Catholic Church better known. This is the first step in practical ecumenism, knowing each other, mutually knowing each other. The distance which separates us has still to be overcome by this first approach - reciprocal knowledge, a knowledge unclouded by prejudice, inspired by respect, eager to discover not so much what separates us, but what unites us, a knowledge which removes all diffidence and opens up the way towards a further approach, a knowledge which prepares love, a love which leads to union'.
A Bibliography
General Ecumenism
Decree on Ecumenism (The Second Vatican Ecumenical Council). (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1965.) [also available from www.vatican.va] Unity: A History and some Reflections. By Maurice Villain S.M. (Harvill 1963.) Essays in Christian Unity. By Henry St John O.P. (Blackfriars, 1955.) Two Centuries of Ecumenism. By Georges Tavard A.A. (Burns & Oates, 1961.) Directory for the Application of the Decisions of the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican concerning Ecumenical Matters. (London: Catholic Truth Society.) [also available from www.vatican.va]
The Reformation
The English Reformation. By A. G. Dickens. (Oxford: Batsford, 1964.) The English Reformation to 1558. By T. M. Parker. (Oxford University Press, 1950.)
The Catholic Interpretation of the Reformation
A Popular History of the Reformation. By Philip Hughes. (Hollis & Carter, 1957.) The Quest for Catholicity. By Georges Tavard A.A. (Burns & Oates, 1963.)
The Anglican Interpretation of the Reformation
A Short History of the English Reformation. By Gordon Crosse. (Mowbray, 1950.) The Old Religion. By J. C. L.. Dart. (S.P.C.K., 1957.)
Anglican Orders in Catholic Eyes
Apostolicae Curae, The Bull or Apostolic Letter of Pope Leo XIII of 1896; English Translation by Monsignor G. D. Smith entitled Anglican Orders; Final Decision. (London: Catholic Truth Society.) [also available from www.vatican.va] Anglican Orders and Defect of Intention. By Francis Clark S.J. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1956.) The Catholic Church and Anglican Orders. By Francis Clark S.J. (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1962.) Anglicanism in Ecumenical Perspective. By W. H. Van de Pol. (Duquesne University Press.)
Anglican Orders in Anglican Eyes
The Archbishop's Reply to Apostolicae Curae. (S.P.C.K., 1896.) The Question of Anglican Orders. By Gregory Dix O.S.B. (Black, 1956.) Episcopacy and Reunion. By E. R. Fairweather and R. F. Hettlinger. (Mowbray, 1953.)
The Religious Life in the Anglican Church
The Silent Rebellion. By A. M. Allchin. (S.C.M., 1958.)
High Church Life and Worship
The Way of the Church. By K. D. Mackenzie. (Mowbray.) The Rivers of the Flood. By Anselm Hughes O.S.B. (Faith Press, 1961.) The Life of the Soul. By Evelyn Underhill. The Parson's Handbook. By Percy Dearmer. 1965 edition, edited by C. Pocknee. (Oxford University Press, 1965.)
The Life and Worship of the Evangelicals
The Thirty-Nine Articles. By J. I. Packer. (Falcon, 1961.) Holiness. By J. C. Ryle. (J. Clarke, 1952.)
The Common Elements in Anglicanism
Anglican Public Worship. By Colin Dunlop. (S.C.M., 1961.) Catholic Evangelicalism. By Dieter Voll. (Faith Press, 1963.) Spiritual Authority in the Church of England. By E. C. Rich. (Longmans, 1953.)
Official Anglican Statements on Doctrine
Doctrine in the Church of England: The Report of the Commission on Christian Doctrine. (S.P.C.K., 1938.) The Reports of the Lambeth Conference of 1958. (S.P.C.K.) Putting Asunder: Report of the Archbishops' Committee on Divorce. (S.P.C.K., 1966.)