The Church of England

& the Anglo Catholic Tradition

Whilst it was Henry who created the Church of England by repudiating papal authority, it was his spiritual advisor, Thomas Cranmer, who was its theological architect. In particular, it was Cranmer who wrote the prayers and litany that form the traditional Book of Common Prayer and who established the 39 articles of religion that form the basis of the Church’s teaching. However, following Henry’s death in 1547, the protestant reformed tradition began to exert more and more influence over the English Church. Henry had been succeeded by his young son, Edward VI, who favoured the protestant position. The rich, colourful and highly symbolic form of religion began to be replaced by the plain even austere forms of service favoured by the Protestants. Church walls were painted a plain white, losing the rich colours and wall paintings that were common up until then. Statues were ripped out, their niches still empty to this day.

It was during this period that the Church came closest to the bloody conflict between Protestant and Catholic that gripped so much of continental Europe. But thankfully, the situation was never as severe in England. Edward was a sickly person and reigned for only a short time before dying and being succeeded by Mary 1. A staunch Catholic, she restored the Church of Rome and sent the reformers to the stake. She is not remembered as ‘bloody Mary’ for nothing! Mary was succeeded by her half sister Elizabeth I, who revived the Anglican Church. Elizabeth tried to forge a middle path that could accommodate both traditions provided her own authority was not questioned. Thus, the Church of England became established under the Act of Supremacy and the Act of Uniformity. This effectively excluded Roman Catholics, who held allegiance to the Pope and also caused difficulties for the Puritans who supported a more radical reformation of the Church.

The Elizabethan settlement, as it has become known, ushered in a substantial period of peace within the English Church, lasting until the outbreak of civil war during the reign of Charles I. Holding the middle ground between Roman Catholicism and radical Protestantism became a central tradition of the Church of England. It was a clearly Protestant Church, but not radical. The Puritans were never happy with this arrangement as they did not believe in bishops or with the idea of the monarch being head of the Church. Nevertheless, the Church did include Puritan clergy.

Not everyone chose to join the new Church of England. Despite the loss of social rights, some people known as recusants, chose to remain with the Church of Rome. They even managed t produce their own translation of the bible into English – known as the Douai-Reims after the French town in which it was translated.

The peace established under the reign of Elizabeth continued under her successor, James I. During this time, the Church began to establish its own intellectual tradition, often marked by the use of reason. This came especially from Richard Hooker, who wrote ‘Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity’, a position statement not only advocating a middle path – but arguing against both extremes. Whilst Catholics found authority in both scripture and Church tradition, Protestants accepted only scripture. Hooker advocated a third way, which was that reason as well as scripture should be a basis of authority and action. This led to the so called ‘threefold cord’ of Bible-Church-Reason which still forms the basis of Anglican authority. This period of peace also helped to revive the mystical tradition. In the early 17^th century, Nicholas Ferrar gave up a parliamentary career to establish a small community at a place called Little Gidding, near Cambridge, devoted to a simple life of prayer and work. This community was re-established in 1977. A central ethic of the church, inspired by the protestants, was that mankind needed no intercessors – no saints, priests, images – just the word of God. This period saw the rise of poets such as George Herbert and John Donne. It was also in this period of humanist learning and artistic creativity that the Authorized version or King James Bible was produced – a rich combination of scholarship and lyrical prose that have had a profound and lasting effect on the English people and their language.

However, conflict between Catholic and Protestant was never far from the surface. The Elizabethan Act of settlement had never satisfied the more extreme Puritans, who rejected the Church’s Episcopal structure and the headship of the monarch. A letter dated 1572 and entitled ‘Admonition to the Parliament’ was the first manifesto of this religious movement, which was to grow considerably through preaching and pamphleteering. The Puritans were not a unified force and consisted of several different traditions which have given rise to most of the non Anglican denominations in modern English Christianity. Nevertheless, these conflicts, which were both religious and political, grew in intensity over the late 16^th and early 17^th centuries and culminated in the English Civil War and the death of King Charles I in 1649. Cromwell’s famous New Model army consisted mostly of Puritans.

William Laud (1573 – 1645) was Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Charles I. Perhaps the pivotal reason for turning a period of tense peace into real conflict was his attempt to impose a form of service that was in strict accordance with the Book of Common Prayer (rejected by the Puritans). Laud also reintroduced some of the styles of worship and vestments of the Catholic Church and set about repairing and decorating Churches. His aim was to create a strong and unified Church that was part of the Church Catholic, he tried to separate puritan from orthodox clergy. His reforms annoyed Puritans who felt that it smacked of ‘Popery’ and his heavy-handed approach led to riots in Scotland where he was executed in 1645.

The English Civil War was essentially about the relative roles of Monarch and Parliament, but the resentment of the Puritans about the increasing ‘Catholicisation’ of the Church was a part of the mix. Charles I had a strong view of his divine right to rule and thus of the importance of the established Church. Charles was executed in 1649 following the victory of the Puritans in the war. His execution was not inevitable and it seems as though Cromwell would have preferred not to have him killed. But Charles refused to renounce the (catholic) Anglican tradition and was martyred as a result. For this, he is acknowledged particularly by Anglo – Catholics as King Charles the Martyr. The Cromwellian period saw the Church once more dis-established, the Book of Common Prayer not only banned but publicly burned, and services adapted to the Puritan tradition. This period also saw the rise of more radical Protestant groups, such as the Diggers, the Levellers, the Shakers and the Quakers.

Following Cromwell’s death in 1658, the Puritans supported the restoration of the monarchy, under Charles II, and with it the re-establishment of the Church of England. In 1689, came the Act of Toleration which ushered in the ‘Glorious Revolution’ under William III (William of Orange). This Act granted freedom of worship to most dissenting groups, with the notable exception of Catholics and Unitarians. However, these dissenting groups were still kept at a distance from the social and political life of the nation.

The next couple of hundred years saw a period of relative peace within the Church, but also a period of reformist zeal and social activism. Whilst much of this activity took place outside the established Church (the non conformist traditions), a great deal of reformist activity came from within the Church of England. This included the development of the Methodist tradition, with its emphasis on personal and social reformation. It also included philanthropic groups, such as the Clapham sect, which emphasised the need to express religion as social good works. Probably the most famous member of this group was William Wilberforce, who was so instrumental in the abolition of slavery with the British Empire. The Clapham group were also responsible for the establishment of many of the missionary societies that took the Gospel into the far reaches of the globe.

During this period, although the Church was dominated by its Low Church or Protestant wing, the High Church or Catholic tradition was still alive. In the early 19^th Century, a series of laws eased the social position of Roman Catholics, culminating in the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. Many believed this would result in a rush of High Church Anglicans to join the Church of Rome. As a response to this, the Oxford Movement was founded by John Henry Newman (later to become a Roman Catholic Cardinal), John Keble and Edward Pusey. These men were inspired by Archbishop Laud and sought to define an identity for the Church of England as a distinct and equally valid part of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. They published a large number of pamphlets, or Tracts, on various aspects of faith and Church governance, promoting a distinctly Catholic view. As a result of these pamphlets, they became known as the Tractarians. The Oxford Movement generated interest in the early writings of the Church, ritualism and in sacramental worship. They share with Rome the sacramental nature of the priesthood, the sacrificial nature of the mass and the real presence in the Eucharist. They encouraged a renewal of monastic life in the Church and of course the use of ritual, vestments, choral music and incense. It is often mistakenly taken to be the beginnings of the Anglo Catholic tradition – which can be traced right back to St Augustine and certainly to Henry VIII.

The Oxford Movement’s approach to Eucharistic practice was characterised by use of vestments, eastward celebration (in which the Priest faces east in the same direction as the congregation rather than facing them), the use of unleavened bread, mixing water into the wine and the use of incense and candles. Eucharistic adoration, such as use of the Monstrance for solemn benediction) and devotion to Our Lady (especially Our Lady of Walsingham) are also important features of the tradition. The Anglo Catholic tradition placed an emphasis on liturgy and was responsible for the growth of new liturgy not only in the Church of England but also in the Roman Catholic Church following Vatican II. Anglo Catholics were also responsible for the growth in re-use of the old Sarum Rite and for the English Missal that was derived from it.

The Oxford Movement was inspired by a rejection of liberalism in favour of holding to the traditional faith of the ‘Church catholic’. It stood against liberal theology and a lax approach to religious observance. It played a hugely significant role in improving religious discipline and theological integrity with the Anglican Church. However, the liberalising tendencies within both society as a whole and within the Church have been growing in recent decades and in effect there are now two strands of Anglo-Catholicism. The classical type seeks to maintain tradition and morality and to keep doctrine in line with that of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. This is the tradition supported by Anglo Saxon Anglicans. The main organisation in the Church of England that opposes the ordination of women as priests and bishops, Forward in Faith (FiF) is largely composed of Anglo-Catholics. Other traditionalist Anglo-Catholics have left the official Anglican Church to form churches in the Continuing Anglican Movement or have left Anglicanism altogether for the Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox Churches. The other type of Anglo Catholic, who adopt a liberal approach to issues of social and sexual morality, are known as ‘Affirming Catholics’ – though in practice they are liberal high Anglicans.

The decision to ordain women priests in 1992 resulted in the loss of many traditionalist Anglo Catholic clergy and laity to other Churches, mainly Roman Catholic and Orthodox. However, a more serious loss and schism was averted through a compromise position in which orthodox Anglicans have been able to maintain satisfactory jurisdictional arrangements, including the establishment of alternative Episcopal arrangements commonly called ‘flying bishops’. However, these arrangements have never been entirely satisfactory for either party and tensions remain. It is not clear whether the orthodox and liberal wings of the Church can continue in the same jurisdiction indefinitely and these tensions are likely to grow as other issues emerge. One possible solution being mooted is the establishment of a separate orthodox jurisdiction commonly called the ‘Third Province’. Elsewhere in the Anglican world, especially in the USA, the trend has been more towards the establishment of separate ‘continuing Churches’ with their own jurisdictions outside the Anglican Communion. These Churches, which include the Anglican Catholic Church, the Traditional Church of England and the Traditional Anglican Church, are already growing in England. They may yet become the main home for traditionalist Anglicans, especially if a workable jurisdictional arrangement within the mainstream Church is not found. However, the stakes are high as the Church owns a great deal of land and property; not least the beautiful Churches that adorn the English countryside that do so much to define what England is. Why should traditionalist, orthodox Anglicans, who have done so much to re-invigorate the Church, lose their share of this treasure?

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