.
.
*BISHOPS* –>
*WINCHESTER*
*beornstan*
(died on ‘1 november 934’)
.
The Church of England (C of E) is a Christian church which is the established church of England
The archbishop of Canterbury is the most senior cleric, although the monarch is the supreme governor.
The Church of England is also the mother church of the international Anglican Communion.
It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain by the 3rd century, and to the 6th-century Gregorian mission to Kent led by Augustine of Canterbury.[5][6][7]
The English church renounced papal authority when Henry VIII failed to secure a papal annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon in 1534.[8] The English Reformation accelerated under Edward VI’s regents, before a brief restoration of papal authority under Queen Mary I and King Philip. The Act of Supremacy 1558 renewed the breach, and the Elizabethan Settlement charted a course enabling the English church to describe itself as both Catholic and Reformed:
Catholic in that it views itself as a part of the universal church of Jesus Christ in unbroken continuity with the early apostolic church. This is expressed in its emphasis on the teachings of the early Church Fathers, as formalised in the Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds.[9]
Reformed in that it has been shaped by some of the doctrinal principles of the 16th-century Protestant Reformation, in particular in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion and the Book of Common Prayer.[9]
In the earlier phase of the English Reformation there were both Catholic martyrs and radical Protestant martyrs. The later phases saw the Penal Laws punish Roman Catholic and nonconforming Protestants. In the 17th century, the Puritan and Presbyterian factions continued to challenge the leadership of the Church which under the Stuarts veered towards a more catholic interpretation of the Elizabethan Settlement especially under Archbishop Laud and the rise of the concept of Anglicanism as the Via Media. After the victory of the Parliamentarians, the Prayer Book was abolished and the Presbyterian and Independent factions dominated. The episcopacy (bishops) was abolished in 1646.[10][11] The Restoration restored the Church of England, episcopacy and the Prayer Book. Papal recognition of George III in 1766 led to greater religious tolerance.
Since the English Reformation, the Church of England has used English in the liturgy. The church contains several doctrinal strands, the main three being known as Anglo-Catholic, evangelical, and broad church. Tensions between theological conservatives and progressives find expression in debates over the ordination of women and homosexuality. The church includes both liberal and conservative clergy and members.[12]
The governing structure of the church is based on dioceses, each presided over by a bishop. Within each diocese are local parishes. The General Synod of the Church of England is the legislative body for the church and comprises bishops, other clergy and laity. Its measures must be approved by both Houses of Parliament.
History[edit]
Early Christianity in England[edit]
According to tradition, Christianity arrived in Britain in the 1st or 2nd century, during which time southern Britain became part of the Roman Empire. The earliest historical evidence of Christianity among the native Britons is found in the writings of such early Christian Fathers as Tertullian and Origen in the first years of the 3rd century. Three Romano-British bishops, including Restitutus, are known to have been present at the Council of Arles in 314.[13] Others attended the Council of Serdica in 347 and that of Ariminum in 360, and a number of references to the church in Roman Britain are found in the writings of 4th century Christian fathers. Britain was the home of Pelagius, who opposed Augustine of Hippo’s doctrine of original sin.[14]
While Christianity was long established as the religion of the Britons at the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasion, Christian Britons made little progress in converting the newcomers from their native paganism. Consequently, in 597, Pope Gregory I sent the prior of the Abbey of St Andrew’s (later canonised as Augustine of Canterbury) from Rome to evangelise the Angles. This event is known as the Gregorian mission and is the date the Church of England generally marks as the beginning of its formal history. With the help of Christians already residing in Kent, Augustine established his church at Canterbury, the capital of the Kingdom of Kent, and became the first in the series of archbishops of Canterbury in 598. A later archbishop, the Greek Theodore of Tarsus, also contributed to the organisation of Christianity in England. The Church of England has been in continuous existence since the days of St Augustine, with the archbishop of Canterbury as its episcopal head. Despite the various disruptions of the Reformation and the English Civil War, the Church of England considers itself to be the same church which was more formally organised by Augustine.[5]
While some Celtic Christian practices were changed at the Synod of Whitby, the Christian in the British Isles was under papal authority from earliest times.[15] Queen Bertha of Kent was among the Christians in England who recognised papal authority before Augustine arrived,[16] and Celtic Christians were carrying out missionary work with papal approval long before the Synod of Whitby.
Hereford is one of the church’s 43 cathedrals; many have histories stretching back centuries.
The Synod of Whitby established the Roman date for Easter and the Roman style of monastic tonsure in England. This meeting of the ecclesiastics with Roman customs with local bishops was summoned in 664 at Saint Hilda’s double monastery of Streonshalh (Streanæshalch), later called Whitby Abbey. It was presided over by King Oswiu, who did not engage in the debate but made the final ruling. The final ruling was decided in favor of Roman tradition because St. Peter holds the keys to the gate of Heaven.[17]
Separation from Rome[edit]
In 1534, King Henry VIII separated the English Church from Rome.[8] A theological separation had been foreshadowed by various movements within the English Church, such as Lollardy, but the English Reformation gained political support when Henry VIII wanted an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Pope Clement VII, considering that the earlier marriage had been entered under a papal dispensation and how Catherine’s nephew, Emperor Charles V, might react to such a move, refused the annulment. Eventually, Henry, although theologically opposed to Protestantism, took the position of Protector and Supreme Head of the English Church and Clergy[18] to ensure the annulment of his marriage. He was excommunicated by Pope Paul III.[19]
In 1536–40 Henry VIII engaged in the Dissolution of the Monasteries, which controlled much of the richest land. He disbanded monasteries, priories, convents and friaries in England, Wales and Ireland, appropriated their income, disposed of their assets, and provided pensions for the former residents. The properties were sold to pay for the wars. Bernard argues:
The dissolution of the monasteries in the late 1530s was one of the most revolutionary events in English history. There were nearly 900 religious houses in England, around 260 for monks, 300 for regular canons, 142 nunneries and 183 friaries; some 12,000 people in total, 4,000 monks, 3,000 canons, 3,000 friars and 2,000 nuns….one adult man in fifty was in religious orders.[20]
Henry maintained a strong preference for traditional Catholic practices and, during his reign, Protestant reformers were unable to make many changes to the practices of the Church of England. Indeed, this part of Henry’s reign saw trials for heresy of Protestants as well as Roman Catholics.
Under his son, King Edward VI, more Protestant-influenced forms of worship were adopted. Under the leadership of the archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, a more radical reformation proceeded. A new pattern of worship was set out in the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 and then 1552. These, particularly the Prayer Book of 1549 were based on the previous liturgy, but both were influenced by Protestant doctrines such as justification by faith alone, the rejection of the sacrifice of the Mass, and the Real Presence understood as physical presence. Cranmer in this matter was close to the Calvinist interpretation in that he believed Christ was truly and really present in the Eucharist but after a spiritual manner. The Prayer Books were ambiguous. In places there was a statement susceptible to an interpretation of the Real Presence and at others refers to ‘spiritual food’ or has them put together, as seen in the texts of the Consecration Prayer, Prayer of Humble Access, and the Words of Administration. A doctrinal confession of sorts of the reformed Church of England was set out in the Forty-two Articles (later revised to thirty-nine). The reformation however was cut short by the death of the king. Queen Mary I, who succeeded him, returned England again to the authority of the papacy, thereby ending the first attempt at an independent Church of England. During her co-reign with her husband, King Philip, some hundreds of church leaders and common people were burnt for their refusal to recant of their reformed faith. These are known as the Marian martyrs and the persecution led to her nickname of “Bloody Mary”.
Mary also died childless and so it was left to the new regime of her half-sister Queen Elizabeth I to resolve the direction of the church. The Elizabethan Settlement tried to find a middle way between radical Protestantism and Roman Catholicism, the via media (a term that actually only became current in the 1620s), as the character of the Church of England, a church moderately Reformed in doctrine, as expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles, and emphasising continuity with the catholic and apostolic traditions of the Church Fathers. Kneeling reverently to receive communion was the custom. The three-fold ministry in the Apostolic Succession was maintained; the institutional continuity of the Church was preserved without break (at Elizabeth’s accession almost all existing clergy had been ordained in catholic orders using the Roman Pontifical) by consecration of bishops in catholic orders. However, the character of the organization was changed by the adoption of some reformed doctrines, the simplification of the outwards forms of worship and the abandonment of traditional vestments and art work; the retention of medieval Canon Law, liturgical music and a much shortened Calendar of Saints and Feast Days. The 42 Articles were reduced to 39, one of which removed the condemnation of the Pope, and another, the Black Rubric, which allowed kneeling to receive communion as long as it did not imply belief in the Real Presence and suggestion of adoration, the removal of which cancelled what it had prohibited. The rubric was restored in 1662 but the prohibition referred to in it referred to the Presence of Christ in his natural body (rather than a Real Presence after the manner of a sacrament). In part as a response to her excommunication by the Pope in 1570 the Queen published the Injunctions in 1571 which forbade anything being taught that “was contrary to the teaching of the Church Fathers and Catholic Bishops.” This was intended to make clear that the doctrines of the Church of England were in line with Catholic faith as defined by the first Four Ecumenical Councils and such subsequent teaching that conformed to them, and with the teachings Latin and Greek Fathers of the Church.
It was a most peculiar situation: the Church of England was the same Institution in unbroken succession but with a modified face to the world. It was without much of a particular character of its own until the notion of Anglicanism as a distinct ‘via media’ between Catholicism and Protesantism emerged very late in her reign and more clearly during the reigns of the early Stuart Kings. The Church of England was the established church (constitutionally established by the state with the Head of State as its supreme governor). The exact nature of the relationship between church and state would be a source of continued friction into the next century.
Stuart period[edit]
For the next century, through the reigns of James I, who ordered the translation of the Bible known as the King James Version (authorized to be used in parishes which does not mean it was the official version),[21] and Charles I, culminating in the English Civil War and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell, there were significant swings back and forth between two factions: the Puritans (and other radicals) who sought more far-reaching Protestant reforms, and the more conservative churchmen who aimed to keep closer to traditional beliefs and Catholic practices. The failure of political and ecclesiastical authorities to submit to Puritan demands for more extensive reform was one of the causes of open warfare. By the standards of Continental Europe, the level of violence over religion in England was not high, since the Civil War was mainly about politics, but the casualties included King Charles I and the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud and tens of thousands of civilians who died in the unsettled conditions. Under the Commonwealth and the Protectorate of England from 1649 to 1660, the bishops were dethroned and former practices were outlawed, and Presbyterian ecclesiology was introduced in place of the episcopate. The 39 Articles were replaced by the Westminster Confession, the Book of Common Prayer by the Directory of Public Worship. Despite this, about one quarter of English clergy refused to conform to this form of state presbyterianism.
Major repairs were done to Canterbury Cathedral after the Restoration in 1660.
With the Restoration of Charles II, Parliament restored the Church of England to a form not far removed from the Elizabethan version. One difference was that the ideal of encompassing all the people of England in one religious organisation, taken for granted by the Tudors, had to be abandoned. The religious landscape of England assumed its present form, with the Anglican established church occupying the middle ground, and those Puritans and Protestants who dissented from the Anglican establishment having to continue their existence outside the national church rather than trying to influence or trying to gain control of it. One result of the Restoration was the ousting of 2,000 parish ministers who had not been ordained by bishops in the Apostolic Succession or who had been ordained by ministers in presbyter’s orders. Official suspicion and legal restrictions continued well into the 19th century. Roman Catholics, perhaps 5% of the English population (down from 20% in 1600) were grudgingly tolerated, having had little or no official representation after the Pope’s excommunication of Queen Elizabeth in 1570, though the Stuarts were sympathetic to them. By the end of 18th century they had dwindled to 1% of the population, mostly amongst upper middle-class gentry, their tenants and extended families.
Union with Church of Ireland[edit]
By the Fifth Article of the Union with Ireland 1800, the Church of England and Church of Ireland were united into “one Protestant Episcopal church, to be called, the United Church of England and Ireland”.[22] Although “the continuance and preservation of the said united church … [was] deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental part of the union”,[23] the Irish Church Act 1869 separated the Irish part of the church again and disestablished it, the Act coming into effect on 1 January 1871.
Overseas developments[edit]
Captain John Smith’s 1624 map of Bermuda, showing St Peter’s at centre, left
As the British Empire expanded, British colonists and colonial administrators took the established church doctrines and practices together with ordained ministry and formed overseas branches of the Church of England. As they developed or, beginning with the United States of America, became sovereign or independent states, many of their churches became separate organisationally but remained linked to the Church of England through the Anglican Communion. In the provinces that made up Canada, the Church operated as the “Church of England in Canada” until 1955 when it became the Anglican Church of Canada.[24]
In Bermuda, the oldest remaining English colony (now designated a British Overseas Territory), the first Church of England services were performed by the Reverend Richard Buck, one of the survivors of the 1609 wreck of the Sea Venture which initiated Bermuda’s permanent settlement. The nine parishes of the Church of England in Bermuda, each with its own church and glebe land, rarely had more than a pair of ordained ministers to share between them until the Nineteenth Century. From 1825 to 1839, Bermuda’s parishes were attached to the See of Nova Scotia. Bermuda was then grouped into the new Diocese of Newfoundland and Bermuda from 1839. In 1879, the Synod of the Church of England in Bermuda was formed. At the same time, a Diocese of Bermuda became separate from the Diocese of Newfoundland, but both continued to be grouped under the Bishop of Newfoundland and Bermuda until 1919, when Newfoundland and Bermuda each received its own bishop.[citation needed]
The Church of England in Bermuda was renamed in 1978 as the Anglican Church of Bermuda, which is an extra-provincial diocese,[25] with both metropolitan and primatial authority coming directly from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Among its parish churches is St Peter’s Church in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of St George’s Town, which is both the oldest Anglican and the oldest non-Roman Catholic church in the New World.[citation needed]
The first Anglican missionaries arrived in Nigeria in 1842. The first Anglican Nigerian was consecrated a bishop in 1864. However, the arrival of a rival group of Anglican missionaries in 1887 led to infighting that slowed the growth. In this large African colony, by 1900 there were only 35,000 Anglicans, about 1/5 of one percent of the population. However, in the late 20th century the Church of Nigeria became the fastest growing of all Anglican churches, being about 18 percent of the local population by 2000.[26]
The Church of England established its presence in Hong Kong and Macau in 1843. In 1951, the Diocese of Hong Kong and Macao became an extra-provincial diocese, and in 1998 it became a province of the Anglican Communion, under the name Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui.
21st century[edit]
Deposition from holy orders overturned[edit]
Under the guidance of Rowan Williams and with significant pressure from clergy union representatives, the ecclesiastical penalty for convicted felons to be defrocked was set aside from the Clergy Discipline Measure 2003. The clergy union argued that the penalty was unfair to victims of hypothetical miscarriages of criminal justice, because the ecclesiastical penalty is considered irreversible. Although clerics can still be banned for life from ministry, they remain ordained as priests.[27]
Continued decline in attendance and church response[edit]
One of the now “redundant” buildings, Holy Trinity Church, Wensley, in North Yorkshire; much of the current structure was built in the 14th and 15th centuries
Bishop Sarah Mullally has insisted that declining numbers at services should not necessarily be a cause of despair for churches, because people may still encounter God without attending a service in a church; for example hearing the Christian message through social media sites or in a café run as a community project.[28] Additionally, 9.7 million people visit at least one of its churches every year and 1 million students are educated at Church of England schools (which number 4,700).[29] In 2019, an estimated 10 million people visited a cathedral and an additional “1.3 million people visited Westminster Abbey, where 99% of visitors paid / donated for entry”.[30] Nevertheless, the archbishops of Canterbury and York warned in January 2015 that the Church of England would no longer be able to carry on in its current form unless the downward spiral in membership were somehow to be reversed, as typical Sunday attendance had halved to 800,000 in the previous 40 years:[31]
The urgency of the challenge facing us is not in doubt. Attendance at Church of England services has declined at an average of one per cent per annum over recent decades and, in addition, the age profile of our membership has become significantly older than that of the population… Renewing and reforming aspects of our institutional life is a necessary but far from sufficient response to the challenges facing the Church of England. … The age profile of our clergy has also been increasing. Around 40 per cent of parish clergy are due to retire over the next decade or so.
Between 1969 and 2010, almost 1,800 church buildings, roughly 11% of the stock, were closed (so-called “redundant churches”); the majority (70%) in the first half of the period; only 514 being closed between 1990 and 2010.[32] Some active use was being made of about half of the closed churches.[33] By 2019 the rate of closure had steadied at around 20 to 25 per year (0.2%); some being replaced by new places of worship.[34] Additionally, in 2018 the church announced a £27 million growth programme to create 100 new churches.[35]
Low salaries[edit]
In 2015 the Church of England admitted that it was embarrassed to be paying staff under the living wage. The Church of England had previously campaigned for all employers to pay this minimum amount. The archbishop of Canterbury acknowledged it was not the only area where the church “fell short of its standards”.[36]
Doctrine and practice[edit]
Richard Hooker (1554–1600), one of the most influential figures in shaping Anglican theology and self-identity
The canon law of the Church of England identifies the Christian scriptures as the source of its doctrine. In addition, doctrine is also derived from the teachings of the Church Fathers and ecumenical councils (as well as the ecumenical creeds) in so far as these agree with scripture. This doctrine is expressed in the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal containing the rites for the ordination of deacons, priests, and the consecration of bishops.[37] Unlike other traditions, the Church of England has no single theologian that it can look to as a founder. However, Richard Hooker’s appeal to scripture, church tradition, and reason as sources of authority,[38] as well as the work of Thomas Cranmer, which inspired the doctrinal status of the church, continue to inform Anglican identity.
The Church of England’s doctrinal character today is largely the result of the Elizabethan Settlement, which sought to establish a comprehensive middle way between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. The Church of England affirms the protestant reformation principle that scripture contains all things necessary to salvation and is the final arbiter in doctrinal matters. The Thirty-nine Articles are the church’s only official confessional statement. Though not a complete system of doctrine, the articles highlight areas of agreement with Lutheran and Reformed positions, while differentiating Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism and Anabaptism.[38]
While embracing some themes of the Protestant Reformation, the Church of England also maintains Catholic traditions of the ancient church and teachings of the Church Fathers, unless these are considered contrary to scripture. It accepts the decisions of the first four ecumenical councils concerning the Trinity and the Incarnation. The Church of England also preserves catholic order by adhering to episcopal polity, with ordained orders of bishops, priests and deacons. There are differences of opinion within the Church of England over the necessity of episcopacy. Some consider it essential, while others feel it is needed for the proper ordering of the church.[38] In sum these express the ‘Via Media’ viewpoint that the first five centuries of doctrinal development and church order as approved are acceptable as a yardstick by which to gauge authentic catholicity, as minimum and sufficient; Anglicanism did not emerge as the result of charismatic leaders with particular doctrines. It is light on details compared to Roman Catholic, Reformed and Lutheran teachings. The Bible, the Creeds, Apostolic Order, and the administration of the Sacraments are sufficient to establish catholicity. The Reformation in England was initially much concerned about doctrine but the Elizabethan Settlement tried to put a stop to doctrinal contentions. The proponents of further changes, nonetheless, tried to get their way by making changes in Church Order (abolition of bishops), governance (Canon Law) and liturgy (‘too Catholic’). They did not succeed because the monarchy and the Church resisted and the majority of the population were indifferent. Moreover, “despite all the assumptions of the Reformation founders of that Church, it had retained a catholic character.” The Elizabethan Settlement had created a cuckoo in a nest…” a Protestant theology and program within a largely pre-Reformation Catholic structure whose continuing life would arouse a theological interest in the Catholicism that had created it; and would result in the rejection of predestinarian theology in favor of sacraments, especially the eucharist, ceremonial, and anti-Calvinist doctrine” (ibid pp. 78–86). The existence of cathedrals “without substantial alteration” and “where the “old devotional world cast its longest shadow for the future of the ethos that would become Anglicanism,” p. 79. This is “One of the great mysteries of the English Reformation,” ibid that there was no complete break with the past but a muddle that was per force turned into a virtue. The story of the English Reformation is the tale of retreat from the Protestant advance of 1550 which could not proceed further in the face of the opposition of the institution which was rooted in the medieval past, ibid. p. 142 and the adamant opposition of Queen Elizabeth I.[citation needed]
The Church of England has, as one of its distinguishing marks, a breadth and “open-mindedness”. This tolerance has allowed Anglicans who emphasise the catholic tradition and others who emphasise the reformed tradition to coexist. The three “parties” (see churchmanship) in the Church of England are sometimes called high church (or Anglo-Catholic), low church (or evangelical Anglican) and broad church (or liberal). The high church party places importance on the Church of England’s continuity with the pre-Reformation Catholic Church, adherence to ancient liturgical usages and the sacerdotal nature of the priesthood. As their name suggests, Anglo-Catholics maintain many traditional catholic practices and liturgical forms.[39] The low church party is more Protestant in both ceremony and theology.[40] Historically, the term ‘broad church’ has been used to describe those of middle-of-the-road ceremonial preferences who lean theologically towards liberal protestantism.[41] The balance between these strands of churchmanship is not static: in 2013, 40% of Church of England worshippers attended evangelical churches (compared with 26% in 1989), and 83% of very large congregations were evangelical. Such churches were also reported to attract higher numbers of men and young adults than others.[42]
Worship and liturgy[edit]
The Church of England’s official book of liturgy as established in English Law is the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). In addition to this book the General Synod has also legislated for a modern liturgical book, Common Worship, dating from 2000, which can be used as an alternative to the BCP. Like its predecessor, the 1980 Alternative Service Book, it differs from the Book of Common Prayer in providing a range of alternative services, mostly in modern language, although it does include some BCP-based forms as well, for example Order Two for Holy Communion. (This is a revision of the BCP service, altering some words and allowing the insertion of some other liturgical texts such as the Agnus Dei before communion.) The Order One rite follows the pattern of more modern liturgical scholarship.[citation needed]
The liturgies are organised according to the traditional liturgical year and the calendar of saints. The sacraments of baptism and the eucharist are generally thought necessary to salvation. Infant baptism is practised. At a later age, individuals baptised as infants receive confirmation by a bishop, at which time they reaffirm the baptismal promises made by their parents or sponsors. The eucharist, consecrated by a thanksgiving prayer including Christ’s Words of Institution, is believed to be “a memorial of Christ’s once-for-all redemptive acts in which Christ is objectively present and effectually received in faith”.[43]
The use of hymns and music in the Church of England has changed dramatically over the centuries. Traditional Choral evensong is a staple of most cathedrals. The style of psalm chanting harks back to the Church of England’s pre-reformation roots. During the 18th century, clergy such as Charles Wesley introduced their own styles of worship with poetic hymns.[citation needed][44]
In the latter half of the 20th century, the influence of the Charismatic Movement significantly altered the worship traditions of numerous Church of England parishes, primarily affecting those of evangelical persuasion. These churches now adopt a contemporary worship form of service, with minimal liturgical or ritual elements, and incorporating contemporary worship music.[citation needed]
Just as the Church of England has a large conservative or “traditionalist” wing, it also has many liberal members and clergy. Approximately one third of clergy “doubt or disbelieve in the physical resurrection”.[45] Others, such as the Revd Giles Fraser, a contributor to The Guardian, have argued for an allegorical interpretation of the virgin birth of Jesus.[46] The Independent reported in 2014 that, according to a YouGov survey of Church of England clergy, “as many as 16 per cent are unclear about God and two per cent think it is no more than a human construct.”[47][48] Moreover, many congregations are seeker-friendly environments. For example, one report from the Church Mission Society suggested that the church open up “a pagan church where Christianity [is] very much in the centre” to reach out to spiritual people.[49]
Women’s ministry[edit]
Women were appointed as deaconesses from 1861, but they could not function fully as deacons and were not considered ordained clergy. Women have historically been able to serve as lay readers. During the First World War, some women were appointed as lay readers, known as “bishop’s messengers”, who also led missions and ran churches in the absence of men. After the war, no women were appointed as lay readers until 1969[50]
Legislation authorising the ordination of women as deacons was passed in 1986 and they were first ordained in 1987. The ordination of women as priests was approved by the General Synod in 1992 and began in 1994. In 2010, for the first time in the history of the Church of England, more women than men were ordained as priests (290 women and 273 men),[51] but in the next two years, ordinations of men again exceeded those of women.[52]
In July 2005, the synod voted to “set in train” the process of allowing the consecration of women as bishops. In February 2006, the synod voted overwhelmingly for the “further exploration” of possible arrangements for parishes that did not want to be directly under the authority of a bishop who is a woman.[53] On 7 July 2008, the synod voted to approve the ordination of women as bishops and rejected moves for alternative episcopal oversight for those who do not accept the ministry of bishops who are women.[54] Actual ordinations of women to the episcopate required further legislation, which was narrowly rejected in a General Synod vote in November 2012.[55][56] On 20 November 2013, the General Synod voted overwhelmingly in support of a plan to allow the ordination of women as bishops, with 378 in favour, 8 against and 25 abstentions.[57]
On 14 July 2014, the General Synod approved the ordination of women as bishops. The House of Bishops recorded 37 votes in favour, two against with one abstention. The House of Clergy had 162 in favour, 25 against and four abstentions. The House of Laity voted 152 for, 45 against with five abstentions.[58] This legislation had to be approved by the Ecclesiastical Committee of the Parliament before it could be finally implemented at the November 2014 synod. In December 2014, Libby Lane was announced as the first woman to become a bishop in the Church of England. She was consecrated as a bishop in January 2015.[59] In July 2015, Rachel Treweek was the first woman to become a diocesan bishop in the Church of England when she became the Bishop of Gloucester.[60] She and Sarah Mullally, Bishop of Crediton, were the first women to be ordained as bishops at Canterbury Cathedral.[60] Treweek later made headlines by calling for gender-inclusive language, saying that “God is not to be seen as male. God is God.”[61]
In May 2018, the Diocese of London consecrated Dame Sarah Mullally as the first woman to serve as the Bishop of London.[62] Bishop Sarah Mullally occupies the third most senior position in the Church of England.[63] Mullally has described herself as a feminist and will ordain both men and women to the priesthood.[64] She is also considered by some to be a theological liberal.[65] On women’s reproductive rights, Mullally describes herself as pro-choice while also being personally pro-life.[66] On marriage, she supports the current stance of the Church of England that marriage is between a man and a woman, but also said that: “It is a time for us to reflect on our tradition and scripture, and together say how we can offer a response that is about it being inclusive love.”[67]
Same-sex unions and LGBT clergy[edit]
The Church of England has been discussing same-sex marriages and LGBT clergy.[68] The church plans to discuss the issue and decide on whether to perform or bless same-sex marriages in 2022 at the General Synod.[69][70][71] The church holds that marriage is a union of one man with one woman.[72] However, the church teaches “Same-sex relationships often embody genuine mutuality and fidelity.”[73][74] The church also officially supports celibate civil partnerships; “We believe that Civil Partnerships still have a place, including for some Christian LGBTI couples who see them as a way of gaining legal recognition of their relationship.”[75] The “Church of England does not conduct Civil Partnership Ceremonies or Same Sex Marriages but individual churches can conduct a service of thanksgiving after a ceremony.”[76] The church says “clergy in the Church of England are permitted to offer prayers of support on a pastoral basis for people in same-sex relationships;”[77] As such, many Anglican churches, with clergy open to it, “already bless same-sex couples on an unofficial basis.”[78][79]
Civil partnerships for clergy have been allowed since 2005, so long as they remain sexually abstinent,[80][81][82] and the church extends pensions to clergy in same-sex civil partnerships.[83] In a missive to clergy, the church communicated that “there was a need for committed same-sex couples to be given recognition and ‘compassionate attention’ from the Church, including special prayers.”[84] “There is no prohibition on prayers being said in church or there being a ‘service'” after a civil union.[85] After same-sex marriage was legalised, the church sought continued availability of civil unions, saying “The Church of England recognises that same-sex relationships often embody fidelity and mutuality. Civil partnerships enable these Christian virtues to be recognised socially and legally in a proper framework.”[86]
In 2014, the bishops released guidelines that permit “more informal kind of prayer” for couples.[87] In the guidelines, “gay couples who get married will be able to ask for special prayers in the Church of England after their wedding, the bishops have agreed.”[88] In 2016, The Bishop of Grantham, the Rt Revd Nicholas Chamberlain, announced that he is gay, in a same-sex relationship and celibate, becoming the first bishop to do so in the church.[89] The church had decided in 2013 that gay clergy in civil partnerships so long as they remain sexually abstinent could become bishops.[82][90] “The House [of Bishops] has confirmed that clergy in civil partnerships, and living in accordance with the teaching of the church on human sexuality, can be considered as candidates for the episcopate.”[91]
In 2017, the House of Clergy voted against the motion to “take note” of the bishops’ report defining marriage as between a man and a woman.[92] Due to passage in all three houses being required, the motion was rejected.[93] After General Synod rejected the motion, the archbishops of Canterbury and York called for “radical new Christian inclusion” that is “based on good, healthy, flourishing relationships, and in a proper 21st century understanding of being human and of being sexual.”[94] The church officially opposes “conversion therapy”, a practice which attempts to change a gay or lesbian person’s sexual orientation, calling it unethical and supports the banning of “conversion therapy” in the UK.[95][96] The Diocese of Hereford approved a motion calling for the church “to create a set of formal services and prayers to bless those who have had a same-sex marriage or civil partnership.”[97]
Regarding transgender issues, the 2017 General Synod voted in favour of a motion saying that transgender people should be “welcomed and affirmed in their parish church”.[98][99] The motion also asked the bishops “to look into special services for transgender people.”[100][101] The bishops initially said “the House notes that the Affirmation of Baptismal Faith, found in Common Worship, is an ideal liturgical rite which trans people can use to mark this moment of personal renewal.”[102] The Bishops also authorised services of celebration to mark a gender transition that will be included in formal liturgy.[103][104] Transgender people may marry in the Church of England after legally making a transition.[105] “Since the Gender Recognition Act 2004, trans people legally confirmed in their gender identity under its provisions are able to marry someone of the opposite sex in their parish church.”[106] The church further decided that same-gender couples may remain married when one spouse experiences gender transition provided that the spouses identified as opposite genders at the time of the marriage.[107][108] Since 2000, the church has allowed priests to undergo gender transition and remain in office.[109] The church has ordained openly transgender clergy since 2005.[110]
Bioethics issues[edit]
The Church of England is generally opposed to abortion but recognises that “there can be – strictly limited – conditions under which it may be morally preferable to any available alternative”.[111] The church also opposes euthanasia. Its official stance is that “While acknowledging the complexity of the issues involved in assisted dying/suicide and voluntary euthanasia, the Church of England is opposed to any change in the law or in medical practice that would make assisted dying/suicide or voluntary euthanasia permissible in law or acceptable in practice.” It also states that “Equally, the Church shares the desire to alleviate physical and psychological suffering, but believes that assisted dying/suicide and voluntary euthanasia are not acceptable means of achieving these laudable goals.”[112] In 2014, George Carey, a former archbishop of Canterbury, announced that he had changed his stance on euthanasia and now advocated legalising “assisted dying”.[113] On embryonic stem-cell research, the church has announced “cautious acceptance to the proposal to produce cytoplasmic hybrid embryos for research”.[114]
In the 19th century, English law required the burial of people who had died by suicide to occur only between the hours of 9 p.m. and midnight and without religious rites.[115] The Church of England permitted the use of alternative burial services for people who had died by suicide. In 2017, the Church of England changed its rules to permit the full, standard Christian burial service regardless of whether a person had died by suicide.[116]
Poverty[edit]
Church Urban Fund[edit]
The Church of England set up the Church Urban Fund in the 1980s to tackle poverty and deprivation. It sees poverty as trapping individuals and communities with some people in urgent need, leading to dependency, homelessness, hunger, isolation, low income, mental health problems, social exclusion and violence. They feel that poverty reduces confidence and life expectancy and that people born in poor conditions have difficulty escaping their disadvantaged circumstances.[117]
Child poverty[edit]
In parts of Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle two-thirds of babies are born to poverty and have poorer life chances, also a life expectancy 15 years lower than babies born in the best-off fortunate communities.[118]
The deep-rooted unfairness in our society is highlighted by these stark statistics. Children being born in this country, just a few miles apart, couldn’t witness a more wildly differing start to life. In child poverty terms, we live in one of the most unequal countries in the western world. We want people to understand where their own community sits alongside neighbouring communities. The disparity is often shocking but it’s crucial that, through greater awareness, people from all backgrounds come together to think about what could be done to support those born into poverty. [Paul Hackwood, the Chair of Trustees at Church Urban Fund][119]
Action on hunger[edit]
Many prominent people in the Church of England have spoken out against poverty and welfare cuts in the United Kingdom. Twenty-seven bishops are among 43 Christian leaders who signed a letter which urged David Cameron to make sure people have enough to eat.
We often hear talk of hard choices. Surely few can be harder than that faced by the tens of thousands of older people who must ‘heat or eat’ each winter, harder than those faced by families whose wages have stayed flat while food prices have gone up 30% in just five years. Yet beyond even this we must, as a society, face up to the fact that over half of people using food banks have been put in that situation by cutbacks to and failures in the benefit system, whether it be payment delays or punitive sanctions.[120]
Thousands of UK citizens use food banks. The Church’s campaign to end hunger considers this “truly shocking” and called for a national day of fasting on 4 April 2014.[120]
Membership[edit]
As of 2009, the Church of England estimated that it had approximately 26 million baptised members – about 47% of the English population.[121][122] This number has remained consistent since 2001 and was cited again in 2013.[123][124] According to a study published by the Journal of Anglican Studies, distributed by the Cambridge University Press, the Church of England continues to claim 26 million baptised members, while it also has approximately 1.7 million active baptised members.[125][126][127][128] Due to its status as the established church, in general, anyone may be married, have their children baptised or their funeral in their local parish church, regardless of whether they are baptised or regular churchgoers.[129]
Between 1890 and 2001, churchgoing in the United Kingdom declined steadily.[130] In the years 1968 to 1999, Anglican Sunday church attendances almost halved, from 3.5 percent of the population to 1.9 per cent.[131] By 2014, Sunday church attendances had declined further to 1.4 per cent of the population.[132] One study published in 2008 suggested that if current trends continued, Sunday attendances could fall to 350,000 in 2030 and 87,800 in 2050.[133]
In 2011, the Church of England published statistics showing 1.7 million people attending at least one of its services each month, a level maintained since the turn of the millennium; approximately one million participating each Sunday and three million taking part in a Church of England service on Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. The church also claimed that 30% attend Sunday worship at least once a year; more than 40% attend a wedding in their local church and still more attend a funeral there.[134] Nationally the Church of England baptises one child in ten (2011).[135] In 2015, the church’s statistics showed that 2.6 million people attended a special Advent service, 2.4 million attended a Christmas service, 1.3 million attended an Easter service, and 980,000 attended service during an average week.[136] In 2016, 2.6 million people attended a Christmas service, 1.2 million attended an Easter service, 1.1 million people attended a service in the Church of England each month, an average of 930,000 people attended a weekly service, an additional 180,000 attended a service for school each week, and an average of 740,000 people attended Sunday service. In 2017 Cathedral statistics showed that a total of 135,000 attended a Christmas service, an increase of 13% and overall Sunday attendance has risen from 7000 in 2000 to 18,000 in 2017 which had increased over the past 10 years.[137] Also in 2017, approximately 1.14 million people were a part of the regular worshiping community, meaning those attending church once a month or more, 6.8 million were reached in the Advent campaign, and 2.68 million people attended a Christmas service, representing a slight increase.[138]
The Church of England has 18,000 active ordained clergy and 10,000 licensed lay ministers.[139] In 2009, 491 people were recommended for ordination training, maintaining the level at the turn of the millennium, and 564 new clergy (266 women and 298 men) were ordained. More than half of those ordained (193 men and 116 women) were appointed to full-time paid ministry.[140] In 2011, 504 new clergy were ordained, including 264 to paid ministry, and 349 lay readers were admitted to ministry; and the mode age-range of those recommended for ordination training had remained 40–49 since 1999.[141]
Structure[edit]
Dioceses of the Church of England
Article XIX (‘Of the Church’) of the 39 Articles defines the church as follows:
The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of faithful men, in which the pure Word of God is preached, and the sacraments be duly ministered according to Christ’s ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same.[142]
The British monarch has the constitutional title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The canon law of the Church of England states, “We acknowledge that the Queen’s most excellent Majesty, acting according to the laws of the realm, is the highest power under God in this kingdom, and has supreme authority over all persons in all causes, as well ecclesiastical as civil.”[143] In practice this power is often exercised through Parliament and on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The Church of Ireland and the Church in Wales separated from the Church of England in 1869[144] and 1920[145] respectively and are autonomous churches in the Anglican Communion; Scotland’s national church, the Church of Scotland, is Presbyterian, but the Scottish Episcopal Church is in the Anglican Communion.[146]
In addition to England, the jurisdiction of the Church of England extends to the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and a few parishes in Flintshire, Monmouthshire, Powys and Radnorshire in Wales which voted to remain with the Church of England rather than joining the Church in Wales.[147] Expatriate congregations on the continent of Europe have become the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe.
The church is structured as follows (from the lowest level upwards):[citation needed]
The parish church of St Lawrence in Toot Baldon is typical of many small English village churches
Parish is the most local level, often consisting of one church building (a parish church) and community, although many parishes are joining forces in a variety of ways for financial reasons. The parish is looked after by a parish priest who for historical or legal reasons may be called by one of the following offices: vicar, rector, priest in charge, team rector, team vicar. The first, second, fourth and fifth of these may also be known as the ‘incumbent’. The running of the parish is the joint responsibility of the incumbent and the parochial church council (PCC), which consists of the parish clergy and elected representatives from the congregation. The Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe is not formally divided into parishes.
There are a number of local churches that do not have a parish. In urban areas there are a number of proprietary chapels (mostly built in the 19th century to cope with urbanisation and growth in population). Also in more recent years there are increasingly church plants and fresh expressions of church, whereby new congregations are planted in locations such as schools or pubs to spread the Gospel of Christ in non-traditional ways.
Map showing the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe with the archdeaconries colour-coded
Deanery, e.g., Lewisham or Runnymede. This is the area for which a Rural Dean (or area dean) is responsible. It consists of a number of parishes in a particular district. The rural dean is usually the incumbent of one of the constituent parishes. The parishes each elect lay (non-ordained) representatives to the deanery synod. Deanery synod members each have a vote in the election of representatives to the diocesan synod.
Archdeaconry, e.g., the seven in the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. This is the area under the jurisdiction of an archdeacon. It consists of a number of deaneries.
Diocese, e.g., Diocese of Durham, Diocese of Guildford, Diocese of St Albans. This is the area under the jurisdiction of a diocesan bishop, e.g., the bishops of Durham, Guildford and St Albans, and will have a cathedral. There may be one or more suffragan bishops within the diocese who assist the diocesan bishop in his ministry, e.g., in Guildford diocese, the Bishop of Dorking. In some very large dioceses a legal measure has been enacted to create “episcopal areas”, where the diocesan bishop runs one such area himself and appoints “area bishops” to run the other areas as mini-dioceses, legally delegating many of his powers to the area bishops. Dioceses with episcopal areas include London, Chelmsford, Oxford, Chichester, Southwark, and Lichfield. The bishops work with an elected body of lay and ordained representatives, known as the Diocesan Synod, to run the diocese. A diocese is subdivided into a number of archdeaconries.
Province, i.e., Canterbury or York. This is the area under the jurisdiction of an archbishop, i.e. the Archbishops of Canterbury and York. Decision-making within the province is the responsibility of the General Synod (see also above). A province is subdivided into dioceses.
Primacy, i.e., Church of England. The Archbishop of York’s title of “Primate of England” is essentially honorific and carries with it no powers beyond those inherent in being Archbishop and Metropolitan of the Province of York.[148] The Archbishop of Canterbury, on the other hand, the “Primate of All England”, has powers that extend over the whole of England, and also Wales—for example, through his Faculty Office he may grant a “special marriage licence” permitting the parties to marry otherwise than in a church: for example, in a school, college or university chapel;[149] or anywhere, if one of the parties to the intended marriage is in danger of imminent death.[150][a]
Royal Peculiar, a small number of churches which are more closely associated with the Crown, for example Westminster Abbey, and a very few more closely associated with the law which although conforming to the rites of the Church, are outside episcopal jurisdiction.
All rectors and vicars are appointed by patrons, who may be private individuals, corporate bodies such as cathedrals, colleges or trusts, or by the bishop or directly by the Crown. No clergy can be instituted and inducted into a parish without swearing the Oath of Allegiance to Her Majesty, and taking the Oath of Canonical Obedience “in all things lawful and honest” to the bishop. Usually they are instituted to the benefice by the bishop and then inducted by the archdeacon into the possession of the benefice property—church and parsonage. Curates (assistant clergy) are appointed by rectors and vicars, or if priests-in-charge by the bishop after consultation with the patron. Cathedral clergy (normally a dean and a varying number of residentiary canons who constitute the cathedral chapter) are appointed either by the Crown, the bishop, or by the dean and chapter themselves. Clergy officiate in a diocese either because they hold office as beneficed clergy or are licensed by the bishop when appointed, or simply with permission.[citation needed]
Primates[edit]
The most senior bishop of the Church of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the metropolitan of the southern province of England, the Province of Canterbury. He has the status of Primate of All England. He is the focus of unity for the worldwide Anglican Communion of independent national or regional churches. Justin Welby has been Archbishop of Canterbury since the confirmation of his election on 4 February 2013.[151]
The second most senior bishop is the Archbishop of York, who is the metropolitan of the northern province of England, the Province of York. For historical reasons (relating to the time of York’s control by the Danes)[citation needed] he is referred to as the Primate of England. Stephen Cottrell became Archbishop of York in 2020.[152] The Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham and the Bishop of Winchester are ranked in the next three positions, insofar as the holders of those sees automatically become members of the House of Lords.[153][b]
Diocesan bishops[edit]
The process of appointing diocesan bishops is complex, due to historical reasons balancing hierarchy against democracy, and is handled by the Crown Nominations Committee which submits names to the Prime Minister (acting on behalf of the Crown) for consideration.[citation needed]
Representative bodies[edit]
The Church of England has a legislative body, General Synod. This can create two types of legislation, measures and canons. Measures have to be approved but cannot be amended by the British Parliament before receiving the Royal Assent and becoming part of the law of England.[154] Although it is the established church in England only, its measures must be approved by both Houses of Parliament including the non-English members. Canons require Royal Licence and Royal Assent, but form the law of the church, rather than the law of the land.[155]
Another assembly is the Convocation of the English Clergy, which is older than the General Synod and its predecessor the Church Assembly. By the 1969 Synodical Government Measure almost all of the Convocations’ functions were transferred to the General Synod. Additionally, there are Diocesan Synods and deanery synods, which are the governing bodies of the divisions of the Church.[citation needed]
House of Lords[edit]
Of the 42 diocesan archbishops and bishops in the Church of England, 26 are permitted to sit in the House of Lords. The Archbishops of Canterbury and York automatically have seats, as do the bishops of London, Durham and Winchester. The remaining 21 seats are filled in order of seniority by date of consecration. It may take a diocesan bishop a number of years to reach the House of Lords, at which point he becomes a Lord Spiritual. The Bishop of Sodor and Man and the Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe are not eligible to sit in the House of Lords as their dioceses lie outside the United Kingdom.[156]
Crown dependencies[edit]
Although they are not part of England or the United Kingdom, the Church of England is also the established church in the Crown dependencies of the Isle of Man, the Bailiwick of Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey. The Isle of Man has its own diocese of Sodor and Man, and the Bishop of Sodor and Man is an ex officio member of the Legislative Council of the Tynwald on the island.[157] The Channel Islands are part of the Diocese of Winchester, and in Jersey the Dean of Jersey is a non-voting member of the States of Jersey. In Guernsey the Church of England is the Established Church, although the Dean of Guernsey is not a member of the States of Guernsey.[158]
Sex abuse[edit]
There have been many cases of sexual abuse within the Anglican Church,[159] including the Church in Wales[159] and the Church of England.[159][160][161]
The 2020 report from the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse concluded that the Church of England did not protect children from sexual abuse, and allowed abusers to hide.[159] The Church spent more effort defending alleged abusers rather than supporting victims or protecting children and young people.[159] Allegations were not taken seriously, and in some cases clergymen were ordained even with a history of child sex abuse.[162]
Despite assurances from senior Church leadership there is concern that not enough may be done and historic abuse may still sometimes be covered up. Keith Porteous Wood of the National Secular Society stated:
The problem wasn’t that bishops weren’t trained in such matters, it is the institutional culture of denial and the bullying of the abused and whistleblowers into silence. One report suggests that 13 bishops ignored letters written in the 1990s warning of abuse by Ball on behalf of a victim who later committed suicide. I have seen evidence that such bullying persists to this day. I hope that the Archbishop’s review into the case of Peter Ball will deal with such bullying and what appears to be the undue influence exerted on the police and CPS by the Church in dealing with this case. The total failure of procedures, outlined by Ian Elliott, echoes that revealed in the totally damning Cahill Report about the conduct of the Archbishop Hope of York in respect of Robert Waddington. The current Archbishop of York has decided that this report should remain in printed form rather than be more widely available on the web.[163]
Bishop Peter Ball was convicted in October 2015 on several charges of indecent assault against young adult men.[160][161][164] There are allegations of large-scale earlier cover-ups involving many British establishment figures which prevented Ball’s earlier prosecution. There have also been allegations of child sex abuse, for example Robert Waddington. A complainant, known only as “Joe”, tried for decades to have action taken over sadistic sex abuse which Garth Moore perpetrated against him in 1976 when “Joe” was 15 years old. None of the high ranking clergy who “Joe” spoke to recall being told about the abuse, which “Joe” considers incredible.[165][166] A representative of the solicitors firm representing “Joe” said:
The Church of England wants to bury and discourage allegations of non-recent abuse. They know how difficult it is for survivors to come forward, and it appears from this case that the Church has a plan of making it hard for these vulnerable people to come forward. This survivor has had the courage to press his case. Most do not. Most harbour the psychological fallout in silence. We need to find a way to make the system more approachable for survivors.[167]
Funding and finances[edit]
Although an established church, the Church of England does not receive any direct government support. Donations comprise its largest source of income, and it also relies heavily on the income from its various historic endowments. In 2005, the Church of England had estimated total outgoings of around £900 million.[168]
The Church of England manages an investment portfolio which is worth more than £8 billion.[169]
Online church directory[edit]
The Church of England runs A Church Near You, an online directory of churches. A user-edited resource, it currently lists more than 16,000 churches and has 20,000 editors in 42 dioceses.[170] The directory enables parishes to maintain accurate location, contact and event information, which is shared with other websites and mobile apps. The site allows the public to find their local worshipping community, and offers churches free resources,[171] such as hymns, videos and social media graphics.
See also[edit]
Acts of Supremacy
Apostolicae curae
Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
Anglican Communion sexual abuse cases
Church Commissioners
Church of England Newspaper
Disestablishmentarianism
Dissolution of the Monasteries
English Reformation
Historical development of Church of England dioceses
List of archdeacons in the Church of England
List of bishops in the Church of England
List of the first 32 women ordained as Church of England priests
List of the largest Protestant bodies
Mothers’ Union
Properties and finances of the Church of England
Ritualism in the Church of England
Notes[edit]
^ The powers to grant special marriage licences, to appoint notaries public, and to grant Lambeth degrees, are derived from the so called “legatine powers” which were held by the Pope’s Legate to England prior to the Reformation, and were transferred to the Archbishop of Canterbury by the Ecclesiastical Licences Act 1533. Thus they are not, strictly speaking, derived from the status of the Archbishop of Canterbury as “Primate of All England”. For this reason, they extend also to Wales.[148]
^ The bishops are named in this order in the section.
References[edit]
^ Church of England at World Council of Churches
^ Eberle, Edward J. (2011). Church and State in Western Society. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-4094-0792-8. Retrieved 9 November 2012. The Church of England later became the official state Protestant church, with the monarch supervising church functions.
^ Fox, Jonathan (2008). A World Survey of Religion and the State. Cambridge University Press. p. 120. ISBN 978-0-521-88131-9. Retrieved 9 November 2012. The Church of England (Anglican) and the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) are the official religions of the UK.
^ Ferrante, Joan (2010). Sociology: A Global Perspective. Cengage Learning. p. 408. ISBN 978-0-8400-3204-1. Retrieved 9 November 2012. the Church of England [Anglican], which remains the official state church
^ Jump up to: a b “An Ancient Church – Detailed History”. Church of England. 2016. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
^ John E. Booty, Stephen Sykes, Jonathan Knight (1998). Study of Anglicanism. London: Fortress Books. p. 477. ISBN 0-281-05175-5.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
^ Delaney, John P. (1980). Dictionary of Saints (Second ed.). Garden City, NY: Doubleday. pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-385-13594-8.
^ Jump up to: a b The English Reformation by Professor Andrew Pettegree. Bbc.co.uk.
^ Jump up to: a b “Section A: The Church of England”, Canons of the Church of England (7 ed.), Church of England, retrieved 1 February 2018
^ Plant, David (2002). “Episcopalians”. BCW Project. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
^ King, Peter (July 1968). “The Episcopate during the Civil Wars, 1642-1649”. The English Historical Review. Oxford University Press. 83 (328): 523–537. doi:10.1093/ehr/lxxxiii.cccxxviii.523. JSTOR 564164.
^ Brown, Andrew (13 July 2014). “Liberalism increases as power shifts to the laity in the Church of England”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
^ Rahner, Karl (1975). Encyclopedia of theology: a concise Sacramentum mundi. Freiburg: Herder. pp. 301–302. ISBN 978-0-86012-006-3.
^ Paula K. Byers; 1998, Encyclopedia of World Biography, Page 189 – Pelagius, ISBN 0-7876-2553-1
^ Marcus Holden and Andrew Pinsent, The Catholic Gift to Civilisation (London: CTS), p. 13ff
^ D. Attwater, “Ethelbert of Kent” in The Penguin Dictionary of Saints (Harmondsworth: Penguin Books), p.118
^ “Synod of Whitby | English Church history”. Encyclopedia Britannica.
^ Hunt, William (1911). “England, The Church of” . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. 9 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 448.
^ King Henry VIII (1491–1547). HistoryMole (18 September 2010).
^ G. W. Bernard, “The Dissolution of the Monasteries,” History (2011) 96#324 p 390
^ Cowart, John Wilson; Knappen, M. M. (eds.). The Diary Of Samuel Ward, A Translator Of The 1611 King James Bible. Bluefish Books.
^ Pickering, Danby (1799). The Statutes at Large from the Magna Charta, to the End of the Eleventh Parliament of Great Britain, Anno 1761 [continued to 1806]. By Danby Pickering. J. Bentham. p. 653.
^ “An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland 1800 – Article Fifth (sic)”. Archived from the original on 24 March 2018.
^ Miranda Threlfall-Holmes (2012). The Essential History of Christianity. SPCK. pp. 133–34. ISBN 9780281066438.
^ “Member Churches”. anglicancommunion.org.
^ Miranda Threlfall-Holmes (2012). The Essential History of Christianity. SPCK. p. 134. ISBN 9780281066438.
^ Bingham, John (13 July 2015). “Church of England could return to defrocking rogue priests after child abuse scandals”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
^ “Empty pews not the end of the world, says Church of England’s newest bishop”, The Daily Telegraph, 9 June 2015.
^ “Facts and Stats of The Church of England”. churchofengland.org. Church of England. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
^ “Key areas of research”. The Church of England. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
^ “Church of England cannot carry on as it is unless decline ‘urgently’ reversed – Welby and Sentamu”, The Daily Telegraph, 12 January 2015.
^ “Closed Churches Division”. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
^ “Archived copy” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 June 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ “Closed churches”. The Church of England.
^ “Church of England announces 100 new churches in £27 million growth programme”. www.anglicannews.org.
^ “Church of England: Justin Welby says low pay ’embarrassing'”. BBC News.
^ Canon A5. Canons of the Church of England Archived 25 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
^ Jump up to: a b c Massey H. Shepherd, Jr. and Dale B. Martin, “Anglicanism” in Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 1, 2nd. ed., edited by Lindsay Jones (Detroit:Macmillan Reference USA, 2005), pp. 349–350.
^ “High Church”, New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 6 (Detroit: Gale, 2003), pp. 823–824.
^ “Low Church”, New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 8 (Detroit: Gale, 2003), p. 836.
^ E. McDermott, “Broad Church”, New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 2 (Detroit: Gale, 2003), pp. 624–625.
^ ‘New Directions’, May 2013
^ Shepherd, Jr. and Martin, “Anglicanism”, p. 350.
^ “BBC – Religions – Christianity: Charles Wesley”. www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
^ Petre, Jonathan. “One third of clergy do not believe in the Resurrection”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
^ “The story of the virgin birth runs against the grain of Christianity”. The Guardian. 24 December 2015. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
^ “Survey finds 2 per cent of Anglican priests are not believers”. The Independent. 27 October 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
^ “YouGov / University of Lancaster and Westminster Faith Debates” (PDF). YouGov. 23 October 2014. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
^ “Church of England creating ‘pagan church’ to recruit members”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 1 May 2016.
^ tojsiab. “Church of England इतिहास देखें अर्थ और सामग्री – hmoob.in”. www.hmoob.in. Retrieved 5 July 2021.
^ “More new women priests than men for first time”. The Daily Telegraph. 4 February 2012. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
^ Arnett, George (11 February 2014). “How much of the Church of England clergy is female?”. The Guardian.
^ Church votes overwhelmingly for compromise on women bishops. Ekklesia.
^ “Church will ordain women bishops”. BBC News. 7 July 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
^ Pigott, Robert. (14 February 2009) Synod struggles on women bishops. BBC News.
^ “Church of England general synod votes against women bishops”, BBC News, 20 November 2012.
^ “Church of England Synod votes overwhelmingly in support of women bishops”. The Descrier. 20 November 2013. Retrieved 20 November 2013.
^ “LIVE: Vote backs women bishops”. BBC. 14 July 2014. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
^ “After turmoil, Church of England consecrates first woman bishop”. Reuters. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2017.
^ Jump up to: a b First female diocesan bishop in C of E consecrated. Anglicannews.org. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
^ Sherwood, Harriet (24 October 2015). “‘God is not a he or a she’, says first female bishop to sit in House of Lords”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
^ “First woman Bishop of London installed”. www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
^ “First female Bishop of London installed”. BBC News. 12 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
^
^ “Sarah Mullally to be first female bishop of London”. Financial Times.
^ “Choice”. Contemplation in the shadow of a carpark. 9 March 2012. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
^ “Former Chief Nursing Officer to be first woman Bishop of London”. www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
^ Editorial, Reuters. “Church of England proposes celebrating gay marriage”. U.K. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
^ “Church of England could rethink stance on LGBTQ+ issues by 2022”. The Guardian. 9 November 2020. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^ Burgess, Kaya. “Church of England to rethink same-sex marriage”. The Times. ISSN 0140-0460.
^ Swerling, Gabriella (9 November 2020). “Church of England could hold historic vote on gay marriage in 2022”. The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
^ “Archived copy” (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 22 October 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
^ Bingham, John. “Church offers prayers after same-sex weddings – but bans gay priests from marrying”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
^ “House of Bishops Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage”. The Church of England. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
^ “Keep civil partnerships, Church of England urges Government”. Premier. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
^ “cc-shooters-hill”. cc-shooters-hill. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
^ “Church of England News: Secretary General responds to GAFCON UK”. Church of England News. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
^ “Christian attitudes to same-sex marriage”. bbc.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
^ Chris Hastings, Fiona Govan and Susan Bisset. “Vicars bless hundreds of gay couples a year”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 31 May 2016.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
^ “Gay cleric’s ‘wedding’ to partner”. BBC News. Retrieved 27 March 2017.
^ Alex, Stewart; er. “Gay cleric in running for Brechin position”. The Courier. Retrieved 29 October 2019.
^ Jump up to: a b Walker, Peter (4 January 2013). “Church of England rules gay men in civil partnerships can become bishops”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
^ Bates, Stephen (11 February 2010). “Church of England General Synod extends pension rights for gay partners”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
^ “Church of England gives blessing to recognising civil partnerships”. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
^ “Civil partnerships and defining marriage”. www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
^ “Church of England says civil partnerships should not be abolished following gay marriage legalisation”. www.christiantoday.com. Retrieved 21 November 2016.
^ “Church of England News: House of Bishops Pastoral Guidance on Same Sex Marriage”. Church of England News. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
^ “Church offers prayers after same-sex weddings – but bans gay priests from marrying”. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
^ correspondent, Harriet Sherwood Religion (2 September 2016). “Bishop of Grantham first C of E bishop to declare he is in gay relationship”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
^ Brumfield, Ben. “Priests in same-sex relationships may become Anglican Bishops”. CNN. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
^ Lyall, Sarah (2013). “Anglicans Open a Path to Bishopric for Gay Men”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
^ “Church of England’s Clergy Issue Shock Rebuke To Bishops’ View on Sexuality”. www.christiantoday.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
^ “Church takes step towards gay marriage after vote rejects controversial report”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
^ “Archbishops Call For ‘Radical New Christian Inclusion’ After Synod Blocks Sexuality Report”. www.christiantoday.com. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
^ “General Synod backs ban on conversion therapy”. www.churchofengland.org. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
^ “Church of England ‘Warmly Welcomes’ UK’s Plan to Ban Gay Conversion Therapy”. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
^ Burgess, Kaya (20 October 2017). “Landmark vote piles pressure on Anglicans over same-sex marriage”. The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 22 October 2017.
^ Sherwood, Harriet (9 July 2017). “Anglican church set to offer special services for transgender people”. The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
^ Metro.co.uk, Fiona Parker for (9 July 2017). “Church of England to hold special services for transgender people”. Metro. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
^ “Church of England votes to explore transgender services”. BBC News. 9 July 2017. Retrieved 10 July 2017.
^ “Diocese of Blackburn seeks new liturgy for trans service”. www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
^ “An update on ‘Welcoming Transgender People'” (PDF). churchofengland.org. January 2018. Retrieved 27 January 2018.
^ “Church service to mark gender transition”. BBC News. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
^ “Adapted baptism liturgy can celebrate gender transition”. www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
^ Mansfield, Katie (24 June 2017). “Church of England to consider re-naming services for transgender worshippers”. Express.co.uk. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^ Beardsley, Tina (11 July 2017). “The church’s trans epiphany will ease the way for others like me”. The Guardian. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
^ Religious Affairs Correspondent, Kaya Burgess (4 July 2019). “Church accepts marriage between people of the same gender – with a catch”. The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
^ Swerling, Gabriella (4 July 2019). “Church of England will condone gay couples for first time – as long as they were man and wife when they took vows”. The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 6 July 2019.
^ “Sex-change vicar back in pulpit”. BBC News. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
^ “Transgender priest sings for change”. Stuff. 8 October 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
^ “The Church of England’s position on abortion”. www.churchofengland.org. Retrieved 14 May 2016.
^ “Assisted Dying/Suicide and Voluntary Euthanasia”, Church of England official website.
^ Watt, Nicholas (11 July 2014). “Former archbishop lends his support to campaign to legalise right to die”. The Guardian. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
^ “The Church of England and human fertilisation & embryology”. www.churchofengland.org. Retrieved 31 May 2016.
^ Gledhill, Ruth (12 February 2015). “Suicides can receive Anglican funerals, says General Synod”. www.christiantoday.com. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
^ Adeogun, Eno (11 July 2017). “Church ends ban on full Christian funerals for suicides”. Premier. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
^ “About Church Urban Fund”. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013.
^ “Church Urban Fund finds ‘poorest’ in north-west England”. BBC News. 21 May 2012.
^ “Child poverty in the UK”. Church of England News.
^ Jump up to: a b “Bishops demand action over hunger”. BBC News. 20 February 2014.
^ Gledhill, Ruth (18 March 2009). “Christian asks to be ‘de baptised'”. The Times. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ “The representation of religious faiths” (PDF), A House for the Future, UK Parliament, p. 155, 2010
^ Coombe, Victoria (26 September 2001). “Baptised Anglicans are now a minority”. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
^ Nasralla, Shadia (21 March 2013). “UPDATE 1-Former oil executive becomes new head of Anglicans”. Reuters. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
^ Muñoz, Daniel (2016). “North to South: A Reappraisal of Anglican Communion Membership Figures”. Journal of Anglican Studies. 14 (1): 71–95. doi:10.1017/S1740355315000212. ISSN 1740-3553.
^ Muñoz, Daniel (May 2016). “North to South: A Reappraisal of Anglican Communion Membership Figures”. Journal of Anglican Studies. 14 (1): 71–95. doi:10.1017/S1740355315000212. ISSN 1740-3553.
^ PM, Ruth Gledhill 12 November 2015 | 4:34. “Anglican membership figures could be out by millions”. www.christiantoday.com. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
^ “Exactly how big is the Anglican Communion? – Episcopal Cafe”. Retrieved 25 July 2021.
^ See the pages linked from the Life Events page on the Church of England website Archived 22 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine
^ Peter J. Bowler, Reconciling science and religion: the debate in early-twentieth-century Britain (University of Chicago Press, 2001), page 194.
^ Robin Gill, The Empty Church Revisited, (Ashgate Publishing, 2003) page 161.
^ Church of England attendance plunges to record low 12 January 2016 The Telegraph
^ Christian Research, Religious Trends (2008), cited in Ruth Gledhill, “Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour”, The Times, 8 May 2008.
^ Church of England website. Churchofengland.org.
^ 10 ways christening has changed 23 October 2013 BBC News
^ “Church of England weekly attendance falls below one million for first time”. www.christiantoday.com. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
^ “Statistics for Mission 2016” (PDF). churchofengland.org. 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 February 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
^ “Mixed picture for CofE in latest attendance figures”. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
^ Church of England Research & Statistics link page. Churchofengland.org (9 May 2012).
^ Facts and stats. Churchofengland.org.
^ Church of England Year Book, 2012
^ 39 Articles – 19–22. Church Society.
^ Canon A 7 “Of the Royal Supremacy”
^ “Irish Church Act 1869”. Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
^ “Our Heritage: Facing Difficulties”. Church in Wales website. Archived from the original on 25 March 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
^ “History: The Revolution”. Scottish Episcopal Church website. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2012.
^ Cross, F. L. (ed.) (1957) Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church; p. 1436
^ Jump up to: a b Moore, E. Garth (1967). An Introduction to English Canon Law. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 29.
^ “Faculty Office : Special Marriage Licence – Marriage Law Information – School, College and University Chapels”. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ “Faculty Office : Emergency Marriages in Hospital, Hospice or At Home (England and Wales)” (PDF). Retrieved 20 June 2021.
^ “Justin Welby becomes Archbishop of Canterbury”. BBC News. 4 February 2013.
^ “Stephen Cottrell’s biography”. The Archbishop of York. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
^ “Bishoprics Act 1878, s. 5”. Legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
^ “Summary of Church Assembly and General Synod Measures”. Church of England website. Archbishops’ council of the Church of England. November 2007. Archived from the original on 13 February 2008. Retrieved 22 January 2008.
^ “General Synod”. Church of England website. Archbishops’ council of the Church of England. Archived from the original on 12 November 2004. Retrieved 5 June 2010.
^ House of Lords: alphabetical list of Members Archived 2 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 December 2008.
^ Gell, Sir James. “Gell on Manx Church”. Isle of Man Online. IOM Online. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
^ “About”. Guernsey Deanery. Church of England.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Jay, Alexis; Evans, Malcolm; Frank, Ivor; Sharpling, Drusilla (October 2020). “The Anglican Church Investigation Report”. iicsa.org.uk. Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). Archived from the original on 9 October 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ Jump up to: a b “Sex Abuse in UK Christian Churches”. religionmediacentre.org.uk. London: Religion Media Centre. 9 October 2019. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ Jump up to: a b “Abuse and the Church of England – Timeline”. religionmediacentre.org.uk. London: Religion Media Centre. 4 October 2020. Archived from the original on 30 November 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ “Church of England failures ‘allowed child sexual abusers to hide'”. BBC News. 6 October 2020. Archived from the original on 6 October 2020. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ “Church cut contact with child abuse victim on order of insurers”. secularism.org.uk. National Secular Society. 16 March 2016. Archived from the original on 20 March 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ Laville, Sandra (7 October 2015). “Bishop escaped abuse charges after MPs and a royal backed him, court told”. The Guardian. London. eISSN 1756-3224. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Archived from the original on 13 October 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ Sherwood, Harriet (15 March 2016). “Damning report reveals Church of England’s failure to act on abuse”. The Guardian. London. eISSN 1756-3224. ISSN 0261-3077. OCLC 60623878. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ Mortimer, Caroline (15 March 2016). “Church of England figures ignored ‘sadistic’ abuse of 15-year-old boy by senior priest for 40 years, report says”. The Independent. London. ISSN 0951-9467. OCLC 185201487. Archived from the original on 11 July 2021. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
^ Davies, Madeleine; Handley, Paul (4 December 2015). “Survivor reaches settlement with diocese on historic abuse”. Church Times. London. ISSN 0009-658X. Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 10 July 2021.
^ outgoings Archived 12 November 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Cofe.anglican.org.
^ “Citing ethics, Anglicans sell stake in News Corp” by Eric Pfanner, The New York Times, 8 August 2012.
^ “A Church Near You Help”. achurchnearyou.com. A Church Near You. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
^ “A Church Near You Resource Hub”. achurchnearyou.com. A Church Near You. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
Further reading[edit]
Buchanan, Colin. Historical Dictionary of Anglicanism (2nd ed. 2015) excerpt
Garbett, Cyril, Abp. The Church of England Today. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1953. 128 p.
Moorman, James. A History of the Church in England. 1 June 1980. Publisher: MOREHOUSE PUBLISHING.
Hardwick, Joseph. An Anglican British world: The Church of England and the expansion of the settler empire, c. 1790–1860 (Manchester UP, 2014).
Hodges, J. P. The Nature of the Lion: Elizabeth I and Our Anglican Heritage. London: Faith Press, 1962. 153 pp.
Kirby, James. Historians and the Church of England: Religion and Historical Scholarship, 1870–1920 (2016) online at doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198768159.001.0001
Lawson, Tom. God and War: The Church of England and Armed Conflict in the Twentieth Century (Routledge, 2016).
Maughan Steven S. Mighty England Do Good: Culture, Faith, Empire, and World in the Foreign Missions of the Church of England, 1850–1915 (2014)
Picton, Hervé. A Short History of the Church of England: From the Reformation to the Present Day. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015. 180 p.
Rowlands, John Henry Lewis. Church, State, and Society, 1827–1845: the Attitudes of John Keble, Richard Hurrell Froude, and John Henry Newman. (1989). xi, 262 p. ISBN 1-85093-132-1
Tapsell, Grant. The later Stuart Church, 1660–1714 (2012).
Milton, Anthony. The Oxford History of Anglicanism, 5 Vols, 2017.
External links[edit]
en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Church_of_England
Church of England
Contributors to Wikimedia projects78-99 minutes 9/1/2001
DOI: 10.1093/ehr/lxxxiii.cccxxviii.523, Show Details
“C of E” redirects here. It is not to be confused with Council of Europe.
Church of England
Logo of the Church of England.svg
Abbreviation C of E
Classification Anglican
Orientation Anglican (with various liturgical preferences, including High Church, Broad Church and Low Church)
Theology Anglican doctrine
Polity Episcopal
Supreme governor Queen Elizabeth II
Primate Justin Welby
Associations Anglican Communion
Porvoo Communion
World Council of Churches[1]
Region England, Wales (cross-border parishes)
Isle of Man
Channel Islands
Continental Europe
Headquarters Church House, Westminster, England, United Kingdom
Founder
Augustine of Canterbury
(Under the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome)
Henry VIII
(Separated from the Papal authority during the English Reformation)
Thomas Cranmer
(Author of the Reformed Doctrinal and Liturgical Statutes of the church)
Separated from Catholic Church
(1534)
Separations English Dissenters
(1534 onwards)
Puritans (17th century)
Methodists (18th century)
Plymouth Brethren (1820s)
Free Church of England (1844)
Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham (2011)
Members 26 million (baptised)
Other name(s) Anglican Church
Official website churchofengland.org
.
.
*👨🔬🕵️♀️🙇♀️*SKETCHES*🙇♂️👩🔬🕵️♂️*
.
.
.
.
.
💕💝💖💓🖤💙🖤💙🖤💙🖤❤️💚💛🧡❣️💞💔💘❣️🧡💛💚❤️🖤💜🖤💙🖤💙🖤💗💖💝💘
.
.
*🌈✨ *TABLE OF CONTENTS* ✨🌷*
.
.
🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥*we won the war* 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥