The terms
Anglo-Catholic and
Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and
practices within
Anglicanism that affirm
the
Catholic, rather than
Protestant, heritage and identity of the
Anglican churches.
Many Anglo-Catholics today, especially in England, prefer the terms
Anglican Catholic or
Catholic
Anglican. The term
High Church is also
often used to refer to Anglo-Catholicism even though its
traditional meaning is not identical.
Churchmanship differences
Within Anglicanism, especially in the
Church of England, various terms are
frequently used - not always entirely correctly - to denote the
three principal forms of Anglican
churchmanship:
High
Church,
Low Church and
Broad Church (or
Latitudinarian).
- High Church is generally used to describe
forms of Anglicanism influenced, to a greater or lesser extent, by
the Catholic tradition. Anglo-Catholicism is often identified with
this variety of churchmanship, although not all "High Church"
Anglicans would endorse some prominent aspects of
Anglo-Catholicism.
- Low Church usually refers to Anglicans of a
more Evangelical tradition who, more
consistent with the Protestant
tradition, emphasise the primacy of scripture and salvation through
faith alone. Low Church Anglicans usually worship according to the
official prayer books, but with much less ceremony.
- Broad Church generally refers to Anglicans
somewhere between the "high" and "low" traditions. The term is
sometimes used to denote Anglicans of a more liberal theological
perspective.
History
Anglo-Catholicism claims the continuity of the Church of England
with the early days of Christianity in Great Britain, even before
Pope Gregory the Great sent
St Augustine of Canterbury
from Rome in the late 6th century to evangelise the Anglo-Saxons, a
process largely completed in the 7th century.
The conversion of the English marked
the beginning of Christianity in most parts of England
, although
many of the Romano-British
inhabitants of the British
islands
practised a non-papal episcopal Christianity long before the
arrival of pagan Germanic tribes from Denmark and northern
Germany.
When the
Protestant
Reformation broke out in Europe, the tide reached England as
well.
King Henry VIII took England
into schism from Rome when the Pope refused to
declare null his marriage to
Catherine of Aragon, but
retained Catholic views in theology and liturgy, while some
reformers (such as Bishop
John Hooper)
wanted to follow the radical reforms of Geneva. All reforms were
reversed, briefly, during the reign of the staunchly Roman Catholic
Mary I who resumed communion with
Rome as part of a general campaign to end the influence of
Reformation ideas in England and Wales. Consequently, when Queen
Elizabeth I took the English throne, she sought to steer a
via media between what her
bishops felt were the excesses of both Rome and Geneva. Thus was
born the
Elizabethan
Settlement and the promulgation of a single
Book of Common Prayer for all
theological persuasions in the Church of England. This marks the
birth of the Anglican ethos which was championed by the
Elizabethan divine
Richard Hooker.
From that time, through
Archbishop Laud
and the
Caroline Divines, up to the
time of the Oxford Movement Tractarians, the Anglo-Catholic
Congresses and the present day, there has always been a theological
party within Anglicanism which has sought to stress apostolic
continuity all the way back to the Twelve Apostles.
In response to
Pope Leo XIII's Apostolicae Curae (1896), which
declared the Anglican apostolic succession invalid from the
Vatican's perspective, the Anglican
Archbishops of Canterbury
and York
have
claimed, starting with their official response Saepius Officio, that
there is an unbroken apostolic succession in the Anglican
priesthood and that the historical
episcopate has been in the British Isles from the earliest days
of the Church. Anglo-Catholicism has been weakened at
regular intervals by secessions by its prominent leaders to the
Roman Catholic Church, or
occasionally to the
Eastern
Orthodox Churches, among whom was
John Henry Newman, who went on to
become a
cardinal. Moments of
crisis provoking such defections include the (narrowly avoided)
condemnation of
Tract 90 in 1841, the
ritualistic controversy and the
Public Worship Regulation Act
of 1874, the Prayer Book controversy of 1927-28 and, more recently,
decisions by many Anglican provinces to ordain women as
priests.
Oxford Movement
The modern Anglo-Catholic movement can be traced to the
Oxford Movement of the
Victorian era, sometimes termed
Tractarianism.
In the early 19th century, various factors caused misgivings among
English churchmen, including the decline of church life and the
spread of unorthodox practices in the Church of England. The
British government's action in 1833 of beginning a reduction in the
number of
Church of Ireland
bishoprics and archbishoprics inspired a sermon from
John Keble in the University Church in Oxford on
the subject of "National Apostasy". This sermon marked the
inception of what became known as the Oxford Movement.
The principal objective of the Oxford Movement was the defence of
the Church of England as a divinely-founded institution, of the
doctrine of the
Apostolic
Succession and of the
Book of
Common Prayer as a "rule of faith". The key idea was that
Anglicanism was not a
Protestant
denomination, but rather a
branch of
the historic Catholic Church, along with the
Roman Catholic Church and the
Eastern Orthodox churches. It was argued
that Anglicanism had preserved the historical apostolic succession
of priests and bishops and thus the Catholic
sacraments. These ideas were promoted in a series
of ninety
Tracts for the
Times.
The principal leaders of the Oxford Movement were
John Keble,
John
Henry Newman and
Edward
Bouverie Pusey.
The movement gained influential support, but
it was also attacked by the latitudinarians within the University of
Oxford
and by bishops of the church. Within the
movement there gradually arose a much smaller group which tended
towards submission to the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church.
In 1845 the university censured the pro-Roman Catholic theologian
W. G. Ward and his
Ideal of a Christian
church. 1850 saw the victory of the Evangelical clergyman
George Cornelius Gorham in a
celebrated legal action against the church authorities. A number of
conversions to the Roman Catholic Church followed. The majority of
adherents of the movement, however, remained in the Church of
England and, despite hostility in the press and in government, the
movement spread. Its liturgical practices were influential, as were
its social achievements (including its slum settlements) and its
revival of male and female monasticism within Anglicanism.
Present
Since at least the 1970s, Anglo-Catholicism has been dividing into
two distinct camps, along a fault-line which can perhaps be traced
back to Bishop
Charles Gore's work in
the 19th century.
The Oxford Movement had been inspired in the first place by a
rejection of
liberalism and
latitudinarianism in favour of the
traditional faith of the "Church Catholic", defined by the
teachings of the
Church Fathers and
the common doctrines of the historical eastern and western
Christian churches. Until the 1970s, therefore, most
Anglo-Catholics rejected liberalising development such as the
conferral of
holy orders on women.
Present-day "traditionalist" Anglo-Catholics seek to maintain
tradition and to keep Anglican doctrine in line with that of the
Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. They often ally
themselves with Evangelicals to defend traditional teachings on
sexual morality. The main organisation in the Church of England
that opposes the ordination of women,
Forward in Faith, is largely composed of
Anglo-Catholics.
Gore's work, however, bearing the mark of liberal Protestant
higher criticism, paved the way for
an alternative form of Anglo-Catholicism influenced by
liberal theology. Thus in recent years many
Anglo-Catholics have accepted the
ordination of women, the use of
inclusive language in Bible translations
and the liturgy and progressive attitudes towards homosexuality.
Such Anglicans often refer to themselves as "Liberal Catholics".
The more "progressive" or "liberal" style of Anglo-Catholicism is
represented by
Affirming
Catholicism.
A third strand of Anglican Catholicism criticizes elements of both
liberalism and conservatism, drawing instead on the twentieth
century Roman Catholic
Nouvelle
Théologie, especially
Henri de
Lubac.
John Milbank and others
within this strand have been instrumental in the creation of the
ecumenical (though predominantly Anglican and Roman Catholic)
movement known as
Radical
Orthodoxy.
Some traditionalist Anglo-Catholics have left official Anglicanism
to form "
continuing
Anglican churches" such as the
Traditional Anglican
Communion. Others have left Anglicanism altogether for the
Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox churches, in the belief that
liberal doctrinal innovations in the Anglican churches has resulted
in Anglicanism no longer being a true branch of the "Church
Catholic".
Practices and beliefs
Theology
What Anglo-Catholics believe is fiercely debated, sometimes even
among Anglo-Catholics themselves.
In agreement with the
Oriental
Orthodox Churches and
Eastern Orthodox Churches,
Anglo-Catholics — along with
Old-Catholics and
Lutherans — generally appeal to the "canon" (or
rule) of
St Vincent of Lerins:
"What everywhere, what always, and what by all has been believed,
that is truly and properly Catholic."
The Anglican
Thirty-Nine
Articles make distinctions between Anglican and
Roman Catholic understandings of doctrine. As
the Articles were intentionally written in such a way as to be open
to a range of interpretations, Anglo-Catholics have defended
Catholic practices and beliefs as being consistent with them. Due
to the Articles' harsh tone, however, they have generally not been
held in high regard by most Anglo-Catholics.
Anglo-Catholic
priests often hear private
confessions and
anoint the sick, regarding these
practices, as do Roman Catholics, as sacraments. The majority of
Anglicans generally think of them merely as optional sacramental
rites. The classic Anglican aphorism regarding private confession
is: "All may, some should, none must."
Anglo-Catholics share with Roman Catholics a belief in the
sacramental nature of the priesthood, the sacrificial character of
the
Mass and the
Real Presence of Christ in the consecrated
bread and wine of the
Eucharist. A
minority of Anglo-Catholics also encourage priestly
celibacy. Some Anglo-Catholics encourage
devotion to the
Blessed Virgin
Mary, particularly under her title of
Our Lady of Walsingham, but not all
Anglo-Catholics adhere to a high doctrine of
Mariology.
A minority of Anglo-Catholics, sometimes called
Anglo-Papalists, consider themselves under
papal supremacy even though they are not in communion with the
Roman Catholic Church. Such Anglo-Catholics, especially in England,
often celebrate Mass according to the
contemporary Roman Catholic rite and are
concerned with seeking reunion with the Roman Catholic and Eastern
Orthodox churches.
Liturgical practices
Anglo-Catholics are usually identified by their liturgical
practices and ornaments. These may be characterised by the "six
points" of the Oxford Movement's eucharistic practice:
- eucharistic vestments
- eastward-facing orientation of the priest at the altar (not
facing the congregation)
- unleavened bread for the eucharist
- mixing of water with the eucharistic wine
- incense and candles.
Many other traditional Catholic practices are observed within
Anglo-Catholicism, including
eucharistic adoration. Many
Anglo-Catholic "innovations" (or, rather, revivals of dormant
practices) have since become accepted by mainstream
Anglicans.
Various liturgical strands exist within Anglo-Catholicism:
Preferences for Elizabethan English and modern English texts vary
within the movement.
In the United States a group of Anglo-Catholics in the
Episcopal Church published, under the
rubrics of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, an
Anglican Service Book which is "a
traditional language adaptation of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer
together with the Psalter or Psalms of David and additional
devotions." This book is based on the 1979 Book of Common Prayer
but includes offices and devotions in the traditional language of
the 1928 Prayer Book that are not in the 1979 edition. The book
also draws from sources such as the
Anglican Missal.
Criticism
Opposition to Anglo-Catholicism has existed within Anglicanism
since the movement's inception. The more
Evangelical or
Low
Church traditions emphasise a more Reformed understanding of
the nature of Anglicanism and has been suspicious of, or even
openly hostile to, the Catholic ethos that informs
Anglo-Catholicism.
The theological basis of Anglo-Catholicism - that Anglicanism is a
branch of the historic Catholic Church, with valid bishops, priests
and
sacraments - has never fully been
accepted by the two largest church traditions, the Roman Catholic
and the Eastern Orthodox churches (the exception being some schools
of thought within the Orthodox communion), since each of those
bodies claims to be in itself the
One, Holy, Catholic,
and Apostolic Church. In 1896,
Pope
Leo XIII declared in the
papal bull
Apostolicae Curae that
the orders of Anglican clergy were "absolutely null and utterly
void" and that Anglican priests and bishops were therefore laymen.
Apostolicae Curae continues to be a source of some
controversy: for one, its criterion for establishing the validity
of holy orders allegedly disqualifies several ancient forms of
Catholicism, according to the Church of England's official response
[[Saepius Officio]].
That response is regarded by
Anglicans as a refutation of Rome's claims.
Anglo-Catholic liturgical practices (sometimes called '
Ritualism', though many Anglo-Catholics dislike
the term) were a particular source of controversy in the 19th
century and led to the passage of the
Public Worship Regulation Act
1874.
Examples
See also
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