There are right-wing and left-wing Anglo-Catholics, traditionalists and progressives, and even some who like contemporary praise music most of us, though, prefer Gregorian chant in Latin while wearing a biretta. But even still, there are characteristics that unite and identify most Anglo-Catholics across the globe today.
These revolve around the way Anglo-Catholics approach theological identity , liturgy , and devotion. If you are interested in that discussion, then I would recommend these two articles on Mere Orthodoxy.
One is by M. Turner , who argues against the movement; and the other is by Paul Owen , who argues for it. You can also check out this episode of The Sacramentalists that engages both articles and offers further reflections.
My purpose here is simply to introduce Anglo-Catholicism and some of its distinctives. Anglo-Catholicism traces its immediate roots to a time when the Church of England was in crisis during the mids. For decades modernity had been slowly infiltrating the ecclesiastical hierarchy of the Church of England and producing an anemic church that lacked much of a soul. Revival was desperately needed. The first is the Evangelical movement. It had already been in place for years thanks to the Wesley brothers and others who prompted the Methodist movement.
Its answer to the crisis of modernity was to diminish the importance of an established church by focusing on the lives of individual believers. The second response is known as the Oxford Movement. Because of this tactile connection of authority to the patristic Church and her Holy Apostles, Anglicans could, if they so desired, reform themselves to be more in sync with the universal Church.
As a distinctly Western branch of the Church i. That is, the theology, devotion, and liturgy common in the Latin West from the time of the Church Fathers to the Middle Ages and beyond.
This in turn would loosen the grip of modernity on the Church and empower her instead to fulfill her rightful call to preach the gospel and celebrate the sacraments. This means she can and should strive to maintain the theology, practice, and devotion of the ancient and undivided Church pre-AD while giving preference to the West when there is significant disagreement between it and the East. Anglo-Catholicism goes even further, though, to claim that what her movement embodies is Anglicanism in its fullest expression.
It is not one option or party equally set alongside others because all the others fall short in one way or another, according to Anglo-Catholicism, to live out the biblical catholicity of Anglicanism completely. In practice, this means we adhere to the theology of the Seven Ecumenical Councils. Those coming from a more Protestant background will notice that we also take a more nuanced approach to Justification, emphasizing incorporation into Christ over imputation of righteousness.
The Anglican Church does not have a central hierarchy which means it does consider any priest or church above all the other. This gives all the other churches and regions a lot of freedom to decide on any specific policy. Also, the priests of the Anglican Church can marry. Communion is only believed as a symbolic act by the parishioners that take it.
In the words of one parishioner, the mass entails a lot of smells and bells. In the recent years, there has been conflict between more liberal branches of the Anglican Church on the topic of wanting to include gays and lesbians as members of the clergy and conservation branches.
This has led the Anglican Church in danger of an irrevocable spilt. It is the first form of Christianity and also claims to have kept an unbroken apostolic leadership since St.
Catholism was made the official religion of the Empire of Rome in the 4th century AD. The Catholic Church has a firmly established centralised hierarchy. Its top is taken by the Pope himself and then the Cardinals, arch-bishops, bishops and lastly at the lowest the parish priests. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
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Email required Address never made public. Name required. Follow Following. Francis Young Join other followers. Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. It is not necessary for all men to be ordained or married or receive Holy Unction, however salutary those Sacraments are for many men.
The Sacraments are moral instruments and not magical. Their beneficial effects depend upon moral conditions of faith and repentance in those who receive them, whereas the distinctive mark of magic is that it works automatically and independently of moral conditions. At the same time, the grace of the Sacraments is present independent of the moral condition of the recipient; it is only their beneficial effect which depends upon the worthy reception, use and co-operation of the recipient.
Moreover, the grace of the Sacrament is not nullified by the unworthiness of the minister, for Jesus Christ is himself the Minister and the Church's earthly ministers are but his agents. Baptism is the Sacrament of initiation and incorporation into the Body of Christ—the Church. Through Baptism we become members of the Holy Catholic Church, just as through birth of American parents or through naturalization men become citizens of the United States of America. Baptism is administered with water—either immersion or pouring—in the Name of the Blessed Trinity.
The minister may be anyone and the Sacrament cannot be repeated. In case of doubt, hypothetical Baptism should be administered. Secondly, the Holy Spirit is given in Baptism for remission of sin if we fulfil the conditions of faith and repentance. This applies particularly to adults, for infants have no actual or personal sin. For both infants and adults it is remission of the guilt, so called, of original sin.
It places the penitent or infant on a new footing, makes him partaker of the grace of righteousness, and thus becomes the instrumental cause of his justification.
Thirdly, in Baptism the Holy Spirit is given for regeneration, which is not to be confused with conversion of heart. It is a biological change rather than a moral change, the gift of a new germ or seed which is destined to bear fruit depending upon the co-operation and moral response of the baptized.
Fourthly, Baptism initiates the sanctifying grace of the whole sacramental system and must precede all the other Sacraments. It confers an indelible "character" or status, as do Confirmation, Holy Order and Holy Matrimony, and should not be repeated.
In case of a fall from grace, restoration is to be effected without re-baptism. Confirmation is the Sacrament of strengthening complementary to Baptism. But it is in Confirmation that the Holy Spirit becomes a formal gift to the soul. The sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit received in Confirmation are: wisdom and understanding, counsel and ghostly strength, knowledge and true godliness, and holy fear. Wisdom, understanding, knowledge and counsel apply to the intellect; ghostly strength or spiritual fortitude to the will; true godliness or piety and holy fear or anxiety to please God to the affections.
Confirmation is effected by the laying-on of hands by a bishop, or in the East by presbyters with oil blessed by a bishop. In Apostolic times, and to-day in the East, it was administered immediately after Baptism. In the West it was deferred for practical reasons, and is normally administered when the child has reached the age of discretion.
Hall, the foremost Anglo-Catholic theologian in the American Church and recognized as such throughout the Anglican world, states in his book "The Sacraments":.
Confirmation should therefore be administered before the age of puberty arrives. It is true that not all have the same office in priesthood, and further ordination is required before the ministerial and representative functions in priesthood can be performed.
But the layman's part is not less real than that of the ministerial priest, although confined to unofficial participation; and Confirmation is his ordination and the means of his equipment for priestly action. This explains the Catholic principle that Confirmation should ordinarily be received before admission to Holy Communion.
You have doubtless heard it stated that with Anglo-Catholics " it is the Mass that matters. The Eucharist is unquestionably the highest act of worship, the perfect prayer because it contains all the elements of prayer, such as praise and adoration, thanksgiving, confession, intercession, and prayer for self.
The Eucharist is a memorial of the past, a reality of the present, and a pledge of the future. It is a memorial in that it poignantly recalls the incarnation and perfect life, the atoning death, the glorious resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ our Lord, and all that he has done for us and all men.
It is a present reality in that by means of it we have certain contact and fellowship with our ever-living Lord and Saviour. It is a pledge of the future in that it assures us of the life beyond the veil with the Risen and Ascended Christ in life eternal.
The various names applied to this great Sacrament emphasize some particular aspect of its many-sided character. The "Lord's Supper" suggests that it is our spiritual food for this life and the life to come. The "Holy Communion" suggests that it is our covenanted means of fellowship and communion with our living Lord and Master, and through him with all men.
The term "Holy Eucharist" is taken over from the New Testament word "eucharistia"—a giving of thanks: or "eucharisteo"—I give thanks. In the darkest days of the Church Christians have ever been able to give thanks in this Sacrament and to sing the Sursum Corda —"Lift up your hearts"—for their blessings in the midst of affliction. Thanksgiving is the dominant note of this Sacrament, and a note which most needs emphasis in the lives of the vast majority of Christians.
The "Blessed Sacrament" is another name much used, and in the Eastern Church the "Holy Mysteries" is the usual term applied. The word "Mass" is more or less a pet name, late in origin, in derivation obscure, conveying no particular emphasis, but including any or all. Perhaps in the popular mind the word or emphasis most closely associated with it is the "Sacrifice of the Mass.
Concerning the Eucharistic gift, the theological position of Anglo-Catholics needs explanation. Many critics seem to assume Stewart appears to be one of them that the doctrine of the Real Presence and the doctrine of Transubstantiation are one and the same thing, and that if one believes in the former he must also believe in the latter.
This is an error. One may believe in the reality of the Atonement without being committed to any particular theory of the Atonement, and the Church has, as a matter of fact, never put forth an official theory of the Atonement.
Now, Transubstantiation is an attempted explanation of how Christ's Body and Blood are present in the Sacrament, or how the bread and wine become the sacramental Body and Blood. It is based on medieval philosophy which is not acceptable to most moderns. It is the official teaching of the Roman Church, and was set forth by the Council of Trent. Consubstantiation is another theory of Christ's presence in the Sacrament, and Luther's theory is generally classed as such.
While individual Anglo-Catholics may believe in Transubstantiation, it is not accepted by the majority, and Anglo-Catholic theologians warn us against it and its unfortunate terminology unless it is interpreted in quite a different way from the medieval manner. How the bread and wine of the Eucharist become the Body and Blood of Christ after a special, sacramental and heavenly manner and still remain bread and wine, and how our Lord is really present real as being the presence of a reality , is a mystery which no human mind can satisfactorily explain.
It is a mystery of the same order as how the divine Logos could take upon himself human nature and become man without ceasing to be divine. It is a mystery of the Faith, and we were never promised that all the mysteries would be solved in this life. The plain man and some not so plain is wisest in sticking to the oft-quoted lines ascribed to Queen Elizabeth, but probably written by John Donne:. The mysteries of the Eucharist are three: The mystery of identification, the mystery of conversion, the mystery of presence.
The first and primary mystery is that of identification; the other two are inferences from it. The ancient Fathers were free from Eucharistic controversy because they took their stand on the first and primary mystery—that of identification—and accepted our Lord's words, " This is my Body," " This is my Blood," as the pledge of the blessings which this Sacrament conveys.
We have since the early Middle Ages lost their peace because we have insisted on trying to explain unexplainable mysteries. But let it be repeated, Anglo-Catholics are not committed to the doctrine of Transubstantiation; they are committed to the doctrine of the Real Presence.
In what sense is the Eucharist a sacrifice? Many suppose that Anglo-Catholics in emphasizing this aspect believe that in the Eucharist the death of Christ is somehow repeated. Such is a perversion of Catholic doctrine.
The Eucharistic office reads: "All glory be to thee, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, for that thou of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption; who made there by his one oblation of himself once offered a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world.
The Eucharist is a sacrifice in the following ways: First, there is an element of sacrifice in the offering of our alms and oblations of bread and wine. Second, there is the offering of our prayers and thanksgiving.
Third, there is an offering of ourselves, our souls and bodies. Fourth, the offering of the consecrated elements of bread and wine—the sacramental Body and Blood of Christ. All of these offerings except the last are imperfect. The last is perfect because it is identified with the glorified heavenly Body and Manhood of Christ.
By uniting all our offerings with him who was offered once for all on Calvary, and presenting them in and through him to the Heavenly Father, they are accepted as though perfect. It is thus because they are joined with the one perfect Sacrifice on Calvary that they are acceptable. It is because we represent and plead that one perfect Sacrifice and are united with him that we have assurance of our acceptance with God. The atoning death of Christ, together with his resurrection and ascension, accomplished the potential salvation of all men.
But the actual salvation of men depends upon man's appropriation of the benefits of that Sacrifice. Otherwise Church and Creed and Bible and Sacraments are all unnecessary and superfluous. To keep ever fresh in men's minds man's need of identifying himself with the one perfect Sacrifice on Calvary, and his need of appropriating to himself the benefits of it, is one of the great functions of the Eucharist.
It is a sacrifice in that sense. It is impossible in the space at our disposal to discuss all phases of this great act of worship, this powerful instrument of grace. I shall merely point out a few other points of emphasis by Anglo-Catholics.
It is a matter of discipline and not of doctrine. Modern conditions are hastening its spread, if those unable to come to church are to be communicated with the Blessed Sacrament as they have a right to be. It does not mean adoration of the elements, but of Christ present in the Sacrament. It is justified if it can be shown that it involves no new doctrinal implications, but its practice should be conditioned by sacramental appreciation, training and understanding of any particular congregation where it is to be used.
Our Roman Catholic brethren in keeping the confessional have pretty nearly wiped us off the stage in one feature of human service. Through the confessional they have built up an amazing service for the treatment of sick souls. A good priest, through the confessional, can develop a treatment for the individual, and we have nothing to compare with it. For six years I have conducted—Baptist though I am—what I call a confessional.
I am not afraid to recover things the Protestants threw away—beauty of service and the confessional. I have an office where people who know they are spiritually sick and mentally disturbed can come with their problems. Why shouldn't I minister to them? Never again will I be without such a place where people can meet me alone. Week after week I meet pretty nearly as many people as a priest. They are mentally unbalanced— sick souls who need ministration. We need a renaissance of what our fathers used to know as evangelical preaching.
We Protestants have thrown out beauty of service, the confessional and the old-style evangelical preaching. We retreat to discussing themes instead of wrestling with human souls for life or death. Do we really care about the individual? Our business is not with vastness or immensity, but with the individual.
There is the crisis of the world's destiny. Anglo-Catholics agree with all this, but they go much farther than Dr. Fosdick believes in going. They claim to be able to do for a penitent all that any Roman Catholic priest is able to do in administering what is known in Catholic theology as the Sacrament of Penance. In the English Order for the Visitation of the Sick the direction occurs: "Here shall the sick person be moved to make a special confession of sins, if he feel his conscience troubled with any weighty matter.
After which confession, the priest shall absolve him if he humbly and heartily desire it after this sort:. The Office of Institution of Ministers in the American Prayer Book reads the bishop speaking : "And also hereby do institute you to said parish possessed of full power to perform every Act of Sacerdotal Function among the people of the same.
Whose sins thou dost forgive, they are forgiven; and whose sins thou dost retain, they are retained. Genuine repentance will always secure Divine pardon for Christians independently of the Sacrament of Penance. But we know from experience that many souls need formal assurance of this, and that sin hardens men's hearts, making repentance difficult without the grace this Sacrament affords.
Penance involves contrition or sorrow for sin, confession with sincere purpose of amendment, absolution by a priest and satisfaction. The benefits of Penance are these: a Full pardon for sins, b It is curative in that it deepens contrition, the necessary condition of forgiveness, and fortifies the soul with special grace, c It brings full reconciliation to the Church, d It is an effective means of progress towards perfection.
A popular idea is that you have only to confess, get absolution, and then you can do what you please. This is a parody of the Church's teaching. As in other Sacraments, the benefits are conditioned by the penitent's sincerity of purpose. If one is not sorry, if one does not confess truly, if one does not purpose amendment—in short, if one obtains a priest's absolution by fraud, such absolution is null and void.
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