Church of England

The episcopal and liturgical national church of England, which has its see in Canterbury.

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Though, as an Erastian institution, the Church of England dates only from the 16th cent., Christianity in these islands originated with merchants, administrators, and soldiers in 2nd- and 3rd-cent. Roman Britain. The present English church dates from the reintroduction of Celtic Christianity into Northumbria by Aidan (635) and Roman Christianity into Kent by Augustine (597). Though medieval kings exercised considerable authority over the church, it was the break with Rome (1534) which fully established royal supremacy, from which date the established Church of England (Ecclesia Anglicana) can be said to exist. The Act of Supremacy (1534) declared Henry VIII to be ‘the only supreme head of the Church’ in place of the pope, which Elizabeth's Act (1559) moderated to the less offensive ‘Supreme Governor’.

Apart from this the church remained legally and administratively much the same. The church courts and their penalties, diocesan administrative systems, the authority of bishops and archdeacons all continued. The non-monastic cathedrals survived as before. Ecclesiastical law remained unchanged. Though now under royal control the convocations of Canterbury and York survived. The church after Henry VIII was thoroughly Erastian, its officials little more than agents of the crown. Indeed post-Restoration clergy were also agents of royalist propaganda, parsons thundering from their pulpits the doctrines of divine right, non-resistance, and passive obedience.

Though Henry VIII made virtually no theological or liturgical break with the past, there was under Edward VI a considerable influx of continental reform and innovation from Bucer, Zwingli, and Calvin. After a brief reversion to catholicism under Mary, the church moved towards a comprehensive settlement under Elizabeth. Enshrined in the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity, the Book of Common Prayer, and the Thirty-Nine Articles, this attempted to reconcile the diverse shades of English opinion. Provided citizens fulfilled the royal injunction to weekly church attendance, there was to be no test as to conscience, ‘no windows into men's souls’. Presbyterianism and adherence to Rome were unacceptable. Most accepted, but minorities existed, some still adhering to Rome, others to presbyterianism or more extreme protestant views. After the heyday of the sects in the Interregnum (1649-60), compromise became impossible. The Restoration settlement refused to recognize those already ordained non-episcopally, and demanded tests. A thousand incumbents were ejected—and thus became nonconformists. From that time the church ceased to be the church of the whole nation.

After 1689 church life remained turbulent but settled down from 1714. Eighteenth-cent. ecclesiastics' reputation for idleness and rationalist indifference is undeserved. Nevertheless liturgically the church was deadening. Eighteenth-cent. Prayer Book liturgy and weighty preaching was unsuited to a mainly illiterate, uneducated people. The preaching of the Wesley brothers thus fell on ready ears, but it was to the church's shame that these two devoted Anglican priests, both high churchmen, were rejected.

Though there is evidence of both evangelical and Caroline high-church strands in the 18th cent., the full evangelical revival spilled over into the 19th cent. and, with the tractarian movement, invigorated church life. Evangelicalism produced many of note, clergy like Simeon and laymen such as Wilberforce and Shaftesbury. Tractarianism, led by Keble, Newman, and Pusey, initially traced Anglicanism's traditions back to Augustine, but developed later into a powerful movement to restore fully the church's catholic wing.

As the British empire spread throughout the world in the 18th and 19th cents., the church followed—or in some cases led the way. Two overseas dioceses in 1800 increased to 72 in 1882, and to 450 dioceses (in 28 provinces) in the 1990s. The Ecclesia Anglicana from having been merely the church of the English people became a world-wide communion of many nations. To provide cohesion and consensus, the first Lambeth conference with 67 bishops met in 1867, to be followed at Archbishop Tait's inspiration by the second in 1878. The archbishop still presides at the Lambeth conference each decade.

Twentieth-cent. developments include women's ordination to the diaconate and the priesthood (in England 1987 and 1994), making the Anglican church the first episcopal church to take this step. Ecumenism, so much a part of 20th-cent. church life, has extended to dialogue with non-Christian faiths, which are now prominent in the English scene.

During the early modern period, the English church experienced major disruption and change. After long debates and a series of reformations, it emerged at the end of the sixteenth century as a national Protestant church with its own distinctive theology and liturgy. During the seventeenth century, differences of view about the nature of the church were a cause of the English Civil War (1642–1649) that resulted in the unpopular Puritan revolution of the 1640s and 1650s. Although a monopolistic church was reintroduced soon after the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, it could not command the loyalty and obedience of all Protestants. Following the 1688 "Glorious Revolution" a Toleration Act was passed that granted freedom of worship to those Protestants whose consciences prevented them from attending Anglican services in parish churches.

The Late Medieval Church: 1450–1530

The central theological beliefs of the late medieval Church were salvation through faith and works, the efficacy of grace transmitted through the sacraments, and transubstantiation.

The Catholic Church taught that while faith in Christ was essential for eternal life, individuals also had to do good works and regularly receive the sacrament of penance. Even then their souls did not usually go directly to heaven, but had to spend time in purgatory, where they would suffer punishment for sins committed on earth that had not been fully expiated through contrition and by penance. People who died without having done penance for mortal sin were damned to hell.

Besides penance there were six other Catholic sacraments: baptism, confirmation, ordination, marriage, extreme unction (the last rites), and the Eucharist, or Lord's Supper. The church taught that, at the celebration of the Eucharist in the Mass, the "substance" of the unleavened bread and wine was transformed into the body and blood of Christ at the moment of consecration by the priest. This miracle—the literal reenactment of Christ's sacrifice—was called transubstantiation and came about through the sacerdotal power of the priest. The ceremony was the most powerful form of intercession that could be offered to God as well as a channel of grace necessary for individual salvation. Lay people usually received the Eucharist annually, when they were offered "Communion in one kind" (the wafer but not the wine). Priests, however, regularly celebrated the Mass and consumed both the consecrated wafer and wine. The ceremony took place behind a rood screen in the chancel, while most of the congregation remained in the nave of the church. Nonetheless, the laity was expected to attend carefully and participate in the service.

The late medieval English Church was part of an international body with its center at Rome and the pope at its head. During the fifteenth century, papal power in England was eroded as the monarch gained greater control over taxation and nominations to benefices. Nonetheless, the pope still taxed the English Church, heard judicial appeals, and retained his spiritual authority over the clergy and laity. The archbishoprics of Canterbury and York were separate provinces of the Roman Catholic Church, each with its own administrative structure and jurisdictions. Since the middle of the fourteenth century, Canterbury had taken precedence over York, and even today its archbishop is the primate of England. The archbishoprics were divided into the twenty-three dioceses of England and Wales, and each diocese was divided into archdeaconries, which were in turn divided into roughly nine thousand parishes. Bishops were responsible for conducting visitations throughout their diocese and supervising the church courts, which administered canon law and dealt with cases concerning moral and church discipline. The consistory courts of the diocese heard appeals from archdiaconal courts, which handled the bulk of cases and were administered by archdeacons.

The priest who served the parish was sometimes the rector, who was entitled to receive the tithe (a tenth of income or produce) from parishioners. But the rectors of over one-third of English parishes in 1500 were the heads of monastic houses and thus absentee. In these cases a vicar was appointed to perform the liturgy and fulfill pastoral obligations. Other parishes too had nonresident rectors, since about one-quarter of English livings were pluralist, meaning that one priest held two or more offices at the same time; here a curate received a small salary to do the work. The appointment of all these clerics rested primarily with the patron—lay or clerical—who had the right to appoint his candidate to the living (a right that was known as an advowson). Lay churchwardens, whose duties were to care for the building and ornaments of the church and to report deficiencies or clerical negligence to the ecclesiastical authorities, also served the parish community.

Historians now tend to agree that the late medieval church in England generally functioned well, and that the accusations of corruption made by later Protestant critics were greatly exaggerated. There is also a scholarly consensus that the number of heretics in England was small and that the vast majority of laypeople were deeply attached to the teachings and liturgy of the Catholic Church. Historians, however, are less united in their views about the subject of "anticlericalism" on the eve of the Reformation. Some deny its existence while others maintain that a significant number of individuals, as well as interest groups (such as the common lawyers), were critical of clerical privileges and hostile to clerical immunities and jurisdiction.

The English Reformation

During the period known as the Reformation, the English Church broke with Rome and underwent major changes in doctrine and liturgy. This began as a top-down process that divided the country and created political instability.

Henry VIII's (ruled 1509–1547) attack on the papacy began when Pope Clement VII (reigned 1523–1534) refused to grant an annulment of the king's first marriage to Catherine of Aragon. Henry had always claimed rights of supremacy over the English church, but not at the expense of Rome. In the 1530s, however, Henry asserted that English kings were answerable to no earthly superior. In 1532, he forced his senior clergy to concede that convocation (the provincial assembly) could not make ecclesiastical law without royal assent. Over the next two years, a succession of parliamentary statutes whittled away papal power in England while recognizing the king's right to reform the church, supervise canon law, and correct errors in doctrine. In 1534 the Act of Supremacy pronounced Henry's status as the supreme head of the Church of England. The English church remained Catholic, but the pope was no longer its head—he was now simply the bishop of Rome.

As supreme head of the church, Henry introduced some notable changes. In 1536 and 1539 the English monasteries were dissolved by acts of Parliament, and a small portion of their revenues was diverted toward educational endowments and the creation of six new dioceses. With their demise, monastic advowsons and appropriation of tithes fell into lay hands. Henry also began an assault on the cult of saints and "superstitious" images, which led to the destruction of shrines and resulted in damage to some cathedrals. He commissioned a new English Bible that was supposed to be placed in each parish church. In 1544 an Exhortation and Litany to be said during processions was published in English; the following year, Henry authorized an English primer (a late medieval devotional book containing various prayers and psalms) that reduced the number of saints' and holy days in the calendar and omitted many traditional prayers.

Despite these innovations, Henry's "reformation" did not seriously challenge Catholic doctrine. With the exception of the denial of papal supremacy and expressions of skepticism about the existence of purgatory, Henry upheld all the central pillars of the Roman Catholic faith. In 1521 he had written an attack on Martin Luther; twenty years later he still considered Lutheran teachings on justification by faith alone, the sacraments, the priesthood, and the Mass to be dangerous and erroneous. For this reason Henry was able to carry with him the majority of his bishops, who continued to see the king as a bulwark against heresy. Others of his Catholic subjects, however, were less compliant. In late 1536 and early 1537, revolts, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace, erupted in Lincolnshire and northern England to demonstrate hostility to governmental policies such as the royal supremacy, the dissolutions of the monasteries, and the royal injunctions of 1536.

During the minority of Edward VI (ruled 1547–1553), England officially became Protestant. In 1547 the lord protector, Edward Seymour, duke of Somerset, prohibited processions and launched a nationwide campaign to destroy all religious images. The Parliament of 1547, meanwhile, repealed the heresy laws, permitted Communion in both kinds, and dissolved the chantries (chapels endowed for saying masses). In 1548 the government banned many traditional religious ceremonies, and the 1549 Parliament permitted clerics to marry. The same Parliament endorsed an English Book of Common Prayer, the work of Thomas Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury (1489–1556). Its liturgy simplified the traditional Sarum rite dating from thirteenth-century Salisbury and rejected many Catholic doctrines, although some ambiguity did remain.

A second revised prayer book was authorized by the Parliament of 1552. In producing it Archbishop Cranmer took advice from prominent Continental Protestant theologians, all of whom were influenced by the Zwinglian and Calvinist churches of southern Germany and Switzerland. The 1552 Book of Common Prayer was consequently far more radical than its predecessor in its liturgy and underlying theology. The word "mass" disappeared entirely from the Communion service, clerical vestments were simplified, and ordinary bread replaced the wafer at the Eucharist. The wording of the administration of Communion no longer referred to the body and blood of Christ but emphasized instead the commemorative significance of the sacrament. The new prayer book also included a Communion instruction, later known as the "black rubric," which said that kneeling to receive Communion did not imply Christ's physical presence. In 1553 Cranmer presented the Edwardian church with a statement of faith, the Forty-Two Articles. These articles were uncompromisingly Protestant in their theology and condemned the Roman Catholic doctrines of transubstantiation, purgatory, intercession, and good works. On the main issues in dispute between the Lutheran and Swiss Reformed Churches, namely predestination and the Eucharist, they were closer to Calvinism than to anything else. During the last years of Edward's reign, parish churches and cathedrals were denuded of their altars, plate, bells, vestments, and stained glass.

Under Mary I (ruled 1553–1558), virtually all the changes introduced after 1529 were reversed. Although few monasteries and chantries were endowed and the worship of saints failed to regain popularity, Mary's reign did witness a spontaneous revival of many of the Catholic seasonal ceremonies banned under Edward VI as well as a restoration of altars and images to parish churches. Soon after Elizabeth I's accession in November 1558, all changed again. Despite strong opposition from bishops appointed by Mary, the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity passed through Parliament in April 1559. The former act gave Elizabeth a new title, "Supreme Governor" of the Church of England; the latter authorized the use of a Book of Common Prayer that was largely modeled on that of 1552. The main change came in the Communion service, which incorporated some of the wording from Edward VI's 1549 Book of Common Prayer and omitted the 1552 black rubric (although it was replaced—with some alterations—in 1662). The royal injunctions of 1559, moreover, enjoined that undecorated wafers should be used at communion rather than bread. The effect was a theological ambiguity about the presence of Christ: was he present physically, spiritually, or not at all? The Thirty-Nine Articles of Faith of 1563 and 1571 attempted to clarify the theology when they asserted that Christ's body was taken in the Lord's Supper "after an heavenly and spiritual manner."

The Thirty-Nine Articles were less clear on predestination. Although they incorporated the Calvinist doctrine of election, no statement was made on assurance or the fate of the reprobate (a sinner condemned by God to eternal punishment). The 1559 prayer book, meanwhile, described the baptized child as "a member of Christ, the child of God, and an inheritor of the kingdom," a form of words that seemed to discount the possibility that the infant might have been born reprobate. Despite this imprecision, the official doctrines taught by the church after 1570 were predominantly predestinarian. In 1595, moreover, the archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift, endorsed the nine Lambeth Articles, an unequivocal assertion of the Calvinist position on grace and salvation. The evidence suggests, however, that despite access to a Calvinist catechism, many (possibly most) ordinary laypeople failed to absorb the doctrine of predestination and continued to believe that good deeds played some part in salvation.

Although the Elizabethan church was essentially Calvinist in its theology, some of its practices were traditional. Ministers were required to wear the surplice when officiating at morning and evening prayer and the more elaborate vestments of the alb and the cope for Communion. Although roods (the large crucifix dominating the nave), stone altars, and images were removed from churches, royal proclamations were issued to protect fonts and funeral monuments. Members of congregations were told to uncover their heads and bow at the uttering of the name of Jesus in church, and to use the sign of the cross in baptism, the ring in marriage, and other "popish remnants." At the same time, the diocesan and parochial structure of the church remained untouched, and no measures were put in place to reform the church courts, the tithe, advowsons, or canon law.

Puritans and Arminians

Although most committed Protestants were disappointed with the 1559 settlement, they initially accepted it as an interim measure, expecting that further changes would soon be introduced. During the mid-1560s, however, Elizabeth insisted that all clerics conform to the prayer book ceremonies and ornaments (including vestments) and ordered her bishops to suspend Nonconformists from their livings. Furthermore, Elizabeth scotched her bishops' reform initiatives in the 1563 Canterbury Convocation and the 1566 Parliament. For the most zealous Protestants this was a betrayal, and out of their frustration the Elizabethan Puritan movement was born.

Those who were labeled "Puritans" by their enemies preferred to call themselves "the godly." Contemporaries usually identified them by the intensity of their spirituality, for Puritans attended sermons during the week and devoted the Sabbath entirely to God. Puritans were also at the fore of the campaign for reform: they demanded frequent, high-quality preaching, insisted on significant changes in the 1559 Book of Common Prayer, and were critical of the church courts. Nonetheless, Puritans remained part of the Church of England, for they were reasonably satisfied with its Calvinist teachings on predestination and the Eucharist as well as its hostility to images. Largely because of their influence, Elizabeth was unable to eradicate a wide diversity of ceremonial practice in the church. James I (ruled 1603–1625) permitted this diversity to continue provided that Puritans rejected Presbyterianism (church government by presbyters or elders). In practice, therefore, many ministers continued to take Communion standing or sitting, rather than kneeling, and to use bread rather than wafers. Some ministers omitted those parts of the prayer book that they disliked and shortened the liturgy to leave more time for the sermon. While James I's reign brought no major changes in liturgical policy, it did see the publication of a new Authorised ("King James") Version of the Bible in 1611.

A strong defense of the Church of England against its Puritan critics was written in the 1590s by the theologian Richard Hooker (1554–1600), who justified its conservative governmental system and unique ceremonial style as a middle way between Roman Catholicism and Genevan Presbyterianism. Hooker's work, which also modified some contemporary predestinarian assumptions, became a source of inspiration for a number of early-seventeenth-century conservative clerics who were suspicious of preaching and placed great stress on set prayer and the sacraments as sources of grace. These men also rejected the asceticism of Calvinist worship and favored what was called the "beauty of holiness." Another influence on their thinking was the Dutch theologian Jacob Arminius (1560–1609), who argued against the rigidities of predestination. For this reason, these English divines have been misleadingly called "Arminians." Some historians prefer to call them "Anti-Calvinists," others "Laudians" after the Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud (1573–1645).

After Charles I's accession in 1625, Arminians gained dominance in the English Church and implemented important changes. Predestinarian beliefs came under attack, and Laud, who was appointed bishop of London in 1628 and archbishop of Canterbury in 1633, initiated a new "altar policy." Laud and other like-minded bishops pressured their parish clergy to acquire elaborate wooden tables, or preferably stone altars, and to position them permanently at the east end of the chancel, in a north-south, or "altarwise," alignment. The bishops further insisted that chancels should be cordoned off by rails, and that Communion should be received kneeling, though not necessarily at the rails. Other parts of the Elizabethan prayer book that had been allowed to lapse in some communities were now rigorously enforced. Historians disagree about the extent of opposition to this theological and liturgical program. A few scholars claim that only a Puritan minority was outraged by the reforms, but the prevailing view is that the altar policy, at least, was widely resisted. There is also evidence that many mainstream Protestants abhorred the changes as the reintroduction of popery, and feared—albeit mistakenly—that Charles intended to return England to Rome. Few historians would dispute that the religious innovations under Charles I helped bring about the Civil War (1642–1649).

The parliamentary victory in the Civil War resulted in the triumph of Puritanism. In 1645 the prayer book was banned and replaced by a new Directory of Worship that contained instructions for the conduct of services and removed rites that Puritans had so long found offensive. The church courts ceased to function in the early 1640s, and in 1646 episcopacy was abolished. Godly observance of the Sabbath was imposed and all feast days, including Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun (or Pentecost), were banned. The Puritans, however, failed to gain popular support, and throughout the late 1640s and 1650s large numbers of clergymen continued to conduct services according to the old prayer book liturgy. At the same time, freedom of worship was granted to Protestant sects, including Baptists and Congregationalists.

The Anglican Church: 1660–1714

At the restoration of Charles II in 1660, the state church was fully reimposed with the return of episcopacy and the church courts. Its liturgy was based on the Elizabethan Book of Common Prayer of 1559 but included a number of Laudian practices. Altars were returned to many churches voluntarily; after 1680 they began to be imposed and by 1700 they were prevalent. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 demanded that the clergy accept every one of the Thirty-Nine Articles and every aspect of the new prayer book. Everyone was required to attend the Church of England, while the so-called Clarendon Code of the mid-1660s outlawed community worship by Protestant sects in chapels and meeting houses. In 1672 dissenters (Protestant Nonconformists) were also barred from holding civil office. Before the 1688 Revolution, many Dissenters practiced occasional conformity, but thousands of others—especially the Quakers—were subjected to harassment and imprisonment.

Both Charles II (ruled 1660–1685) and James II (ruled 1685–1688) proved unsuccessful in their attempts to broaden the Church of England and allow a measure of toleration for Protestant dissenters and for Roman Catholics. After Mary and William III became joint monarchs in 1689, however, a Toleration Act (1689) was passed that gave all Trinitarian Protestant dissenters the right to worship in their own chapels or meeting houses and permitted nonattendance at church. Thus began the split between church and chapel that marked the eighteenth century. Nonetheless, civil disabilities continued to affect those dissenters who refused to take Communion at least once annually. The Toleration Act, moreover, did not apply to Roman Catholics, who had to wait until the nineteenth century before securing freedom of worship.

Under William III (ruled 1689–1702) and Queen Anne (ruled 1702–1714) a group of churchmen, usually known as Latitudinarians or low churchmen, became prominent in the Church of England. They sought to reduce religious controversy by arguing that the core Christian doctrines were few and that the most contentious issues of the Reformation were "adiaphora" (not essential to salvation) and could be left to the individual conscience. They were therefore willing to embrace all those who conformed to the church no matter how occasionally they attended or took Communion. High churchmen criticized their approach as defeatist and demanded full enforcement of the 1673 Test Act, which required all officeholders to take the oaths of supremacy and allegiance to the king, to receive the sacraments of the Church of England, and to reject the doctrine of transubstantiation; they even tried (unsuccessfully) to extend civil disabilities to occasional conformists who might only take Anglican Communion annually. Despite clashes between low and high churchmen at the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Church of England settled down to operate as a strong, flourishing, and successful institution.

Bibliography

Bernard, George. "The Church of England, c. 1579–c. 1642." History 75 (1990): 183–206.

Collinson, Patrick. The Religion of Protestants: The Church in English Society. Oxford, 1982.

Davies, Julian. The Caroline Captivity of the Church: Charles I and the Remoulding of Anglicanism, 1625–1641. Oxford, 1992.

Doran, Susan, and Christopher Durston. Princes, Pastors and People: The Church and Religion in England, 1500–1700. 2nd ed. London, 2002.

Durston, Christopher, and Jacqueline Eales, eds. The Culture of English Puritanism, 1560–1700. Basingstoke, U.K., 1996.

Fincham, Kenneth. "The Restoration of Altars in the 1630s." Historical Journal 44 (2001): 919–940.

Fincham, Kenneth, ed. The Early Stuart Church. Basingstoke, U.K., 1993.

Green, I. M. The Re-establishment of the Church of England, 1660–1663. Oxford, 1978.

Haigh, Christopher. English Reformations: Religion, Politics and Society under the Tudors. Oxford, 1993.

Heal, Felicity. Reformation in Britain and Ireland. Oxford, 2003.

Mac Culloch, Diarmaid. Thomas Cranmer: A Life. New Haven and London, 1996.

——. Tudor Church Militant: Edward VI and the Protestant Reformation. London, 1999.

Sharpe, Kevin. The Personal Rule of Charles I. London, 1992.

Spurr, John. "'Latitudinarianism' and the Restoration Church." Historical Journal 31 (1988): 61–82.

——. The Restoration Church of England, 1646–1689. London, 1991.

Tyacke, Nicholas. Anti-Calvinists: The Rise of English Arminianism, c. 1590–1640. Oxford 1987.

——. Aspects of English Protestantism, c. 1530–1700. Manchester, U.K., 2001.

White, Peter. Predestination, Policy and Polemic: Conflict and Consensus in the English Church from the Reformation to the Civil War. Cambridge, U.K., 1992.

—SUSAN DORAN

Church of England
The Church of England logo since 1996
Supreme Governor	Queen Elizabeth II
Primate	Rowan Williams
Headquarters	Church House, Great Smith Street, London SW1P 3AZ
Territory	England, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Continental Europe, Gibraltar
Members	13.4 million[1]
Website	http://www.cofe.anglican.org
Anglicanism Portal

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church^[2] in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches. The Church also extends to the Isle of Man via the Diocese of Sodor and Man, while the Channel Islands form part of the Diocese of Winchester, and a number of Anglican communities in continental Europe, the former Soviet Union, Turkey and Morocco are formed into the Diocese of Gibraltar in Europe.

The Church of England understands itself to be both Catholic and Reformed:^[3]

• Catholic in that it views itself as a part of the universal church of Christ in unbroken continuity with the early apostolic and later medieval church. This is expressed in its strong emphasis on the teachings of the early Church Fathers, in particular as formalised in the Apostles', Nicene, and Athanasian creeds.^[4]
• Reformed to the extent that it has been shaped by some of the doctrinal and institutional principles of the 16th century Protestant Reformation. The more Reformed character finds expression in the Thirty-Nine Articles of religion, established as part of the settlement of religion under Queen Elizabeth I. The customs and liturgy of the Church of England, as expressed in the Book of Common Prayer, are based on pre-Reformation traditions but have been influenced by Reformation liturgical and doctrinal principles.^[5]

Contents 1 History 2 Doctrine and practice 2.1 Women's ministry 2.2 Worship and liturgy 3 Membership 4 Structure 4.1 Primates 4.2 Diocesan bishops 4.3 Representative bodies 4.4 House of Lords 5 Financial situation 6 References 7 See also 8 External links

History

Main article: History of the Church of England

According to tradition, Christianity arrived in Britain in the first or second century (probably via the tin trade route through Ireland and Iberia), and existed independently of the Church of Rome, as did many other Christian communities of that era.

The earliest unquestioned historical evidence of an organized Christian church in the area that is now called England is found in the writings of such early Christian Fathers as Tertullian and Origen in the first years of the 3rd century, although the first Christian communities probably were established some decades earlier. Three Romano-British bishops, including Restitutus, are known to have been present at the Council of Arles in 314. Others attended the Council of Sardica 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 nearly defeated Augustine of Hippo's doctrine of original sin.

The Church of England traces its formal corporate history from the 597 Gregorian mission, stresses its continuity and identity with the primitive universal Western church, and notes the consolidation of its particular independent and national character in the post-Reformation events of Tudor England, and confirmed by the restoration of the monarchy in 1660.

Christianity arrived in what is now England in the first centuries AD. Over time the indigenous Britons converted to the new faith. After the Anglo-Saxon invasion, however, Christian Britons made little progress in converting the newcomers from their native paganism. In 597 Pope Gregory I sent Saint Augustine of Canterbury from Rome to evangelise the Angles; this event is known as the Gregorian mission. With the help of Christians already residing in Kent Augustine established his church in 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 English church was under papal authority for nearly a thousand years, before separating from Rome in 1534 during the reign of King Henry VIII. 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. Under pressure from Catherine's nephew, the Emperor Charles V, Pope Clement VII refused the annulment. Eventually, Henry, although theologically a doctrinal Catholic, took the position of Supreme Head of the Church of England to ensure the annulment of his marriage. He was excommunicated by Pope Paul III^[6].

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 the trial for heresy of Protestants as well as Roman Catholics.

Under his son, 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 (1549 and 1552). These were based on the older liturgy but influenced by Protestant principles. The confession of the new reformed church 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, sought to return England again to the authority of the Pope and undo the reforms. Many 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 has led to her nickname of "Bloody Mary".

Mary also died childless and so it was left to the new regime of her half-sister Elizabeth to resolve the direction of the church. The settlement under Elizabeth I (from 1558), known as the Elizabethan settlement, developed the via media (middle way) character of the Church of England, a church moderately Reformed in doctrine, as expressed in the Thirty-nine Articles, but also emphasising continuity with the Catholic and Apostolic traditions of the Church Fathers. It was also an 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.

Stained glass window in Rochester Cathedral, Kent.

For the next century, through the reigns of James I, who ordered the creation of what became known as the King James Bible, and Charles I, and 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 Continental standards, the level of violence over religion was not high, but the casualties included a king, Charles I, and an Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud. Under the Commonwealth and then the Protectorate of England from 1649 to 1660, Anglicanism was disestablished and outlawed, and in its place, Presbyterian ecclesiology was introduced in place of the episcopate. In addition, the 39 Articles were replaced with the Westminster Confession, and the Book of Common Prayer was replaced by the Directory of Public Worship. Despite this, about one quarter of English clergy refused to conform to this form of State Presbyterianism.

With the Restoration of Charles II, Anglicanism too was restored in 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 Roman Catholics and those Puritans and Protestants who dissented from the Anglican establishment, too strong to be suppressed altogether, having to continue their existence outside the National Church rather than controlling it. Continuing official suspicion and legal restrictions continued well into the nineteenth century.

Doctrine and practice

See also: Anglicanism and Anglican doctrine

Canterbury Cathedral from the southwest. It houses the cathedra or throne of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is the mother church of the Diocese of Canterbury (east Kent) and the Church of England and also a focus for the Anglican Communion.

Church of England doctrine can be summarised in its canon law as follows:

Canon A 5 Of the doctrine of the Church of England: "The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures. In particular such doctrine is to be found in the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal." [1]

As the Church of England bases its teachings on the Holy Scriptures, the ancient Catholic teachings of the Church Fathers and some of the doctrinal principles of the Protestant Reformation (as expressed in the 39 Articles, and other documents such as the Book of Homilies), Anglicanism can therefore be described as 'Reformed Catholic' in character rather than Protestant. In practice, however, it is more mixed, with Anglicans who emphasise the Catholic tradition and others the Reformed tradition. There is also a long history of more liberal or latitudinarian views. These three 'parties' in the C of E are sometimes called high church or (Anglo-Catholic), low church (or Evangelical) and broad church (or Liberal). In terms of church government, unlike many of the Protestant denominations it has retained episcopal (bishop) leadership.

Richard Hooker (1554–1600), one of the most influential figures in shaping Anglican theology and self-identity

The teachings of Richard Hooker, the 16th century divine, summarised the Anglican position well, affirming bishops as ancient, allowable and for the wellbeing of the church.^[7]

In many people's eyes today^[whose?] the Church of England has, as one of its distinguishing marks, a breadth and "open-mindedness". This range of belief and practice includes those of the Anglo-Catholics, who emphasise liturgy and sacraments, to the far more preaching-centred and less ritual-based services of Evangelicals and gatherings of the Charismatics. But this "broad church" faces various contentious doctrinal and social questions.

Women's ministry

Women were appointed as deaconesses from 1861 but they could not function fully as deacons and were not considered ordained clergy. Women have been lay readers for a long time. During the First World War some women were appointed as "Bishop's Messengers" who were licensed to teach and preach, essentially as lay readers. The last one was Miss Bessie Bangay who died in 1987 aged 97.

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 passed by the General Synod in 1992 and began in 1994. 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 woman bishop.^[8] On 7 July 2008 the church's governing body voted to approve the ordination of women as bishops and rejected moves for alternative episcopal oversight for those who do not accept women bishops^[9]. Actual ordinations of women to the episcopate will require further legislation which is anticipated to be considered before 2014^[10].

Worship and liturgy

This section requires expansion.

The Church of England's official book of liturgy as established in English Law is the Book of Common Prayer (BCP). The BCP remains the touchstone of all Anglican liturgy.^{[citation needed]} 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.

See also:Anglican liturgy resources and, on the history of Anglo-Catholic liturgy, English or Roman Use.

Membership

As in other Christian churches, membership in the Church of England is via baptism, although due to its status as the established church, in general anyone who lives in a a given parish may request that they are married, baptised (or have their children baptised) or have their funeral in the parish church, regardless of whether they themselves are baptised or regualr church goers or not.^[11]

Churchgoing in the United Kingdom, including the Church of England, has been declining steadily since around 1890.^[12] In the years 1968 to 1999, Anglican church attendances almost halved, from 3.5 per cent of the population to just 1.9 per cent.^[13] One study published in 2008 suggested that if current trends continue, Sunday attendances could fall to 350,000 in 2030 and just 87,800 in 2050.^[14] The Church of England responded by stating that the figures on which this were based overlooked the level of midweek attendance and that 1.7 million people attend Church of England parish and cathedral services each month, and argued that this figure has remained stable since 2000.^[15]

Structure

See also: Anglican ministry

Dioceses of the Church of England, showing the Provinces of Canterbury (yellow) and York (pink). The grey areas are Wales (on the left), and Scotland (top).

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."^[16]

Despite the complexities of the structure, the Church of England at its heart views the local parish church as the basic unit.

The British monarch, at present Queen Elizabeth II, 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." In practice this power is often exercised through Parliament and the Prime Minister.

In addition to England proper, the current jurisdiction of the Church of England extends to the Isle of Man, the Channel Islands and a few parishes in Flintshire, Monmouthshire and Radnorshire in Wales (the present Church in Wales was an integral part of the Church of England until 1920).^[17] 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):

• Parish, this is the most local level, often consisting of one church building and community, although nowadays many parishes are joining forces in a variety of ways for financial reasons. The parish will be looked after by a parish priest who for various historical or legal reasons may also be called by one of the following offices: vicar, rector, priest in charge, team rector, team vicar. The first, second, and fourth 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 also a number of local churches which 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 a variety of locations (such as schools or pubs) in order to spread the Gospel of Christ in fresh and non-traditional ways.

A map showing the diocese of Gibraltar in Europe. The seven archdeaconries are colour-coded.

• Deanery, e.g., Lewisham, or Runnymede. This is the area for which a rural dean is responsible. It will consist of a number of parishes in a particular district. The rural dean will usually be the incumbent of one of the constituent parishes. The parishes each elect lay (that is 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 will consist 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 also be one or more assisting bishops, usually called 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", in which case the diocesan bishop will run one such area himself and will appoint an "area bishop" to run each of the other areas as mini-dioceses; in such cases, the diocesan bishop legally delegates many of his powers to the area bishops. Dioceses with episcopal areas include London, Southwark, Chichester and Lichfield. The bishops will 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., York or Canterbury (these are the only two in the Church of England). 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. In addition to his specific authority in his own province, each archbishop is "Primate of All England" (Canterbury) or "Primate of England" (York) and has certain powers that extend over the whole country—for example his license to marry without the banns (marriage licence).
• Royal Peculiar, a small number of churches are more closely associated with the Crown, and a very few with the law and are outside the usual church hierarchy though conforming to the rite. These 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 even appointed 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 actual possession of the benefice property—church and parsonage. Curates are appointed by rectors and vicars, but if priests-in-charge then by the bishop after consultations 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 (e.g. curates), or simply with permission.

Primates

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.

The most senior bishop of the Church of England is the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the archbishop of the southern province of England, the Province of Canterbury. He also has the status of Primate of All England and Metropolitan. He is also the focus of unity for the worldwide Anglican Communion of independent national or regional churches. The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Rowan Williams has served as Archbishop of Canterbury since 2002.

The second most senior bishop is the Archbishop of York, who is the archbishop of the northern province of England, the Province of York. For historical reasons (relating to the time of York's control by the Danes) he is referred to as the Primate of England. The Most Reverend and Right Honourable John Sentamu has served as the Archbishop of York since 2005. The Bishop of London, the Bishop of Durham and the Bishop of Winchester are ranked in the next three positions.

Diocesan bishops

The process of appointing diocesan bishops is complex and is handled by a body called the Crown Nominations Committee which submits names to the Prime Minister (acting on behalf of the Crown) for consideration.

Representative bodies

Main article: General Synod of the Church of England

The Church of England has a legislative body, the General Synod. Synod can create two types of legislation, measures and canons. Measures have to be approved but cannot be amended by the UK Parliament before receiving the Royal Assent and becoming part of the law of England.^[18] Canons require Royal Licence and Royal Assent, but form the law of the church, rather than the law of the land.^[19]

Another assembly is the Convocation of the English Clergy (older than the General Synod and its predecessor the Church Assembly). There are also diocesan synods and deanery synods.

House of Lords

Main article: Lords Spiritual

Of the forty-four diocesan archbishops and bishops in the Church of England, only twenty-six 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 twenty-one seats are filled in order of seniority by 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.^[20]

Financial situation

Hereford is one of the church's forty-three cathedrals, many with histories stretching back centuries.

The Church of England, although an established church, does not receive any direct government support. Donations comprise its largest source of income, though it also relies heavily on the income from its various historic endowments. As of 2005^[update], the Church of England had estimated total outgoings of around £900 million.^[21]

Historically, individual parishes both raised and spent the vast majority of the Church's funding, meaning that clergy pay depended on the wealth of the parish, and parish advowsons (the right to appoint clergy to particular parishes) could become extremely valuable gifts. Individual dioceses also held considerable assets: the Diocese of Durham possessed such vast wealth and temporal power that its bishop became known as the 'Prince-Bishop'. Since the mid-19th century, however, the Church has made various moves to 'equalise' the situation, and clergy within each diocese now receive standard stipends paid from diocesan funds. Meanwhile, the Church moved the majority of its income-generating assets (which in the past included a great deal of land, but today mostly take the form of financial stocks and bonds) out of the hands of individual clergy and bishops to the care of a body called the Church Commissioners, which uses these funds to pay a range of non-parish expenses, including clergy pensions, and the expenses of cathedrals and bishops' houses. These funds amount to around £3.9 billion, and generate income of around £164 million each year (as of 2003^[update]), around a fifth of the Church's overall income.^[22]

The Church Commissioners give some of this money as 'grants' to local parishes; but the majority of the financial burden of church upkeep and the work of local parishes still rests with individual parish and diocese, which meet their requirements from donations. Direct donations to the church (not including legacies) come to around £460 million per year, while parish and diocese reserve funds generate another £100 million. Funds raised in individual parishes account for almost all of this money, and the majority of it remains in the parish which raises it, meaning that the resources available to parishes still vary enormously, according to the level of donations they can raise.

Most parishes give a portion of their money, however, to the diocese as a 'quota' or 'parish share'. While this is not a compulsory payment, dioceses strongly encourage and rely on it being paid; it is usually only withheld by parishes either if they are unable to find the funds or as a specific act of protest. As well as paying central diocesan expenses such as the running of diocesan offices, these diocesan funds also provide clergy pay and housing expenses (which total around £260 million per year across all dioceses), meaning that clergy living conditions no longer depend on parish-specific fundraising.

The old and new Coventry Cathedrals, in the Diocese of Coventry. The new cathedral was built next to the ruins of the old, which was destroyed in the Second World War.

Although asset-rich, the Church of England has to maintain its thousands of churches nationwide.^[23] As current congregation numbers stand at relatively low levels and as maintenance bills increase as the buildings grow older, many of these churches cannot maintain economic self-sufficiency; but their historical and architectural importance make it difficult to sell them. In recent years, cathedrals and other famous churches have met some of their maintenance costs with grants from organisations such as English Heritage; but the church congregation and local fundraisers must foot the bill entirely in the case of most small parish churches.^[24] (The government, however, does provide some assistance in the form of tax breaks, for example a 100% VAT refund for renovations to religious buildings.)

In addition to consecrated buildings, the Church also controls numerous ancillary buildings attached to or associated with churches, including a good deal of clergy housing. As well as vicarages and rectories, this housing includes residences (often called 'palaces') for each of the Church's 114 bishops. In some cases, this name seems entirely apt; buildings such as Archbishop of Canterbury's Lambeth Palace in London and Old Palace at Canterbury have truly palatial dimensions, while the Bishop of Durham's Auckland Castle has 50 rooms, a banqueting hall and 30 acres (120,000 m²) of parkland. However, many bishops have found the older palaces inappropriate for today's lifestyles, and some bishops' 'palaces' are ordinary four bedroomed houses. Many dioceses which have retained large palaces now employ part of the space as administrative offices, while the bishops and their families live in a small apartment within the palace; and in recent years some dioceses have managed to put their palaces' excess space and grandeur to profitable use as conference centres. All three of the more grand bishop's palaces mentioned above — Lambeth Palace, Canterbury Old Palace and Auckland Castle — serve as offices for church administration, conference venues, and only in a lesser degree the personal residence of a bishop. The size of the bishops' households has shrunk dramatically and their budgets for entertaining and staff form a tiny fraction of their pre-twentieth-century levels.

References

1. ^ Factfile: Anglican Church around the world BBC Factfile. Accessed 2006-06-22.
2. ^ "The History of the Church of England". The Archbishops' Council of the Church of England. http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/history/. Retrieved on 2006-05-24. 
3. ^ http://www.cofe.anglican.org/faith/anglican/
4. ^ http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchlawlegis/canons/church.pdf
5. ^ http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchlawlegis/canons/church.pdf
6. ^ HistoryMole: King Henry VIII (1491-1547)
7. ^ Hooker's ecclesiastical polity: http://www.churchsociety.org/issues_new/history/hooker/iss_history_hooker_carter-position.asp
8. ^ Church votes overwhelmingly for compromise on women bishops - news from ekklesia | Ekklesia
9. ^ "Church will ordain women bishops". BBC News. July 7, 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7494517.stm. Retrieved on 2008-07-07. 
10. ^ Synod struggles on women bishops
11. ^ See the pages linked from theLife Events page on the Church of England website
12. ^ Peter J. Bowler, Reconciling science and religion: the debate in early-twentieth-century Britain (University of Chicago Press, 2001), page 194.
13. ^ Robin Gill, The Empty Church Revisited, (Ashgate Publishing, 2003) page 161.
14. ^ Christian Research, Religious Trends (2008), cited in Ruth Gledhill, "Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour", The Times, 8 May 2008.
15. ^ Ruth Gledhill, "Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour", The Times, 8 May 2008.
16. ^ http://www.churchsociety.org/issues_new/doctrine/39a/iss_doctrine_39A_Arts19-22.asp
17. ^ Cross, F. L. (ed.) (1957) Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church; p. 1436
18. ^ "Summary of Church Assembly and General Synod Measures". Church of England website. Archbishops' council of the Church of England. November 2007. http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchlawlegis/measures/. 
19. ^ "General Synod". Church of England website. Archbishops' council of the Church of England. http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/gensynod/. 
20. ^ House of Lords: alphabetical list of Members. Retrieved on 12 December 2008.
21. ^ outgoings
22. ^ funds
23. ^ "The Church of Englnd's built heritage". Church of England website. Archbishops' Council of the Church of England. 2004. http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/builtheritage/. "The Church of England has some 16,000 church buildings, in 13,000 parishes covering the whole of England, as well as 43 cathedrals. Together they form a unique collection of buildings; between 12,000 and 13,000 churches are listed, i.e. are recognised by the Government as being of exceptional historic or architectural importance, and about 45% of all Grade I buildings in England are churches. Though first and foremost a place of worship, churches are also often the oldest building in a settlement still in continual use. Even in industrial or twentieth-century settlements, they are a focus. Many churches – and cathedrals particularly - are the largest, most architecturally complex, most archaeologically sensitive, and most visited building in their village, town or city." 
24. ^ local fundraisers

See also

Anglicanism portal

England portal

• Appointment of Church of England bishops
• Architecture of the medieval cathedrals of England
• British monarchy
• Church of England Newspaper
• Church of England parish church
• Historical development of Church of England dioceses
• List of Church of England bishops
• List of Church of England dioceses
• Religion in the United Kingdom
• Ritualism
• Shrinking the footprint
• List of the first 32 women ordained as Church of England priests

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anglican churches

• Church of England official website
• Historical resources on the Church of England
• Church of England history in the West Indies
• The History Files: Churches of the British Isles, a gallery of church photos and information.

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v • d • e Anglican dioceses in the United Kingdom and Ireland   Church of England Province of Canterbury Bath & Wells • Birmingham • Bristol • Canterbury • Chelmsford • Chichester • Coventry • Derby • Ely • Exeter • Gibraltar in Europe • Gloucester • Guildford • Hereford • Leicester • Lichfield • Lincoln • London • Norwich • Oxford • Peterborough • Portsmouth • Rochester • Saint Albans • Saint Edmundsbury & Ipswich • Salisbury • Southwark • Truro • Winchester • Worcester Province of York Blackburn • Bradford • Carlisle • Chester • Durham • Liverpool • Manchester • Newcastle • Ripon & Leeds • Sheffield • Sodor & Man • Southwell & Nottingham • Wakefield • York   Church in Wales Bangor • Llandaff • Monmouth • Saint Asaph • Saint David's • Swansea & Brecon   Scottish Episcopal Church Aberdeen & Orkney • Argyll & the Isles • Brechin • Edinburgh • Glasgow & Galloway • Moray, Ross & Caithness • Saint Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane   Church of Ireland Province of Armagh Armagh • Clogher • Connor • Derry & Raphoe • Down & Dromore • Kilmore, Elphin & Ardagh • Tuam, Killala & Achonry Province of Dublin Cashel & Ossory • Cork, Cloyne & Ross • Dublin & Glendalough • Limerick & Killaloe • Meath & Kildare

v • d • e Anglican hierarchy in the United Kingdom and Ireland   Church of England Province of Canterbury Diocesan bishops Archbishop of Canterbury • Bath & Wells • Birmingham • Bristol • Chelmsford • Chichester • Coventry • Derby • Ely • Exeter • Gibraltar in Europe • Gloucester • Guildford • Hereford • Leicester • Lichfield • Lincoln • London • Norwich • Oxford • Peterborough • Portsmouth • Rochester • Saint Albans • St Edmundsbury & Ipswich • Salisbury • Southwark • Truro • Winchester • Worcester Suffragan bishops Aston • Barking • Basingstoke • Bedford • Bradwell • Brixworth • Buckingham • Colchester • Crediton • Croydon • Dorchester • Dorking • Dover • Dudley • Dunwich • Ebbsfleet • Edmonton • Europe • Fulham • Grantham • Grimsby • Hertford • Horsham • Huntingdon • Kensington • Kingston-upon-Thames • Lewes • Ludlow • Lynn • Maidstone • Plymouth • Ramsbury • Reading • Repton • Richborough • Sherborne • Shrewsbury • Southampton • St Germans • Stafford • Stepney • Swindon • Taunton • Tewkesbury • Thetford • Tonbridge • Warwick • Willesden • Wolverhampton • Woolwich Province of York Diocesan bishops Archbishop of York • Blackburn • Bradford • Carlisle • Chester • Durham • Liverpool • Manchester • Newcastle • Ripon and Leeds • Sheffield • Sodor & Man • Southwell • Wakefield Suffragan bishops Beverley • Birkenhead • Bolton • Burnley • Doncaster • Hull • Hulme • Jarrow • Knaresborough • Lancaster • Middleton • Penrith • Pontefract • Selby • Sherwood • Stockport • Warrington • Whitby other Bishop to the Forces   Church in Wales Archbishop of Wales • Bangor • Llandaff • Monmouth • Saint Asaph • Saint David's • Swansea & Brecon   Scottish Episcopal Church Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church • Aberdeen and Orkney • Argyll & the Isles • Brechin • Edinburgh • Glasgow & Galloway • Moray, Ross & Caithness • Saint Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane   Church of Ireland Province of Armagh Archbishop of Armagh • Clogher • Connor • Derry and Raphoe • Down & Dromore • Kilmore, Elphin & Ardagh • Tuam, Killala & Achonry Province of Dublin Archbishop of Dublin • Cashel & Ossory • Cork, Cloyne & Ross • Limerick & Killaloe • Meath & Kildare

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