Church of Ireland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).
Part of the series on
Anglicanism
Anglican Communion
Background

Christianity
English Reformation
Apostolic Succession
Catholicism
Episcopal polity
People

Thomas Cranmer
Thomas Cromwell
Henry VIII
Hugh Latimer
Richard Hooker
Elizabeth I
Instruments of Unity

Archbishop of Canterbury
Lambeth Conferences
Anglican Consultative Council
Primates' Meeting
Liturgy and Worship

Book of Common Prayer
High Church · Low Church
Broad Church
Oxford Movement
Thirty-Nine Articles
Book of Homilies
Doctrine
Ministry
Sacraments
Saints in Anglicanism

This box: view • talk • edit

The Church of Ireland (Irish: Eaglais na hÉireann) is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion, operating seamlessly across the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Like other Anglican churches it claims to be both "catholic" and "reformed."

When the Church of England broke with the Pope and communion with the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland likewise underwent reformation, keeping its legal status and possessions even as it changed its doctrine. Thus to this day the church, in its cathedrals and churches, retains much of the island's heritage of medieval construction. The newly independent church was not however able to bring the majority of the population along with it; the Roman Catholic Church retained the loyalties of most inhabitants and continues to do so to this day, although the number of Church of Ireland adherents is now rising. Despite its numerical minority, however, the Church of Ireland remained the official state church until it was disestablished in 1871.

Today the Church of Ireland is, after the Roman Catholic Church, the second-largest church in the island of Ireland. It is the largest Protestant church in the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland the second-largest (after the Presbyterian Church in Ireland). It is governed by a General Synod of clergy and laity and organized into twelve dioceses. It is led by the Archbishop of Armagh (styled "Primate of All Ireland"), at present Alan Harper; the church's other archbishop is Archbishop of Dublin John Neill.

Contents

[edit] History

The Church of Ireland traces its origins back to the missions of Saint Patrick.

A monastically-centred institution, the early Celtic Church of Ireland had a unique calendar and usages, but was a full part of the wider Western Church, remaining in communion with Rome. In 1166, basing his action on the disputed Papal Bull Laudabiliter, which is claimed to have given him lordship over Ireland, Henry II of England came to Ireland and in 1171 made himself "Overlord" of Ireland.

In 1536 Henry VIII had the Irish Parliament declare him head of the Irish Church. When the Church of England travelled in a more Protestant direction under Edward VI so too did the Church of Ireland. All but two of the Irish bishops accepted the Elizabethan Settlement and there is therefore continuity and Apostolic succession in the Church of Ireland, separate from that of the Church of England and the doubts raised by the consecration of Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury. However, the Roman Catholic Church disputes this, because the sacrificial nature of the priesthood was abandoned by the Church of Ireland through the Elizabethan Settlement and therefore ended, in their view, valid Apostolic Succession in the Anglican Church of Ireland.

The established church in Ireland underwent a period of more radical Calvinist doctrine than occurred in England. James Ussher (later Archbishop of Armagh) authored the Irish Articles, adopted in 1615. In 1634 the Irish Convocation adopted the English Thirty-Nine Articles alongside the Irish Articles. After the Restoration of 1660, it seems that the Thirty-Nine Articles took precedence, and remain the official doctrine of the Church of Ireland even after disestablishment.[1]

The reformed Church of Ireland undertook the first publication of Scripture in Irish. The first Irish translation of the New Testament was begun by Nicholas Walsh, Bishop of Ossory, who worked on it until his untimely death in 1585. The work was continued by John Kearny, his assistant, and Dr. Nehemiah Donellan, Archbishop of Tuam, and it was finally completed by William O'Domhnuill (William Daniell, Archbishop of Tuam in succession to Donellan). Their work was printed in 1602. The work of translating the Old Testament was undertaken by William Bedel (1571-1642), Bishop of Kilmore, who completed his translation within the reign of Charles the First, although it was not published until 1680 (in a revised version by Narcissus Marsh (1638-1713), Archbishop of Dublin). William Bedell had undertaken a translation of the Book of Common Prayer in 1606. An Irish translation of the revised prayer book of 1662 was effected by John Richardson (1664 - 1747) and published in 1712.

However, the delay in providing scripture and liturgy in the vernacular of the majority of the population caused a rift between the English-speaking minority who mostly adhered to the reformed church or to presbyterianism and the Irish-speaking majority who remained faithful to the Latin liturgy of Roman Catholicism which thus remained the majority denomination in Ireland.

As before the Reformation, some clergymen of the Church of Ireland sat as Lords Spiritual in the Irish House of Lords; under the provisions of the Act of Union 1800, one archbishop and three bishops chosen by rotation would be Lords Spiritual in the newly united United Kingdom House of Lords in Westminster, joining the two archbishops (Canterbury and York) and the twenty-four bishops from the Church of England.

In 1833 the British Government proposed the Irish Church Measure to reduce the 22 archbishops and bishops who oversaw the Anglican minority in Ireland to a total of 12 by amalgamating sees and to use the revenues saved for the use of parishes. This sparked the Tractarian movement and wider repercussions in the Anglican communion.

As the official established church, the Church of Ireland was funded partially by tithes imposed on all Irish citizens, irrespective of the fact that it counted only a minority of the populace among its adherents; these were a source of much resentment which occasionally boiled over, as in the "Tithe War" of 1831-36. The Irish Church Disestablishment Act 1869 (coming into effect in 1871) disestablished the Church of Ireland, ending both state support of the Church and parliamentary authority over its governance; thus it made provision in 1870 for its own government (General Synod) and financial management (Representative Church Body). With disestablishment, tithes were abolished and the church's representation in the House of Lords also ceased.

Like other Irish churches, it did not divide when Ireland was partitioned in 1920, and continues to be governed on an all-island basis.

[edit] The Church today

(See List of Church of Ireland dioceses.)

Saul church, a modern replica of an early church with a round tower, is built on the reputed spot of St Patrick's first church in Ireland.
Saul church, a modern replica of an early church with a round tower, is built on the reputed spot of St Patrick's first church in Ireland.

The contemporary Church of Ireland, despite having a number of High Church (often described as Anglo-Catholic) parishes, is generally on the Low Church end of the spectrum of world Anglicanism. Historically, it had little of the difference in churchmanship between parishes characteristic of other Anglican Provinces, although a number of markedly liberal, High Church or evangelical parishes have developed in recent decades. It was the second province of the Anglican Communion after the Anglican Church of New Zealand (1857) to adopt, on its 1871 disestablishment, synodical government, and was one of the first provinces to ordain women to the priesthood, in 1991. The Church of Ireland is also a member of the Porvoo Communion.

The church maintains the traditional structure dating to pre-Reformation times, a system geographical parishes organized into dioceses. There are twelve of these, each headed by a bishop. The leader of the five southern bishops is the Archbishop of Dublin; that of the seven northern ones the Archbishop of Armagh; these are styled Primate of Ireland and Primate of All Ireland respectively, suggesting the ultimate seniority of the latter; although he has relatively little absolute authority, the Archbishop of Armagh is respected as the church's general leader and spokesman.

Canon law and church policy are decided by the church's General Synod, and changes in policy must be passed by both the House of Bishops and the House of Representatives (Clergy and Laity). Important changes, e.g. the decision to ordain female priests, must be passed by two-thirds majorities. While the House of Representatives always votes publicly, often by orders, the House of Bishops has tended to vote in private, coming to a decision before matters reach the floor of the Synod. This practice has been broken only once, when in 1999 the House of Bishops voted unanimously in public to endorse the efforts of the Archbishop of Armagh, the Diocese of Armagh and the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland in their attempts to resolve the crisis at the Church of the Ascension at Drumcree, near Portadown.

The Church of Ireland experienced major decline during the 20th Century, both in Northern Ireland, where 75% of its members live, and in the Republic of Ireland. However, recent censuses shown an unexpected increase in Church membership, the first in almost a century. This is largely explained by the great number of Anglican immigrants who moved to Ireland, particularly ex-colonists from Africa; but some parishes, especially in middle-class areas of the larger cities, report significant numbers of Roman Catholics joining. There are a number of clergy originally ordained for the Roman Catholic Church who have now become Church of Ireland clergy. Many former Roman Catholics also put themselves forward for ordination after they have become members of the Church of Ireland.

The church has two cathedrals in Dublin: within the walls of the old city is Christ Church Cathedral, the seat of the Archbishop, and just outside the old walls is St. Patrick's Cathedral, which the church treats as a National Cathedral for Ireland. It operates a seminary, the Church of Ireland Theological College, in the outskirts of Dublin.

[edit] Irish Anglicans

Members of the Church of Ireland include or have included:

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.ix.vi.x.html
  2. ^ http://cao.gaa.ie/archive.html. Bob Hilliard from Kerry.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/creeds1.ix.vi.x.html
  2. ^ http://cao.gaa.ie/archive.html. Bob Hilliard from Kerry.
  • Anglicanism, Stephen Neill, Harmondsworth 1965

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Churches in the Anglican Communion

Canterbury Cathedral

Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia · Australia · Bangladesh · Brazil · Burundi · Canada · Central Africa · Central America · Congo · England · Hong Kong · India, North · India, South · Indian Ocean · Ireland · Japan · Jerusalem and the Middle East · Kenya · Korea · Melanesia · Mexico · Myanmar · Nigeria · Pakistan · Papua New Guinea · Philippines · Rwanda · Scotland · South East Asia · Southern Africa · Southern Cone · Sudan · Tanzania · Uganda · USA · Wales · West Africa · West Indies — extra-provincial churches

Churches in full communion: Mar Thoma Syrian Church · Old Catholic Church · Philippine Independent Church
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../c/h/u/Church_of_Ireland_72de.html"