Is the Church of England Catholic or Protestant?

[themagicwand]

So is the Church of England officially a form of Catholicism or Protestantism? Or is it a strange hybrid of the two, a law unto itself? I don't know myself. I always assumed it was protestant, but am now having my doubts. So on that basis I decided to "ask the audience". Please let your opinion be known!

 

Mr. Mystery - magic for all ages & events. Please PM for details.

[Zafar]

Protestant

 

Z

[slimsid2000]

Is the Pope Catholic?

[Abdul]

I always thought it was Protestant.

 

You know those Orange Lodge marches they have in Ireland, when the Protestants march through the Catholic areas of the town to wind them up?

 

We had something similar in Liverpool where the local C of E secondary school would have its annual parade past the Roman Catholic school I was studying at.

 

My fellow pupils, despite not actively practising, or attending church, still got angry about the march.

[slimsid2000]

Is the Pope Catholic?

 

No. He's an aithiest but just pretends because he likes the expensive lifestyle.

[sheff_minx]

Its a protestant religion, like Methodist

[Strix]

Supposedly the only difference is that Henry VIII declred himself 'head of the church in England' when he fell out with the pope. The whole thing got hijacked later by the followers of 'Martin Luther' (NOT 'King'), who believed that the church required 'reform', as the selling of 'papal bulls' (pardons for sins) and the activities of the 'spanish inquisition' were far from 'Christian' actions

 

Basically it's now catholocism without the ban on contraception, without the pope, and they believe that the 'holy communion' is merely symbolic of the 'body of Christ', not actually the body of Christ (which is what Catholics believe)

 

Google anything in inverted commas for more info

 

Edit: The term 'protestant' arose from the Lutherans 'protesting' against the corruption in the Catholic church

[mr chris]

Because the CofE basically started out of Catholicism, some of the churches are still quite Catholic in their practices. The "High Anglican" churches are pretty much idestinguishable from their Catholic counterparts.

 

Taken from Wikipedia

 

The issue of Catholic and Protestant affiliation is often confusing. Whilst many Anglicans regard themselves as being within the Protestant tradition, many other Anglicans, especially Anglo-Catholics, do not consider themselves as Protestants. The Church of England claims explicitly that the Church "upholds the catholic faith" (however, the Athanasian Creed states "And the catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the persons, nor dividing the substance." The phrase "catholic church" by definition means the universal Christian Church but also holds the sense of the "church in its fullness" ). Ultimately, the Anglican Church is both catholic (stressing its continuity with the ancient Church), and Reformed / Protestant (noting that the Church does not accept the universal infallible authority of the Pope). The conduct of eucharistically-centred worship services is in keeping with the catholic liturgical tradition and the Communion emphasises its status of full communion with the Old-Catholic Utrecht Union — a small community of churches which split from the Roman Catholic Church in 1870 over the doctrine of papal infallibility. On the other hand, the development of Anglicanism as a distinctive theological tradition is also deeply connected with the Protestant Reformation.

[Strix]

...The conduct of eucharistically-centred worship services is in keeping with the catholic liturgical tradition and the Communion emphasises its status of full communion with the Old-Catholic Utrecht Union ...

Only to the casual observer - see my post above

[flyer]

Iunderstand the confusion,Iwas traped into going in one ,bell book & candle kiss the statue 3 times I was begining to wonder where i was. I was told at the time Cof E HIGH church &catholic where one and the same.That was50yrs ago, never to step foot in a church again