Another Nail in the Anglican Coffin?

Catholics set to pass Anglicans as leading UK church

`Roman Catholicism is set to become the dominant religion in Britain for the first time since the Reformation because of massive migration from Catholic countries across the world.
Catholic parishes will swell by hundreds of thousands over the next few years after managing years of decline, according to a new report, as both legal and illegal migrants enter the country..... The growth of Catholicism in Britain comes as the established Church of England and the Anglican provinces in Scotland, Wales and Ireland face continuing, if slow, decline.' Or so I read in today's Times newspaper.

Before I pass comment on this news, I should clarify that I am not and never have been a member of the Church of England. I have, on occasion, attended funerals in Anglican churches but this is about the limit of my involvement with it. I was raised a Roman Catholic, went regularly to mass and studied Theology in a University department which was run by Jesuits. I may not see eye to eye with all aspects of Catholic teaching now, nevertheless I cannot deny that I have strong emotional ties to the Catholic Church and many of my most deeply ingrained views are, without doubt, the product of my upbringing. It is my natural spiritual home. Having said that, I do find today's news somewhat unsettling. Although I owe no particular allegance to Anglicanism, its apparent and ongoing demise is a source of sadness to me. The good old CofE has always represented something quintessentially British (English?). To my mind, it epitomises qualities such as fair play, moderation (especially in not appearing to be too religious), gentlemanlike conduct, trying to be all things to all men and, dare I say, a delightful fogginess on matters of Theology. Anglicanism seems to be one of those timeless British institutions that we happily take for granted but don't realise quite how much it meant to us until it has gone. And if it does eventually implode, it will take with it an irreplacable aspect of British self-definition and that, in my opinion, would be a great tragedy.

This article in the Times put me in mind of a book I read recently - a rather sobering book entitled "Last Rites: The End of the Church of England" (2006) by Michael Hampson, a somewhat jaded ex-clergyman. He makes the case quite convincingly that the Church of England, riven as it is by the seemingly intractible in-fighting between evangelicals and liberals, severely wounded by the fall-out over the ordination of women and deeply divided on the issue of homosexual clergy, has become increasingly marginalised and irrelevant to mainstream contemporary British society and is, because of these factors, in a state of irreversible and terminal decline. Overall, Hampson posits the view that the CofE has had its day and must reform itself and`downsize' quite considerably if it is to survive at all. It will certainly cease to be the Church of the Nation so perhaps today's news should come as no surprise. It is simply another nail in the Anglican coffin, confirming the inevitable.

The more I mull over this, the more its implications seem to multiply (with regard to our constitution, culture and so on). This is an important topic which I shall, no doubt, return to and expatiate upon in the future.

Bone Idle