Expert: Rev Steve Parish - 11/5/2011

Question
All Glory to the Trinity!
The Catholics say that Anglicanism was created by people who left the Catholic Church in the 16th century. What do you Anglicans say?

Answer
It depends where you're coming from. The church in England existed during the Roman Occupation, and the English Church was part of the Roman Catholic Church until the Reformation. No-one actually "left" the Catholic Church; the English monarch and parliament just refused to acknowledge the jurisdiction in England of the Bishop of Rome. Regarding the Pope as head of the church is clearly part of Roman Catholicism. As it was soon made a treasonable offence to say that King Henry VIII was not the only head of the Church of England, it was dangerous to remain true to Roman Catholic teaching.

So although the English Church ("ecclesia anglicana") existed before the Reformation as part of the Roman Catholic church, Anglicanism usually refers to the development of the English Church after the Reformation (and the Church of England still considers itself to be part of the catholic church in its widest sense).