Keeping the 'catholic' in Anglicanism - Rector's Rambling for January 13, 2019

The month of January has two interesting Feast Days that are very English, but at the same time have had in important impact on us as Anglicans/Episcopalians.

On Wednesday, January 16, we commemorate the Feast of William Laud, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1633 to 1645, under King Charles I.  It seems very long ago, and very far away.  But his life, ministry, and death, have had lasting effects on the Church.

The Church of England, our Mother Church, has tried through her history to find the “via media” of being both catholic and reformed, without compromising the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As you might know, this “middle way” is not always easily found.  At times the Church as swung from one extreme to another in its desire to glorify Jesus, and in England that affects not only the Church, but the government as well.  They are intertwined because the Church of England is THE official Church in England.

Roman Catholic remnants inside and outside England tried to push for changes, and those with more protestant beliefs adopted from the continent of Europe also pushed at the government and church to change her worship, sacraments, and faith.  English and Scottish Puritan vandalism against the wearing of vestments and ornamentation of altars forced Archbishop Laud to enforce the law of church and state against them.  He had the full support of the King, Charles I, to preserve the catholic and apostolic orders of Bishops, Priests, and Deacons against the puritan claims to the contrary.  When the puritans gained control of the House of Commons Laud was arrested and beheaded.  Eventually, so was King Charles I (we commemorate his Feast Day on January 30).

Laud prayed at the scaffold “The Lord receive my soul, and have mercy on me, and bless this kingdom with peace and charity, that there may not be this effusion of Christian blood amongst them.”  But the kings death would follow in 1649, and the people would soon discover that the only thing worse than being under a king with strong catholic sensibilities about the church, would be under the even more despotic rule of the puritans of Oliver Cromwell.  The people would repent and the catholic order restored in 1660 with the restoration of the monarchy and the Church of England.