Anglo-Catholicism

As Christianity spread, local variations and customs grew up about worship and belief. By the dawn of the second millennium after Christ, there were broadly two major expressions of the Faith: the Eastern Church, known as Orthodoxy (meaning ‘right belief’) and the Western Church, know as Catholicism (meaning ‘universal’). In the sixteenth century, seismic changes took place within the Western Church which led to it fracturing into a huge number of movements. The largest of these was the Roman Catholic Church, while the other bodies became known collectively as Protestantism.

The Church of England steered an unusual, and unique, path through these changes. Initially the King, Henry VIII, remained allied to Rome, but a long-running dispute with the Pope led him to declare himself Head of the English Church in 1534. However, the English Church remained entirely ‘Catholic’ in worship and belief until the succession of his son, Edward VI, under whom major changes were made to align the Church of England with Protestant thinking. Edward only lived a few years and his half-sister Mary restored full Catholicism briefly before herself dying. Her half-sister Elizabeth, upon her accession sought to bring stability to the situation and steered a middle path for the English religion: both ‘Catholic and Reformed’.

This creative tension has remained within the Church ever since. Many Anglicans believed that their church remained too Catholic, whilst others felt that it was too Protestant. These different opinions have taken it in turns to be most influential over the years since. By the nineteenth century a ‘middle’ position had emerged but many, on both ‘sides’ felt it was unsatisfactory. Preference for more ritual and ceremony in Anglican worship is sometimes known as the ‘high church’ position, whilst those who urge for simplicity in style and practice are known as ‘low church’.

In the mid-nineteenth century, there was a resurgence within the Church of England of those who wished it to reconnect with its Catholic heritage and who believed the Reformation had ‘thrown the baby out with the bathwater’. This movement became known as ‘Anglo-Catholicism’. As well as preferring a ‘high’ style of worship, Anglo-Catholics emphasized the sacramental elements of the Faith. Churches within this tradition reintroduced weekly celebration of the Eucharist, brought back candles and vestments into public worship (both of which had fallen into disuse and actually been banned), and rediscovered other ancient traditions such as pilgrimage, observing the Stations of the Cross during Lent, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Anglo-Catholics believe that their movement steers a true ‘middle way’ between Catholicism and Protestantism, combining the best elements of both, and connecting us with our Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox fellow Christians.

Holy Trinity is a church within the Anglo-Catholic tradition. It forms part of a wider parish in Gosport with two other churches, Christ Church and St John’s, which worship in a more Reformed style. Between us we bear witness to the love of God through Jesus Christ sharing a common faith expressed through a diversity of practice.