SEARCH Journal

After the covenant – can we get on with being Anglicans?

Like Topsy, the Anglican Communion “just growed”. The history of what came to be known as Anglicanism began with Henry V111 who broke with the Church of Rome in the 1530s. Although he had made the break and named himself as “supreme head on earth” of the Church in England, he resisted associating the English church with the continental Protestant Reformation. It remained Catholic in worship and ritual. When his son Edward VI came to the throne he wished the Church to become more Protestant. Two new Prayer Books were prepared by Thomas Cranmer and his committee - those of 1549 and 1552. These gradually moved to a more protestant type of worship especially for the Holy Communion.

* Full article available in printed copies.

Jean Mayland

One of the C of E’s first women priests, was involved in the Movement for the Ordination of Women and its successor Women and the Church (WATCH) and has worked extensively for the Ecumenical Movement at home and abroad. She is a member of Modern Church, working to maintain the Church’s openness to new ideas and theological insights.