|
THE CATHOLIC FAITH
The vicar writes:
"Almost one hundred and thirty two years ago there was great rejoicing in Croydon that St. Michael and All Angels church had at last been consecrated by the archbishop. This excitement was not universal in the town of Croydon, as our church was part of the ritualist movement and was regarded with deep suspicion by many locals. The idea of a plot to displace the established church with some sort of pseudo - roman plot was keenly felt by those who thought that the dear old Church of England was Protestant and all these nasty ritualists wanted to take us off to Rome at a furious gallop. It was very easy in those days to whip up anti - Roman hysteria, and our new church was indeed regarded as some sort of staging post for this takeover in the realm.
Our church was carved out of the parish church of Croydon by those who had the foresight to realise that there was more to God's Church than the recitation ofMattins, and to reawaken in England a sense of continuity with the early church. We were not some separate enclave from the rest of Christendom, but part of the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church which had continued since the time of the apostles.
Even today our church stands firmly in this tradition as it shuns all novelties with doctrine and liturgy as it sees them for what they are - passing fads and fancies that are here today and gone tomorrow. If we were born out of the resentment with the status quo that existed in Victorian England, it would seem perverse in the extreme if we now embraced worldly values as if they were where we drew all our strength and encouragement. The great joy of being part of the Catholic Church is the stress we lay on the unbroken continuity we have from the time of Christ, as well as the sacramental life that imparts the grace of God to the world."
Cyril of Jerusalem wrote: 'The church is called Catholic because she is throughout the whole world, from one end of the earth to the other; because she teaches universally and without fail all the doctrines that ought to be preached to the knowledge of men concerning the visible and invisible, in heaven and on earth; becasue she subjects to her faith the whole of mankind - rulers and their subjects, educated and uneducated alike; because she is the universal physician and healer of sins of every kind, sins of soul or body, and posesses in herself every form of excellence that can be named in deeds and words in spiritual gifts of every kind'.
As to the characteristics of catholicity, theologians have been eager to explore both early traditions and later understandings. What is meant by ascribing the word catholic to a church or a doctrine or a custom or indeed to Christianity itself? Here much has been made of the test formulated by Vincent of Lerins in his Commonitorium: what is believed everywhere, always and by all. This test has involved an appeal to the ancient church for discovering the norms of catholicity, and in this connection it has been customary to speak of scripture, creeds, sacraments and ministry as norms of catholicity.
BELIEFS
The church of St. Michael and All Angels is part of the Established Church of England and thus a member of the world-wide Anglican Communion.
The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church worshipping the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. She professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation.
Led by the Holy Spirit, she has borne witness to Christian truth in her historic formularies, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons.
Canon C15
The doctrine of the Church of England is grounded in the Holy Scriptures, and in such teachings of the ancient Fathers and Councils of the Church as are agreeable to the said Scriptures.
Canon A5
|
