First there was a Reformation. It took hundreds of years of problems to make the Reformation happen. The fact is that it did happen, and some of the differences in the two faiths still exist.

The 39 Articles are Reformation documents. They are partially period pieces, partially political and partially religious. From the religious point of view they are protestant. A review of the Articles show that there are huge differences be between Catholics and Anglicans.

From the political view there were originally 42 Articles but the Anabaptists were no longer a threat and so Crammer's Articles of Religion were reduced to 39 Articles. The Articles also address Roman Catholic power and practices.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ANGLICAN AND ROMAN CATHOLIC BELIEFS

Here are some of the differences between Anglicans and Roman Catholics as stated in the 39 Articles. The Articles of Religion were a stinging rebuke to the Church at Rome. The Bible is to be in the language of the people. The prayer book is to be in the language of the people. The term missal was dropped. A book of common prayer was adopted with all of the Church services included. Morning Prayer became the main service of the English church. This Catholic service was used to prepare people to receive communion. High churchmen and Anglo-Catholics have disowned the service because it is too protestant.

Dyed in the wool protestants believe in Sola Fide, by faith alone, is one saved. While hedging on a few points Sola fides is the thrust of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Catholic theology differs markedly. Catholics believe in salvation through the Catholic church. Each time a mass is celebrated Christ is re-sacrificed. Protestants believe that Christ's sacrifice once offered is sufficient. Catholics have the trickle down theory. Grace comes from God and trickles down through the various levels of the church to the people. Protestants view grace as a direct act of a loving, divine creator. Catholics have their saints' treasury of merit and the mass. The Catholic concept of relics holding magical power is not mentioned in the Holy Scriptures. The Catholic idea that the merit of the saints could result in salvation is not mentioned in Holy Scripture.

Catholics deny that the blood of Christ alone cleanses us from all sin. Catholics affirm that our good works merit part of our justification. The Articles of Religion strongly disagree and declare we are righteous only through Christ. Christ did it all. There is no justification by man. Our Good Works do not save us. We should do good if we have been saved but the works in and of themselves are not sufficient. I personally explain grace to bible students by telling them that by my own efforts I can only earn a room on the cooler side. It is the amazing grace of God that saves a wretch like me. Sola Gratia, God's grace alone are we saved!

Protestants believe that Christ alone is without sin. Catholics believe that Mary is also without sin. In the 39 Articles Rome is rebuked for overstepping the bounds of Scripture regarding Roman Church's power and the Roman biblical traditions.

Rome is also rebuked for the doctrine of purgatory, (and also Limbo), which were taken from the gospel of Nicodemus. This book was rejected as canonical scripture by the Catholic church and yet these two doctrines remained in the Catholic church.

The doctrine of transubstantiation is Catholic doctrine and is rejected in the 39 Articles (I would suspect consubstantiation is also rejected). The Articles returned to the early orthodox view of the apostolic fathers that Christ is mystically present each time the Mass is celebrated.

THE REFORMED BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

The Reformers dropped the term mass in favor of the Liturgy of the Lord's Supper and the service changed to stress the concept of Sola Fides?. This also downplayed the sacramental aspect of the mass and the priesthood. The resulting 1549 prayerbook (later adopted by PECUSA) moves to the protestant view. The reformers from the continent were in England at the time and felt that Bp. Crammer did not go far enough. The result was the 1552 prayerbook which is frightfully protestant. This book was mercifully suppressed by good Queen Mary, but later the communion service appeared intact in the 1662 prayerbook. Morning prayer did go through a revision but not the liturgy of the Lords Supper. (Holy Communion)

THE OXFORD MOVEMENT

With the 1662 BCP and the suppression of the Catholic dress and customs, the C of E went spiritually bankrupt. This spiritual bankruptcy brought about the Oxford Movement. The Oxford Movement burst on the scene in 1820. With the Oxford Movement there was a belief that the C of E, if she returned to her catholic roots, could bring back the Holy Spirit to the Church of England. This effort to bring the spirit of God back to the C of E failed, but did have some interesting consequences.

Pious Anglo-Catholic men in long banished Catholic dress carried the sacraments to the slums of England. The Catholic dress for use in the Church, suppressed by Queen Elizabeth I was revived. These Anglo-Catholic men stressed the mass. They were not happy with the church having two sacraments when the rest of Christendom had seven. They were appalled at the reformers denial of the reserved sacrament which is mentioned in Acts. There was hope that the split in the church created by the reformation could be repaired. There were lay Oxford groups which in many ways were like the earlier Methodist missions. Today, except for their six steps becoming twelve they have disappeared.

The Oxford revolt gave birth to the Tractarian movement to discuss the great theological issues. John Henry Newman wrote Tract 90 trying to show that the 39 Articles were really Catholic. This did not go over very well with the leaders of the the C of E and Mr. Newman did the honorable thing and resigned his rectorship and went to Rome and became Cardinal Newman. The Tractarians were shut down by the C of E after Tract 90.

If the 39 Articles of Religion define Christianity, then Rome is not Christian. If the Roman Catholic view is correct, then Anglicans need to repent and return, a la Newman, and denounce Tyndale, Latimer, Riddle, and, Crammer.

ANGLO-CATHOLICS

For those not willing or not able to swim the Tiber, Anglo-Catholicism arrived at the end of the Oxford movement. Anglo-Catholics are a tiny and eclectic assortment of characters. Like the ancient Pharasees there are many types of Anglo-Catholics, and like the ancient Pharasees only one group is religious. Anglo-Catholics thought that they were going back the early church dress and what they thought was catholic. Smells and bells and weekly communion services and the joys of high churchmanship. Most went for the Anglican missal which is more catholic than the Catholic worship service. People from all denominations followed the fancy dress of the Anglo-Catholics and communion was stressed more. The choir offices of Morning and Evening prayer, even though they are catholic services, were dropped because they were too protestant.

It was the view of the reformers that it is safer for the soul to be exposed to the entire Bible. These Choir offices were designed to help people get ready to receive the blessed sacrament. Anglo Catholics disagree. The result is that if one is high church or Anglo-Catholic you only get 15% of the New Testament.

A theory known as the parallel jurisdiction in Communion with Rome has arisen. The parallel jurisdictions theory has been around for a while and the idea was to get the Church at Rome to recognize the entire Anglican Communion as a separate and parallel jurisdiction.

About 100 years ago Poe Leo XIII said that reconciliation should be on a spiritual basis and that this included recognizing the Pope and that this was final.

This pronouncement was not enough to stop people from talking. Around Vatican II there were again discussions. Since then C of E has veered off into a different direction. The U.S., Canada and Britain have departed from everything except catholic style vestments.

Anglo-Catholic Bishop, John Hepworth of Australia, who heads the TAC has been having talks with then Cardinal Ratzinger for ten years. With Cardinal Ratzinger being elevated to the Papacy the talks are continuing. The primates of the Southern Cone and the Africans under Archbishop Peter Akinola do not share ArchBishop Hepworth's vision. They continue use the 1662 BCP and the 39 Articles.

A reporter said that Archbishop John Hepworth of Australia said there is no difference in theology between Rome and TAC. This reporter's purported position ignores the Articles of Religion found at the back of the prayer book. The 39 Articles are also in the Solemn Declaration of the ACA, which is the American version of the TAC

The official view of the ACA (TAC) is that what is being discussed is a parallel jurisdiction. One press release mentioned unity but this is not claimed as the official position.

The issue of the Reformation carries a great deal of emotional charge. There are political issues as well as religious issues. If there were to be an instant political merger there would be immediate institutional problems.

If this merger or hook up with Rome is done as a political act many continuer's will be upset. One irate continuer put it this way, "if it happened, that would be one way to wipe out a strong witness for "continuing" the church as we received it. It would testify against the English Reformation. It would make nonsense of what we stood for in the 1970's. "Continuation, Not Innovation: We continue to be what we are. We do nothing new. We form no new body but continue as Anglicans and Episcopalians."

Many feel that the talks will not lead to unity but cause further splits among Christians. A bell cannot be unrung The English Reformation cannot be undone. People can discuss why the bell was rung and how not to ring it again.

The 39 Articles of the English Reformation have to be dealt with. There were reasons for why they were adopted. The issues have to be faced with candor and a great deal of prayer. It may take time. The orthodox say that 400 years is but a blinking of the eye in the mind of the church. There may have to be many blinks for reconciliation to be complete. The idea of trying to work out differences with the guidance of the Holy Spirit over time has great merit.

The good news for Anglo-Catholics in the TAC, in the midst of this awkward situation, is that His Holiness Benedict XVI and Archbishop John Hepworth have been discussing the problems and are working towards the joy of reconciliation in Christ Jesus. Archbishop Hepworth put it this way; that there is no road map and no one knows how this will play out.

---The Rev. Paul Taylor, LL.M. is a graduate of the USMC and has been a practicing Lawyer for over 30 years and has served as a legal adviser and litigator in the church wars. He has a masters in Law and has been a worker priest for 21 years. He has served as a court arbitrator and several stints as an administrative law Judge. He is now retired.