Anglicanism and History

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King Henry VIII – Founder of the Anglican Religion

The year 2017 is the 500th anniversary of what is called the Reformation.  One Church that emerged from the Reformation was the Anglican Church.  Of all the traditional forms of Protestantism, I loathe Anglicanism the most.  I feel this way because the Anglican religion was founded on lies and theft.  

A good example of this theft is the looting of the monasteries by Henry VIII, and the stripping of the altars by Edward VI.  After a brief recess under Queen Mary where she tried to punish the thieves and heretics who helped cause this chaos, Queen Elizabeth assumed the throne and conducted a horrific persecution of the remaining Catholics in England, and they were driven underground for hundreds of years.

The other crime of Anglicanism is the falsification of history.  The best example is John Foxe and his ridiculous Book of Martyrs which is cheap propaganda at best and not worth the paper it’s written on.  One would think that this is a thing of the past and doesn’t go on today but you’d be wrong.  I’ve come across two recent examples.  On Twitter, recently the Church of England posted this humorous picture:

Reformation martyrs?  They were Catholics who were made into martyrs by the Reformation.  Not only is the Church of England trying to claim these two Catholic Saints as their own, they’re trying to dump King Henry VIII and label him a Catholic!

Recently on Twitter the Anglican Michael Coren said that Henry VIII died a Catholic and persecuted Protestants.  This is completely absurd.  Yes, he persecuted Protestants but he was a Protestant himself.  Another Anglican named Maple Anglican wrote:

I’d say Independent or “Non-Papalist” Catholic is a better term for Henry VIII.

Coren then responded:

Yes, I’d agree.

Coren’s comment was then liked by Maple Anglican and Rev Bard who is an Anglican clergywoman.  The tweet can be found here:
To all Anglicans I say: Why are you so ashamed of your history that you have promote these lies?  St. Thomas More and St. John Fisher were Catholic martyrs that became Martyrs by the Protestant Henry VIII.  While Henry VIII persecuted Protestants as well, he was one himself.  It’s not unheard of for Protestants to persecute other Protestants.  John Calvin had Michael Servetus burnt in Geneva.  The Protestants of Zurich executed the Baptist Felix Manz.  This isn’t unheard of in the slightest.  It is true that Henry VIII held to much Catholic doctrine until the day he died but he also denied some of it.  He got rid of monasticism in England, got many divorces and claimed to be the Head of the Church in England as opposed to the Pope.  A Catholic without the Pope is like a Lutheran without Sola Fide or an Eastern Orthodox without Theosis.  It’s simply absurd.  While he wasn’t as Protestant as Edward VI or Elizabeth I, he was the one who took the first few steps in the Protestant direction.  I want every Anglican to come home to the Catholic Church.  Eventually I do believe that the Anglican Church will come back to the Catholic Church.  It might even happen sooner than we think with the rate that that organization is rapidly decaying in its own country.  Obviously their theology and ritual will have to be stripped of its Protestantism but whatever isn’t offensive to Catholicism can remain.  Obviously some will oppose this and leave entirely but I’d like to see every Anglican come home to Rome.  However, until then if you’re going to stay, be honest and own your own history.
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Categories: Catholicism, Church History, Heresy, Religion, Uncategorized

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3 thoughts on “Anglicanism and History”

    • It is difficult for me to loathe Anglicanism as my mother’s family were Anglicans, and there are many sincere Christians who adhere to that denomination. (My mother married my Catholic father and eventually converted to Catholicism – as a girl she was an Anglican churchgoer but had strong reservations about the Church of England. Nevertheless my maternal grandmother was a firm Anglican and I recall one occasion where she told me off for looking down on them in my teenage arrogance. I recoil from condemning my English forbears.)
      The thing that I really loathe is the person of Henry VIII – the man was a monster. The bluff and hearty King Hal was a tyrant.
      To this day his mark is plain to see on my homeland. It is quite simply his wish for a male heir and a desire to avoid further dynastic strife (e.g. Wars of the Roses) that drove him to have his way and break with Rome. He would brook no defiance. He was no Protestant though.
      I grew up thinking that the Church of England was Protestant. In fact when I was a boy we used to identify each other as Catholics (who went to Mass) and Proddies (who were not churchgoers and were Church of England). However whilst Protestantism provided the impetus for splitting from Rome the break was really a political issue. As I was taught in my Catholic Boys’ school, the Anglicans remained English Catholics, it is only over the following centuries that they have come to embrace a “broad church” of congregations that are Protestant and those that are arguable more catholic than the Catholics.
      The Church of England is doing its best to avoid rejoining the Catholic church by instituting women as priests (they dislike being referred to as priestesses for some reason) and in promoting homosexuality. Personally I think the Church of England will be dead within 40 years. This is sad because having an established church should be an asset against secularism and the evil influence of Islam, and C of E clergy are very well educated and well-versed in theology, more so in my view than Catholic priests. That is my opinion from attending Mass where ex-Anglican priests say it. (It’s a bit odd where they give a sermon where they talk about their sons! etc. – but the quality of their sermons is very good.)
      How I wish they would indeed return to the fold. There isn’t really that much difference between us and we need to stick together.

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      • Thank you for sharing your story. It will be interesting to see where Anglicanism will be. The average age of the c of e churchgoer in England is 68. They’re going to die off quickly. They’ll need to make a decision then. You are correct that they have many educated clergy. If you haven’t heard of Gavin Ashenden, he’s certainly worth a google.

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