PATTERN OF SERVICES.

Morning Prayer (Matins) Evening Prayer (Evensong) drawn from the seven daily services of the religious orders. Includes Exhortation. General confession and absolution. Responses. psalm. two readings from scripture and canticles.

 

Holy Communion. Should be celebrated every Sunday in every church. Some churches once a month. In my parish twice a month in each church, so that it is available in at least one location each Sunday. - The Lord's Service on the Lord's Day. The reformers radically changed the structure of the latin mass to reflect the new thinking. "Draw near and receive the body of our Lord Jesus Christ which He gave for you and his blood which He shed for you. Remember that He died for you and feed on Him in your hearts by faith with thanksgiving."

 

The Theological Debate. Then and now.

How is man made right with God? Is salvation found through the church and the sacraments (ex opere operato). Can it be "earned" by good works? Is it found through personal faith, which is the gift of God and Justification through faith alone?  They had to work out how this key issue is expressed in Ministry, Sacraments and Authority.

 

Protestants set aside what they saw as additions to the "catholic" faith, which could not be "proved" from holy scripture. i.e. They accepted doctrines up to the Council of Nicea  326AD.  Catholic = That which is agreed and believed everywhere and by all.

 

The set aside list included:

Indulgences,                                                " The Church of Ireland, as a Reformed and

Purgatory,                                                     Protestant Church, doth hereby re-affirm

Masses for the dead,                                      its constant witness against all those innov

A sacrificial priesthood,                                 -ations in doctrine and worship, whereby

Devotion to the saints,                                   the Primitive faith hath been from time to

The confessional,                                          time defaced or overlaid, and which at the

*Transubstantiation,                                     Reformation this church did disown and reject.”

*The Marian Dogmas.                        Preamble and Declaration adopted by the General Convention 1870.

 

The church in the 19th and 20th centuries.

1834 Reduction of Dioceses                                    1854 Immaculate Conception

         Abolition of Tithes                                          1870 Papal Infallibility

1870 Disestablishment and Disendowment                1896 Anglican Orders invalid

1926 Book of Common Prayer                                 1908 Mixed Marriage Regulations

1967 Revised Liturgies                                             1950 The Assumption  

1970 New Testament in Irish

1971 The Revised Catechism

1974 The Canons 1870. Revised

1984 Alternative Prayer Book

1991 Women Priests (and Bishops)

1993 Alternative Occasional Services

1994 APB collects in Irish

1998 The Revised Common Lectionary

1999  Remarriage of divorced persons in Church             

2004 New Book of Common Prayer

 

 

ORGANISATION AND STRUCTURE

530 clergy.  12.5% auxiliaries 10% women. 12 Dioceses. / Rural Deanery / Parish

 

Select Vestry (12) + 2 Churchwardens and 2 Glebewardens. Meets monthly or quarterly. Annual elections. Accounts published. Also trienniel elections for Diocesan Synod, Parochial Nominators. (Parish Clergy appointed by a Board of Nomination. Diocese (5) + Parish (4))

 

Diocesan Synod - All clergy x2 laity each parish These elect representatives to General Synod. A limited democracy. Diocesan Council. Boards- Ordinands, Social Responsibility, Mission, Religious Education, Youth Council, Magazine.

 

General Synod  - 648. (54 per diocese.  18 clergy, 36 laity) The Representative Church Body. Standing Committee. Role of the Church, Board of Education, Youth Department, Secondary Education, Church Overseas, Home Mission, Church Unity, Liturgical Advisory, Commission on Ministry, Marriage Council, Hymnal Revision, Married Students, Church Buildings, Ministry of Healing, Stewardship, Social Responsibility, NI, RI.