The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second largest religious denomination on the island after the Roman Catholic Church. Like other Anglican churches, it has retained elements of pre-Reformation practice, notably its Episcopal polity, while rejecting papal authority. Nevertheless, in theological and liturgical matters, it incorporates many reforms of the Reformation, in particular the English Reformation. In accommodating both influences, the church formally identifies as both Catholic and Reformed. Within the church, divisions exist between those members whose subculture is more Catholic-leaning and those members whose subculture is more Protestant-leaning. For particular historical and cultural reasons, the Church of Ireland is generally identified as a Protestant church. The Church of Ireland is the second largest and fastest growing Christian community in Ireland.
Read more about Church Of Ireland: Overview, Present, Doctrine and Practice
Famous quotes containing the words church and/or ireland:
“It is manifest therefore that they who have sovereign power, are immediate rulers of the church under Christ, and all others but subordinate to them. If that were not, but kings should command one thing upon pain of death, and priests another upon pain of damnation, it would be impossible that peace and religion should stand together.”
—Thomas Hobbes (1579–1688)
“Out of Ireland have we come,
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I carry from my mother’s womb
A fanatic’s heart.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)