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.
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Famous quotes containing the words church of, church and/or ireland:
“If Jesus, or his likeness, should now visit the earth, what church of the many which now go by his name would he enter? Or, if tempted by curiosity, he should incline to look into all, which do you think would not shut the door in his face?... It seems to me ... that as one who loved peace, taught industry, equality, union, and love, one towards another, Jesus were he alive at this day, would recommend you to come out of your churches of faith, and to gather into schools of knowledge.”
—Frances Wright (1795–1852)
“The church is a sort of hospital for men’s souls, and as full of quackery as the hospital for their bodies. Those who are taken into it live like pensioners in their Retreat or Sailor’s Snug Harbor, where you may see a row of religious cripples sitting outside in sunny weather.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is often said that in Ireland there is an excess of genius unsustained by talent; but there is talent in the tongues.”
—V.S. (Victor Sawdon)