Unthinkable Wings

From aedifica

in novels set in Great Britain, I keep seeing references to people being "church" or "chapel". What does that mean?

This terminology has, as far as I know, died out. "Church" is the established church, i.e. the Church of England, and people who are "chapel" were members of one of the Protestant "non-conformist" churches, which might mean Methodists (the largest group), Presbyterians (who later became the URC), Congregationalists, or Baptists, etc., probably. There's often a class element to who belonged to which denomination; Methodism tended to be most successful with the 'respectable' working class, and there's a big overlap with the emerging Labour movement. "Church" people tended to be better off, and for a long time "Chapel" people were barred from standing for parliament etc (as were Catholics, though it was easier to conform enough to satisfy the law if you were Chapel than if you were RC).

Don't be confused by the Scottish tendency, still apparent at times to refer to Roman Catholic churches as 'chapels'. It should also be noted that the national church in Scotland is the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian (though it is more independent of the state than the C of E is, and it can't really be called 'established). 'Episcopalians,' as Scottish Anglicans are called, are a very small minority.

necromommycon asked
When people convert to Anglicanism, as opposed to being born to it, what sort of process do they go through?

fallingtowers followed up with:
A related question: If one does not live in the UK, can one even convert to Anglicanism? To which denomination does one then belong (Episcopalians?), and which parish does one attend?

Both good questions, though the answer to both depends a bit on who and where you are.

In terms of church law, there are three basic processes by which people become Anglica, depending on what degree/ kind of church membership they already have; this also affects the kind of preparation/ teaching (catechisis) they would be expected to attend. In practice it gets more complicated than that, but I'll get to that in a moment. In all cases, the person would be expected to have spent some time worshiping in an Anglican parish (or chaplaincy) and to have had a couple of conversations with the incumbent (that is, the priest in charge or vicar/ rector).

(a) A person who has not been baptised.

(b) A person who has been baptised by another denomination who baptise "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" but has not been confirmed by a bishop whose orders are recognised by the Anglican Communion* (basically the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox. We also recognise the orders of the Old Catholics, the Mar Thoma Church, and the Philippine Independent Church, but we're in full communion with them, so their members wouldn't need to 'convert' anymore than I would need to convert to become an Episcopalian if I moved to the States).

(c) A person who was confirmed by a Roman Catholic or Orthodox bishop.

People in category (a) have to be baptised and confirmed. Confirmation, in the Anglican understanding, is a sacrament, and can only be done by a bishop (this is the other reason Lutherans need to be confirmed to become Anglicans; the apostolicity question can be argued about, but the Lutheran habit of having confirmations be carried out by the pastor means it's not the same thing as the Anglican/ Catholic understanding). In confirmation, the person being confirmed affirms their faith and promises to live as a Christian, and they are annointed by the bishop. In the case of adult converts, baptism and confirmation would usually be done at the same service (in which case they are confirmed straight after the baptism, and don't have to repeat their baptismal vows).

People in category (b) are confirmed by the bishop.

People in category (a) and (b) would typically need to go through a course of instruction in the Christian faith, usually referred to as "confirmation classes". People who are being confirmed in their teens also have to go to these, though there are invariably separate classes for adults and teenagers. What exact form these take varies a lot depending on the individual church and on the size of the group. Some places use Alpha courses, or Emmaus (which is a bit like Alpha, but from a more catholic perspective; it has a lot more emphasis on teaching about the sacraments). Many places will use a home-made course. If there's only one or two people being confirmed, things can be a lot more informal and unstructured, though it would be good practice to have some sort of structure to make sure you don't miss anything important (you might use the Nicene Creed and work through it statement by statement. Some very old-school people use the Catechism, though it's a rather dry method and not one I'd go for myself).

People in category (c) may or may not be invited to tag along to confirmation classes, depending on how much they know about the Christian faith in general. They'd certainly have to have a chat with their priest about what it means to be an Anglican, in particular, and why they want to become one. There is a short bit of liturgy for people in this category to formally "be received" as members; it's quite simple and involves answering questions to affirm your faith (a bit like renewing baptismal vows), your recognition of the Church of England (or whichever bit of the Communion we're talking about) as part of the holy, catholic, and apostolic church, and your wish to be part of it. Unlike confirmation and baptism, it's not a sacrament, and there's no dramatic liturgical gesture, unless you count a handshake from the priest afterwards, which I wouldn't, really.

Actually, though, the categories get a bit blurred, particularly as Anglican churches will permit you to receive communion if you are a member of a Trinitarian church and would be allowed to in your own denomination. This means that in practice, a lot of people who were brought up in other denominations (Presbyterianism, say) and drifted into Anglicanism without a violent crisis of faith may have been going to an Anglican church and receiving the Sacrament for years before they ever get confirmed, if they ever do; usually people in that category don't unless they end up going forward for ordination, and obviously you have to be confirmed before you can be ordained. In fact, depending on people's family circumstances, some ordinands only realise that this needs to be done when they discover, shortly before ordination, that they haven't got a certificate proving their confirmation. But of course they don't need instruction, they just need, to quote a priest of my acquaintance "shoved in front of a bishop", and I've heard of this being done quite informally over a lunchbreak at theological college...

The other factor is that, at least in the Church of England, people are apt to identify membership with Being on the Electoral Roll, which allows you to vote in the Parish Church Council election. You don't need to be confirmed for that, and in fact you can be on the roll if you are a member of another denomination, as long as you are a communicant member of a church which believes in the Trinity. So this means that A, who is a member of the Church of Scotland and lives in Scotland, but has a second home or otherwise often visits a particular parish in England and worships there, might be asked to go on the Electoral Roll. By some measures this is "becoming a member of the Church of England", while remaining a Presbyterian, at least while in Scotland, but I wouldn't call it conversion, exactly.

... that ended up rather longer than I planned.

The answer to the other question is simpler. You can become an Anglican anywhere there is an Anglican church; whether you call yourself an Anglican or an Episcopalian depends where you are, but it doesn't really make much difference (by and large Anglican is the usual term, and Episcopalian is confined to places where there are strong cultural reasons for not wanting to identify as something that sounds suspiciously close to 'English', i.e. America and Scotland, but I don't know where the Rwandans and the Spanish fit into this). People sometimes assume that the Anglican Communion is co-terminus with the British Empire, but though there's an element of truth, it's not the whole story, and there are Anglican churches in places which were never British colonies (Japan, for instance): there's a full list here. There's also the Church of England (Diocese of Europe), which is notionally a chaplaincy aimed at ex-pats (because we shouldn't be stealing Roman Catholic or Orthodox sheep), but in practice locals do attend and become members (I know an Austrian who is training for the Anglican priesthood as a result of his encounter with the Diocese of Europe).



* This recognition has to do with the Apostolic Succession, that is a chain of ordinations going back to the apostles, rather than with doctrine as such, which is why the Lutherans, say, aren't on there, despite the fact that they have bishops and in some ways are quite theologically similar to a lot of Anglicans.

Asked by kivrin (I'm answering the straightforward question first!)

What's the financial relationship (if any) between the CofE and the government? Do parishes pay taxes? Do parishes get money from the government (either central or local) for regular operating expenses?

The C of E doesn't get government money - although parishes who use historic buildings can and do apply for grants from groups like English Heritage, which is ultimately government money. But there's no 'church tax' system as in Germany or Scandinavia, and even historic church buildings don't automatically get maintained by the state (as I believe they are in France, oddly enough). This is why - although I think it's an abominable custom - so many cathedrals charge for entry; these buildings eat money, even before you get into staff costs.*

Parishes don't pay income tax; they're exempt as charities. There's also a scheme called 'gift aid' whereby charities can claim the tax taxpayers payed on money they donate back from the government (i.e. you can't offset your charitable giving against your income tax, but the charity of your choice gets the benefit of it).

So where does the money come from? These days about 75% comes from donations by churchgoers; the other significant single source is from the assets (shares and land) managed by the Church Commissioners on the C of E's behalf. More information here, should you want more details.

* That said, I think entry charges are theologically deeply dubious, and I'm not convinced it's absolutely necessary. St Albans doesn't charge, and Westminster Cathedral seems to cope.

I've not been participating in Three Weeks For Dreamwidth, because I couldn't think of anything sensible to do, but it occurs to me I could do a Frequently (Or Not So Frequently) Asked Questions About Anglicanism/ the Church thing. Which may not actually meet with all that much interest, but I do actually know about it... It would also be a rather good exercise for me, as, while I know intellectually that the Church is a pretty strange and at times esoteric world of its own, I have a tendency to think it's normal.*

So: the way a FONSNAQ works is simple: you leave me questions/ prompts, and I respond to them. So if you're dying to know... oh, I don't know. What an ordinand does all day (when not faffing about on the internet). How people get to be priests. Why the Royal Wedding looked the way it did. What vicars actually do. What 'tat' is, and why Anglo-Catholics won't shut up about it.


... but I'm sure you'd think of better questions, anyway. Have at it - any question/ prompt, however serious or silly, welcome.

(Anyone have any suggestions for comms that might be interested in a link?)


* To quote Fr Gandalf, a wise priest of my acquaintance, "What you must never forget, Tree, is that the church does some very peculiar things to some people."