The Church Union is an

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the developm ...

within the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

. The organisation was founded as the Church of England Protection Society on 12 May 1859 to challenge the authority of the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

civil courts to determine questions of doctrine. It changed its name to the English Church Union in May 1860. In particular, it was active in defending

priests such as

Arthur Tooth Arthur Tooth (17 June 1839 – 5 March 1931) was a ritualist priest in the Church of England and a member of the Society of the Holy Cross. Tooth is best known for being prosecuted in 1876 under the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 for u ...

Sidney Faithorn Green Sidney Faithorn Green (1841–1916) was an English clergyman who, during the Ritualism, Ritualist controversies in the Church of England, was imprisoned for 20 months for liturgy, liturgical practice contrary to the Public Worship Regulation Act 1 ...

and

Richard William Enraght Richard William Enraght (23 February 1837 – 21 September 1898) was an Irish-born Church of England priest of the late nineteenth century. He was influenced by the Oxford Movement and was included amongst the priests commonly called "Secon ...

against legal action brought under the

Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 (37 & 38 Vict c 85) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom, introduced as a Private Member's Bill by Archbishop of Canterbury Archibald Campbell Tait, to limit what he perceived as the growing rit ...

. The passage of this law was secured by

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

Archibald Campbell Tait Archibald Campbell Tait (21 December 18113 December 1882) was an Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England and theologian. He was the first Scottish Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, head of the Church of England. Life Tait was bor ...

to restrict the growing

Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

and had the support of the then prime minister

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...

. One of the most famous attempts at prosecution under the 1874 act began in 1888. It was aimed against the Bishop of Lincoln Edward King, but the Archbishop of Canterbury Edward Benson revived his own archiepiscopal court (inactive since 1699) to avoid the prosecution of the saintly King in a lay court.Owen Chadwick, ''The Victorian Church (Part II)'', Adam & Charles Black: place, 1980, p.354. Such prosecutions ended in 1906 after a Royal Commission recognized pluralism in worship, but the act was not repealed until the

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 The Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Measure 1963 was introduced to simplify ecclesiastical law as it applied to the Church of England, following the recommendations of the 1954 Archbishops' Commission on Ecclesiastical Courts. Superseding the Ecclesia ...

. In 1933 the English Church Union merged with the Anglo-Catholic Congress to form the present organisation.

References

External links

Official website
*
The History of the English Church Union 1859-1894
', Rev. G. Bayfield Roberts (1895).
Historical resources on the ECU
from

Project Canterbury Project Canterbury (sometimes abbreviated as PC) is an online archive of material related to the history of Anglicanism. It was founded by Richard Mammana, Jr. in 1999 with a grant from Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold, and is ho ...

Records relating to the ECU at Lambeth Palace Library
Anglo-Catholicism History of the Church of England Anglican organizations Religious organizations established in 1859 Christian denominations established in the 19th century 1859 establishments in England {{Anglican-stub

See also

References

External links