ANGLO-CATHOLICISM: ANGLICAN HICCUP AS HISTORY

Rev. Dr. Donald P. Richmond

www.virtueonline.org

December 7, 2025

As I have gotten older, I have noted that my body needs to make adjustments. One of the many adjustments that I have had to make relates to foods, what I eat and how I eat. Certain foods now need to be avoided and, along with this, I must also be far more mindful and moderate about what I ingest and how quickly I ingest it. Wisdom suggests moderation, and, if I am not wise, I develop a case of the hiccups.

Having just emerged from one of these episodes, and needing to make some postural adjustments, I was reminded of Anglo-Catholicism --- that supposed sacramental adjustment of the 19th century that purportedly corrected the Anglican theological “posture” and “palate” of the 16th century English Reformation. And to be clear, Anglo-Catholicism is little more than an adjustment, a hiccup that has been adopted, adapted and articulated as a unique theological system. Exaggerating to make a point, Anglo-Catholicism has in some way swallowed, feathers and fat alike, Tract 90 and has come to believe and behave in a manner that suggests that such a hiccup and adjustment is normal, normative and entirely keeping with the posture and proclamation of historic Anglican catholicity. This is, at best, questionable.

Because we have just celebrated Thanksgiving Day, an illustration will highlight what I am seeking to communicate. Anglo-Catholicism claims to regulate and restore some of the “foods” that the 16th century English Reformers thought peripheral or problematic to the Protestant palate. In other words, Anglo-Catholics believe that the 16th century English Reformers went too far in their reformational fervor and that they reacted, instead of responded, to Roman excess by removing a considerable amount of “stuffing” and “sauces” that could add considerable flavor to the Anglican Table.

To be sure, some tablespoon of truth can be found in this assertion. Sometimes, when experiencing new insights and fresh-found freedoms, we often take them too far. Early Reformers at times went too far. As such, reasonable re-adjustments to the adjustments are needed so that balance might be restored and benefits might be enjoyed. The problem with Anglo-Catholicism, however, is that the re-adjusted adjustment has itself now become the norm --- the hiccup has become representative, in many minds, of Anglican history, heritage and hope.

In seeking to return us to a fuller experience and expression of the historic faith, a fullness of The Faith, Anglo-Catholicism’s conceptual cornucopia is found to be not entirely digestible. Certainly, I am thankful for Thanksgiving. Certainly, I enjoy the fully dressed Anglican Table. I celebrate the meats and the vegetables and the salads and the deserts and the stuffings and the gatherings of gussied-up friends and family. It’s cozy…albeit at times gluttonously uncomfortable. Uncomfortable is a good word. After swallowing our Anglo-abundance, so sweet to the tongue but bitter to the tummy, what do we experience? We are OVER FULL, but do not experience true fullness. We are BLOATED, but we are not beatified. We are STUFFED, but not entirely satisfied. We are STUPEFIED, but not sanctified. We are full, but we are also disturbingly flatulent. We have consumed far more than is wise.

Anglo-Catholicism is a Theological Thanksgiving whereby, more often than not, we have consumed far too much, fall into some malaise (dressed up though it is!) and begin giving off unpleasant airs. Having done this for some years, we have now established a Tradition. And who wants to change Tradition? Who really wants to cut back? Who doesn’t want to indulge, and establish Fat Tuesday as a regulative and normative principle? This is most especially the case when such exuberant excess can be sanctified as standard practice. Anglo-Catholicism is an overstuffed Tradition communicating a fatness of faith that celebrates the stuffing more than the substance --- that Evangelical meat and mead of the matter.

I truly enjoy indulgence. I truly enjoy the flourish of falsetto-religion, the chuntering chant of clergy and the subtle-shuffle of sockless penny-loafer Theology. Who doesn’t! But when such indulgence is indulged, and hiccups occur, and adjustments need be made in order to restore the balance, let us at least have the common grace not to say that the hiccup is the norm --- and that Fat Tuesday is really a fullness of the True Faith of which Evangelical Anglicanism has robbed us.

Does Anglo-Catholicism represent fullness or fatness, inspiration or indulgence, historic faith or histrionic fantasy?

Rev. Dr. Donald P. Richmond,  DD, DMin is a widely published author and sometime illustrator, is a somewhat retiring Reformed Anglican presbyter.