The Church Association was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 evangelical

Evangelicalism

Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...

 Anglican organisation, founded in 1865.

It was particularly active in opposition to Anglo-Catholicism

Anglo-Catholicism

The terms Anglo-Catholic and Anglo-Catholicism describe people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm the Catholic, rather than Protestant, heritage and identity of the Anglican churches....

, Ritualism and the Oxford Movement

Oxford Movement

The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...

.

Founded in 1865 by Richard P. Blakeney

Richard Paul Blakeney

Richard Paul Blakeney was an Irish-born religious writer and cleric.Blakeney was descended from an old Norfolk family, which had removed to Ireland before his birth. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, where he graduated B.A. in 1842, taking high honours in theology. In 1852 he proceeded...

, the Association stated in its first annual report that the objectives of the Association were:

“To uphold the principles and order of the United Church of England and Ireland, and to counteract the efforts now being made to assimilate her services to those of the Church of Rome."

As well as publishing information (including its Church Association Tracts) and holding public meetings, controversially, this also involved instigating legal action against Anglo-Catholics under the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874

Public Worship Regulation Act 1874

The Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 was an Act of the 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 ritualism of Anglo-Catholicism and the Oxford Movement within the Church...

, for instance legal action was taken against Sidney Faithorn Green

Sidney Faithorn Green

The Rev. Sidney Faithorn Green was a British clergyman who, during the Ritualist controversies in the Church of England, was imprisoned for 20 months for liturgical practice contrary to the Public Worship Regulation Act 1874.-Background:...

 and Richard William Enraght

Richard William Enraght

Richard William Enraght SSC 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 “Second Generation” Anglo-Catholics.Fr...

. According to the Association this was intended to clarify the law , however the ritualists refusal to comply with the courts verdicts coupled with the bishops unwillingness to act eventually led to such legal action not being pursued.

In 1950, the Association merged with the National Church League to form the Church Society

Church Society

Church Society is a conservative evangelical Anglican organisation, and registered charity, formed in 1950 by the merger of the Anglican Church Association and National Church League ....

.

External links

• Church Association Tracts
• The Teaching of the Ritualists not the Teaching of the Church of England, Church Association Tract 4, Rev. John Charles Ryle
  John Charles Ryle
  John Charles Ryle was the first Anglican bishop of Liverpool.-Life:Ryle was born at Macclesfield, and was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he was Craven Scholar in 1836...