Who can tell me the differences between the Anglican Church and the Roman Catholic Church?

Question

the best historically accurate answer gets the points

Answer 1

I am a Roman Catholic, and my wife is Anglican, so I have been regularly to both services, and I can tell you, they feel about the same. The biggest difference is that he Anglican services have really old and boring hymns, in the Catholic services, they are more modern, if they have any singing at all (I hate singing).

However, the priests in the Anglican church feel more "casual" and approachable, probably because they are generally married, and have more in common with non-priests. The Catholic priests generally are not married and seem, to me, to be more in tune with what the Church is about, that is, they are more inclined to agree with official Church doctrine such as abortion and euthanasia etc.

As to the differences between the doctrines; the Anglican church is more liberal in some areas such as abortion, divorce and remarriage and sex before marriage. As i see it, the Anglicans are less unified than Roman Catholics. Different countries have their own Anglican leaders, they do not view the Archbishop of Canterbury as a substitute Pope, who can issue binding decrees, it is more democratic in structure. The Roman Catholic Church is a theocracy, the Pope issues decrees, which must be followed. As a result, the services feel the same and follow the same rules no matter what the country. There are no female priests, priests are not allowed to marry, (although some may become priests after they marry), and the services follow the same pattern. With the Anglicans, rules may vary from country to country. They allow female priests in some countries and not others, for instance, in some women may become deaconesses, and not in others etc.

That is not to say it is any way better or worse than the Roman Catholic Church, just less accountable to a central figure.

Answer 2

The Anglican church is the Roman church, but allows divorce.

Answer 3

The Catholic Church is the one true Church founded by Jesus Christ for all mankind, with a divine guarantee of the fullness of truth, and the only Christian Church authorized by God. The Anglican Church is one of the thousands of unauthorized, conflicting manmade churches founded over the past few hundred years, teaching a mix of Christian truth retained from their Catholic roots, and new traditions of men invented by their human founders.

Answer 4

The liturgies are identical. The difference is that Roman communion is headed by the Bishop of Rome and the Anglican communion is headed by the King of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Answer 5

In the Anglican Church, the king of England can anull his marriages and remarry to anyone he wants.

Answer 6

Catholic Church: established by God.
Anglican "Church": established by a guy who wanted to unload his wife.